Silverbeet Pie

This is a recipe of my Mum's. It is one of my favourites and I can remember her making it from when I was little. There wasn't much that I didn't like, food wise, when I was a child. There was a few things, parsnips, brussels sprouts and some sort of "pie" thing that my dad made on mum's grocery shopping afternoon and was later home than usual. I hated it so much that I found his recipe and threw it away. I don't remember what happened for dinners when mum was late after that. 

Anyway, that really doesn't have anything to do with this. My mum was a great cook, not a fancy one, but very good. She taught me all the basics. There was also some harder things that we used to make together. Just thinking about it, it is probably time to pull some of those recipes out and give them another whirl. Although I do wonder if those things were so good just because it was my mum and I making them together. 

I was about 10 when mum showed my how she made this. It really is a cook by feel dish now. I remember that my mum used to put the eggs, milk and a chunk of cheese in a blender and pulse it until the cheese was chopped into small - medium bits. I loved it when she left them a bit bigger as the cheese would be oozy. I haven't had a blender for years so now use grated cheese. I have never played around with this recipe. With the exception of the grated cheese, I make it exactly the same way as my mum did. The pastry on the bottom is usually a bit soggy and I am sure there is something that could be done to cook it better but, to be honest, that is part of the memory of what makes it so good. You could use spinach in place of the silverbeet.

Silverbeet Pie

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

1/2 to 1 bunch silverbeet, white stalk remove, roughly chopped, steamed and well drained

1 small onion, finely diced 

1 - 2 cloves garlic, crushed 

5 eggs

1/4 c milk (full-cream is best otherwise it can be a bit watery)

1 c grated cheese

Pre-heat oven to 180 C (fan-forced). 

Line pie plate with the puff pastry and pinch edges.

Place onion and garlic in a ramekin with a drizzle of oil and cook in microwave for 1 - 2 minutes on medium or until onion is softened. (You could do this on the stove if you want) 

Put silverbeet in the bottom of the pie plate, sprinkle on onion mix and 3/4 c cheese. 

Whisk together eggs and milk and pour into pie plate. 

Top with remaining cheese and cook for 40 - 45 minutes or until set. 

Paradise Pear, Pancetta & Camembert Tart

Wow, is it February already? Hard to believe really. I haven't been all that well over the past couple of weeks so they have seemed to kind of disappear. Hopefully things will improve though. 

I haven't been doing a lot of cooking but I did make these lovely little tarts a while ago. While shopping the one day I saw a package of Paradise Pears. These are tiny little pears. I remembered seeing them in stores last year too but hadn't bought them. So I decided that I would get some and experiment. I decided to use some in a savoury dish. I came across this recipe on Taste and adapted it to how I wanted them to be. I served it with a lovely little side salad. It was a perfect result, if I do say so myself. The sweetness from the caramelised onion & pears combined perfectly with the salty pancetta and silky custard. Camembert was just the icing on the cake.

Paradise Pear, Pancetta & Camembert Tart

Pastry:

1 1/2 cups plain flour
125 g butter, cubed
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp white vinegar
water to make up 1/2 c with egg & vinegar

Combine flour & salt, cut in butter. Combine egg & vinegar and add water. Add slowly to flour & butter mixture until you get a soft pastry. (You probably wont need all the liquid) Wrap in glad wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll out and line 10 cm individual tart pans. Place tart pans on a baking tray and chill in freezer for 20 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 180 C.
Line pastry shells with baking paper and fill with pie weights/beans/rice and bake for 15 minutes. Remove baking paper and weights and return to oven for a further 10 - 15 minutes or until slightly golden.

For filling: 

3 Paradise pears 

30 g butter

2 tsp brown sugar 

2 tbsp caramelised onions

4 very thin slices pancetta

150 g camembert

2 eggs 

1/2 c milk

salt & pepper, to taste

Halve and core pears. Heat half the butter in a pan over a medium heat until foamy. Add 3 pear halves and cook until golden. Sprinkle with half the sugar and cook, turning occasionally, until caramelised. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining butter, and the remaining pears and sugar. 

Wipe out fry pan and increase heat to medium high. Add pancetta slices and cook until crispy. Remove to a plate lined with paper to drain, and then crumble. 

Place a small amount of caramelised onions in the bottom of each tart shell, top with some crumbled pancetta, two pear halves and some chunks of camembert. 

Lightly beat eggs in a measuring jug, add milk and salt & pepper and whisk to combine then pour into tart tins. 

Bake at 180 C (fan forced) for 18 - 20 minutes or until set and golden. 

