Silverbeet and Cheese pie... and loving the spring form pan!

whole lotta silverbeet, straight out of our garden!

If you've been reading this blog, you would know that we have ventured into growing our own vegetables.  In the last couple of weeks our silverbeet has been going crazy so I thought that I would whip up a silverbeet and cheese pie that references the lovely Greek 'Spanakopita' as well as the Maltese 'Pork and Pea' pie!

Although this isn't a recipe as such, I thought I would give you my tips for what I think makes an awesome Silverbeet and Cheese pie!

pie out of the oven!

I used puff pastry (yep, the kind from the frozen foods section of the supermarket!) for this pie and by using 2 sheets in a spring form pan and roughly folding over the edges to encase the filling, it gave it a lovely 'rustic' look. 
When it came to combination of filling, these elements are important:

• lightly cooked garlic and red onion, gives it a great sweet flavour.
• A combination of greek style fetta (I use Dodoni brand), some ricotta and freshly grated parmesan.  I use mostly fetta, little less ricotta and less parmesan.
• lemon zest!! It freshens the whole thing up and gives it zing and zang1
• good dose of salt and pepper.
• when cooking the silverbeet, lightly cook it - don't kill it!  You want it to be a lovely green colour still.

Yep, we've eaten into it!

Using the spring form pan really helped to make this delicious pie crispy and super easy to get out!  I cooked this baby at about 180 degrees Celsius for between 25 minutes and 30 minutes.  You could use the same method in the spring form pan with a million other fillings.   Although quite cheesy, this pie was delicious and a great way to use up some of our silverbeet.

Bison ceramic tea bowls..

I am completely addicted with Bison ceramic goodies.  I recently picked up these tea bowls for our morning coffee.  They feel great in your hands.  Check out the Bison website for all sorts of lovely goodies that they make and they array of beautiful colours that they come in!  It's all made in Australia too!

Delicious butter biscuits... a basic recipe...

I found this basic butter biscuit recipe and thought that I would give it a go with my own flavours.  I tried it with pistachios, lemon and some white chocolate bits.  Where those flavours came from, I'm not sure but it was pretty tasty.

Basic butter biscuit mix:
Ingredients:

• 250g butter softened
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 and 1/2 cups plain flour

How to put it all together!

1. beat butter and sifted sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until smooth and changed to a lighter colour. Transfer mixture into a large bowl, stir in flour, in two batches.
2. knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide dough in half; roll each into a 25cm log. Wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate about 1 hour or until firm.
3. preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease oven trays; line with baking paper.
4. cut logs into 1 cm slices; place slices on trays about 2 cm apart.
5. bake biscuits about 10 minutes or until browned lightly. Transfer biscuits onto wire rack to cool.

As this is a basic biscuit recipe, you can add your own flavours such as:

• lemon and pistachio, add 1 teaspoon of finely grated lemon rind into the butter and sugar mixture then add 1/3 cup of chopped pistachios and 1/3 cup of white chocolate bits.
• chocolate choc chip, add 2 tablespoons of sifted cocoa powder to butter and sugar mixture, add 1/4 cup of chopped choc bits before adding the flour.
  

Sugadeaux Cupcake Sampler and the tell-tale heart...

Like the tell-tale heart, I have a box of 5 cupcakes that form this month's Sugadeaux Cupcake sampler sitting on my desk. It's like the tell-tale heart as I promised I would wait to take them home and share them with my husband but they are sitting on my desk saying "eat me! Eat me!" It's driving me crazy!

To be serious though, this is a great way to get to taste some different flavours without making the 'whole case purchase' commitment. This month's flavours are a real sample bag and include:

Black and white
Sour gummy (including an adorable sour worm on top!)
Wattle seed and macadamia nut
Lychee Jasmine
Mexican chili chocolate

(hopefully I got this all ok Miss Jess!)


The next box is available on the 22nd October, visit her website for what will be in it and to get your order in!

Curry Spiced carrot soup with apples...

(you will need quite a few of these guys!)

I had this soup at the New England Soup Factory in Boston last year. It was so delicious that I have been trying to replicate the recipe. Yes, the New England Soup Factory folk do have a book with their amazing recipes, however this one wasn't in the book!

So here is my take on this recipe.

You will need:

• about 750 grams to a kilo of carrots.
• one small sweet potato.
• 2 sticks of celery (with leaves)
• one small brown onion chopped
• one small red onion chopped
• 2 small granny smith apples, peeled and chopped into quarter style
• approximately a litre of vegetable stock
  
• 3 heaped teaspoons of mild curry paste ( I used a korma style with coconut and coriander)
• half teaspoon of minced ginger
  
• pinch of cumin seeds
• coriander chopped for garnish
• 2 heaped tablespoons of coconut cream (to taste)
• 2 teaspoons of samba olek (chilli to taste!)

1. pop onions and celery in a heavy based pot with a good splash of olive oil and sweat down.
2. add the sweet potato and carrot and heat through for a few minutes until all ingredients are covered with the oil.
3. add the curry paste and ginger and toss through to cook off.
4. add the stock and simmer with lid on until all the ingredients are soft and starting to fall apart.
5. using a stick blender, blend the soup until smooth.
6. add the other flavours, salt and pepper, cumin seeds, samba olek and coconut cream. Add more coconut cream if you prefer a creamier soup.
   
7. add the apple and put pot back on a low heat, covered for around 5 minutes or until the apples have softened.
8. Serve garnished with freshly chopped coriander.

This soup is very filling and the apple adds a lovely sweetness to the curry carrots. For a more substantial soup you could serve with some hot naan bread!

Let me know how you go if you try these recipe! Miss Mardi xxx