AN INVENTION AND A SICILIAN BARBECUE

A couple of weeks ago I had some bought pasta sfoglia [puff pastry] left after I'd made my "beauty parlour dessert" to take to a barbecue in the Ragusan hills.  This is the idea I came up with to use it:

Mashed potato parcels

Mash some potatoes with butter, a little nutmeg, a tablesp of grated ragusano or Parmesan cheese  and stir in some cumin seeds.

Next, line a baking tray with foil and then baking paper and lay the puff pastry on it. Cut the pastry into squares.

Sprinkle a little pane grattugiato [fine fresh breadcrumbs, which we can buy in packets in Italy] on each square and then dollop about a teasp of the potato mixture on each one.  Draw up the corners of each square to form little parcels, press the edges together as best you can and then brush the parcels with beaten egg.

Bake at 180 C for 20 mins.  Serve warm rather than hot or at room temperature, sprinkled with a few more cumin seeds.

I thought you would like to see the rest of the barbecue food:

Spring rolls made by a Japanese friend.

Where there's my friend Roberta, there are yummy sausage rolls!

There were quiches

and several varieties of rice salad

plus a colourful couscous salad.

There were grilled aubergines.

Focaccia is always good but when it's hot and made by Grazia,
you know it's going to be extra-good!

There was also piping hot pane condito.

It wouldn't be a Sicilian party without chicken cotolette

and a barbecue means that there will be Sicilian sausages.
These were flavoured with red wine and fennel.

Now for the dolci:

There were several crostate

along with this delicious concoction.

There was cheesecake

and, of course, tiramisù.

You've got to be quick if you're photographing food at a
Sicilian party and this choux pastry creation
 was half-gone before I managed it!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you -  my "mashed potato parcels" were popular!