Tag Archives: easy

Curried Chicken Salad

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Over the years I’ve stopped making some of the recipes I collected in my teens because my taste has changed, or maybe they were never that special to begin with and new ones have taken over as favourites. Others have evolved over the years with slight modifications and improvements – cutting down on fat or sugar, or smartening up the presentation.

This curried chicken salad, which I’ve been making for decades, falls into the latter category. When I’m asked to bring a plate and take this dish I am always asked for the recipe, so I can’t imagine I will ever cross it off my repertoire. The original version used canned pineapple, which was very popular in the UK when I was growing up.  I don’t think I ate a fresh pineapple until I was well into my 20s, but everyone had a few cans in the pantry to add to coleslaw, serve with grilled ham steaks or add to fruit salads.  Nobody needs to buy canned fruit these days with such a wide selection of fresh fruit available.

This dish makes a perfect addition to a cold buffet and is a great way to make one roast chicken serve a crowd. It’s easy to double, triple or quadruple, any leftovers go down well the following day and I’ve also made it using leftover roast Turkey from Christmas lunch. The dressing and all the ingredients can be prepared the day before. It looks nice in individual servings, piled onto a large lettuce leaf or in a whisky tumbler lined with lettuce.  If you want to be really swish, serve the salad in hollowed out fresh pineapple halves, with the green tufty bits left on and of course use what you’ve dug out in the salad. Garnishing with red chilli brings this dish into the 21st century.

Curried Chicken Salad

Meat from one large roast chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1½ cups thinly sliced celery (sliced on the diagonal looks nice)
2 cups seedless grapes
1 cup fresh pineapple cubes
¾ cup flaked almonds or unsalted cashew nuts, roughly chopped
To garnish: Thin slivers of red chilli or red capsicum
Dressing:
1½ cups mayonnaise (preferably home-made)
2 Tbs lemon or lime juice
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs chutney or relish
1 Tbs curry powder or paste
1 Tbs grated onion

Dressing: Chop chutney if it’s very chunky. Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Toast almonds or cashews in a dry frying pan, stirring frequently, until golden, then remove from pan and cool. Prepare the chicken, grapes, celery and pineapple and refrigerate each separately. Recipe can be prepared to this stage up to 24 hours before serving.
If you have time, mix chicken with dressing and refrigerate for a couple of hours for flavours to blend. Mix in celery, grapes and pineapple just before serving.

To serve, mound the salad onto a flat serving platter with lettuce leaves around the edge.  Or omit the lettuce and pile the salad into a serving bowl. Sprinkle with toasted nuts and garnish with the chilli.

Serves 6 as a main course or at least 12 as part of a buffet.

Crab and Leek Quiche

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A slice of quiche and a large salad makes a perfect evening meal in summer. People with bigger appetites can add some boiled new potatoes, with butter and chopped parsley or chives, sprinkled with sea salt and lots of black pepper.  If you have teenage kids a loaf of good old garlic bread won’t go amiss. Leftover quiche is nice for lunch next day.

One round or rectangular quiche shell made from shortcrust pastry
1 leek, chopped
1 Tbs butter
1 cloves garlic, crushed
100g pancetta, diced
2 Tbs white wine
1 Tbs flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbs chopped fresh herbs (I used Marjoram, but could be dill, parsley)
250g crab meat
200g brie or camembert, thinly sliced

Pre-heat oven to 180°C.  Bake the quiche shell blind (with foil and beans to weigh down) for 5-10 mins, then remove foil and cook for a few more mins until fully cooked but pale golden in colour. This is the secret to a good quiche which doesn’t have a soggy bottom! Meanwhile in a medium sized frying pan cook leek and garlic in butter over moderate heat until soft, but not coloured.  Add pancetta and continue to cook, stirring for 3-4 mins.  Add wine and cook till evaporated, stirring.  Add flour and mix well.  Add herbs and spread into quiche shell.  Top with crab, then cheese.  Beat eggs with cream and season to taste.  Pour carefully into quiche so it’s evenly spread.  Bake for 25-30 mins or until well risen and golden.  Serve warm or at room temperature with salad.

