Aubergine, Leek & Bacon Tart

Its the end of our season for peppers & aubergines, although there are still some in the markets. It's time to find something new to do with them other than preserving them or making ratatouille! Its also leek season & boy are they stunners, almost as tall as me & very fragrant. I'm trying to hone my pastry making skills so I decided to make a tart using the leeks & the end of season veg. This tart was a very tasty success, after a very strange looking first effort.
Add whatever vegetables are in season at the time, I have added bacon & ham but it makes a stunning vegetarian pie & suits either lunch or dinner. Experiment with tastes &  enjoy.

SHORT CRUST PASTRY
220g Plain Flour
55g Butter, cold
55g Lard, cold
pinch Salt
3tbsp COLD Water aprox
In a large bowl sift flour with salt, cut the butter & lard into knobs & rub in with tips of fingers until like soft breadcrumbs. Add enough COLD water to form pastry into a soft dough ball. Turn onto floured surface & form into a flat round, cover in foil or cling film & rest in fridge for 30 minuets or more. Roll out the pastry on the floured surface till it is bigger than the tart or pie pan. butter or grease the pan & drape the pastry in. Fit it to your pan & fork holes on the bottom. Put in the fridge to chill while you heat the oven to 230c (210c fan). When ready blind bake the pastry case I line the base with foil & if I have them fill with beans, but without beans has been fine. Bake for 10 minuets then remove foil & bake a further 5 mins. Reduce oven temp to 180c (160c fan)
FILLING
2 Leeks Sliced
1 large or 2 small Aubergines de seeded & sliced
1 Onion sliced
3 cloves Garlic crushed & chopped
2 Roasted Peppers sliced. You can use un roasted 1 red 1 green or other colours
2/3 large Mushrooms pealed & sliced
4 rashers streaky Bacon chopped. Leave out to make a vegetarian tart.
3/4 slices Ham chopped. Optional
3 Eggs lightly beaten
12 fl oz Milk full or semi skimmed (not skimmed)
5 oz hard Cheese finely grated
Feta cheese to crumble over. Optional
1 tbsp Flour
Ground black Pepper
pinch Ground rock/sea Salt
Spray a large pan with oil or frylight, Brown leeks & aubergine then add onion, garlic, peppers & mushrooms, Spray with more oil if needed. Stir till softened & browned. Add the bacon & ham, stir well, but don't cook too much.
While this is cooking beat eggs & milk with some salt & pepper in large jug or bowl. Grate cheese on very fine & mix with the flour.
When everything is ready. Combine the cheese into the milk & add the vegetables. Tip into the pastry case & level. This is where you can crumble some Cirene/feta if you like.
Bake in center of oven for 35 - 40 mins
Stand for 5 mins or so to allow it to set before serving.

Spicy Chilli Beef

One of my favourite recipes for the winter & today I am grinding all this years chillie's to spice up winter food. Good recipe for those who can't stand kidney beans. Easy for those of us who enjoy good food but life too. Great for when you have been out or working all day & want to entertain friends but are too tired to put in a lot of cooking time!

1 x Onion finely sliced

1 x clove of garlic or if no onion half a head. Crushed & chopped

1 x Green pepper de seeded & chopped

1 x tbsp Sunflower oil or Frylight

250g Minced beef

2tsp Coriander

2tsp Ground Cumin

1tsp dried Chillie's ground

1/2tsp Oregano

Lg Jar or can chopped Tomatoes

1 Beef stock cube

7g Fresh Coriander

Freshly ground Blk pepper & rock/sea salt (if you grind rock/sea salt you get more flavour & use less)

Heat oil & add garlic & onion, if using, & fry for aprox 5 mins. Stir in mince brown then add spices & oregano. Mix well, add tomatoes, peppers & stock cube. Sir then season &cover simmer for 20 mins. While simmering chop coriander & add to mince.

Serve with rice.

Apple Yogurt Salad

Louise over at Months of Edible Celebrations has one of the most entertaining food blogs around.  Every post, she culls through old cookbooks, researches food holidays, tells her readers about historical events and magically connects them to food.  If you've never stopped in for a visit, you must go, and soon.  You are in for a treat.

When Louise posted her challenge earlier this month -- to try out a recipe from a cookbook you own that corresponds with one of the October food holidays she spotlighted on her blog -- I knew I had to give it a go. 

We've got an apple tree

and I happen to have a few cookbooks  . . . and October, according to Louise, is Apple Month. 

So just in under the October wire, here is my apple contribution.  Not the grated apple pie I made, not the baked apples with custard sauce, not the applesauce or apple and cheese platters -- though they were all yummy.  But the recipe I'd like to share for Louise's cookbook party is this humble apple yogurt salad.  It's easy, tasty, and healthy, passing my test for a recipe that's a keepr.
Taken from this book, one in my collection that I really ought to use more, this delightful little dish serves 6, at about 100 calories apiece.

APPLE YOGURT SALAD

1/4 c. walnuts, chopped
2/3 c. plain yogurt
1 T. lemon juice
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1 T. honey
2 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced
lettuce

Toast the walnuts at 350 degrees until lightly browned -- 5 minutes or so.  Stir together yogurt, lemon juice, cinnamon, and honey.  Toss sliced apples with yogurt mixture and serve on lettuce leaves.  Sprinkle with walnuts.

Cauliflower Cheese

The cauliflowers here are enormous, far too much for just one meal. I bought a huge one, which sat in my fridge for two weeks. We had it with some lovely pork chops & mash potato but there was a huge amount left. It rare that we eat meat & veg so I was getting concerned when I remembered the good old cauliflower cheese I used to have at mums or in more recent years at the local Worcester carvery, Mmmmm. So I made two this week. I think I will get another & experiment with sauces while they are huge & cheap. This one cost me 2 leva, less than one English pound & would feed 12 people!!!!!

