Vegetable & Ricotta Torte

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Books, broccoli, Cape Town, Clifton Kitchen, Cook Books, Cooking thorugh the seasons, feta, food and drink, food and travel writing, Food Blogs, gluten free, Kate Abbott, Lifestyle, Mascarpone, News, onion, Parmesan, Photography, Pie, recipes, Ricotta, spinach, Torte, travel Writing, Vegetables, Writing

 

This torte is one I make often using my favourite seasonal vegetables. It is wonderfully adaptable; to be enjoyed in either winter or summer, using whatever vegetables are in season. I usually make my own Ricotta, which I prefer; recipe included.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

140g broccoli spears

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion chopped,

2 courgettes (zucchini) finely sliced

2 garlic cloves finely chopped and bruised to release flavour

120 g baby spinach

1 tablespoon chopped lemon thyme or basil

80 g parmesan, grated

250 g ricotta

225 g mascarpone

25 g feta, finely crumbled

4-5 eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the broccoli, cook until stems are soft. Drain and plunge into cold water for a few seconds to stop the cooking process and to retain the colour of the broccoli. Chop into small chunks.

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil, add the onion and cook over medium heat until soft. Turn up the heat and add the courgettes, cook until softened and golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two, then add the spinach, mix in and cook until the spinach has wilted.

Remove pan from heat, add the broccoli, the herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set mixture aside to cool.

Lightly butter a 20 cm spring form tin and dust with some of the grated parmesan, about 1 tablespoon of cheese should do.

Mix together the ricotta, mascarpone, feta, eggs and about 50g of the parmesan. Add the mixture to the cooled vegetables, folding through to incorporate. Adjust seasoning.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and scatter over the remaining parmesan. Place the tin on a baking sheet which will catch any drips and place in the oven. Bake for about 40-50 minutes. When cooked the top should be golden brown and the mixture still slightly wobbly in the centre.

Remove and leave to rest and set for about 20 minutes before serving. At this point the torte may be cooled completely, then refrigerated and served chilled as a summer torte. Serve with a salad.

Home-made Ricotta

Makes 1 cup

Ingredients

4 cups whole milk

½ tsp. sea salt

3 tablespoons of either distilled vinegar, fresh lemon or lime juice.

Method

Place the milk in a heavy bottom pot. Add salt and heat gently, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching until the milk reaches a temperature of about 80-90C, or if you don’t have a thermometer, heat until the milk starts to simmer and foam at sides. Do not boil.

Remove from heat and add vinegar or the lemon/lime juice. Give the mixture one or two stirs, and then leave alone for the curds to develop. This should take about 5 minutes.

Line a sieve with cheese cloth and place over a bowl. Gently pour the milk mixture into the cheesecloth, disturbing the curds as little as possible in the process. Leave to drain for 5 minutes then bring the ends of the cloth together and tie the bag to the tap over the sink and leave to continue draining for about 15 minutes. The ricotta is now ready to use. The longer it drains the drier the ricotta will be.

Cooking Should Always be a Delight for all the Senses.

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Books, Cape Town, Chillies, Entertaining, feta, Food Blogging, Food Writing, Goats milk feta cheese, Herbs, Life, News, Photography, Quick meals, recipes, Rocket, Sandwiches, Travel

While snipping herbs, large white butterflies dance around me and chase one another over fennel, oregano and thyme, the latter which has just come into flower. This is how cooking should always be, a delight for all the senses.

A friend has popped in unexpectedly for lunch and I have very little time to cook but I want to provide something that is delicious yet quick to make. I have some crisp bread rolls and fresh goat’s feta so I make chilli feta sandwiches for the two of us which we eat at the kitchen counter while we catch up on each other’s news.

Chilli, Feta & Rocket Sandwich

Serves 2 as a light snack

Ingredients

2 red chillies, finely chopped. I like medium hot

3 spring onions, finely chopped

1 clove garlic finely chopped

A little olive oil

A few sprigs of fresh lemon thyme

200g feta cheese, more or less

Fresh coriander leaves, a handful, roughly chopped

Lemon juice

Rocket leaves, about 6 leaves per sandwich

Fresh bread rolls

Method

Warm a the olive oil in a shallow pan, add the chillies, spring onions and garlic and sauté over gentle heat, stirring from time to time until ingredients have softened and released their flavours .

Remove the leaves from the thyme stalks, chop roughly then stir into the ingredients in the pan. Put the feta in the pan, spoon a little of the chillies, spring onions, garlic and thyme mixture over the cheese and leave for a few minutes until the cheese is warm and starting to soften around the edges. Add the chopped coriander leaves and a drizzle of lemon juice.

Place the feta and seasoning in between pieces of bread, and tuck in some rocket leaves. Cut into fingers and serve.

