Filo Spinach and Feta Tart

"You were made for me, (you were made for me)
everybody tells me so...."

Freddie and the Dreamers 1964

This is a great one, made for me and for you and for everybody and all sorts of occasions. It's light but substantial, delicious served hot or cold and will travel relatively well so prepared in advance in summer it's a terrific picnic hamper filler whilst conversely in the cold months it can be a warming apres ski tummy filler! Alternatively it makes a terrific vegetarian Sunday brunch dish or dinner party starter. This dish is adapted from a filo tart chef Jamie Oliver did on his TV programme "30 Minute Meals" in which he cooks several dishes inside half an hour, so as you can imagine from the title it's easy and quick. We generally serve it with a refreshing salad such as radish and cherry tomato with coriander and parsley.

Ingredients

1 Packet All Butter Filo pastry
1 large packet of spinach
250g Feta cheese crumbled
4 Eggs (Beaten)
Nutmeg
Cayenne Pepper
Butter
Pine nuts (optional)
Sultanas (optional)

Method
Melt butter and brush the inside of a medium sized frying pan. Line with baking paper so that the paper is well above the sides of the pan and brush again with butter. Meanwhile sweat down the spinach in a little butter or olive oil until wilted. Drain, being sure to squeeze as much water out as possible. Separate and mix with eggs, feta, nutmeg, spices, pine nuts and sultanas (if using) and season to taste. Take the filo from the fridge and cover with a damp cloth. (Note: Some brands are best worked on at room temperature so check the instructions) Take one sheet at a time and place in the pan so that the edge overlaps the side and brush with butter. Repeat until most of the sheets are used up. Now add the filling and fold over the sheets to form a top. Crumple the last few sheets and use to form the top. Brush with butter to achive a nice golden colour. Heat the frying pan on the hob to start cooking the base then place in the oven for about 25 minutes or until nicely coloured. Remove from pan by holding the baking paper and slide the tart onto a serving dish. Serve hot or cold.

Posted by incredibly fed

Hey.....Pesto !!

"Oh oh oh it’s magic you know

Never believe it’s not so ….."

Pilot 1974

There are a few things we always like to have in the fridge which can be lifesavers when you are caught on the hop and have to prepare something to eat unexpectedly. Pesto is one of those. It is a wonder ingredient which is sure to inject flavour magic and zing to many recipes. When made, as long as the Pesto is covered with olive oil to prevent oxidation and kept is the fridge it will keep for ages and is an excellent way of turning left over fresh herbs into a flavoursome and useful paste.

At the very least a spoonful of pesto can transform bland pasta or mash potato and when added towards the end of cooking to a casserole or stew will lift the dish to a new dimension. Mixed with a little breadcrumb pesto will make an excellent crust to cover and flavour grilled salmon or sea bass. It is also fantastic for presentation and interest when let down with a little more olive and used as a garnish drizzled around dishes.  

Most people associate pesto with the soft herb Basil and this is indeed a lovely one but in reality it can be made with any single soft herb or combination. You can even use a strongly flavoured leaves such as spinach, wild garlic or rocket. We suggest you try to make your own personal version which will help stamp your own personality on each dish you prepare. Traditionally toasted pine nuts are used as an ingredient but these days we find them quite expensive and tend to use them in dishes only where they can be seen. Roasted peanuts, cashews or walnuts are a reasonable substitute.  Just blitz the ingredients and store in a jar, covered with olive oil. 

Ingredients
Any mix of the herbs below...
Experiment!!

I bunch coriander

1 bunch flat leaf parsley

1 bunch mint

1 bunch basil

1 bunch dill
1 bunch rocket

Small bunch spring onions

Small can anchovies

1 clove garlic

Juice of one lemon or lime

3 or 4 tbsp olive oil

Handful of capers

2 or 3 tbsp white Wine vinegar

Handfull grated parmesean

Handfull roasted nuts
Seasoning


Method

Whizz together and test. Adjust and season to taste.




Picture (Right)
Rigatoni with pesto, yogurt, spinach, crumbled feta, edamame beans, chopped walnuts and sun blushed tomatoes.

