Chicken, mushroom & green peppercorn pie

The weather is pretty changeable here at the moment. We have had some nights that are still rather warm but for the most part they are starting to cool down. I love it when it does start to cool down as I love making autumn and winter food. I made these last week when we had a really cool day. I had made chicken pies before but didn't follow a recipe for these. I really enjoyed them. I have put the rest of the filling in the freezer so that I will be able to make some pies down the track. I served with sweet potato mash and steamed vegies. 

Chicken & Mushroom Pie 

4 chicken thighs, trimmed and diced
250g mushrooms, trimmed and chopped
1 leek, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp butter
2 – 3 sprigs thyme

1 tbsp green peppercorns, drained
1 tbsp plain flour
120ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp marsala wine

120ml skim milk

Sheet of puff pastry

Heat olive oil in pan fry add the chicken in batches stirring until cooked. Remove and set aside

Add 1 tbsp butter to pan with the leek and garlic. Cook over a medium heat until soft. Add mushrooms, thyme and peppercorns and cook until soft. Remove and set aside. Remove thyme stalks.  

Add the remaining butter to the pan and melt then add flour and cook, stirring, for a few minutes. Slowly whisk in the vegetable stock and marsala. Finally add the milk, beating until it thickens. Return chicken and leek mixture to the pan and stir through. Taste and season if necessary.  

Place filling in ramekins and top with puff pastry. Bake them at 190˚C for 25 - 30 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden. 

Peach Pie

I was given some lovely peaches by a neighbour last week. I had used some to make a peach chutney, that I will write about soon, but the rest were sitting in the fruit bowl and I was starting to worry that they would go bad. While I do like peaches, they are not my favourite stone fruit to just grab and eat, that prize goes to nectarines. This afternoon I decided to use them up I would make a peach pie. I wasn't sure that I had enough fruit to make a full pie so decided to go with some individual pies. I pulled out my Mum's recipe book and used her recipe being sure it wouldn't fail me and nor did it. They turned out extremely well. Just the right amount of sweetness. They could have used a touch more spice though. I think perhaps nutmeg instead of cinnamon. Excellent way to use up the peaches I think. 

Peach Pie

Crust: 

2 cups plain flour

2 tbsp caster sugar 

160 g butter, diced 

1 egg. lightly whisked

1 tbsp vinegar

water to make 2/3 c 

Add flour, caster sugar and butter to food processor. Pulse until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Combine egg and vinegar and add water to make up 2/3 cup. With the motor running add about 3/4 of the liquid, adding more if necessary, until it comes together. Wrap in glad wrap and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. 

Break off small pieces roll out to line 4 individual pie pans, remembering that you need enough for lids as well.

Filling: 

6 peaches, peeled & diced 

1/3 - 1/2 c sugar (depending on sweetness of peaches) 

1 1/2 tbsp plain flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg

Pre-heat oven to 180 C.

Mix sugar, flour and spice together and then pour over peaches and stir to coat. 

Divide filling evenly between pie tins.

Roll out the remaining dough for the tops of the pies and place on top. Crimp edges as desired to enclose. Make two cuts in the top of the pies and then place on a baking tray and bake for 35 - 40 minutes. Turning the tray halfway through to brown the pies evenly. 

Serve with vanilla ice cream. 

Pumpkin Pie with Vegan Pumpkin Ice Cream

I have spoken of my love of pies before. I know that this all stems from my gramma. She was the best pie maker ever. Plus she grew all of her own fruit so in the summer time it was one glorious pie after another with fresh just of the tree (or bush) fruit. My gramma would also preserve or freeze her fruit as well so that we could have her glorious pies (and other desserts) all year round. 

This pie however, I remember more from Mum. It is Mum's recipe that I have. I always remember begging Mum as a kid to make pumpkin pie but it didn't very often get made so I like to make it a couple of times a year now just to savour it. If you don't tell people that there is pumpkin in it then they would never realise. It is just such a fabulous recipe, lovely and spiced with just the right amount of sweetness. This time around instead of one big pie I made some individual sized tarts so now I have a bunch of those in the freezer for any time I am feeling like it and I didn't have to eat a whole pie myself. LOL.

