Spanakopita - A foray into Greek cuisine

Although I really enjoy Greek food I very rarely cook it. Greek food is simple and healthy using fresh vegetables and herbs, fish and meat, it shares many of the characteristics of my favourite cuisine of all -Italian- most notably it's wide use of olives and olive oil.

Clearly something had to be done about my lack of Greek cooking experience, and what better place to start than with one of Greece's most famous dishes, Spanakopita.Spanakopita is a spinach and feta pie made using filo pastry. Filo, meaning leaf or sheet is a type of pastry that unlike other pastries comes in wafer thin sheets which are layered up before being filled and baked. The resulting pastry is very light and wonderfully crispy and crunchy.

Normally I would make my own pastry but when it comes to filo there's no shame in buying it ready made. For the filling I used spinach, feta, spring onions, dill, eggs and a little nutmeg, it's probably not very authentic but hey, it if tastes good...

Ingredients:
A packet of filo pastry
olive oil
A couple of handfuls of spinach blanched, chopped and excess water squeezed out.
A small bunch of dill chopped
2 eggs
2oog feta crumbled
5-6 large spring onions/scallions, chopped
A grating of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Tip: Once you have opened the packet of filo you should keep it covered with a damp tea towel to stop it drying out - it dries out really fast!

• For the filling mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, season and set aside.
• Take a baking dish and lightly brush with olive oil, lay a sheet of filo on top and brush with oil. lay another sheet over the first and continue to layer up. Filo sheet, oil, filo sheet, oil until half the pastry is gone.
• Fill the lined dish with the spinach mixture and top with the remaining pastry brushing each sheet with a little oil as you go.
• Bake at a medium heat about 180c until golden and crispy.
• Serve with buttered new potatoes and steamed vegetables.
  

Just peachy

A Pithivier is a French pastry or pie with an almond frangipane filling, very similar in fact to a British Bakewell tart. Although it looks plain from the outside it contains a filling that is sticky, sweet, nutty and altogether delicious.

There are plenty of variations on the recipe both sweet and savoury, my own twist was to add peaches both for colour and to cut the richness of the frangipane. I was slightly worried that the juice from the peaches would turn my pastry into a soggy mess but I needn't have worried. The peaches worked brilliantly with the almond filling, my only regret is that I didn't add more!
I used this recipe by Wolfgang Puck as a guide, I simply added tinned sliced peaches (in the summer I would use fresh) in between layers of frangipane filling.

Traditional mince pies

Mincemeat is a Christmas essential in the UK, it just wouldn't be Christmas without it. Made from a boozy mixture of fruits, spices, sugar and alcohol it's most common use is in traditional mince pies.

It is a good idea to have a good supply of these on hand, ready for unexpected Christmas visitors. They are delicious served still warm and even better with an unhealthy amount of brandy butter and a generous glass of mulled wine!

My home-made mince pies

So here it is, the recipe for mincemeat. Possibly the easiest recipe ever!

Mincemeat (makes around 4lb)

Ingredients
12 oz Apples – Grated
2 oz chopped mixed peel
18 oz mixed dried fruit, e.g. raisins, currants and sultanas
6 oz shredded suet (I used vegetarian suet)
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp mace
1 oz flaked almonds
6 oz soft brown sugar
Zest and juice of a lemon and an orange
2 ½ tbspn Brandy or rum

Method

Put all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl and stir until well mixed. It should look something like this.
Pack the mixture into sterilised jars and leave to mature for at least 1 week. It will become darker and stickier over time. (It should keep for quite a few months)

Mince pies

For the best flavour use and all butter pastry for making mince pies, it has the best flavour.

I can't remember where I found this recipe but it is excellent. Makes enough pastry for 24 pies.

All Butter Crust for Sweet and Savory Pies (Pâte Brisée)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 to 6 Tbsp ice water

Method

Rub the butter into the flour, sugar and salt until well incorporated.
Drop by drop add the ice water and work into a dough, try to handle the mixture as little as possible.
Rest the pastry in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
To make mince pies

Preheat your oven to 350f/180c/gas 4.

Roll out a third of your pastry, using a pastry cutter cut 24 discs of pastry and line two twelve hole shallow pie trays.