Serves 6-8

Variations: use grated hard cheese instead of soft cheese on top.  Use a splash of sherry instead of white wine.  Use a can of drained salmon or tuna, or some whole peeled prawns instead of crab.  Use bacon or ham instead of the pancetta.

Asparagus on Lake Como

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Some years ago we spent a few days in Varenna, on Lake Como in northern Italy.  We stayed in a small family-run hotel called the Olivedo we had read about in a travel forum.

Having read some of the comments on this forum we came to the conclusion that this was an Italian hotel run along the lines of Fawlty Towers.  In true Aussie spirit we decided to give it a go, hoping that the stunning views and home cooking would compensate for the eccentricities of the staff. Anyone who hasn’t heard of Fawlty Towers, just look on Wikipedia.

Unless it’s changed hands, the Olivedo is run by a middle-aged single lady called Laura and her mother, who does the cooking. On our first day Laura told us that dinner would be served at 7.30 pm, on the dot, and she meant it.  Late-comers have to go without as we witnessed one evening when a Belgian couple arrived at 7.50 pm and were sent away.  It’s a fixed menu with no choice, but fortunately it was all very good.  Halfway through our first evening meal we commented on how fit and slim Laura was, despite all the excellent food cooked by her mother. Before you could say Jack Robinson, or Bob’s your Uncle she fell to the floor and did 20 push ups, just to prove the point.

We were sitting in the bar enjoying a cup of tea one afternoon when an American hotel guest walked in.  She asked Laura if she could buy an ice cream from the freezer which was located there.  Laura tapped her watch and replied very sternly  “No, you can’t have an ice cream, it’s too late, it will spoil your dinner.” And that was that.

One day we were enjoying a pre-lunch aperitif on the front terrace when a very large group of German tourists arrived. They said they wanted lunch, so Laura said they could sit anywhere on the terrace. It was a cool and rather damp day and the average age of the group was over 80, so the tour leader not unreasonably asked if they could sit inside.  “No” Laura replied emphatically “Today we are eating lunch outside.  If you want to eat inside you will have to go somewhere else.”  So they did.

We stayed on Lake Como for six days. When I say that it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world I should add that during our stay it rained almost constantly. Anywhere that’s beautiful in the pouring rain is really beautiful!  The Olivedo was right up our alley. Give me a small unconventional family-run hotel any day rather than a boring five star chain hotel.

One night we were served grilled wild asparagus with parmesan cheese. Asparagus probably grows wild here, if only I knew where to go and pick it, but I had never seen it for sale until the other day when I found some in an Organic shop. Well maybe it was cultivated wild asparagus, but it certainly looked like the wild version, which is pencil thin. Here is my version of the Olivedo dish.

Grilled Asparagus with Parmesan Cheese

1-2 bunches asparagus (wild if possible)
50-75g grated Parmesan
good quality olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Trim asparagus and steam till al dente.  Dry well with paper towels then place in a greased shallow dish, sprinkle with the cheese, drizzle generously with olive oil, then place under a very hot grill until browned and bubbly.  Grind some black pepper over then serve with crusty bread.

Serves 2-4

Rhubarb Crumbly Slice

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Matthew said the rhubarb was going berserk and needed picking. All the other little desserts you’ve seen on here recently have been devoured and the fridge was looking bare. I thought I would concoct something with this delicious under-rated fruit from the garden and came up with this.  A cross between a crumble and a slice which can double up as a dessert or something sweet to go with a cup of tea for the next few days.