Pol Sambol, Moju and Dal - by Ghaz

Last week Romesh and I  made a fantastic Sri Lankan curry but of course that is not the full story, so while the chicken was bubbling away we turned our attention to the supporting cast. There are numerous condiment dishes normally served which compliment and enhance the main star. For example many countries around the Indian ocean rim have a version of the coconut dish Pol Sambol. Known simply as sambal in my own country Malaysia, whilst in neighbouring Indonesia and Singapore it comes in numerous varieties such as sambal belacan made with dried shrimp, sambal goreng a fried version and even sambal tempoyak made with fermented durian and anchovies!! But before you stop reading the version which has become our favourite is actually from the island of Sri Lanka. It was Romesh of course who introduced me to this one. It is fantastic with curries, dals and pulses, grilled meats and rice which the zingy lime and chilli cuts straight through. A word of caution though it can be spicy for the uninitiated so use discretion with the chilli! By the way Maldive fish called for in the recipe is dried tuna and is a staple of those islands' cuisine as well as Sri Lanka's. It does enhance and improve the flavour but if you leave it out don't worry. Finally when grating the coconut you need to be careful it doesn't become a paste. Our local Thai shop On Hogarth Road in Earls Court has a wonderful grater and does it for us.

Ingredients
1 fresh Coconut
1 red onion or 4 shallots
2 tsp chilli powder
1 Lime
1 tbsp Maldive fish flakes (optional)
I diced green chilli
1 clove Garlic
Method
Break open the coconut shell, remove the flesh and grate with a box grater. Chop the onion or shallots very finely. Add the coconut, onion, garlic, chilli and fish (if using) together and squeeze in the lime juice and mix well.

Similarly Moju is designed to complement curry dishes. It is a Sri Lankan pickle made from aubergine, onion and vinegar.

Ingredients
Half cup Black mustard seeds
White or red wine vinegar
Garlic
Fresh ginger
Sugar
Salt
1 Aubergine
1 Onion
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Method
Put half the mustard seed in a bowl and cover with vinegar and stand over night.  When ready to prepare slice the aubergine into strips, add salt and turmeric and allow to stand for 15 - 20 minutes to extract bitter juice. Meanwhile put mustard, vinegar and sugar in a blender with the ginger and garlic and blend until smooth paste. Heat oil and fry remaining mustard seeds till they pop . Add paste and cook for about 5 minutes. Fry aubergine and onion separately and drain and combine with paste. Add salt to taste.

Dal
Ingredients
2 cups Myshore Dal
2 Tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp Chilli powder
Half tsp Turmeric
1 Inch of cinnamon stick
1 Tsp Maldive fish (optional)
2 cloves Garlic (paste)
1 Large onion diced
8 Curry Leaves
1 Tbsp Curry Powder
4 Inch Pandan leaf
Juice of half lime
Half can Coconut milk
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Method
Rinse dal until the water runs clear then add the turmeric and boil (uncovered) in water at least one inch above the pulses until soft (about 10 - 15 minutes), topping up with hot water if necessary.

Meanwhile heat the oil in a pan and fry mustard seeds, cinnamon, chilli powder, onion, pandan leaf, curry powder and leaves until aromatic and the mustard seeds start to pop and dance! Finally add garlic and cook for a further one minute. Combine well and add to the dal together with coconut milk, lime juice and salt to taste.

Spicy Rice is Twice as Nice!

We have been asked to post a blog as quickly as possible by two of our greatest fans one living in Kuala Lumpur and the other currently studying in Melbourne Australia. They are Julie and Josie two of my lovely nieces. Josie is experiencing living away from home for the first time and Julie too has struck out and now has a trendy apartment in KL. Earlier this year Julie came skiing with me to Baqueira in the Pyrenees where we had great fun cooking together. We even used to get up in the middle of the night to polish off the left overs of what we had made that day. Learning to ski can be a hungry business. We have blogged about this earlier and you can read about the delicious tummy filling Spanish tortilla below. 

This recipe is equally filling and just as simple. It is a one pot rice dish so makes no mess and could have been specially designed to utilise any items lying around. The ingredients are variable and so the list below is intended only as a guide. The only rule is there are no rules. Just remember you are looking for colour and the vegetable pieces should be roughly the same size. I should mention at this point that I use a rice cooker for this dish. Yes even in far away Baquiera the rice cooker travels with us along with much other kitchen paraphernalia, much to the disapproval of our host who is concerned about the damage to our image on arrival at Spain's premiere ski resort. Personally I have never worried about such things, years ago I brought one back as hand luggage from KL before they were widely available here in London. If you don’t have one you can use a large saucepan. If you like rice, however perhaps you should consider investing. They take all the guess work and uncertainty out of rice preparation. Either way you just place all the ingredients listed below together and do NOT stir. If using a rice cooker the switch will pop up when the rice is ready. If using a saucepan heat vigorously at the start and then allow to cook gently on a low heat for about 10 to 12 minutes or until you are happy with the texture of the rice. 

