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Impromptu gatherings back at your place, or dinner parties that have been in the calendar for weeks, it never hurts to have a few recipes handy to whip up when hosting duties call. Luckily, Alexandra Dudley has it covered.
Ingredients
4 sheets of filo pastry
50g melted, unsalted butter
200g brie
150g fresh cranberries
A bunch of thyme, with the leaves removed
Salt and freshly ground pepper.
Method
1.
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 4.
2.
Keeping your pastry covered under a damp tea towel (to keep it from drying out). Remove one sheet and brush it with the melted butter. Using scissors, cut this into roughly 5cm squares and then repeat for every sheet.
3.
Arrange three squares and place them on top of each other turning them as you go so that the corners create an almost star-like effect. Place the pastry stacks into the holes of a mini muffin tin and push to create 24 tartlet shells.
4.
Chop the brie into roughly 24 equal sized pieces and push into each tartlet. Then, top each one with a few cranberries and a pinch of thyme and salt.
5.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the pastry looks golden brown and the cheese has melted.
6.
Sprinkle over some more fresh thyme and grind over a generous amount of black pepper.
Ingredients
For the rosemary syrup:
(Note: this is best added cold so prepare in advance and refrigerate)
200ml water
200ml granulated sugar
3 sprigs of rosemary, with the leaves removed
For the Negroni:
100ml gin
100ml Campari
50ml sweet vermouth
50ml rosemary syrup
Rosemary sprig to serve
Ice
Method
1.
Place the water, sugar and rosemary leaves into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer until sugar has completely dissolved. Switch off the heat and allow this to cool completely.
2.
Strain the syrup mix through a sieve to remove the rosemary leaves and transfer to a bottle or jar. Cool in the fridge until ready to serve.
3.
To make the cocktail, fill a jug with ice and add all of the negroni ingredients and the syrup. Stir well, then pour into glasses and garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary.