This time I also made a vegan pumpkin ice cream to serve with it which I found over on Tasty Yummies. I was intrigued by a vegan ice cream and was very impressed with it. I couldn't find almond milk so used oat milk and I used brown sugar as that was all I had. I really liked it a lot and it went perfectly with the pumpkin pie. It has also piqued my interest in exploring more vegan ice cream recipes. 

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 2/3 c brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 1/2 c cooked mashed pumpkin, well drained (roasted and then mashed is best)
• 1 can evaporated milk

Method: 

• Combine sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, ginger & salt. 
• Add eggs, pumpkin & cream and mix well. 
• Pour into an uncooked pastry shell. 
• Bake at 210 C for 15 minutes. 
• Reduce heat to 180 C for 40 minutes, or until knife inserted in centre comes out clean.

For my pastry I use my Gramma's recipe it is the best pastry in the world:

Gramma's Pastry (for one single crust pie)

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 c plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c butter (gramma used lard)
• 1 tbsp white vinegar 
• 1 small egg 
• water

Method:

• Combine flour and salt. 
• Cut in butter using a pastry blender.
• Place egg in a 1 cup measure and lightly beat, add vinegar and top up with water to 1/2 cup. 
• Add to flour mixture and little at a time until you have a soft pastry (you probably will not need all the liquid). 

Pecan Maple Pie

Well, my cold decided to hang on a lot longer than I had expected it would. I had hoped to get all sorts of things made and done over the past week however it was not to be. It is a long weekend here and finally today I started to feel like I was getting back close to 100% although I have all of a sudden gotten very tired tonight. Perhaps I will manage an early night. 

Lately I have found myself in a little bit of a slump when it comes to my plans for my little blog. I haven't made anything from Bills Sydney Food in ages. I think it started when I had a couple of things that I did make (yet to be posted about) that just did not work. I am also finding myself in a position where I have made most of the things that I really wanted to and am now left with the others that I am either ambivalent about or and really unsure about making. There are also two recipes that I did make but the photos are not up to scratch so need to be remade. I have still been cooking and have so many things that I want to post about but just haven't done the posts as yet. I may yet do a few posts of just the recipes and pictures to get them up, a bit lazy, but at least it would let me catch up. Every time I post something that I have only just made I feel a little bit guilty as there are so many other recipes with their hands sticking up saying pick me, post me! LOL. 

Anyway, this is something that I did just make, well last night anyway. I just wanted to make a pie this weekend. I sat down with my mum's old recipe folder and handwritten cards and came up with a recipe for pecan pie that sounded perfect. I did make a few changes though, reducing the sugar as I usually find pecan pie too sweet. I also substituted the golden syrup in the recipe for maple syrup. I thought that this might be an interesting little twist on the regular recipe, plus I find maple syrup less sweet than golden syrup, not sure if it is or whether that is just psychological. It all came together really quickly and easily. I think next time I would use a tart tin that is a little deeper or a little bigger as I couldn't fit all the filling in although there was only about 1/2 c left over. I served the pie with a drizzle of cream today with lunch.

Pecan Maple Pie

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
2/3 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoon Jim Beam (or other bourbon) (optional)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
3 eggs
1/4 cup pure cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pie crust (see below)

Method:

Combine sugar, syrup, bourbon and butter in a saucepan over a medium-low heat and bring to the boil stirring occasionally and then remove from the heat and allow mixture to cool.
Beat the eggs with the cream and vanilla and then add to the cooled syrup.

Spread the pecans over the bottom of the pie crust.
Pour the syrup mixture over the pecans.
Bake at 170C for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Pie Crust 

1 1/2 c plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
125 g butter, cut into chunks
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 small egg
water

Combine flour and salt in a food processor, add butter and pulse until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Place egg in a 1 cup measure and lightly beat, add vinegar and top up with water to 1/2 cup.
Add to flour mixture and little at a time until you have a soft pastry.

Roll out to size required, line tart tin. Prick the base with a fork and then place in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes.

Line the pie shell with baking paper and fill with pie weights, rice or dried beans and bake at 190 C for 15 minutes. Remove the baking paper and weights from the pie shell and return to the oven for a further 5 - 10 minutes or until lightly browned.  

