Muffins de salgados

Salty muffins! I have always been eager to try savoury muffins.Never seen them, never made them, but it seemed a great idea to ´flerte` with them.

In the past, I have had a phase of 'flirtation' with a recipe - casting an initial eye over it,and then putting it aside for a later date until interest outweighed inertia and the particular recipe got the better of me. No inertia this time, I had to make these gorgeous looking little buns the moment I saw them.But one word of warning. I have been a muffin baker for some years now. I used to bake upwards of 200 muffins every morning for the kids in school, but I have always lined my muffin pan with paper muffin cases. I followed the rule for this recipe but realised the recipe instructed me to grease the muffin pan with vegetable oil. There was a good reason for this; my batch of muffins stuck to their paper cases and were quite a chore to remove.

What I liked about this recipe however was its versatility - both of its ingredients and its applications. You can substitute other vegetables of similar consistency, as long as you keep to the same proportions; You can use most types of cheese,cheddar,flamengo, mozzarella, bacon, ham, pancetta smoked sausage, and probably many other meats.I added a tablespoon of chilli flakes, well some like it hot. I also substituted the grated carrot in the original recipe for an equal amount of grated courgette.These are great for standby lunches, buffets, canapés, picnics, you name it and there will always be a hungry mouth waiting. Vegetarians, I feel a need to ´flerte` with a goats cheese, red onion and tomato version.    Muito Recomendo! Muito Delicioso.

Muffins de salgados
Makes 18
2 large eggs
100ml cold milk
125g pot of yoghurt
25ml olive oil
1 teaspoon Flor de sal Salmarim
1Tablespoon piri piri chilli flakes
1 small onion finely chopped
1 handful flat-leaf parsley chopped
150g chouriço corrente ( cooking chouriço)
150g smoked ham, paio de lombo or smoked bacon
275g mixture of grated mozzarella and grated cheddar or flamengo
275g grated courgette
275g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder.
Pre-heat the oven to180ºC /390F / Gas mark 6. Lightly grease each mould of your muffin tray with vegetable oil.Chop the meats into small cubes and set aside in a bowl.In a large bowl, beat the eggs well with the olive oil, then stir in the milk and yoghurt and beat a little more to combine.Stir in the rest of the ingredients except the flour and baking powder. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and fold through gently, then spoon
the mixture into the prepared muffin trays almost to the top.bake for about 25 minutes until puffed and golden.