The flavours of smoky, dry-cured Black Forest ham, shiitake and chestnut mushrooms, and courgettes work well with wild rice in the filling for these delicious filo pastries. If you're looking for an interesting lunch dish, this recipe certainly fits the bill and just needs a side salad to serve with it.
These pastries can be prepared ahead, up to the end of step 7, and kept chilled. Bake just before serving, adding an extra 3–5 minutes to the cooking time. * To make spicy chorizo, rice and olive pastries, cook 100 g (3½ oz) white long-grain rice in a covered pan with 6 shredded dry-packed, sun-dried tomatoes and 250 ml (8½ fl oz) chicken stock for 10–15 minutes or until the rice is tender and all the stock has been absorbed. Meanwhile, combine 100 g (3½ oz) chopped chorizo sausage, 1 finely chopped red onion and 1 seeded and diced red pepper in a frying pan, cover and cook for 6–8 minutes or until the onion is tender. Add the rice mixture, 45 g (1½ oz) sliced black olives, 1 can sweetcorn, about 200 g, drained, 20 fresh basil leaves, roughly torn up, and seasoning to taste. Use to fill the filo pastries. Scatter over 2 tsp sesame seeds and bake as in the main recipe.
Over 2,500 varieties of mushrooms are grown throughout the world, though not all are edible. They provide useful amounts of many of the B vitamins and only contain 0.5 g fat and 13 kcal in 100 g (3½ oz). * Wild rice is cultivated from the seeds of a North American wild aquatic grass. It contains more protein than ‘true’ varieties of rice. * Ham is a good source of protein and vitamin B. The fat content can be reduced by trimming off any visible fat.
copper * A, B1, B2, B6, C, folate, niacin, potassium, selenium, zinc