Oxtail & Beetroot Pie

The past week has been awful. It is so incredibly hard to be half a world away when  you lose a family member. I wish that I could be there right now with the rest of my family. Alas, I cannot. 

I made this two weekends ago. It was a lot of work but I do think it was worth it. However, it could easily be made a lot simpler with the use of chuck steak or gravy beef in place of the oxtail. This would eliminate the need for the soaking and the blanching. I will admit that I didn't make the pastry. I placed the filling in a dish and topped with puff pastry. I served it with a sweet potato & swede mash and steamed green beans

Recipe:  Oxtail & Beetroot Pie

Blueberry Pie

I just love pie, both sweet and savoury, but sweet most of all. Pie always reminds me of my Gramma. In summer there was all kinds of fruit from their orchard and berries from their vines. My two favourite fruit pies would have to be Gramma's fresh raspberry pie and the other saskatoon pie. Saskatoons are a lovely wild berry that looks similar to a blueberry. I guess they have a similar taste but there is a definite difference. I find them to be sweeter and definitely tastier. I remember going saskatoon picking with my Gramma when on holidays. It wasn't easy work although a lot easier than picking raspberries or blackberries. Plus the bonus is that you are in Canada and don't have to worry about poisonous Aussie spiders hiding in amongst the trees/berries, which I have had occur when picking blackberries. 

Another pie that my Gramma used to make was a Sour Cream Raisin pie and it is just to die for. There is one huge but when it comes to this pie. I have tried to make it myself and I discovered what the but is. It just doesn't taste the same without proper sour cream. By that I mean that my grandparents (and uncles) milked their own cows and separated their own milk producing wonderful natural untouched cream. I have to admit that there is nothing better than fresh milk and fresh cream. Gramma would allow the cream to sour naturally. Not so much that it was bad of course but just enough that you didn't want to dollop it on top of a bowl of berries. That is when you make the sour cream raisin pie. It is just not the same using the homogenised, pasteurised and cultured sour cream that you buy in stores. I would love to be able to buy real milk and cream. Alas I do not know anyone who milks their own cows (with the exception of my uncles, but they are in Canada not Australia), not that I really blame them, owning milk cows is hard work. Another problem is that it is illegal to sell so called "raw" milk for consumption. Ah, I guess that I will just have to make another trip to Canada so that I can make a sour cream raisin pie. 

Now that I have waxed lyrical about my favourite pies I am going to tell you that I made something completely different. Blueberries are as close as it gets to saskatoons here and since I had a yen for pie I decided that it would be a good idea to try making one. After a quick google search I came up with this delectable looking Blueberry pie recipe over on Simply Recipes. I couldn't wait for it to cool down so the filling did run a bit when I cut into it but it was worth it to eat this wonderful pie. I didn't make the pastry recipe linked to in that recipe. I instead made my Gramma's recipe like I do for almost all pastry items that I make. It is a wonderful recipe. My Gramma made it with lard. I make it either with shortening (if I have it) but more often that not just with butter. It is best made with lard though. 

Shortcrust Pastry

Ingredients: 

2 c (220 g) flour
1 tsp salt

2 tbsp caster sugar (for sweet pies only, which is my addition)
2/3 c (150 g) lard, shortening or butter
1 tbsp vinegar
1 small egg
water

Combine flour, salt and caster sugar. Cut in lard using a pastry cutter, or use a food processor. 

Place egg in a 1 cup measure and lightly beat, add vinegar and top up with water to 3/4 cup. Add to flour mixture and little at a time until you have a soft pastry (you probably won't need all the liquid). 

Individual Chicken & Leek Pies

Just a quick post tonight. I am really tired. I had a long day at work. I have holidays starting next week but there is still a bunch of stuff that needs to be done before I can go so it is necessary to put in a couple of big days. I had kind of expected to be busy this evening but, well, sometimes things fall through.

