Mince Pies

Make 12 mince pies.

200 grams normal flour
100 grams caster sugar
80 grams butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 pinch of salt
Good quality mincemeat
Muffin cases or muffin tin or (even better) a mince pie tin!

Sift flour and salt. Add sugar. Make a hole in the middle,  add the diced butter and the salt. Start working it until it resembles crumbles. (I do this in a food processor, it only takes few minutes).
Add the egg and the egg yolk and start working with your end quickly until everything gets together.
Shape it like a ball, cover it in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 15-30 minutes.

Switch the oven on at 180 degrees.
Flour the working surface and the rolling pin, and cut the pastry into two pieces.
Start rolling out the pastry (remember to add flour or it will stick to the table!!) as thin as possible.
Cut some of it with the round  cutter, re-rolling the scraps, and cut some using a star-shaped cutter (if you do not have it, just use a smaller cutter).
Line the round pieces into the cases, add a tea spoon of mince meat, then cover with the star-shaped pastry.

Bake into the oven for 25-35 minutes, keeping an eye on the pastry which can burn quite quickly.
When they turn gold, they will be ready.

Cool them off on a wire tray and sprinkle  with icing sugar.

Buon appetito!

Chicken morsels

This plate contains raw chicken, wash hands and every surface after you finished! Also, please, do not use caged animals!

For two people
3 small chicken breasts
2 table spoons of flour
1 tea-spoon of granary mustard
half a glass of dry white wine
salt and pepper
a splash of extra-virgin olive oil
Capers and Olives (if you like)

Cut the breast into small pieces (you can either use a knife or scissors), put in a bowl, add the flour, salt, pepper, and the granary mustard.

 Add the oil to a non sticking pan and turn the heat on.

Once hot, add the chicken making sure all the pieces are well separated so that they can brown uniformly.

After they have browned both sides (1-2 minutes each side), add the wine and cook it off (2 minutes), add capers and olives (capers are quite salty, just add couple of tea spoons). Turn the heat down and cover for 15-25 minutes (it depends on the size of the pieces, if you are not sure, cut one in half and make sure the juices run out clear!).

Once they are done, you can leave move them to a plate and cook some noodles to go with it!

Buon Appetito!