Crispy Fried Pizza Bites (serves 8)

These taste fried, but are actually baked, which keeps the kitchen smelling good, and makes life much easier if you’re feeding a crowd. They can be made a day or two in advance and heated up just before you want to serve them.

30 wonton wrappers (I’m guesstimating 3 or 4 per person)

2  large balls of mozzarella cheese

8 – 10 tbsp marinara sauce (shop bought is fine)

30 small slices of salami

1 egg

Vegetable oil

• Pre heat the oven to 400
• Spoon a blob of marinara sauce into the centre of the wonton.
• Top with a cube of cheese and a slice of salami
• Crack the egg, and give it a quick whisk. Use a pastry brush (or your fingers) to dab a layer of egg around the edges of the wonton wrapper, then fold over into a triangle (try to seal out air pockets)
• Repeat for the rest of the wontons
• Brush both sides of each wonton with vegetable oil and place on a baking tray
• Bake for about 10  minutes until the parcels are golden and crispy – keep an eye on them – I bought a packet of wontons recently that took 17 mins to cook up, and conversely, a different packet took 8. It depends on the wonton and the reliable-ness of your oven.
• These can be made in advance and warmed through in a low oven to re-heat.
• Season with salt and pepper and serve

If You Can Make That You Can Make This:

• Switch out the salami for pineapple chunks and sliced ham
• Or mushrooms and a drop of truffle oil
• Or chopped black olives
• Switch out the mozzarella for goat cheese
• Or Cheddar
• Leave out the tomato sauce altogether and go with cooked bacon and cheddar cheese
• Or replace it with pesto and add chopped cherry tomatoes and mozzarella
• Or replace the filling with mozzarella and mango chutney.

These initially appeared with beer, betting and football.