I have a bunch of things that I have made recently that are starting to pile up. This one had slipped off the front page of my flickr account and I had been worried about forgetting about it. Although these pies were so good that I don't think I could really forget about them. I liked the little bite with the cayenne pepper, although I would probably add a touch more next time or perhaps even some hot smoked paprika. The tarragon was lovely in it as well although a tad strong but that may have just been me putting more in that I should have. I have a tendency to get a little heavy handed with the fresh herbs. I made these a pot pies, ie without the bottom pastry, instead of a traditional pie. These are from the lunch section but I served it with some mashed potato and veg for dinner and it made a great meal. 

Individual Chicken & Leek Pies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 500g chichen breast, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil (I used rice bran)
• 25g butter
• 2 leeks (white part only), sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 cup fresh peas, boiled for 5 minutes
• 1 tbsp chopped tarragon
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 4 sheets ready made puff pastry (one sheet if just making pot pies)
• 1 egg yolk (for glazing)

Method: 

• Combine flour, peppers and salt in a plastic bag. Add chicken and shake well.
• Heat oil and butter in a pan over high heat. Add chicken and stir fry till lightly browned and sealed but not cooked all the way through. Remove chicken.
• Reduce heat to medium and place leeks and garlic in the pan cook for 5 minutes, or until soft. Add wine and boil for 1 minute.
• Add stock and cream and simmer gently for a further 5 minutes.
• Add chicken, peas and tarragon and cook for a minute longer. Remove from heat and let cool. Stir in parsley.
• Pre-heat over to 180C. Cut pastry to lines bases, sides and tops of 4 pie tins.
• Spoon filling into pastry cases and brush edges with egg yolk. Place tops on pies and seal.
• Brush tops with egg yolk and make 3 piercings with a knife or fork in the top of each pie.
• Bake 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Bill's Apple & Rhubarb Pie

Busy, busy day at work today. I felt like I barely had time to turn around. I was so tired mid-afternoon but had a small banana as a pick-me-up and felt much better after that. Even if the banana did cost heaven and earth. We are really starting to feel the effect of of the devastation from cyclone Yasi in far north Queensland. I did even think to look at the price before I bought them and for 4 small bananas it cost $5.70! It was just what I needed though. However next time I think I will need to buy some thing else. While bananas are my preferred fruit I will not pay huge amounts for them.

Speaking of paying large amounts for fruit, I paid an outrageous sum of money for some rhubarb to make this fabulous pie. I love rhubarb and I have some planted in the garden but it just doesn't seem to be doing any good. I hope that it will grow and produce at some stage. The price paid for the rhubarb was worth it for this terrific pie. My grandmother gave me some freshly picked granny smith apples from their tree so I invited them up for dinner a couple of weekends ago. I had planned on making a couple of Bill's recipes on the night but I was unable to get a nice whole fish to do make what I wanted. Plus the pie wouldn't really go with a fish meal. Instead I decided to go with Jamie Oliver's Moorish Pork Chops. They were really nice, except for the fact that I overcooked them slightly and they ended up a bit dry. My grandparents thought they were fine but for me a touch dry. My grandmother was particularly taken with the bean dish that went with them. 

Bill's pie was a big hit too, although the pastry was so crumbly and it fell apart as soon as I looked at it let alone cut it. Plus the edges browned way too much. When I make my regular apple pie, actually most fruit pies, I don't normally cook the filling first. I have always had a lot of success doing it that way. That is the way that my mum always did pies and is the way that my mum's mother did it too. I was curious as to how this one would turn out and I was quite impressed with the results. It tasted so good. My apples were very tart, in fact they were too tart to eat uncooked, if you apples are okay to eat fresh I would probably reduce the amount of sugar a bit. I would also recommend making this pie the day before you want to serve it. I made it on the day and as I said before the pastry was so crumbly but the next day it cut perfectly and didn't fall apart. Definitely much easier to handle the next day. The pastry was also very hard to handle when attempting to roll out. I would definitely recommend rolling out between two pieces of baking paper to make it easier to move it. Over all, this recipe is definitely a keeper. 

