Skillet potato topped seafood pie

It's cold, cold, cold here in Sydney this week and last night I raced home from doing a million things with no clear idea of what to make for dinner and when I looked at the meat I had everything was large pieces that would take forever to cook.

Then I found I had 500g of seafood marinara mix (mixed seafood) so I thought of making a seafood pie.  I did not however have the energy to fiddle around with pastry so a potato topped pie was called for. Even better than that aside from a pot to boil the spuds this was a one dish wonder.

Skillet potato topped seafood pie

500g mashed potatoes
knob of butter and a splash of olive oil
500g seafood marinara/mixed seafood
1 onion diced
1 carrot diced
2 celery sticks diced
6 mushrooms (all I had) chopped
dried dill (about a teaspoon)
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 a cup of cream
1/4 cup each grated tasty/cheddar and Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oil and butter in skillet till hot. Add onion, celery, carrot, mushrooms, garlic and dill and saute on low heat till onion translucent and veggies softening.
2. Add seafood mix and cook about 5 minutes. Add wine and let cook down by half.
3. Add cream and warm through (don't boil).
4. Turn off skillet and top with mashed potato and grated cheese.
5. Place in the oven and cook till top is browned (about 30 minutes).

Enjoy!

Chicken pies

A couple of weeks ago I did a big freezer cook-up. Sadly we've eaten most of the contents now and I need to start fresh.

Anyway one of the things I made was chicken pies. I made a chicken and mushroom and a chicken and asparagus. These were very cheaty pies because I bought frozen pie shells and used pre-made puff pastry.

I cooked the basic mix - chicken, onion, herbs and separated it adding mushrooms to half and asparagus to the other. Then I sprinkled in flour, a dash of wine and cream.

The filling for two pies took about 20 minutes. I filled the pre-made pastry cases. topped with pastry, brushed with egg and sprinkled with poppy seeds. Each pie cost about $3-4. The local chicken shop sells the same size chicken pies at $12 each.

Chicken and asparagus pie

Chicken and mushroom pie

It's a simple method rather than a recipe that anyone can follow.

And when dinner time rolls around a couple of weeks later it's a very quick and easy job to throw the pie in the oven and add some sides.

Freezer cooking wrap-up

I thought I'd update you on my freezer cooking day last Friday.

I had one of those days where although I was home thinking I would be cooking I ended up having a million things to do so I didn't do as much as I planned but:

Thursday
- made extra Spinach stuffed shells (1 meal for the freezer)
Friday
- made a Middle Eastern Flourless orange cake for a function on Saturday.
- poached 1kg of chicken breasts
- used 1kg of mince/beef to make 50 meatballs
- used .5kg of mince/beef to make a Cheeseburger and Fries casserole (recipe to follow)
- used .5kh of mince/beef to make browned beef with onion (when I need it I can add to spaghetti sauce or taco seasoning for a fast dinner.
- roasted eggplant and used it in Eggplant and White Bean Hummus

Sunday
- turned poached chicken into a Chicken and Mushroom Pie and a Chicken and Asparagus Pie (recipe to follow)
- made chicken salad for school sandwiches

All in all not a bad effort.

Pies ready for the oven.

Open topped ratatouille pie

This is a recipe I adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly pies and tarts cookbook which doesn't seem to be in publication any longer. I know I have had my copy for at least ten years but it was published in 1999.

Regardless I didn't follow their recipe exactly, more the spirit of it. Basically I had Japanese eggplant,  a red capsicum, zucchini and cherry tomatoes I needed to use up so I decided a ratatouille of some sort was in order so I made that up and then I went in search of some pastry.

This recipe  as is is vegetarian. We didn't, but you could easily add some bacon to the mix or even some mozzarella on top for a more pizza-like pie.

Open topped ratatouille pie.

Ratatouille/Filling
6 Japanese eggplant or 1 large eggplant diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup mushrooms, quartered
1 zucchini chopped
1 red capsicum/pepper
1 green capsicum
1 cup cherry tomato
1/2 onion chopped
1 120g tin tomato paste
1 tin diced tomato
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or mixed herbs)

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add eggplant, onion, garlic, capsicums, mushrooms, herbs and saute about 10 minutes. (I like my eggplant and peppers to char/blacken a little).
2. Add zucchini and cherry tomato and cook another 2 minutes.
3. Add tomato paste and brown off. Then add tinned tomatoes and water. Leave to simmer while you make pastry.

