Cheat’s seskoulopita

This is for you, Ελένη μου! Sometimes I make a pie very akin to Greek spanakopitta or tyropitta but using ready made sheets of frozen puff pastry instead of phyllo. Yes, I know it is not the traditional way. But let’s face it, if you are in a hurry, you can create a very nice product more quickly using frozen puff pastry.  Imagine my amazement recently when Ελένη sent me a photo of her tyropitta made with puff pastry! Yes, it is a thing and I can surely enjoy it as a fast-food thing if my Greek teacher does?

Ingredients

Half bunch silverbeet (including stalks)

2 spring onions

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp Sambal oelek

375 gr ricotta

100 gr fetta

1 egg

2 sheets frozen puff pastry

Poppyseeds 

Mode

Place a steamer on the stove and bring water to the boil

Remove pastry from freezer to thaw

Turn on oven to preheat to 180c

Meanwhile roughly chop half a bunch of silverbeet including white stalks

Add to steamer

Chop spring onions and add to steamer

Crush garlic and add to steamer

Add Sambal oelek

Steam until vegetables tender

Place ricotta in mixing bowl

Crumble fetta and add

Add egg

Add steamed vegetables

Stir to mix completely

Place one sheet of pastry in the bottom of a square oven dish

Spoon the mixture on the pastry and smooth 

Place the second sheet of pastry over the vegetables and cheese

Fold the two sheets of pastry together and press to seal

Sprinkle poppyseed on top

Cook in 180c oven for 45 minutes

Spry pie

I have been doing some research into some local families named Spry who were boot and cigar manufacturers amongst other occupations. So when it came to cooking another pie yesterday that name was filling my head. The pie was a combination of Tasmanian salmon, red pepper, zucchini and dill. I love dill and don’t often have it on hand so this was a great opportunity to add some to a pie. 

Ingredients

1/4 red capsicum

1/4 zucchini 

1 spring onion

Handful dill

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp crushed ginger root

300 gr fresh Tasmanian salmon

2 sheets frozen puff pastry

Poppy seed

Mode

Remove pastry sheets from freezer to thaw

Preheat oven to 180c

Chop spring onion

Slice zucchini and red capsicum

Crush garlic and ginger

Chop dill

Place one sheet of pastry in baking dish

Add salmon

Arrange vegetables around salmon

Add garlic, ginger and dill

Cover with second sheet of pastry

Roll edges to seal

Add pastry forming a Σ for Spry

Sprinkle with poppy seeds

Bake in 180c oven for 45 minutes

Stuffed red peppers

The other night in a discussion about cooking dinner my friend George said he was planning stuffed peppers the next night. Mmmm. I hadn’t any of them for a while. 

So being always open to suggestion, yesterday I stocked up on red peppers and cooked a batch for the first time in ages. The last time I made them I remember using Florina peppers which made the filling very difficult but ultimately worthwhile. This time I used squat bell peppers. The recipe accidentally became vegan as I forgot the fetta I normally add but they were delicious all the same. 

Ingredients 

4 red peppers (squat bell shape) 

500 gr wholegrain rice (precooked)

A handful of dill

1/2 cup currants

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 tbs tomato paste

200 gr tomato & basil pasta sauce

3 cups water

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

Cut around top of peppers to create caps

Slice off back of cap

Clean inside of pepper of seeds

Chop dill

Peel onion and slice finely

Peel garlic and crush 

Heat oil in pan

Add onion and stir until tender

Add garlic and stir

Add dill, rice, currants, tomato paste, tomato sauce and 1 cup water

Stir to combine and allow to simmer and reduce

Take the rice mixture from the heat

With a spoon fill each of the peppers with the mixture

Stand the peppers upright in a baking dish

Pour 2 cups of hot water in base of dish

Bake in 180c oven for 45 minutes.

Abla’s lemon chicken with ginger and chilli

Another day and another variant of an old favourite comes to my plate. This time the variant to my Abla chicken recipe was to add ginger and chilli to her recipe. I cooked roast vegetables to accompany the chicken. It was a lovely meal for a cold Melbourne night in lockdown. 

Ingredients

16 chicken drumettes
2 dessertspoon rock salt
2 lemons

1.5 tbs of minced garlic

2 tsp minced ginger root

1 tsp Sambal oelek

Mode

Preheat oven to 210c.
Arrange the chicken drumettes in a baking dish
Sprinkle with rock salt 
Roast for 30 minutes
Meanwhile juice the lemons
Add minced garlic, minced ginger and Sambal oelek to juice (about 200 ml in total)

Stir thoroughly

Remove the chicken from the oven and pour the  mixture over chicken
Return to oven and roast for another 25-35 minutes.

Serve with rice or roast vegetables  

Dina’s tuna pie

This tuna pie is for Dina who wants to cook a fish pie for our time in isolation in Melbourne!  The fish I had to cook was a fillet of fresh tuna. I added various vegetables that attracted me when I peered into the fridge as well as garlic, ginger and some basil paste. I had intended coriander but the frozen stock I had of it seemed to have lost its flavour. However, the basil paste sufficed and was indeed yummy.  

Ingredients

1/2 red capsicum

2 spring onions 

1 mushroom

2 cloves garlic crushed

2 tsp crushed ginger root

2 tsp basil paste

200 gr fresh tuna

2 sheets frozen puff pastry

Poppy seed

Mode

Remove pastry sheets from freezer to thaw

Preheat oven to 180c

Chop spring onion

Slice mushroom and red capsicum

Crush garlic and ginger

Place one sheet of pastry in baking dish

Add tuna

Arrange vegetables around salmon

Add garlic, ginger and basil paste

Cover with second sheet of pastry

Roll edges to seal

Add pastry forming a Δ for Dina

Sprinkle with poppy seeds

Bake in 180c oven for 45 minutes