Apple & Rhubarb Pie 

Ingredients

• 1kg Granny Smiths, peeled, cored and finely sliced
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 50g butter, cut into small pieces
• 300g rhubarb, chopped
• 300g catser sugar
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 tspn ground cinnamon
• 1 qty shortcrust pastry (recipe below)
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar for sprinkling

Method:

• Toss the apples with the lemon juice and zest.  
• Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat.  
• Add the apples and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened slightly.  
• Add the rhubarb and the sugar and cook for 1 minute further.  
• Add the flour and cinnamon, stir gently to combine.  Allow to cool.
• Place 2/3 of the pastry between two pieces of baking paper and roll out until 4mm thick.  
• Lightly press into a 23cm pie tin and refrigerate while the filling is cooling.  
• Preheat the oven to 200c.
• Spread the apples & rhubarb evenly in the pie shell.
• Roll out remaining pastry in between baking paper until 4mm thick.  
• Cover pie with rolled pastry. Trim, press edges of the pie firmly together and crimp the outer rim with your fingertips. Cut a couple of holes in the top crust.  
• Sprinkle with caster sugar.  
• Bake the pie for 1 hour or until the crust is golden brown. (Watch closely from about 45 minutes it browns quickly)

Shortcrust Pastry 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 360g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup cream

Method:

• Place flour, icing sugar, salt and butter in food processor and process until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  
• Add just enough cream for mixture to form a ball.  
• Divide pastry into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.

July 2009 - Creamy Chicken, Pea & Bacon Pies

Well coming to the end of July and I really struggled with what to make out of this issue. I was going to make the Beef Daube on the front cover but I just haven't had the time. I was then going to make the Creamy Pancetta, Brie & Mushroom Croissants. They sounded terrific and would make a good brunch. I even bought croissants to make it but they never made it that far, I just ate them heated with jam....yum!

Finally I decided to make the Creamy Chicken, Pea &  Bacon Pies. These were lovely looking and I thought that it would be something that would be great to have for a very busy night tomorrow night. I am decorating a birthday cake tomorrow after work and I also have to make a couple of dips. So in between making buttercream for the cake and dipping strawberries in dark chocolate I made the filling for these pies. The filling was a little salty but very tasty. So I placed it in one of my Corelle serving bowls and covered with glad wrap to place in the fridge. While doing this I managed to knock the bowl off the counter dumping the contents on the floor and smashing my bowl. So, unfortunately I will not be able to make my pies tomorrow night and since I will be spending Saturday at the party I will not get a chance to make anything else from this issue. I will definitely give this another go as I really liked the filling and it was really easy to do. 

Creamy Chicken, Pea & Bacon Pies 

Serves 4 

Ingredients

• 2 - 3 tbsp sunflower oil
• 4 chicken breast fillets, cut into 2 cm cubes (I cut mine smaller) 
• 6 bacon rashers, chopped 
• 1 large onion, diced 
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
• 150 ml dry white wine 
• 4 bay leaves 
• 3 tsp thyme leaves 
• 60 g unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 c (35 g) plain flour
• 2 c (500 ml) chicken stock, heated
• 1/3 c (80 ml) thickened cream 
• 3 tbsp creme fraiche or sour cream 
• 1 c (120 g) frozen peas 
• 375 g block puff pastry, thawed 
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Method

• Heat oil in deep pan, cook chicken in batches until browned, set aside in a bowl. 
• Add bacon to pan and fry until slightly crispy. Add to bowl with chicken. 
• Add onion to pan and cook until soft without colouring, then add garlic. 
• Add wine and herbs to pan and reduce to approx 1 tbsp. The add to bowl with chicken & bacon. 
• Melt butter in pan add flour and cook for 2 minutes or until golden. 
• Slowly add stock, stirring, and cook until smooth and thickened. 
• Return chicken mixture to pan with cream and simmer until thickened. 
• Season to taste and the place in a bowl and cool completely. 
• Remove bay leaves. 
• Pre-heat oven to 200 C. 
• Mix the creme fraiche and peas into the chicken mixture. 
• Spoon into 4 individual pie dishes, or one 2 litre baking dish. 
• Roll out pastry to 5 mm thick. Cut out 4 rounds to use as lids. Cut a thin strip from the edge of each piece, brush with a little water and press onto the rim of each pie dish. 
• Brush once more with water, then cover each dish with pastry. Press pastry edges together to seal, then trim excess. 
• Brush the tops of the pies with a little egg. 
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until pastry is golden and the filling is heated through, then serve. 