Ingredients (4 portions)

2 ½  cups Basmati or long grain rice

1 tbsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tbsp curry powder

¾ tbsp salt

½  tsp turmeric powder

Vegetable or chicken stock cube

2 star anise or 1 cinnamon stick

2 or 3 Bay leaves or 8 curry leaves

4 tbsp cooking or olive oil

1 medium onion chopped

3 carrots chopped

½  cup peas

1 red pepper chopped

2 sticks celery chopped

1 small can sweet corn

1 inch ginger chopped

3 ½  cups water

Ghaz 

Braised Fennel, Celery hearts in Parmesan Jus

We notice fennel is making a welcome appearance once again on the market stalls in North End Road. Are you a fennel fan? We are. It has a unique taste and is widely used in cuisines from Southern Europe, where it is native, across Asia Minor to the Indian subcontinent where it is an important ingredient in Khasmiri, Pandit and Gujarati cooking. Further east the seeds with their distinctive aniseed flavour are key in Chinese 5 spice powder.

In Greek mythology Prometheus used a fennel stalk to steal fire from Zeus and give it to the mortals with disastrous consequences. He was punished by being tied to a rock where an eagle would eat out his liver every day only for it to grow back in time for the following day's gory fest. But let's get back to fennel.
The familiar bulbs we cook with are known as Florence Fennel which is a cultivar, that is it has been especially bred for its desirable qualities. One thing to watch out for though, particularly in larger and more mature plants is that bulbs can be stringy. The recipe below calls for over an hours braising in a hot oven which should be sufficient to soften even the toughest bulbs. We suggest teaming this delicious vegetable with celery hearts and parmesan but you can also make a meaty version by adding strips of pork or chicken into the dish. It is also a classic accompaniment for fish such as sea bass or sea bream which should be cooked separately.

Ingredients
2 bulbs fennel
2 celery hearts
1 red pepper
50 g grated parmesan
150 ml chicken or vegetable stock
150 ml white wine or vermouth
2 tbsps olive oil
50 g Butter
50 mls creme fraiche or cream
Seasoning and Celery salt


Method
Prepare the vegetables by cutting off the fennel stalk tops and chopping them. Likewise cut the leaves and tops off the celery and chop. Chop the pepper. Quarter the fennel bulbs, halve the celery  hearts lengthwise. Melt a little butter in a casserole dish and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Place all the vegetables in the dish and pour in the stock, white wine and parmesan. Season, cover with damp and crinkled grease proof paper known as a cartouche and the vessel lid and place in a pre-heated oven for 40 mins.  Cook for a further 30 mins with the lid and cartouche off. Once you are happy the fennel is well cooked spoon off some of the liquid to a separate bowl containing the creme fraiche and then put back into the main dish. This will help prevent the cream from splitting. Serve with steamed new potatoes.

Double Dip!

"...And now I've done my time in the kitchen at parties, I've done my time in the kitchen at  parties..." 
Jona Lewie 1980

Well folks it's official we are now in recession again, the so called double dip! So what to do? Have a few people around and throw a party! Here is the Incredibly Fed version of the double dip! Two fabulous vegetarian party or picnic nibbles that are absolutely delicious and guaranteed to take no more than a few minutes to prepare. Like Jona Lewie you will not spend your time in the kitchen at parties and your guests will really appreciate the authentic home made taste. We also think you might consider serving the wonderful Pimientos de Padron (See the blog below).  

Guacamole, a dip made from avocados, is originally from Mexico. The name is derived from two Aztec Nahuatl words - ahuacatl (avocado) and molli (sauce). The trick to perfect guacamole is using good, ripe avocados. Check for ripeness by gently pressing the outside of the avocado. If there is no give, the avocado is not ripe yet and will not taste good. If there is a little give, the avocado is ripe. If there is a lot of give, the avocado may be past ripe and not good. In this case, taste test first before using.

Ingredients  

3 or 4 Ripe avocados

3 spring onions chopped finely

1 Garlic glove chopped finely

1 chilli finely chopped 

1 large tomato seeds removed and finely chopped

Small bunch coriander chopped

2 tbsp olive oil 

Seasoning

Method 

Mash avocado flesh in a bowl mix in the other ingredients with oil and mix until desired consistency. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Serve with tortilla chips. 

Cannellini Bean Dip

Ingredients 

I can cannellini beans

2 tbsp pesto 

Half clove garlic

Juice of half lemon

Seasoning

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz until creamy. Taste and adjust seasoning. Put in a party serving bowl

Crostini 

We always find a stale baguette is good for making bite size crostini. Use bread which is three or four days old. Cut the baguette into thin rounds and place on a baking tray. Sprinkle with a little olive oil and seasoning. Place in the oven at 180 C for about 15 minutes or until a light golden golden colour. Crostini will keep for ages in an airtight container.