250g plain flour
250g butter
200g brown sugar
200g porridge oats (not the quick cook variety)
About 1 kg washed and trimmed rhubarb, cut into 2-3cm slices
1½ cups jam (any flavour will do)
3 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Place flour and butter in food processor and process to fine crumbs.  Add sugar and oats and process briefly, just enough to mix.  Butter an oblong cake tin or roasting pan.  I used a roasting pan 28x34cm. Tip in about ¾ of the crumble mix and spread evenly. Top with the rhubarb, then drizzle over the jam, mixed with the ginger if using.  If jam is a bit stiff zap it briefly in the microwave. Cover with remaining crumbs then bake for 30-40 mins or until browned and bubbly. Cut into 16.

Keeps in the fridge, covered, for up to a week. Can be eaten cold as a cake/slice or hot as a dessert. If you just want to heat up one portion use the microwave.  However, if you want to reheat say half a dozen slices to serve as dessert with cream or vanilla ice cream, remove the required number of squares from the tin with a fish slice and reheat in a moderate oven for 10-15 mins on a sheet of baking paper.

Serves 16

Mum’s Lamb Casserole

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When our kids were in their teens we had a dinner roster. I still did most of the cooking, but once or twice a month each of the kids was responsible for the feeding the clan. It didn’t have to be elaborate – just something easy they knew how to do. I’m a great believer in this roster approach to dinner time. Apart from the fact that it’s nice for the Chief Cook and Bottle Washer to have the occasional night off, it means that when the kids leave home – and eventually they do – they won’t starve.

Working on the same principle, my Mum taught me to make this casserole when I was in my early teens. The fact that I still make it is testimony to its success. With creamy mash or baked potatoes it’s still one of my favourite “comfort foods”.

We were given a Crock Pot as a wedding present and I used it for years. Every busy cook should have one. Somehow in a house move it disappeared and I really missed it, so when I saw one in a garage sale I snapped it up.

Crock Pots are great for working mums because you can leave dinner to cook in your absence. Switch it on as you leave, then when you get back check how its going. It just needs an occasional stir and you can turn it up to High if it’s not cooking fast enough, or down to Low if it’s cooking too fast.

Browning the chops adds flavour to the dish, but if you’re really pressed for time skip this stage and you will still have a tasty dish. It may seem strange to see a recipe which can take anything from 4 to 8 hours to cook. But that’s the whole point of a slow cooker – you can adjust the temperature to suit your timetable.

1.5 kg lamb chops (cheap cuts like neck or forequarter chops) trimmed of all excess fat
1 x 425g tin tomatoes, chopped
1 cup water
2-3 parsnips, cut into chunks (optional)
2-3 carrots, sliced thickly
1 beef stock cube, crumbled (I use the Oxo brand my mother used)
1 large onion, chopped
3 Tbs dry sherry or red wine
1 Tbs tomato paste
2 bay leaves or a sprig of fresh rosemary
1 tsp sugar
S and P to taste
2-3 cups frozen peas

Brown chops on both sides in a large frying pan with just a tiny drizzle of oil, almost none. Place chops in slow cooker with remaining ingredients apart from frozen peas. Discard any fat in the frying pan, then pour the cup of water in and scrape it around to remove any brown bits and add to the casserole. Cover and cook on high for 4-6 hrs or on low for 6-8 hrs, until meat is very tender. Stir every hour or two if you are around – if not don’t worry, it can look after itself for quite a while. Add peas during the last 30-60 mins or so of cooking. Once ready the casserole will stay that way for a while if you switch it to Low. Serve with creamy mashed potatoes or potatoes baked in their jackets, with a dollop of sour cream and chives.

Serves 6

Variations: add a tin of drained chickpeas instead of peas and 1-2 tsp cumin, then serve with couscous. Or add a tin of haricot or kidney beans.

Notes: If you don’t have a slow cooker use a large heavy iron casserole with a lid and cook in the oven. It will take 3-4 hours at 160°C and will need a little more water – check and add as necessary.

Recipes usually call for a tablespoon or two of tomato paste, leaving you with the rest of the jar or tin which goes off in the fridge within a week or so. To avoid this fill ice cube trays with tomato paste. When frozen tip cubes into a plastic container to use whenever you need them.

