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!

Popeye's favourite - Spinach!

It's a funny thing but one of my daughter's absolutely favourite things I make is my version of Creamed Spinach. Nuts right? Kids don't eat spinach and they certainly don't request it. Another of her favourites is my Green Vegetable Soup which also relies pretty heavily on spinach and all the other green veggies we usually have to force feed children such as peas, brocolli and zucchini.

Last year we went to the USA on a big month-long vacation. When you travel for that long no matter who you are you miss home cooking and when you eat out alot when travelling you reach french fry overload. On more than one occasion we all fought over the veggies on someone's plate.

Anyway we rented a vacation home in Orlando for a few days with family and I was planning to make dinner so we found ourselves at the supermarket on our way home from Disneyworld when my lovely daughter said. "Mum please can you make your creamed spinach." It was boiling hot and humid and not really steamed spinach weather and I thought the others would all think I was mildly insane when I started preparing it (which they did) but when your kid asks for spinach it seems churlish to deny them.

At dinner that night I served up a bowl of this spinach and everyone (OK not the other two kids at the table who looked more than a little horrified) ate it up and loved it. So here is my recipe.

I adapted this from a great low-carb cookbook I bought about 13 years ago and loaned to someone who never returned it and I can't for the life of me remember the book's name. My version is a bit different anyway in that I add tomato and mushroom and the quantities are also different but I would thank that author for the inspiration if I could find them.

Mum's Creamed Spinach (serves 4 as a side)
1 clove of garlic crushed
1 tomato diced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (You can dice these as well..sometimes I do, sometimes I don't)
500g spinach (either baby spinach leaves raw or a box of frozen spinach cooked (follow directions for cooking)...I have also used the leaves of Swiss chard but I like that less)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup cream (more or less to suit your taste)
olive oil for cooking

1. Heat oil in fry pan. Add garlic, tomato and mushrooms and cook till mushrooms soft.
2. Add spinach and stir fry till wilted (You may want to pop the lid on a minute or two). If using frozen spinach stir till warmed through.
3. Add nutmeg and cream to combine. Toss in cheese and stir until melted.

Enjoy!

The multi-purpose zucchini slice

The Internet, at least the Australian corner of it, is full of recipes for zucchini slice. I have been making this one on and off since I saw it in a copy of Delicious magazine in 2003. That's quite a long time.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/5546/zucchini+slice

I made on on Thursday night as I had to take finger food to drinks at the school and as I wasn't even staying for the event (long not so interesting story) I really didn't want to spend a whole lot of time or money in the process.

So I took about 1/3 of the slice, cut it into squares and topped it with a little sour cream and chopped parsley. It looked good and tasted great.

This is the ingenious way my lovely husband covered it so the sour cream wouldn't stick to the cling wrap. He put a styrofoam cup in the centre of the plate and made a little tent. A square of slice is hiding under the cup.Very creative.You could use a child's plastic cup instead of course.



There was enough slice left for my husband and daughter to have a snack that night. The next day I put some in her lunchbox and my husband had the rest on a roll like an Italian frittata for lunch. That's not bad going for a recipe that costs about $3 to make.

Here are some variations on the theme:

- substitute smoked salmon for the bacon for a slightly posher version

- leave meat out all together for a vegetarian option

- switch grated zucchini for frozen spinach or leftover cooked broccoli

This is a very simple dish that is high in flavour and protein and easy on the pocket. Try it.