Before the tomato was added

Pastry
2 1/4 cups plain flour
200g cold butter
3 egg yolks (reserve 1)
2 tablespoons approx, cold water.
poppy seeds for decoration
1. Add flour and butter to a food processor and process. Add 2 egg yolks and enough cold water for the pastry to come together in a ball.
(You can do this by hand. First rub butter into flour and then add yolks and water till pastry combines).
2. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.

To assemble
1.Roll pastry into large circle. Can be rustic/uneven.
2. Lift into greased pie plate allowing a large over-hang.
3. Fill with ratatouille. Then fold pastry over the top leaving a hole in the centre.
4. Brush with egg yolk, sprinkle with poppy seeds and bake in hot oven 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

Old favourites

Some weeks just seem to go off the rails a little bit. We are not by any means a family that follows much of a schedule. The only set events are school hours and any after-school activities my daughter has, everything else is fluid.

We don't get up at a set time. We don't eat at a set time. My husband often doesn't have a schedule o his work hours and even then they change. Today for example he came home at 3pm when I thought he was coming home at 4pm and then the phone rang and he left and won't be home until 10pm or maybe 11pm.

Tomorrow he is working two jobs so again he will leave at 8am and come home at 11pm. It's a Saturday so where you might think we'd be having a BBQ or an outing, and frankly I did think that until mid-week, that's not the case.

Today i had pulled some pre-made burger patties out about five minutes before he got home and they are no back in the freezer from which I grabbed him a container of paella to microwave at work. My daughter and I are now having a basic pasta with a sauce of ham, mushroom, pea cream, tomato and white wine...not exactly how I pictured dinner 3 hours ago.

Valentine's Day went the same way. Instead of coming home a 8pm my lovely husband came home about 10.30pm and only found out at 5pm...(are you spotting a trend).

That kind of leads me to the point...instead of the seafood meal I had planned I threw an old favourite the Impossible Pie in the oven. Not exactly a meal that will win awards but it is high in protein if you're hungry and easy to digest if you are not long for bed.
http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/food/freshtv/781803/savoury-impossible-pie

I omitted the corn kernels and I guess my pie plate must have been a bit small because I had mixture leftover and made five mini frittatas in my muffin tin with the extra. They were great on a roll for breakfasts.

The other old favourite I made this week was Weetbix Slice. I was looking for a quick lunchbox filler and as we seem to have ended up with two boxes or Weetbix and three of Weetbix Bites this was a good one to use up some of the excess.

I added a bit more butter than suggested here.

http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Weet-Bix-Slice-L5572.html

Mu husband said it tasted like something you got at a church cake stall as a child. My daughter said it was the best thing ever. It was quick to make and exceedingly economical.

Sometimes in the midst of madness it is nice to fall back on some comforting old favourites.

Re-igntiting my interest in the kitchen

I am just back from a fabulous month-long vacation in the USA. We drove over 3,000 miles through the South-West, we took on Orlando with a vengeance and we sampled some of the best that NYC and Washington D.C have to offer.

We collectively agreed we probably didn't need to eat another burger or fry for quite some time and my daughter definitely doesn't want to see a children's menu featuring cheese pizza, pb&j or mac and cheese anytime soon.

So now we're home and it's back to the kitchen for me. It's time to get creative and it's spring which means a shift in how we eat; more eating outside, less casserolles and pasta bakes.

Tonight however we're having a Shepherd's Pie. I found some nice lamb mince at a bargain price and it's a nice hearty veggie filled dinner. For a twist I'm cooking it in my cast iron skillet which we are putting in the oven to cook the potato. Sometimes just altering the way you serve or present a meal can alter your experience of it entirely.


Sheperds Pie in a Skillet
500g lamb mince
1 onion diced
2 carrots diced
2 celery sticks diced
1/4 cup tomao paste
1 tin crushed tomato
1/2 jar spagetti sauce
1 tablespoon worstershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried italian herbs
4 chopped basil leaves
2 teaspoons chopped dill
1/2kg potato, boiled
1/2 cup grated cheese.
1/4 cup grated cheese (reserved)
paprika if desired

Soften onion, celery and carrot in oil in skillet or oven-proof fry pan. Add lamb mince and herbs and brown. Add tomato paste and cook off to release flavour. Add tomato, spagetti sauce and worstershire and cook till delish and flavours melded...about 1/2 an hour.(you may need to add water if it is too dry).

Mash potato to taste and stir in grated cheese. Top meat mix and sprinkle on extra cheese(and parika). Cook in oven till potato sets...about 1/2 an hour.

Enjoy. We're having ours with corn, brocolli and grean beans. The whole meal works out at about $2 a head which is very good value for a meal laden with veggies.