Salmon pie

Earlier in the year when I was doing a FutureLearn course, I experimented with making a couple of Elizabethan vegetable pies. This time I decided to experiment by making a pie which contained salmon as well as vegetables and using verjuice as before and Dijonaise rather than butter. This pie didn't have the richness from the butter but the more delicate flavours allowed the salmon to be tasted more.


 

Ingredients

250 gr salmon fillet with skin
1 carrot
2 cauliflower flowers
2 handfuls frozen baby peas
2 tbs verjuice
1 tbs Dijonnaise
Puff pastry

Mode

Preheat the oven to 180c
Remove the pastry to thaw to room temperature if frozen
Chop the carrots as you wish and add to baking dish
Break the cauliflower into florets and add
Add the Dijonnaise and stir
Microwave the carrot and cauliflower for 1 minute (or steam lightly)
Make space in the middle and place the salmon fillet there
Add frozen peas
Pour over verjuice
Cover the pie dish with a sheet of puff pastry and decorate as desired
Pierce the top in a few places
Cook in the oven for 45 minutes

Bocconcini and cannellini salad

With a feeling that Spring will be here soon and that I need to stop eating heavy wintry foods, I put together this delicious salad for lunch the other day. The key ingredients are the cannellini beans and the bocconcini. The bocconcini which were fresh and delicious provided a soft touch to the palate in contrast to the beans.  And, of course, the basil, ginger and garlic added some of my favourite flavours to the mix.

Ingredients

210 gr bocconcini
400 gr cannellini beans
10 cherry tomatoes
1.5 Lebanese cucumbers
1/2 red pepper
Fresh basil to taste
2 tsp ginger
2 cloves garlic

Mode

Drain the bocconcini and place in a salad bowl
Drain the cannellini and add
Halve the cherry tomatoes and add
Roughly chop the red pepper and cucumbers as you wish and add
Peel and crush the garlic and ginger and add
Chop the basil and add
Toss to combine thoroughly and consume.

Potatoes and garlic roasted in truffle oil

My nephew often gives me interesting little treats to cook with. When I am wondering what to cook and how, casting my eye around often provides a solution. It certainly did last night when I was thinking about roasting potatoes and saw the truffle oil.  It was all very simple, but I loved the outcome.

Ingredients

Potatoes
Garlic cloves
Truffle oil
Rosemary sprigs

Mode

Preheat oven to 200c
Chop potatoes into eighths
Arrange in oven dish
Separate garlic cloves but do not peel
Place in dish with potatoes
Pour on truffle oil
With your hands ensure that the vegetables are covered in oil
Place high in the oven for 45 minutes, stirring halfway through
Add sprigs of rosemary and return to the oven for another 20 minutes.

Seskoulopitta/Σεσκουλόπιττα with ginger and black sesame

This is an old, old favourite just tweaked slightly to cater for the misery that is a headcold. Sometimes I include  the thick white stalks of the σέσκουλο/silverbeet.  Sometimes I don't.  This time I did. I normally include spring onions but this time I thought the silverbeet stalks would provide quite a bit of bulk, so I didn't use spring onions.  And the real difference? Well, I added lashings of fresh root ginger to help fight my cold.  And also because I love the taste of fresh ginger and I felt like some. What is there not to relish about this combination of so many of my favourite flavours!

Ingredients

1/2 bunch of silverbeet
375 gr ricotta
200gr fetta
2 handfuls grated Parmesan
1 egg
1/2 tsp Sambal oelek
2 garlic cloves
3 tsp fresh ginger
Phyllo pastry
Olive oil
Black sesame seeds

Mode

Preheat the oven to 180c
Roughly chop the silverbeet, including the thick white stalks
Place the silverbeet in a steamer
Peel and crush the garlic and add
Add Sambal oelek
Chop and crush the ginger root and add
Steam on the stovetop until soft stirring occasionally
Meanwhile place the ricotta in a bowl
Crumble the fetta by hand on top and add a couple of handfuls of grated Parmesan (or to taste)
Add the egg and stir to combine
When the vegetables are cooked add to the mixture and combine well
Using a pastry brush and olive oil line the bottom of a baking dish with about six layers of phyllo taking care to oil well between each layer
Add the cheese and vegetable mixture to the phyllo
Fold the phyllo over the mixture and cover with several layers of phyllo brushing with oil between each layer
Fold in the edges and oil the top layer
Sprinkle with black sesame seeds
With a sharp knife cut the top of the pie into desired portions. DO NOT cut through the bottom of the pie
Cook for 45 minutes in 180c oven until top is crisp and golden
Leave to rest for 2-3 minutes after cooking
Then with a sharp knife cut the portions through to the bottom of the pie
Serve with salad or vegetables..