Apple & Pear Saffron Samosas

Dietary: (Vegan) 

Serves: 4/6 (makes 20 mini samosas)

Ingredients:

2 cooking apples

2 pears

pinch of saffron

2 tbsps hot water

7 tbsps vanilla sugar plus extra for dusting

1 pack filo pastry (270g)

3 tbsps butter or margarine melted for brushing

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C

Place the saffron in a small bowl and cover with 2 tablespoons of hot water and leave for ½ an hour.

Peel, core and dice the apples and pears into even 1 cm pieces.

Put the apples with the pears into a saucepan with the saffron water and the vanilla sugar.

Simmer gently with the lid on until the fruit is soft but not falling apart.

Leave to cool down.

Lay the filo pastry out on the work surface and cut into 5 short strips. Stack them up into one pile.

Lay out a single sheet and brush with melted butter or margarine, top with another sheet of filo and brush with more butter or margarine.  Put ½ a tablespoon of apple mixture into the corner and fold up the line of pastry into a triangle shape. Repeat the process and lay the samosas onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Brush them with butter or margarine.

Sprinkle vanilla sugar over the top of the parcels.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes, turning over half way through cooking, until pale golden

Tips: Saffron: Saffron threads are the red stamen of the crocus, grown from the Mediterranean to the mountains of Kashmir.

Saffron has to be picked by hand making it one of the most expensive spices in the World, it colours food a brilliant gold, is very aromatic, verging on the medicinal and should be used sparingly.

Make sure you buy the threads, usually sold in tiny clear plastic boxes. The saffron powder is often not pure.

Vanilla Sugar is sugar that has had vanilla pods stored in it. If you don’t have vanilla sugar add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Filo: We like French filo ‘Feuilles de Filo’ made by sofra brick. Available at Waitrose.