Place a teaspoon of mincemeat in each pastry case.

Roll out the remaining pastry and cut out smaller discs for the pie lid, top each case with a pastry lid.

Dust the pies with icing sugar and bake for around thirty minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!
What foods do you cook for Christmas?

Steak pie

I am a huge fan of pies of every type, from shepherds pie to apple pie and everything in between, you name it I love it! There is nothing like the smell of a pie baking, or the satisfaction that comes from breaking through the crust to reveal the delicious filling.

I don't tend to eat pies during the summer, but when the weather turns cooler pies are exactly the kind of food I crave, warming, comforting and tasty!

I am always disappointed with ready made pies, normally the filling consists of masses of gravy and hardly any meat. What meat there is is in tiny pathetic little pieces, I like big chunks of meat in mine, the only way to get that is to do it myself.

So I made my all-time favourite pie, steak and kidney. At least it was going to be steak and kidney except, it turned out that the kidneys that I had in the freezer weren't in the freezer. after a long search empying the freezer, my hands going blue I gave up! I think someone must have stolen them!

So here it is kidney-less steak and kidney pie AKA "Cow Pie"This pie is made in two stages, the first stage is basically a casserole, braising steak is perfect for this but it needs long slow cooking. I prepared it in the morning and left it to simmer for hours on a very low light. the next stage is when it becomes a pie, the meat gets a pastry lid and is baked until golden delicious.

Tarte Aux Pommes or French Apple tart

I've got to hand it to the French, no one can make pastries quite like they can. A visit to a French patisserie is as much a treat for the eyes as it is for the stomach, the hard part is knowing what to choose! Who can resist an éclair with freshly whipped cream? I know I can't! While their fruit tarts are such beautiful works of art it seems a shame to eat them!
For the most part I'm happy to leave patisserie to the professionals, the level of skill required to produce such elegant pastries is way beyond me. That said I did attempt a classic French apple tart, which although simple still makes an impressive dessert, great if you want to show off!I was pleasantly surprised at just how easy this was to make, although as I had a lot of very small apples to peel it was a little time consuming. The end result was excellent the perfect combination of crisp buttery pastry and soft sweet apples, made even better with a generous pouring of cream but then, what isn't?.

You can find a great recipe for this tart here.

Wild blackberries

I am particularly lucky to have a nature reserve just 5 minutes walk from my house. The area is a 'green wedge' that cuts right into the city, the whole place is full of wildlife, hundreds if not thousands of rabbits there as well as unusual birds and plants.
Of particular interest to me are the Blackberry bushes, literally thousands and thousands of them line the paths, at this time of year all of them laden with juicy and delicious fruit. I find it impossible to walk past blackberries without stopping to grab some, they are far too tempting for me to pass up!

So last week I went down there myself box in hand and got picking. It's a painful job as the cuts and scratches on my arms testify! It also turned my hands an interesting shade of purple! It is well worth it though, I filled two boxes, which was enough to make this crumble tart and have some for the freezer.

Imagine a pie crossed with a crumble and you have a crumble tart, pastry case with a crumble topping. I used my wild blackberries and some fantastic Bramley apples that I was very kindly given. Apples and blackberries are perfect companions and Bramley apples are probably the very best cooking apple.
I served this tart still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Classic Pumpkin Pie

I made this pumpkin pie a few weeks ago now, in an attempt to clear some space in our freezer I have been trying to use up anything which has been lost down the back and forgotten about. These are normally either strange ingredients that no one quite knows what to do with or else they are unlabelled "mystery items" that are unidentifiable and have been there so long they are covered in a thick layer of frost!
In this case it is the former, pumpkin is an unusual ingredient in England, rarely used and hard to find in the shops (although squash is becoming more common it is still "exotic"). I happen to have a load of pumpkin that I grew myself, not knowing what to do with it I diced it and froze it, and the freezer is where it has remained ever since.I only know of one use for pumpkin and that is pumpkin pie, it is a great shame that this fantastic dessert is not more widely known in this country, I have never seen it for sale anywhere. So if you want one you have to make it yourself. The recipe I used is a photocopy from a friend of a friend and unfortunately I don't know who the original author is, needless to say it is a really good recipe that I have made a few times and it never fails.

