HAM AND CHEESE TWISTS

The only way to survive this recipe is making it and then letting the kids eating it all. If you try one twist you will not be able to stop eating all the others, and yes you will regret it.

You need:
- a sheet of puff pastry
- a handful of grated cheddar cheese
- 50 gr of serrano or parma ham chopped very thinly (we did this in a food processor)
- 1 egg beaten

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Sprinkle the cheese and ham on top of the puff pastry. Fold it in half and then in half again. Roll it out to make a rectangle (with all the ham and cheese into the pastry) Cut the rectangle into strips (1 cm width more or less) Twist the strips and put them onto an oven tray lined with baking parchment. Paint the strips with the beaten egg and bake for 18-20 minutes (until golden).

The children like making these. They messed up the twisting a few times but the shape does not matter - in fact you can forget the twisting altogether if you do not have time.

PRESERVED TUNA

This is another good way to preserve tuna (see tuna 'in escabeche'). Children normally prefer it this way as it is less acidic than 'escabeche'. Mine eat it with salads, rice or baked potatoes.

You need 500 gr tuna (preferably in one thick steak)
52 gr salt
1.5 l water
olive oil

Put the water in a pan with the salt and heat it until it starts to boil. Add the tuna in and cook it all under a very low heat (the lowest you can get) for 30 minutes. When the tuna is cold, run it under cold tap water for a few second, dry it with kitchen paper (getting rid of skin and bones) put it in sterilized jars, cover it with olive oil and close the jars. Let the jars rest during the night so that there are no bubbles. This should last for 3-4 months in the fridge.

The kids still refuse to touch the raw fish. They helped getting the cooked fish into the jars, but forgot to wash their hands before touching the jars first so we had to sterilize them twice. All you need to do to sterilize jars is to put them into a 180 degrees hot oven for 20 minutes, so not a big deal.

SAUSAGE ROLLS

This is one of the very best inventions of the British cuisine (together with scones, bread and butter pudding, fish pie, cauliflower cheese, eccles cakes, Yorkshire pudding, mince meat pies, sticky toffee pudding, English breakfast... yum!)

This is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe. My children (who have now seen recipes from a few chefs) think he is definitely the coolest.

You need:

-1 sheet of shop bought puff pastry (rolled out)
- 6 chipolata sausages
- a pinch of oregano
- 2 tablespoons cheddar cheese (Jamie uses Parmesan cheese but Cheddar is nicer)
- 1 egg - beaten.
- 2 spoonfuls of sesame seeds.
- a little bit of olive oil.

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees temperature. Cut the puff pastry sheet into two rectangles. Put the 6 sausages over one of the rectangles (perpendicular to the longest side) leaving 10 cms more or less between each sausage. Sprinkle the oregano and cheese on top of the sausages. Cover it with the other rectangle of puff pastry. Cut it into 6 little parcels (one with each sausage) making sure you tuck well the sausages into the pastry. We pressed the sides of the pastry with a fork (partly to ensure nothing would get out and partly for decoration). Paint the rectangles with the beaten egg, sprinkle sesame seed on top, put a drizzle of olive oil on top of each roll and bake for 15 to 20 minutes till golden. The rolls are delicious both hot and cold.

The children love making this and help with it all. They never manage to make nicely cut rectangles, but who cares.

MACKEREL PATE

This is the only manner to get my children to eat mackerel. 

You need

- four fillets of smokes mackerel  without bones and skin)

- 280 gr creme fraiche or double cream

- the juice of 1 lemon

- 1 teaspoon on horseradish sauce

Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blitz it well. Put it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes. Serve as such or with paprika sprinkled over it. 

My children like making this (or anything that involves a blender). They touched the fish (not a big deal since this is smoked) but they complained forever about the smell that it left on their hands.