June 2006 - Greek Egg & Feta Pies

Okay, so I really want to get another post done but I am not feeling too well tonight so I will keep it reasonably short. Although I must say that it really will not be hard to keep it short on this one. I certainly wasn't overwhelmed for choice of vegetarian meals from issue #50. There are only 7 vegetarian recipes from the 48 recipes listed in the index, excluding desserts and side dishes. That really is a disappointing number.

I was going to make Valli Little's Spiced Haloumi Pasta. An intriguing mixture of pasta, haloumi and Indian spices served with naan and mango chutney. I was unable to find any fresh curry leaves (or dried for that matter) so I decided to leave this one for a time when I am able to get some. I have bought fresh curry leaves locally in the past so I am assuming that it is a seasonal product and this just isn't the right season.

I ended up making Jill Dupleix's Greek Egg & Feta Pies. These were incredibly simple and very tasty. I only did two things differently. I used puff pastry instead of phaffing around with filo and I chopped up the black olives and sprinkled them on top before baking. I would definitely make these again. Jill suggested serving with salad but it was cold so I cooked some beans and reheated the last of the Airport Potatoes to go with them.

Greek Egg & Feta Pies (my way, LOL)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet puff pastry (thawed)
  
• 4 large eggs
  
• 30 g feta, crumbled (I am not sure how much I used, I think I could have used more)
  
• 1 green onion, green part only finely sliced
• 4 black olives finely chopped

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 C.
  
• Divide puff pastry into four. Roll each piece slightly and then use to line a well greased texas muffin pan.
  
• Crack egg into each of the pastry cases being careful not to break the yolk.
  
• Sprinkle with feta, green onions and olives. Season with pepper.
  
• Bake in oven for 15 minute or until pastry is golden and eggs are set.
  

May 2007 - Torta Pasqualina

The recipe on the cover of issue 60, Torta di Verona (mascarpone trifle with blueberries and almonds), looks divine and I am sure that it would taste divine too. However I had already made a dessert this month and had another one planned, which was not delicious. magazine related. Due to this I didn't think that I could make a third one this month.

Jamie Oliver's Mushroom Stroganoff soup sounded really good. He also had a recipe for Steak & Mushroom pie which includes grated cheddar as one of the ingredients which sounded lovely too. Neither of these recipes seem all that Italian to me even if he does talk about mushroom picking with Gennaro Contaldo. Jamie also has Real Mushroom soup recipe (not in this issue) that I have made in the past that is fabulous and I would highly recommend making. Since I had made a similar recipe of his in the past I decided to make something else.

I tossed up making either Debbie Major's Prosciutto, Goat's Cheese & Roast Capsicum Pizza or Steak Tagliata with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes. I have, however, already made a pizza and a pasta dish this month and I really wanted to make something different.

To this end I decided to make Angela Boggiano's Torta Pasqualina which is a ricotta, artichoke and spinach pie type thing. It was really easy to make. It made for a very nice lunch. I think that it could have been a bit better with some different artichoke hearts. The recipe called for ones that were marinated in oil, however all I had were ones in brine. I think that there was a bit of a flavour dimension missing there. I have had the marinated artichoke hearts in oil before, they are really nice on toasted focaccia with sun-dried tomatoes, roasted capsicum, olives and salami. These ones tasted nothing like those. They were quite bland and, of course, that smoothness that the oil adds was missing. Next time I make this I will use the correct artichokes.

I was really pleased with the pastry. It was just lovely and I think that I will definitely use this pastry for other things. It was so easy to make. The olive oil substituted beautifully for the butter. I was initially slightly worried that it was not going to roll out very well as it seemed a bit stiff and hard (for want of a better word) before I let it rest. After the resting period it was just perfect to work with. I rolled it out without any problems. It lifted off my rolling sheet without splitting or cracking, which is more than I can say about some of the pastries that I have made recently. It was just so beautiful to work with and it cooked wonderfully. I think that the only thing that I would leave out next time is the additional two eggs that are cracked into depressions in the filling. The yolks of the cut egg in the picture looks really weird. It tasted and smelt okay so I am not really sure why it looked the way it did. The extra eggs just seemed unnecessary to me. I did enjoy it though and would probably make it again.