Maggie Beer Inspired Pears

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Everyone dreams of spending a few weeks in Paris. To live there for 4 years, as we did from 1999 to 2002, is nothing short of “jammy” as my dear Uncle Ed would have said.

Our apartment was on the 8th floor of the Australian Embassy complex with spectacular views of the Eiffel Tower. Australian architect Harry Seidler designed this interesting curved building in the 1970s to house the Embassy and staff.

We crammed a lot of food and culture into those four years. Visited the Louvre so many times I could have got a job as a guide, entertained more house guests than we knew we had friends, saw in the new millenium in style, ate our way through scores of Michelin stars, became addicted to champagne (before Paris I didn’t like it very much) and travelled extensively throughout France and the region. Life’s tough, but someone has to do it.

The French played a significant role in the European discovery of Australia and if things had gone differently we could all be speaking French. French navigator Nicolas Baudin first sailed to Australia in about 1793, but two consecutive cyclones prevented him doing any work and he had to take the ship to Bombay for repairs. In 1802 he returned to Encounter Bay, just off South Australia, where he met the British navigator Matthew Flinders who was also there to map the Australian coastline. They could have saved each other a lot of time if they had come to some arrangement – okay you work your way round from here east and I’ll head west and when we meet up we can swap notes, although it could have all been lost in translation.

To mark the bicentenary of this event the Australian and French governments released postage stamps and the Embassy threw a big party. Renowned South Australian cook Maggie Beer flew in to cook up a storm and when I heard that she needed someone to help in the kitchen I put up my hand. A number of South Australian ingredients were also flown in for the occasion, including a whole tuna which arrived in what looked like a small coffin. Nobody knew quite where to start with this beast, but fortunately we found a man on the fish stall at the Rue de Grenelle markets who said “Pas de problème” before cutting it into more manageable pieces.

Two days in the kitchen with Maggie was an unforgettable experience and great fun. We laughed a lot. We made delicious goat’s cheese and leek tartlets, individual champagne sabayons served in shot glasses and deep fried soft shelled crabs, all crispy and crunchy and served with an Asian dipping sauce. It was impossible for Maggie to make all the food for the party, so the Cordon Bleu cooking school made up the shortfall. Everyone learnt a lesson on how not to serve finger food to a large number of people. Don’t send all the waiters carrying food in through the same door. Inevitably guests standing close to this door did extremely well, while those further into the throng got lean pickings. As you can see from the programme it was a wonderful evening.

Flicking through an Australian Women’s Weekly magazine at the hairdresser’s the other day I came across a quick and easy recipe for pears by Maggie Beer. The recipe uses Maggie’s famous verjuice and I have a bottle in the pantry, so I made a mental note of the ingredients and made my interpretation of the dish last night.

4 large pears (Conference or similar elongated variety)
50g unsalted butter
50g sugar
⅓ cup verjuice

Wash and dry pears, but don’t peel or core.  Leave the stalks on for a nice rustic look.  Slice lengthwise about ½ to ¾ cm thick.  Heat butter in a large frying pan, add sugar and stir to dissolve.  Add pears in one layer.  If there are too many, do them in two lots.  Cook slices on both sides until lightly browned, remove then do the remaining slices.  Return all the pears to the pan.  Add verjuice and simmer for a few minutes, shaking the pan and carefully moving the slices around and turning them, to ensure even glazing.  Serve warm with cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 4-6

Reader’s requests for Tomato recipes

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I’ve recently received two reader’s requests.  One from my Chilean friend Sonia who remembers a Roasted Tomato Salad I made when she came to our house in Santiago, Chile.  It was given to me by my friend Ferne.  The other is from my American cousin Anne who remembers a cheese and tomato flan I made when she was in England in the 70s.  Fortunately I have a similar memory when it comes to food and knew immediately which recipe she meant.