Cauliflower
60g Flour
60g Margarine or butter
50g Parmesan cheese
50g Cheddar or hard cheese can use low fat.
Salt & pepper
450 ml Milk

Break cauliflower into large size heads. Boil cauliflower but don't cook completely as it will continue to cook in the oven.

In a small saucepan melt margarine/butter on low heat & stir in flower with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring till fully incorporated & keep stirring for another minuet. Add the milk a little at a time & using a hand whisk, so you do not get any lumps, incorporate it all into a sauce. You want each addition to thicken then add more etc, keep stirring all the time.  Add the parmesan cheese & stir well till sauce thickens. Add more milk till you get the consistency you want, but not too runny!

Place the drained cauliflower in a oven dish & grind pepper over the top. Pour over the cheese sauce & top with the grated cheddar.

Bake in pre heated oven 220c for 35 mins till nicely browned on top.

Chicken Gumbo

For some reason I have stayed away from cooking gumbo for years but there are so many variety of spicy sausages & salami here that it seems like a good idea.
If you are a bit concerned about the spiciness of this dish its really under your control, you can make it as mild as you like but keep the flavour or blow your head off lol. The spiciness of the sausage is the first place to start, then controll the amount of chilli etc. I make it spicy but not too hot, as we like to enjoy the taste.

A great way to cook Chicken & a very quick meal

Frylight or olive oil

2 chicken joints or breasts, skinned

1 x Onion sliced

5 cloves Garlic, if using onion then just 1 clove garlic, crushed & chopped

150g Spicy sausage or salami

Green pepper chopped

2 tps Coriander

2 Bay leaves

1/2 - 1 tsp Turmeric

Chilli flakes or powder

Can chopped tomatoes

1/2 pint strong chicken stock ( I use 2 stock cubes)

Salt & Pepper

1 tbsp flour

In a large pan heat oil or frylight & brown chicken. Add the onion, if using, & garlic & fry till soft. Stir in sausage & pepper. Cook for a few mins. Stir in chilli, turmeric, coriander, bay & tomatoes.

Mix the flour with a little water to make a paste & stir into mixture with stock & seasoning.

Cover & cook on low heat for 20 minuets, till chicken is cooked through.

Serve with rice

Irish Soda Bread, Wheaten Bread.

Half my family on my mums side is Irish & my mum used to make the most gorgeous soda bread. I have been trying to re create this. So far I have almost got there with the white one but this is a good :-)
Great for when people pop round for dinner & you can break out a casserole or stew from the freezer. Fresh baked bread for dipping will go down a treat, & this is a healthy option too. Its made in a jiffy & your guests will be impressed with what they will think is a specialty bread (oh dear giving away all my secrets now).
140g Bread flour, white
350g Wholemeal flour
1 1/4 tsp Salt
1 1/4 tsp Bicarb of soda
2 tsp Sugar
60g Butter
450 ml Butter milk (I make mine with milk & lemon juice & sometimes a little vinegar)
4 tbsp Sunflower oil
Pre heat oven to 200c
In a bowl, sift together flour, salt, sugar & soda, stir to mix.
Rub in the butter then make a well in the middle. Pour in the butter milk & oil & mix to a soft constistency.
On a floured surface knead for one min. Place onto a floured sheet & flatten top. Cut a cross into or slash top.
Bake for 30 minuets then reduce oven to 180c, turn tin & bake a further 30 minuets. You may need to cover the top half way through to stop it catching.

Remove from oven & wrap in a clean cloth/tea towel to cool. This bread is not suitable for sandwiches!

Ratatouille Sauce for mince

Every year we grow lots of our own produce on our Bulgaria property. Then when its ready, this is one of the dishes I make for over winter, as it's a good use for the aubergines & goes a long way.  I make this sauce to freeze for the winter months, then I add it to mince or pork for a warming winter meal. It makes cooking quick & easy in the dark evenings when we have no energy.
Adjust amounts accordingly to your taste. I batch cook this to freeze mainly & have given two amounts for ingredients.
Onion, to your taste 1 - 3, sliced
2 cloves garlic, up to 1 head. Peeled crushed & chopped
1 Aubergine up tp 4, sliced
2 red/green peppers up to
4 lg Tomatoes up to 7lb's, chopped
3 Zucchini  up to 8, cut into 4 length wise, then sliced, Or can use Marrow, but de seed
Bunch of fresh basil or use dried 1 tsp or to your taste
1/2 tsp Oregano up to 2 tsp
1/4 tsp Thyme up to 1 tsp
1/2 tsp Parsley up to 2 tsp
Fresh ground black pepper
Ground sea salt
Slice the aubergine put in colander & salt leave in bowl for 30 mins or more, when ready to use rinse under cold water.
In a pan fry the garlic & onion in a little oil or frylight.  Frylight (spray oil) is best as it doesn't soak up into the vegetables. Add peppers & fry till softened, then add tomatoes then simmer. Add sweetener or sugar to taste. Add chopped basil, herbs & pepper, stir.
In a separate pan fry zucchini till lightly browned stirring so all the aubergine is cooked. Add to tomato mixture. Add the rinsed aubergine to separate pan Fry till browned. Add to tomato mixture. Stir to combine & check for seasoning & flavour. Add salt if needed.
Cool completely & split into 3 or 4 freezer tubs.
This can be served on its own with pasta fo a veggie meal or added to cooked mince or pork.