RecipeMuncher

Johanna from The Passionate Cook is hosting this edition of “Waiter, There’s something in my…” and the something is picnic food.

It’s not quite picnic weather here - you’d need a waterproof blanket and several large umbrellas to even begin to attempt it but you can always get into the spirit of things.

When making picnic food you don’t want anything too fussy or time consuming and as I’ve decided to make small savoury tarts, rather than going the home-made pastry route, Filo (or Phyllo) pastry makes a handy substitute.

The filling has been kept simple - a mix of leek, new season asparagus and this lovely local Goat Feta

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The falafel odyssey continues as I incorporate as many vegetables as possible into these delightfully delicious spheres of goodness. This has also been an opportunity to experiment with baking rather than frying as I know there are many people that are a bit unsure about frying.

In reading I’ve noted that some of the complaints with baking is that they don’t crisp up as much as they would if they were fried. Unfortunately, I think you do need to use a certain amount of oil to get that affect but the good thing is that most of the oil will be left behind on the baking tray.

These particular falafel have been rolled in a mix of regular breadcrumbs, panko and sesame seeds - seeds sesame contain a fair amount of oil and in using them the theory is that baking will release their natural oil and help to crisp the falafel. Similarly, panko was used as it innately gives you an extra crispy texture to any crumbed item.

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