If anyone has any other good uses for pumpkin please let me know, I still have plenty left!

Pumpkin Pie
You will need 1 9 inch pie crust and the following

• 2 Large eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1 can (16 ounces) pumpkin or make your own pumpkin purée
• 1 can (12 ounces) of evaporated milk

Method

• Heat oven to 425f
• Beat the eggs in a bowl with a whisk then beat in remaining ingredients.
• Pour into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes (to prevent spilling place the pie shell on the oven rack then pour in the filling).
• After 15 minutes lower the temperature to 325f and bake for a further 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
• Chill in the fridge for 4 hours and serve with whipped cream.

Apricot cream tart, My best dessert ever?...

Last week I made what I think is my best ever dessert, I didn't set out to make it but I couldn't resist a whole bagful of fresh apricots for £1! there was probably 4lbs of fruit which is way more than we could eat so... My Dad made some jam which is really good, and I made an Apricot tart.
The recipe is loosely based on Rick Stein's redcurrant tart that was in Sainsbury's magazine. I changed the redcurrants for apricots and made an almond pastry as it goes so well with apricot, the filling is a custard filling made with double cream, eggs, icing sugar and a real vanilla pod. First I made the pastry, it's a simple all butter shortcrust recipe to which I added a little sugar and almond extract, this was blind baked to make the case.
The filling is made from half a pint a double cream, 2 eggs, 5oz sugar and vanilla. The apricots were stoned and halved, placed in rings in the pastry case, I then poured in my custard mixture and baked it in a low oven for about an hour.
The result is a dessert that not only looks brilliant but tastes great, the flavours were perfectly balanced and it was just the right level of sweet and a contrasting sharpness from the fruit, the pastry was crisp and delicious. Overall it was perfect!
This would be fantastic to take to a bring and share lunch which is what I plan to do.

Strawberry and Blueberry tart

I don't know about you but I am bored of winter food, and winter in general come to think of it. Last night we were out for a bring and share dinner, and this gave me a good oppurtunity to make something a bit more "summery", I decided to make a pudding. As we had some pastry at home I decided I would make a fruit tart. The filling is a mixture of cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and gelatine (to make sure it set). For the fruit topping I went to Leicester market to see what looked good and found some nice strawberries and blueberries.

So I set to work, first I rolled out the pastry and lined a pastry tart dish, I then blind baked it, left it to cool, spread a thin layer of dark chocolate across the bottom and poured in my filling. When everything had set I decorated it with halved strawberries and blueberries and drizzled it with more chocolate.

As you can see from the picture it looks really good which is exactly what I was aiming for, I wanted something that would stand out and get noticed! The red and blue certainly does that.
This dessert was another success, I seem to have had a string of them lately! it tasted as good as it looks, the addition of a chocolate layer certainly added another dimension that I would add again, as well as helping keep the pastry crisp.

The Recipe

To make your own fruit tart you will need: (Measurements are very rough, I just judged what looked right)

• Shortcrust pastry (I cheated and used ready made, but it would be even better with home made sweet pastry)
  
• 350g Cream cheese


• 1/2 cup icing sugar, (sifted)


• Vanilla extract


• 1 Sachet of gelatine powder


• 60-70g Dark chocolate


• Fruits of your choice

First line you tart dish with pastry, (I used a 10 inch dish) cover with tin foil then baking beans or weights and bake at Gas mark 4 for 15mins after this time remove the foil and beans and bake until golden brown (about 10 mins more. Set aside to cool.

While the pastry cools melt around 50g of the dark chocolate, (this can be done in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, or very carefully in the microwave) spread the chocolate over the base and leave to set, this won't take long at all.

Now make you filling by beating the sifted icing sugar and cream cheese together, add a few drops of vanilla, and pour in the gelatine made up according to packet instructions. Make sure everything is well mixed.
Pour the filling into the pastry case and put it in the fridge to set, this should take about 20mins.

Now prepare your fruit if it needs it wash and chop as you like it and arrange it on top, be creative! finally melt the rest of your chocolate and drizzle ove the top.

Done! Now you can look smug and show off your finished dessert.