Food For a Crowd

Tags

Appitizer, Books, Calzone, Cape Town, Cefs, Cooks, Entertaining, feta, food, Food Blogs, Life, News, Photography, Pizza, Proscuitto, recipes, spinach, Travel, Writing

Calzone can be filled with anything you have at hand making it perfect food for feeding a crowd, especially handy at this time of the year when we entertain a lot. It’s also easy to make but does require a little forward planning.

The flavourful marriage of spinach, rocket and prosciutto together with feta cheese is one of my favourite combinations.

Serves 8-10  as a starter or appetizer

or

Serves 6 as a main meal with salad

For the dough

500 g flour. I use 00 flour

200 g semolina, and a little extra for dusting

1 tablespoon activated instant dry yeast

10 ml sea salt

40 ml olive oil

400 ml water

For the filling

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 garlic cloves thinly sliced

300 g baby spinach

250 g rocket, small leaves are best

salt and pepper to taste

12-14 slices of prosciutto

Method

In a bowl combine the flour, semolina, yeast and 10 ml sea salt. Make a well in the centre, add olive oil and about 400ml water, stir to combine. Turn dough onto a clean work surface, knead until combined and smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with tea towel, and place in a warm place to prove until double in size. This will take about 45-50 minutes.

In the meantime sauté the garlic in olive oil in a pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes, add spinach and rocket and cook until wilted, about 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 250C.

Prepare the base

You will need an oven tray measuring 40 x 25cm. Scatter a base of oven tray with semolina. Roll two thirds of the dough slightly larger than the baking tray (45 x 30 cm) and place the dough on the tray.

Arrange wilted greens over the dough, leaving a 3cm boarder. Scatter with basil, feta and prosciutto, fold in border, moisten the border with egg wash and set aside. Roll out remaining dough to 40cm x 25cm, place over prepared base and press edges together to seal. Cover loosely with a tea towel and leave in a warm place until dough has risen slightly, about 25-30 minutes. Cut slits in top, place in oven and bake until golden brown (10-15) minutes.

Cut into serving portions and serve either with a salad or as an appetizer

Chicken & Mushroom Pie served with Clifton Kitchen Greek Salad

Tags

balsamic, capers, chicken, cream, dairy baking, eggs, feta, food and drink, Greek style salad, green peppers, Kalamata olives, milk, Olive oil, onions, organic, puff pastry, radishes, recipe, red wine vinegar, salad, Seasoning, Thyme, tomatoes

When one manages to find good organic products it is a bit like finding your own gold deposit. Every two weeks I receive a delivery of good organic meat from Simply Wholesome and or Go Go’s; the selection which may range from good strong heavy boned chickens to a leg of young goat, eggs, butter, organic wine and whatever new products they may have managed to source, which I am always keen to try.

The chicken produced a fantastic roast, good flavour, and being so large also provided sufficient meat for a chicken pie, this was served together with the Clifton Kitchen Greek style salad.

If you have some puff pastry in the deep freeze, to make this pie is quick and easy.

Chicken Pie

Serves 6

Ingredients

300g cooked chicken, diced

1 large onion, finely chopped

15ml fresh Thyme finely chopped

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

200g Portobello mushrooms or button mushrooms, finely sliced

60ml dry sherry

150ml cream

100ml milk

3 large eggs

Olive oil

Seasoning, salt and pepper

Method

Set the oven to 180C. Roll the puff pastry to line a 20cm loose bottom tart or quiche tin. Using a fork, lightly prick the base all over, insert some baking paper and top with baking marbles or beans. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the baking marbles and return to the oven for 5 more minutes, remove and set to one side while you prepare the filling.

In a pan sauté the onions in some olive oil until translucent, add the garlic and Thyme and sauté for a few about 5 more minutes, remove from pan to a dish.

To the same pan add the mushrooms and sauté until the liquid produced by the mushrooms, has evaporated and the mushrooms are golden brown. Add the sherry and cook for a few more minutes. Add mushrooms to onion mix and season, add the diced chicken.

In a bowl mix together the eggs, milk and cream, season lightly then pour mixture over the filling and incorporate well. Pour filling into pre-cooked tart base.

Bake for about 35-45 minutes, by which time the custard should be just set.

Serve with Clifton Kitchen Greek salad

Clifton Kitchen Greek Salad

This is an elegant salad bursting with full flavours of cheese, olives and fresh ingredients.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 English cucumber, diced

5 tomatoes, diced

6 radishes thinly sliced

1 medium onion thinly sliced. Red if possible

1 green pepper, finely diced

300g Kalamata olives, pips removed

30g capers

200g feta, crumbled

10ml dried oregano

120ml olive oil

20ml red wine vinegar

A drop or two of balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

In a bowl combine the cucumber, tomato, radishes, onion and green pepper. Scatter over the olives, capers, feta and oregano. Drizzle over the olive oil and vinegars; toss well to coat all of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper as needed, serve.