Vegetable Samosas w/ Cranberry Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Nothing warms up the body like something fresh out of a piping hot oven. These days we receive a fair amount of emails asking us how to turn some leftovers into a quality meal the next day without it tasting the exact same as before. We decided that most people have a tremendous amount of leftovers right after Thanksgiving so we’d work out a recipe that uses pretty much everything your going to have on the table, minus the puff pastry sheets.

The resulting product became some delicious Samosas that we dipped into a creamy Cranberry Yogurt sauce.

Saving money never tasted this good.

Enjoy!

Baked Vegetable Samosas w/ Cranberry Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup Mashed Potatoes

½ cup Cooked & Chopped Vegetables (Carrots & Green Beans work really well)

½ cup Frozen Peas (Thawed)

¼ tsp Curry Powder

1 TBS Cilantro (chopped)

1 TBS Mint (chopped)

1 TBS Ginger (chopped fine or grated fine)

Kosher Salt

Cayenne Pepper (to taste)

1 or 2 sheets of Puff Pastry

2 or 3 Eggs (beaten well)

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 350˚

Mix the mashed potatoes, the chopped vegetables, the thawed peas, curry powder, chopped cilantro, mint and ginger.

Season the mixture with salt and cayenne pepper.

Roll out 1 sheet of puff pastry and cut it into a 14-inch square, then cut that down into 25 or so smaller squares.

Place 1 TBS of the mixed filling in the center of each square.

Brush the edges with a bit of the egg, fold into triangles and press to seal.

Bake at 350 degree until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

To Make The Dipping Sauce:

Ingredients:

1 cup fat free Greek Yogurt

½ cup dried sweetened Cranberries

Directions:

Combine the yogurt and dried cranberries in a food processor and blend until the berries are finely chopped.

If the mixture is not sweet enough for you (which is should be already) add a dash or two of honey and pulse the blender a few more times.

Homemade Funnel Cake w/ Wine Syrup

Today is National Pastry Day. Some people because of their diets have come to loathe and detest pastries, but I must ask what have they ever done to you? I mean honestly who doesn’t like to hit up the Summer fair and get themselves a Funnel Cake or some sort of oversized sweet treat that should suffice any carb cravings for the year.  This recipe resembles a Funnel Cake to be honest you just didn’t have the joy of paying $11.00 for it.

I know we just had Thanksgiving and many of us are trying to eat light for the remainder of the year, well if that is the case, then this recipe isn’t for you, at least not right now it isn’t (but save it for later.)

This recipe pulls together in less than 30 minutes, is easy to clean up and is the perfect after dinner treat to snack on while consuming strong libations such as a Whiskey neat or a traditional High Ball.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the Syrup:

2 cups dry red wine

¾ cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

2 whole cloves

2 strips orange zest

1 bay leaf

For the Pastries:

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Grated zest of 2 oranges

2 TBS fresh orange juice

Vegetable oil, for frying Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1 cup pomegranate seeds

Directions:

Make the syrup:

Bring the wine, sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves, orange zest and bay leaf to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring; cook until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 15 minutes.

Let cool completely.

Discard the bay leaf.

Make the pastries:

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Add 1/2 cup water, the egg, orange zest and juice and whisk until just combined. 

Transfer the batter to a plastic squeeze bottle.

Heat 1 1/2 inches vegetable oil in a shallow pot over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 380 degrees F.

Squeeze the batter into the oil into 2-inch rounds; fry, turning once, until puffed and golden, 1 to 2 minutes.

Drain on paper towels.

Dust with confectioners' sugar and top with pomegranate seeds and wine syrup.