Bill's Ricotta and Tomato Tart

I woke up one morning 5 days ago with a large red mark on my face. It looked rather strange so I got squeezed in at the doctor. She wasn't really sure what it was but thought probably some kind of infection so put me on antibiotics. I ended up having to go home from work early that day. Luckily the next day was Wednesday and my day off work. I was okay in the morning but slept most of the afternoon away. I did manage to work the next day but it looked like it was spreading so I toddled off to the doctor again but she didn't want me to change anything but to come back the next day. By the end of the work day I was completely wrecked and my boss told me not to come in the next day. It was a relief not to have to get up and go to work yesterday. I went back to the doctor. Some of the redness had gone down and there was a clear lump so she thought that perhaps I had been bitten by a spider during the night. No change to the medication, just keep on with it and I should be okay. I, again, slept most of the afternoon away. It has been an unpleasant experience and I am still feeling pretty awful. I hope I am okay by Monday.

This is one of my catching up on things long past made. Part of what I love so much about this cook book is that it is divided up into breakfast, lunch and dinner. Although most of the lunch & dinner recipes can be flipped around easily. I was in the supermarket one day and came across a 1 kg package of fresh ricotta reduced in price and remembering Bill's fabulous looking Ricotta and Tomato Tart I decided to get it and make it. Bill gives a recipe for a rough puff pastry but being short of time and tired on the day I really didn't feel like making pastry so I used some frozen sheets of puff pastry. Since I was using these I decided that it was best to put it all in a pie dish rather than attempting a free-form pie. I really enjoyed this. It was a lot lighter than a traditional quiche but still substantial enough to make a main meal. It would be rather plain without the tomato, I think that the addition of some sautéed onion to the mix would make a real difference. I did actually use the rocket, I decided to put aside my normal aversion to it as I knew that the peppery taste would help. It was lovely hot for dinner but just as good cold for lunch the next day. This one will definitely be going into the rotation for lunches. 

Ricotta and Tomato Tart 

Ingredients 

• 2 medium ripe tomatoes, finely sliced
• 2 c ricotta
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 c cream
• 1/4 c finely grated Parmesan
• 1 c rocket, finely shredded

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 200 C. 
• Line greased pie dish with two sheets of thawed puff pastry, overlapping so completely cover the dish. 
• Mix together ricotta, eggs, cream, parmasean and season with salt and black pepper.
• Fold in the rocket and then spoon mixture into prepared pie shell. 
• Layer the thinly sliced tomatoes over the cheese mixture, overlapping them slightly. 
• Bake for 35-40 minutes (or until crust is golden and middle is set).
• Allow to rest for about 15 minutes before slicing.
• Serve with a green salad. 

January 2007 - Crustless Ham and Spinach Quiches

I was really spoilt for choice in issue #56. Jamie Oliver's Lychee Martini was very hard to pass up, in fact the only reason I did was because vermouth was just a bit pricey for me at the moment. I considered Valli Little's Labne with mangoes and honey, but I had already done my sweet dish for the month and there was also the jelly cakes so something sweet was not to be. I almost chose to make Valli's Stuffing Burgers. The recipe used the meat from turkey sausages which I knew that I wouldn't be able to source here but I can normally procure turkey mince. Unfortunately there wasn't any available when I went shopping. That left me with my fourth eye-catching recipe; Jill Dupleix's Crustless Ham & Spinach Quiches.

I will admit up front that I adore Jill's recipes I have a number of her books and cook from them regularly. Her recipes are normally easy, tasty, fresh and healthy and this one definitely fit the bill. Another appeal of this recipe was that it would be something that could be eaten hot on the day of cooking but also cold on subsequent days and would be perfect for lunches. I tend to come home from work for lunch but since I am normally late getting away and then stop at the post office to collect mail I usually don't have a lot of time to be pfaffing around in the kitchen so I like to have something in the fridge that I can just throw on a plate (or straight from a container) to eat.

Stuffing around with the squares of baking paper to line the muffin pan was a pain and I think that in future I either wouldn't bother or I would use the Multix Muffin Cafe Collection Wraps that are used here. I have never used them myself but it has to be easier to just pull them out of the box and but them in the tin instead of squishing and folding and re-folding...argh!

Crustless ham and spinach quiches

Makes 8 (I only got 6)

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch English spinach, leaves picked (I used baby spinach)
• 6 large eggs
• 100 ml milk or pure (thin) cream
• 2 tbsp finely chopped chives or flat-leaf parsley
  
• 1 tbsp grated parmesan or gruyere
• Melted unsalted butter, to brush
• 2 thick slices (about 80 g) ham, roughly chopped
• 4 cherry tomatoes, halved

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 C.
  
• Cut eight 14 cm squares of baking paper and press in to line eight 1/3-cup (80 ml) muffin holes.
  
• Blanch the spinach in a saucepan of boiling water for 1 minute or until wilted. (I steamed mine) Drain and refresh in cold water, squeeze dry and roughly chop.
  
• In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk or cream, chives or parsley and cheese Season with salt and pepper.
  
• Brush the baking paper with a little melted butter. Scatter spinach and ham in each hole, fill with egg mix and top with tomato halves, cut side up.
  
• Bake in the oven for 18 - 20 minuted until just set. Set aside to cool in the muffin pan.
  

I served mine with a Watermelon, cucumber, feta and olive salad a lovely refreshing lunch.