The tomato salad needs to be made with Roma tomatoes because round varieties contain more water and don’t hold their shape.  Once prepared the salad will keep for several days in the fridge.  It’s a fantastic addition to a buffet or barbecue, perfect to have in the fridge over the holiday season and fairly quick to make when you’re asked to “bring a plate”.  Being asked to bring a plate to a pot luck lunch or dinner is quite common in Australia.  My Greek teacher, Michael Kazan, told us that when he first arrived in Canberra over 40 years ago and was asked to bring a plate he was somewhat perplexed.  If your host hasn’t got enough plates, they’re probably short of everything.  So he and his wife turned up with plates, glasses and cutlery.

Use your favourite shortcrust pastry recipe for the Lancashire flan, or buy it. Preparing the right amount of pastry and filling to suit your tin/dish is always hit and miss.  Quiche tins and dishes vary in their capacity, even ones with the same diameter.  I made up 250g of pastry (250g flour and 150g butter, plus a dash of water) and used the rectangular tin shown in the photo.  There was enough pastry left to make another small quiche shell which I partly cooked then froze empty, to use on another occasion.

Ferne’s Roasted Tomato Salad

1 kg Roma tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbs Thai sweet Chilli sauce
2 Tbs olive oil
Dressing:
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar, preferably white
1 Tbs chopped fresh basil

Preheat oven to 200°C.  Halve tomatoes lengthwise and place cut side up on a cake cooling rack over a baking tray or dish.  Line the baking tray with baking paper to save on the washing up.  Mix garlic, chilli sauce and olive oil and brush generously onto tomatoes using it all up.  Bake 30-40 mins or until starting to brown.  Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.  Arrange in a serving dish.  Place oil and vinegar in a jar with a lid and shake well.  At serving time spoon over some dressing and sprinkle with basil.  Serve at room temperature.

Serves 8-10

Lancashire Cheese, Tomato & Bacon Flan

1 uncooked quiche shell made from shortcrust pastry and chilled
100g lardons or bacon
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (discard the seeds)
125g grated Lancashire cheese (or substitute cheddar)
2 large eggs
1 cup cream (or use half cream, half milk)
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tomatoes thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line pastry case with foil and fill with corn or something similar to give weight.  Bake for 5-10 mins until pastry has set.  Remove foil and cook for a few more minutes until light golden, remove from oven.  Meanwhile fry lardons or chopped bacon in a non-stick pan until lightly browned. Drain and scatter over the base of the pastry case, then sprinkle onion, chopped tomatoes and grated cheese evenly over the bacon.  Beat eggs, cream and milk, season to taste and pour over.  Arrange sliced tomatoes over the top.  Bake for 30-40 mins until puffed and golden.  Serve cold or at room temperature.

Serves 8

Note: lardons are chunky bits cut from thickly sliced bacon or speck.

Apple and Blackberry Pie

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My paternal grandmother was born in Scotland, just outside Edinburgh.  When she met my grandfather she was running the dairy in a stately home.  As kids my Dad was always telling us that his mother could make butter into the shape of swans.  My mother would roll her eyes and say if he wanted swans made of butter he’d better go back!

Jessie was a wonderful cook but she died when I was 12, a year after I started to take an interest in cooking, so she didn’t have time to teach me many tricks.  She kept chickens and sold the eggs, so after my grandfather died I used to go and help her to clean them and put them in boxes.  She taught me to make pastry, fruit pies, Yorkshire puddings and gravy.  And a rule I have never forgotten – always put a good pinch of salt into anything sweet (such as cakes) and a good pinch of sugar into anything savoury (such as gravy) because it brings out the flavours.  Jessie insisted that the success of a good gravy or white sauce depended on the way you held your mouth, pronounced “mooth”, with her soft Scottish brogue.  She was what you would call a dour Scot, so I never really knew when she was joking.

