Recipe - Spanikopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

This recipe is straight from the village, so it doesn't get any more authentic that this. Except, if you do what I today, and don't use filo but make it traditional pie style instead. Sorry to all the giagias out there :/

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches english spinach
• 1 bunch shallots
• 1 bunch dill
• 1 leek
• 300g fetta
• Poppy seeds
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese
• 3 eggs
• Salt
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp white pepper
• Olive oil
• filo pastry

Method

1. Pre-heat oven on high
2. Wash spinach and shallots and leek
3. Finely chop spinach and place in a large bowl (or sink) and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt
4. Generously coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil and heat to medium
5. Add chopped shallots and leek and allow to saute
6. Add dill
7. Stir to mix ingredients for 5 minutes
8. Take off stove and allow to cool (5 minutes)
9. Add spinach (ensure you squeee all excess water out)
10. Add crumbled fetta
11. Add almost the same quantity of parmesan cheese
12. Stir thoroughly to combine all ingredients
13. Add 3 eggs and stir
14. Add grated nutmeg and white epper and stir
15. Coat base of baking tray with a drile of olive oil then use pastry brush (if you have one … not essential) to distribute
16. Brush 2 sets of filo with oil and coat the bottom
17. Pour in the mixture
18. Cover with six sheets of filo (following the same pattern as the base)
19. Sprinkle with poppy seeds
20. Put in oven reducing the heat to just under 200 degrees

This will take approx an hour to cook, keep checking it and if the top is browning too quickly, cover with aluminium foil

Recipe – Easy, Healthy Ice cream alternate

On this occasion my ingredients were yogurt, raspberry, honey and just a couple of maltesers

The basic rules are:

1. For however many grams of yoghurt you use (which will probably be 300g or 500g) use the same amount of grams in frozen fruit.
2. Make sure the fruit is frozen otherwise it will negatively affect the texture and density.
3. Add 2 – 3 tbsp. of something sweet to counter the yogurt
4. Optional: Add something slightly sinful or a something garnishy e.g. mint

Method:

• Place all ingredients in food processor, mix until it’s at the consistency you like (I like chunks) then freeze

Recipe - Partially healthy Banana and rolled oat muffins

These are going on my top 5 muffin recipe list

Ingredients

• 2 cups (260g) wholemeal self-raising flour
•  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•  1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
•  1 cup (100g) rolled oats
•  1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
•  2 eggs
•  3/4 cup (185g) plain low-fat yoghurt
•  1/4 cup (60ml) canola oil
•  2 bananas, mashed (250g)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper cases.
2. Sift flour, cinnamon and soda into a bowl. Empty the flour husks from the sifter back into the bowl along with the oats and brown sugar, and stir to combine.
3. Whisk eggs, yoghurt and oil together. Add banana and stir to combine. Pour into dry ingredients and mix together using a wooden spoon until just combined. Mixture may be lumpy and does not have to be evenly mixed.
4. Spoon mixture into paper cases. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/13900/banana+and+rolled+oat+muffinsNice

Recipe - Pear & Raspberry Cake

Ingredients

• 3 ripe pears
• 20g butter
• 4 star anise
• 4 whole cloves
• Maple syrup or brown sugar
• 170 g caster sugar
• 230 ml milk
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tsp Sambuca (optional; see Note)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1⅓ cups (200 g) plain flour 
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Punnet raspberries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Peel 3 pears, chop and map out how you plan to present them in your round or square cake tin so you know if you have enough
3. Add to baking tray: 20g butter along with the pears, star anise, cloves and a light drizzle or either maple syrup or brown sugar. Bake until pears just cooked through, shaking tray occasionally so the butter and spices touch all the pears to infuse at some stage
4. Add to saucepan: the sugar, milk and lemon zest. Cook over low heat and cook for 3–4 minutes, stirring regularly, until the sugar has dissolved. Do not let the milk come to the boil. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla, olive oil and liqueur (if using), then let the mixture cool for 5–10 minutes.
5. In a mixing bowl: add the beaten egg, flour and bicarbonate of soda and whisk to form a smooth batter. It's normal for the batter to be on the runny side.
6. Add pears and raspberries to the batter
7. Pour the batter over the top
8. Bake for 30–35 minutes or until pale golden and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool at room temperature for 1 hour before cutting.
10. Serve just as it is.

Note

• For an alcohol-free version, replace the liqueur with milk.
• Next time might do the pears on the stove top to caramelise them. The cake was delicious, just may have looked prettier with the pears caramelized.

Recipe - Accompaniment – Homemade tomato sauce (ketchup)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 brown onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 400ml passata
• 2 tbs red wine vinegar
• 1 tbs brown sugar

METHOD

• Heat oil in frying pan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until soft. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Stir in remaining ingredients. Season. Simmer on lowest heat, partially covered, stirring frequently, for about 30 minutes or until thickened, reduced and flavoursome. Cool.

Source: https://au.tv.yahoo.com/my-kitchen-rules/recipe/31206454/mamas-homemade-pies-with-peas-and-mash/#page1

Recipe - Chicken Pies with Peas and Mash

PIE

Ingredients

• 3 chicken thighs (375g), cut into 2cm pieces
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 small brown onion, finely chopped
• 1 leek, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 250ml dry white wine
• 2 tsp finely chopped thyme
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 rashers bacon, chopped
• 4 tbs crème fraiche (I used ricotta)
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 sheets of puff pastry
• 1 Egg

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. To make filling, toss the chicken with half the oil. Season.
3. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken in batches until lightly browned but not cooked through. Remove and set aside.
4. Reduce heat to low and add remaining oil. Add onion, leek, bacon and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft but not coloured. Stir in wine and thyme. Simmer until reduced by half. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining ingredients.
5. Divide filling among bowls (see picture for type of bowls) and cover with a double layer of the defrosted puff pastry. Yes, you read right, you don't need to line the bowls with pastry. Cut a slit in the centre of the pastry and firmly seal around the edges. Brush with egg wash.
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

PEAS

• Saute garlic and shallots in butter then add peas and chicken stock. When peas are cooked, remove and blend slightly.

MASH

• Potatoes, butter, cream