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. 

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.
  

March 2005 - Vineyard Sausages with grapes

This time of year it is difficult to know what to make from one day to the next as the weather is so changeable. One day it is cool and it is hot meals all-round and then the next it blistering hot again and salads are the order of the day. This can be quite frustrating when planning a menu ahead of time.

There are some wonderful features and recipes in this issue. Jamie Oliver's New York diner food recipes looked pretty good, the Reuben-ish sandwich in particular. I wasn't quite as taken with the Corned beef hash with fried egg that called for canned corned beef. I just cannot bring myself to purchase that stuff, shudder. Valli Little's Last of the Summer Wine feature had some great options, watercress & potato salad, fillet of beef with horseradish cream and roast capsicum. I considered making these as part of a meal however the fillet of beef is very simmer to one that I have already done and I was unable to find any watercress so that ruled out the salad.

I ended up making a recipe from Jill Dupleix's feature Tutti Fruitti where all the recipes used fruit. On first looking through this issue I marked this recipe, Vineyard Sausages with Grapes, as a possible one to make. I had never used grapes in a savoury dish and I was intrigued as to what it would be like. I was impressed with it. The sausages were nice and spicy and the grapes were sweet not too sickly sweet. I served it with some char-grilled parmesan polenta and steamed spinach. It was a good meal and filled me nicely.

Vineyard Sausages with grapes

Ingredients:

• 750g firm, ripe green grapes
• 8 Italian-style coarse pork sausages
• 1tbsp olive oil
• sea salt
• pepper
• 2tbsp flat parsley leaves

Method:

• Prick the sausages.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the sausages. Pan-fry slowly, turning every couple of minutes, until firm and golden-brown.
  
• Add the grapes, sea salt and pepper. Cook gently for a few minutes.
• Pile the sausages on to a warm serving platter and top with the warmed grapes. Drizzle with any pan juices and scatter with parsley leaves.

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.