Torta Pasqualina

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 c (300 g) flour, plus extra to dust
  
• 1/3 c (80 ml) olive oil
  
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 6 marinated artichokes in oil, drained & roughly chopped
• 400 g spinach leaves, washed
• Large handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 450 g fresh ricotta, well drained
  
• 50 g parmesan, grated
• 6 large eggs
  
• Mixed salad, to serve

Method

• For Pastry: Mix flour & pinch of salt in a bowl.
  
• Add 2 tbsp oil and about 150 ml warm water and mix to form a dough.
  
• Knead for 5 minutes or until soft and stretchy (mine wasn't but I didn't want to over work it, it was after resting though). Set aside for 15 minutes.
  
• For Filling: Heat remaining oil in pan over medium heat. Add onion and fry, stirring often for 5 minute or until softened.
  
• Stir in artichokes and stir for a few minutes.
  
• Add spinach and allow to wilt for a few minutes.
  
• Remove from heat and cool slightly,
  
• Pre-heat oven to 220 C.
  
• In a food processor add spinach mixture, parsley, ricotta, parmesan and 3 eggs. Season with salt & pepper and pulse to combine.
  
• Take 2/3 of the dough and roll out into a 38 cm circle and line base and sides of 23 cm springform tin (with overhang). Spoon in filling.
  
• Make two indents and crack in two eggs.
  
• Roll out remaining pastry to a 23 cm circle and lay on top rolling edges of pastry together to seal.
  
• Brush with remaining beaten egg and sprinkle with salt.
  
• Bake 35 minutes or until golden.
  

February 2008 - Strawberry Muffins

There were two recipes that I have had marked to try since I bought issue #68 the first is Belinda Jeffery's Star Anise Chicken with Gingered Red Cabbage. I had intended all along to make it to post here. However when I was looking red cabbage was really expensive. I have, however found half a tiny head that was reasonably priced so I will probably make it this weekend. I may even post it as an extra, so stay tuned.

The other recipe that I have had marked to make were some lush looking Strawberry Muffins that are part of a feature by Valli Little on healthy back to school lunch boxes. There are a number of other recipes in there that I may try at some point too as I am always looking for something nice for lunch. The Spicy Felafel Wraps sound great although I am very partial to Simon Bryant's Felafel with Yoghurt sauce that he made on The Cook and The Chef show on the ABC here in Oz. The Lamb Pasties definite sound like something to try and have in the freezer for when I can't be bothered doing anything but turn the oven on. The Potato Frittata sounds great but I am reluctant to use 8 eggs in anything that doesn't involve sugar.

In the end the decision to make the Strawberry Muffins wasn't hard as my local IGA supermarket had strawberries on a very good special so I picked up a punnet or 6. I used some of them to make a Glazed Strawberry Tart on the weekend from my Gramma's recipe. It was beautiful.

That took almost 4 punnets but I still had another 2 and a bit to use up. I had some for breakfast with cereal but I decided that I would take one of the extra punnets and make the muffins. They are soft and have a subtle strawberry flavour with the chunks of berry disintegrating slightly. They have the right amount of sweetness. Perhaps the only complaint is that there is a bit much butter. I think I would reduce it to 60 g next time. Although with the giant mint slice, the pie and now muffins I certainly will not be making them again any time soon. I have put most of the muffins in the freezer so that there is something sweet when a craving hits.

Strawberry Muffins

Makes 12 (I actually got 20)

Ingredients

• 400g plain flour, sifted
• 165g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 punnet strawberries, chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 300ml buttermilk
• 80g unsalted butter, melted, cooled

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 190 C (fan-forced).
  
• Line muffin trays with papers.
  
• Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and stir well.
  
• Add strawberries and stir to coat in the flour.
  
• Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl. (I used my 500ml measuring jug)
• Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until only just combined.
  
• Fill papers 2/3 to 3/4 full.
  
• Bake 18 - 20 minutes or until risen and slightly golden.