Greengrocer’s in the UK sell two kinds of apples – eating apples and cooking apples.  Here in Australia I have never seen cooking apples for sale commercially, except at an orchard outside Canberra in Pialligo, where they sell them for about 3 weeks in the short picking season which starts late January.  For the rest of the year we have to make do with Granny Smiths, which are really not the same.  The most popular cooking apple in England is the Bramley – a large lumpy fruit which makes a deliciously fluffy apple sauce to go with pork or a tangy apple pie.   About two years ago Jonathan Banks at the apple farm in Pialligo grafted a Bramley for us to plant on our rural property near Braidwood.  I can’t wait for it to bear fruit.

My first apple and blackberry pie was made under the watchful eye of Jessie.  When her three sons were growing up she said they could eat one whole pie each.   I thought this was a bit of an exaggeration, but my Dad confirmed it was true.   I don’t make fruit pies very often these days, but whenever I do I’m transported back to that cozy kitchen with its wood-fired Aga stove and Nana standing watching me, holding herself up on wooden crutches.  She was very tall, had undergone two unsuccessful hip operations and had a lot of difficulty getting her large frame from A to B.

The pastry I use for fruit pies is the one Jessie taught me.  It uses self-raising instead of plain flour and a mixture of lard and butter.  It’s not sweet, but it’s the way I like it, contrasting nicely with the filling.

Apple and Blackberry Pie

Filling:
1 kg cooking apples or Granny Smiths, peeled, cored and sliced
1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
1/4 cup water
2 cups blackberries (fresh or frozen, thawed)
Pastry:
250g self-raising flour
75g lard
75g butter
3-4 Tbs cold water
To glaze:
A little milk or a beaten egg
Grantulated sugar

Place apples, water and sugar in a large saucepan.  Cook for 10 minutes or so until softening.  As Granny Smiths tend to hold their shape more than cooking apples I usually break them up a bit at this stage with a potato masher.  Remove from heat and add the blackberries.

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Place flour, lard and butter in food processor.  Process to crumbs then add water gradually through the feed chute, with the motor running.  When mixture starts to form a ball stop adding water and stop the motor, tip out the pastry and form into a ball. Cut pastry in half.  Roll out one half on a floured surface into a circle slightly larger than a 25-30cm pie dish or dinner plate which is not too flat – mine is 28cm. Trim off excess. Fill with apple and blackberry mixture, leaving any excess juice behind.  Mop up any excess on the pastry edges with paper towels.  Roll out remaining pastry to cover the fruit, trim off excess then seal and crimp the edges.  Cut four holes in the pastry lid to allow steam to escape.  Brush surface with milk or beaten egg and sprinkle with granulated sugar.  Bake for 35-40 mins or until nicely browned.  Serve warm with cream or vanilla ice cream.  Keeps for several days in the fridge, then just reheat in the oven to serve.

Serves 12

Variation: use raspberries instead of blackberries or make the pie with just apples, in which case increase the quantity to about 1½ kg.

Note: It’s not a good idea to use your best dinner plates for fruit pies.  Use old ones or acquire a couple at a secondhand shop.

Beef and Polenta Pies

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Last weekend we had lunch at The Old Cheese Factory at Reidsdale.  There was a cool wind, but we sat outside because we had two dogs with us.  Matthew had a nice time talking to the owners Robert and his son Gary about growing apples, asparagus and other gardening stuff. They make their own cider, ginger beer, apple juice, elderberry wine, elderflower sparkling wine and other beverages.  We tasted most of the above and found them all delicious.  The cider is dry, just the way I like it. The Old Cheese Factory serves simple lunches at weekends (best to book) and they also run bread-making, cheese-making and sausage-making classes taught by local artisans from Braidwood.

Matthew and I had the Ploughman’s lunch with a glass of apple cider.  Catherine more sensibly chose a hot dish, described as a beef and eggplant pie with red wine and polenta and a glass of apple juice.  She said the pie was delicious – a variation on a shepherd’s pie.  I decided to make something similar using mushrooms instead of eggplants and the result made a tasty family meal.

