2011 Cooking club week 1 : Black Pudding topped with Stewed Apple wrapped in Pastry

Ok everyone time to get it going and I am the 1st up for the cooking club this year. I have decided to go with a starter which I love making and I hope you will enjoy as well.

We are going to do black pudding topped with stewed apple wrapped in puff pastry. I normally serve it alongside a mixed salad with honey mustard dressing and some relish.

You’ll need the following
Black pudding (the best quality you can get, but I won’t mention brand names )
Cooking apple
Puff pastry ( I normally use a sheet of frozen )
Butter
Sugar
An egg

For the stewed apple
Peel the apple and cut it into cubes.
Put oil in your pan, add the butter and allowed to melt ( about 50 g )
Add the apple and keep it at a low heat, add in sugar (2 table spoons or to taste )
Keep the apple on the heat until it is soft and taste to check sweetness etc.
When it’s ready just put to one side until needed.

Pastry & black pudding

As with most pastry you’ll need it out of the freezer for about 3 hrs so it’s ready to use when you need it.
Cut your black pudding into about 20mm pieces and put to one side.
Get your pastry and cut into squares big enough to wrap the pudding and apple topping in.
Place the pudding in the centre of the piece of pastry and top with some of the stewed apple.
Brush the edges of the pastry with a beaten egg and close in the pastry around the pudding and apple (this can be like a wong tong shape or in a parcel )
Now brush the top of the pastry with the beaten egg and place on grease proof paper in an oven dish.
Put in a pre heated oven and cook at 220c until the top of the pastry is golden brown.
Take out and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving

Salad and Dressing

For my salad I use mixed leaves, cherry tomatos, red onion and red pepper. But you can add anything you like as a salad is what you make it.
The dressing is simple and made with 2 tea spoons of white wine vinegar, half a table spoon of Dijon mustard, half a table spoon of honey and salt and pepper to taste.
Put the salad in a bowl, add the dressing and mix. I would do this just before serving as you don’t want the salad to get soggy.
You can add some relish to the side of the plate if you wish or if you feel it will interfere with the dressing you can leave it out.

Well that’s it and you’ll see a picture below of how I serve it. Good luck with it and any questions just let me know.