Time on your hands - a variation on a theme …

Most of us have tuna in our store cupboard – are you bored by the same old tuna pasta bake?

I've used the following recipe for years and it never fails. I have used it as a canapé to serve with drinks and known friends who “don't like fish” inhale them. They are also great as a snack or with other stuff for a weekend “picky bits” grazing style supper.

Here it is :

Tuna and Parsley rolls

200g/7oz tin tuna in oil

1 onion, chopped

100g/4oz cheddar cheese, grated

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

salt and black pepper

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 puff pastry sheet

1 egg, beaten

1 tbsp poppy seeds

or Nigella seeds, see below

Pre-heat oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6

Drain the tuna, reserving 1 tbsp of the oil. Pour the oil into a pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Remove from the heat and stir in the tuna, cheese, parsley, seasoning and mustard until well combined. Allow to cool.

Roll out your pastry sheet and cut in half lengthways.

Divide the filling between the two rectangles, laying it in strips down the centre of the pastry.

Brush one edge with beaten egg and carefully roll up to create two long tubes. Cut each into 12 rolls. Brush with egg and put on a baking tray. Sprinkle over poppy seeds and bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

You can make these rolls as large or small as you like, they don't have to be bite sized.

If you wanted an alternative to poppy seeds use Nigella seeds instead, also known as Black Cumin they have a delicious onion flavour and work well with this recipe.

This is an economical, easy but most of all tasty recipe and makes use of your store cupboard. If you're able to buy a puff pastry sheet, that's great – it's difficult to predict what will be wiped off the shelves at any given time. The fact that the sheet is a perfect emergency freezer item makes me think they may be as rare as hens' teeth – good luck and if you can't buy a sheet make your own.

Since none of us can guarantee what ingredients we're able to buy I'm going for both ends of the scale – something special and more cheap and cheerful ideas too – the common denominator - they use store cupboard items or ingredients you may have in your freezer … watch this space!