Beef and Polenta Pies

Beef filling:
1 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
250g mushrooms
500g lean minced beef
1 Tbs tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup sherry or red wine
1 beef stock cube
2 tsp dried mixed herbs or oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup water
Extra half cup of water mixed with 3 tsp cornflour
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Polenta topping:
2 cups milk
1 cup water
3/4 tsp salt or garlic salt
1 cup instant polenta
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs butter
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, extra

Heat oil in a large frying pan.  Cook onion and garlic over a moderate heat until softened but not browned.  Wipe mushrooms and cut in halves or chunky slices – you don’t want them to get lost in the filling.  Add to the pan with the mince and keep stirring for about 5 minutes or until the meat has browned a bit.  Add remaining ingredients except cornflour mixture and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until meat is tender.  Add cornflour mixture and stir till thickened.  Adjust seasoning – you may not need any salt if stock cube is salty.  Spray six 1 cup souffle or ramekin dishes with oil and divide filling among them.

Bring milk, water and salt to the boil in a medium saucepan.  Add polenta and stir constantly for 3-5 mins until polenta thickens and pulls away from sides of pan.  Add parmesan, butter and egg and remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place 2-3 Tbs of polenta on top of meat filling – whatever fits – and spread with a knife to cover completely.  You will probably have some polenta left over.  Sprinkle with extra cheese.  Place pies on a baking tray and bake for about 25 mins or until golden brown. Serve immediately with a salad or green vegetable.

Note: Unbaked pies can be stored in the fridge, loosely covered, for a day or so. For larger appetites make in four larger dishes, or if preferred use one large dish.

Serves 4-6

Mediterranean Tartlets

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These delicious tartlets make a perfect lunch in summer – combining all the flavours of the Mediterranean in one easy and adaptable dish.  The layers can be prepared the day before and assembled just before serving.  Vegetarians who don’t eat fish can omit the prawns.  If you can’t find yellow capsicum use all red ones.

Three sheets ready-rolled puff pastry squares (25x25cm)
100g feta cheese, crumbled
400g peeled cooked prawns, tails left on (optional)
½ cup black olives, pitted and halved
½ cup semi-dried tomatoes, chopped (optional)
Onion Marmalade:
3 large onions, finely chopped
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs white balsamic or white wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
Grilled Vegetables:
4 small eggplants (the long thin ones)
4-6 zucchini (courgettes)
2 red capsicum (peppers)
2 yellow capsicum (peppers)
olive oil spray
Pesto:
2 Tbs pine nuts, lightly toasted
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 Tbs grated Parmesan
1 cup basil leaves
4-5 Tbs olive oil

Preheat oven to 200°C.  Cut each pastry square into four smaller squares, approx 12.5 x 12.5cm.  Place on baking sheets lined with baking paper, prick with a fork then bake for about 15 mins or until golden brown.  Cool and store in a container with a lid.  If you can’t find ready-rolled pastry use block puff pastry and roll it out yourself.

In a large frying pan cook onions with butter and oil over a medium to low heat for about 40 minutes, stirring often, until soft and golden.  Don’t let them brown.  Towards the end of the cooking time add vinegar and sugar.  Store covered in the fridge.

Wash and dry eggplants and zucchini and slice lengthwise about half a centimetre thick.  Spray both sides with oil then pan fry, grill or cook on a griddle until lightly browned and tender.  Place peppers on an oven tray and cook under a hot grill, turning once, until somewhat blackened and blistered.  Remove, cover loosely with foil and when cool enough to handle remove skins, seeds and membranes and cut into 4 – 5 lengthwise strips.  Store vegetables, covered, in fridge.

Place all ingredients for pesto in food processor.  Process to a puree, stopping to scrape down halfway through and store in a container in the fridge.

To serve, place pastry squares on individual serving plates.  Spread with onion marmalade, then top with some grilled eggplant, zucchini and peppers.  Arrange a few prawns on top, then crumbled feta, olives and semi-dried tomatoes.  Thin down pesto with some extra olive oil, then drizzle over the tarts.  Serve with a rocket salad.

Serves 12