Easy Recipes for Unexpected Guests

Hello everyone,

I guess it happens to all of us every now and then, especially during holiday season that unexpected guests drop by. I don’t know about you but I always have an urge to serve them something though I am pretty sure that I am not expected to.

Today I’ll share with you two recipes that are perfect for such occasions, a snack and a light dinner recipe. They are both super easy and quick to make and absolutely delicious. Literally it takes no more than 10 minutes work to make either of them, the rest is done by the oven. No special equipment needed, just a few fridge and pantry staples.

I’ll be making roasted spicy chickpeas and puff pastry wrapped brie (the latter in two versions).

Let’s jump in!

I’ll start off with the roasted chickpeas and in order to make this Instructable more user-friendly I am listing the ingredients only for this recipe here. If you are interested in the baked brie, jump to step 4.

Ingredients:

• 400 g chickpeas (cooked and canned)
• 1/3 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/3 teaspoon lemon pepper (may be substituted with ordinary pepper)
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• 1/3 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/3 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/3 teaspoon cumin
• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 teaspoons salt

Utensils:

• sieve
• parchment paper
• spoons
• baking tray

Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan). 

Gather the spices.

Pour the contents of the can/jar into a sieve, rinse thoroughly, then dump the chickpeas on a kitchen towel/paper towel. Pat them dry.

Line a baking tray with parchment.

Drizzle with half of the olive oil.

Spread the chickpeas in a single layer.

Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with the other half of the olive oil and mix.

Place into the preheated oven and roast for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown (a few of them may explode, consider that collateral damage)... and you're almost done. 

Toss the roasted chickpeas with the rest of the spices, serve it fresh out of the oven. You're done. Seems easy? It certainly is :-)

Before getting into the details, I must say that this is not only a great emergency recipe, I love to use it also for weeknight dinners. Just to give you a quick overview on how easy it is to make: you take the store-bought puff pastry, roll it out, adjust it to the size of the brie, place the brie into the middle of the pastry, make cuts on top of the brie, add toppings, fold the pastry over, apply egg wash, bake.

Variations (regarding the toppings) are truly endless. I like to add some liquid (and sweet taste pairs really well with brie – think honey), I use garlic most of the time, you can add spices, nuts, dried fruits, or other sort of cheese. Let your imagination run wild!

I show you two versions, but consider the ingredients and the quantities only as guidelines.

Ingredients for version 1:

• 1 round brie
• puff pastry
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ tablespoon pomegranate molasses
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons walnut
• 10 cm rosemary sprig
• 2 tablespoons pomegranate arils

Ingredients for version 2:

• 1 round brie
• puff pastry
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon dried cranberries
• ½ tablespoon dried goji
• ½ tablespoon quince jelly cubes
• 1/3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2-3 cardamom pods
• 8-10 pink peppers
• 1-2 tablespoons pistachios

Eggwash and sesame seeds to go on top.

Utensils:

• chopping board
• knife
• mortar to crush spices
• baking tray
• parchment paper
• silicone brush

Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan).

Crush any spices if using (I cracked cardamom pods open and crushed them in mortar).

Finely chop garlic.

Remove rosemary leaves.

Remove pastry from the package and roll it out. I mean lay it flat on the counter on a piece of parchment, you don't actually have to stretch it with a rolling pin provided that you bought a pre-stretched type.

Place brie on top of the dough.

Adjust the size of the dough to the size of the brie. The dough around the brie should be left large enough to cover the brie when folding it on top, but by no means should it be way too big, as that way we would end up with a huge lump of dough on top that would most probably not cook through. (I used a 20x20 cm piece of dough for a 14 cm diameter brie.)

Make cuts on top of the brie (so that honey can sneak in).

From now on, I’ll go parallel with the two versions, starting with version 1 followed by version 2 in each step. (The method is the same, I hope it’s not confusing this way.)

First thing is to pour liquids and add spices if you're using.

Version 1 (Pic. 1-2.)

Pour honey and pomegranate molasses.

Version 2 (Pic. 3-4.)

Pour maple syrup on top of the brie and add spices.

Add everything else on top.

Version 1 (Pic. 1-2.)

Chopped garlic, walnut, rosemary leaves, pomegranate arils.

Version 2 (Pic. 3.)

Dried cranberries, goji, quince jelly cubes, pistachios.

Fold corners of the pastry sheet overlapping each other.

Apply egg wash with a brush.

Poke the pastry here and there so that steam can escape.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Tip:

If you have excess dough, cut it into stripes and bake them as well.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Note: If you are making the separate stripes, don't forget to remove them earlier (following 10-12 minutes cooking time).

Serve while still warm.

You see? No fuss, great taste. It just could not be easier.