Cheese, almond & mango pies

I discovered that a tube of butter biscuit pastry in my fridge had alerted me that it had arrived at its 'use before' date when I found that it had split its packaging. That determined what I must use to make for dinner that evening.

I generally keep a stock of various dough because it's so very easy to make them into delicious - and different - dinner recipes.

As the dough itself had determined that this was going to be a 'use it up' recipe, I also decided to use some other store cupboard ingredients.

I like to experiment in that way because they add to my collection of recipes I can make with the ingredients I have to hand. In common with many of us today, I have little time to cook and am often faced with the fact that a quick-to-make dinner is required.

Luckily, the preparation time for this recipe is only a few minutes and the baking time is very quick too. These delicious little individual pies will bake in just over ten minutes.

They are lovely for a family dinner, they are also tasty served cold as a snack (especially with a quick salad) and even make an excellent vegetarian dinner for guests. Another bonus - they are very easy indeed. The following recipe makes five individual pies and they are also perfect to serve as an appetizer or as part of a help-yourself buffet.

The ingredients you see here will make five individual pies (three for him and two for me!) - just right for dinner. They make a great and quick lunch too. They are even delicious served cold.

• 1 tube commercial biscuit dough
• 3 oz. cheese - I used Cheddar
• ½ cup of mango chutney
• ½ cup of sliced almonds
• A little fresh cilantro
• Tomatoes and fresh basil to garnish

PRE-HEAT THE OVEN

Because the preparation time is so quick, be sure to pre-heat your oven before you start as you'll want it to be up to the right temperature as soon as the pies are assembled and ready to cook. See what temperature the manufacturer recommends - I set mine to 400°. Check your pack.

MIX THE FILLING

Grate the cheese and add it to a small bowl. Add the almonds and mix them in. Finally add the mango chutney and the chopped cilantro. Mix these together well and set aside while you prepare the dough.

PREPARATION

Separate the dough into ten equal pieces. If you're using a tube of ready made biscuit dough, you'll find it's already separated for you. With your hand, and on a floured board, press each into a circle. (They don't need to be an accurate circle).

Try to make half of them (5) slightly larger. You can use a rolling pin of course, but I find that the hand-press way works just as well and you don't have an extra kitchen item at cleanup time.

SO QUICK TO PREPARE

Place the smaller five circles onto a floured cookie sheet or baking dish. Pile the cheese, almond and mango mixture on top - about a tablespoon per circle - distributing it evenly between the five circles.

FINALLY...

Place the slightly larger circles of dough on top of the filling. Crimp the edges with a fork to ensure that they two pieces stay together during baking and cut a small slit in the top of each to allow any steam to escape. If you're making these in advance, you can store them in the fridge at this stage.

BAKE

Place the cookie sheet containing the pies into the oven. They will take about ten minutes and are ready when they have risen a little and are a golden color.

SALAD

While the pies are baking, slice the tomatoes (I use one per person) and wash the basil leaves to serve alongside the pies. I don't add any dressing in order to keep the calorie count down because we already have biscuit, cheese and nuts. But by all means, add your favorite dressing if you wish or a small sloosh of good olive oil.

Yummy - melted cheese, crunchy almonds and the added tang of tasty mango pickle. Serve with the tomatoes and I like to keep the jar of mango pickle handy as an extra condiment too.

Pies add a great deal of variety to a vegetarian diet, as do other forms of baking. I have found that vegetarian pies, especially individual ones like those above, aren't seen as 'vegetarian' by many meat eaters - possibly because the whole concept of a dish using pastry is familiar to them.

One of the most important aspects of working with pastry or dough - whether it's homemade or ready made - is keeping it cool while you're rolling and shaping it. This is why professional chefs and cooks use marble products when they are dealing with pastry as it is naturally cool and helps considerably to keep the dough or pastry at the required temperature without fuss.