making do

i love the alchemic way in which a few random ingredients can be made into something nutritious and delicious..for instance i don't have a plethora of spinach for making spanakopita at the moment but after a little bit of foraging on the home front yesterday i found enough greens to make a hortopita or wild greens pie..i gathered rocket (i have a lot of the smaller leaved variety that self seeds everywhere), dandelion leaves, violet leaves..yes they are edible, purslane, spinach, watercress, mint and wild fennel (i collected the seeds last year from the dandenongs, where it grows wild, while on a blackberrying expedition)..and i did a bit of tweaking with my phyllo recipe..

strifti hortopita (spiral wild greens pie)

tea with hazel

ingredients pie filling (these ingredients can be adjusted to suit individual taste and the ingredients to hand)

about 5-6 cups of mixed greens (i used rocket, purslane, violet leaves, watercress, spinach and dandelion)

1/4 cup of mint cut medium

1/2 cup of fennel fronds

1 egg beaten (1 tablespoon (tbs) reserved)

150 gms feta crumbled

150 gms ricotta

1 teaspoon (tsp) salt (murray river salt)

1 teaspoon pepper

method pie filling

~ cook the dandelion leaves first in a centimetre of boiling water for 5 to 10 minutes, then add the violet and rocket leaves and cook for a further 5 minutes..lastly add the purslane and spinach and cook until all of the leaves are well wilted

~ drain the leaves in a colander, cut up with scissors while still in the colander, and then press the leaves to extract excess water (the water is like a health tonic so i drink it)

~ mix the greens with the herbs, cheeses, salt, pepper and egg and set aside

extra ingredients

sesame seeds

melted butter

ingredients pastry

200 gms typo 00 flour

50 gms rimacinato flour

35 mls olive oil

1 tbs cider vinegar

1 tsp salt (murray river)

warm water

method pastry

~ place flours, salt, vinegar and olive oil in the bowl of a stand mixer and, with the motor running add enough water to make a soft dough

~ knead for 5 minutes 

~ remove the bowl from the mixer, cover with a damp tea towel, and rest for 1 hour

~ divide the dough equally into 5 balls, roll each one into saucer shaped discs, and rest covered for 30 minutes

~ roll each disc to a rectangle about the size of a large dinner plate size and until it's semi transparent

method assembly

~ butter each sheet of phyllo, place a fifth of the mixture along the long bottom end of the pastry, and then roll up into a sausage

~ coil the sausage in the middle of a lined circular tin

~ continue in the same manner buttering the ends so they adhere to the last piece
~ brush the top with reserved egg and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds
~ bake at 220 deg c for 10-15 minutes and then at 180 deg c for a further 40 minutes or until well browned
  

 comments

~ i think the pastry made with the typo 00 and rimacinata flours was better than my former phyllo for a savoury pie..it was certainly harder to roll out but its more robust and coarse crunch suited the savoury filling
~ i thought the flavours of the leaves and herbs worked well and none overpowered the others..i hadn't eaten violet leaves before (apart from chewing on a raw one recently when i discovered they were edible) so i wasn't sure how they would go but there was no stringy chewiness or weird flavour and if i hadn't put them in myself i wouldn't have known they were there..

i'm grateful
that i'm eating weeds because i want to
not because i have to..

purslane and ricotta quiche

i haven't made a quiche in years but today i was inspired to make one because i wanted to experiment with cooking with purslane....quiches used to be de rigueur a couple of decades ago but they now seem quite old fashioned, however, after having revisited the culinary past i've decided to cook them more regularly..

purslane has been growing luxuriantly in my garden this summer..it always appears here and there but this year it's taken over my former garlic patch and it's begging to be taken more seriously than merely as a small player in a mixed green salad..after doing a bit of digging around on the internet i learned that purslane is high in alpha linolenic acid or omega-3 and it's also high in other nutrients and in terms of culinary use i found out that it can be used like spinach.. it seems it really does deserve to be taken more seriously..

purslane and ricotta quiche

tea with hazel

 pastry ingredients 

250 gms plain flour

125 gms cold butter cut into cubes

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/2 teaspoon (tsp) salt

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

iced water with a squeeze of lemon juice

filling ingredients

3 cups purslane sprigs (discard the larger stems) washed

1 large onion sliced thin

200 gms ricotta

100 gms feta crumbled

1/4 cup grated parmesan and aged cheddar

4 eggs 

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 to 3/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

olive oil

pastry method

~ put flour, salt, chilli, cheese and butter into the bowl of a food processor and process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs

~ using the pulse function add enough iced water until the mix starts to hold together

~ remove the dough from the bowl and knead the dough briefly until it forms a ball

~ form into a flat round, wrap in cling film and refrigerate while making the filling

filling method and making the quiche

~ steam purslane until just wilted and then spread onto a tea towel to cool and to absorb any residual moisture

~ saute the onion until softened and just browning on the edges and then remove to a plate to cool

~ roll out pastry to fit a 22 cm quiche tin with a removable base, place the pastry in the tin removing excess pastry and place the pastry lined tin in the fridge until the filling is ready

~ beat eggs with salt, pepper and eggs

~ add milk and cheeses and mix to incorporate

~ place the purslane and onion over the pastry and pour over the egg and cheese mix

~ bake at 190 deg c for 35-45 minutes or until the custard is set and the top is well browned

note

as i said earlier this recipe was pure experimentation but it's one that had a positive outcome because it's a flavoursome quiche that i will make again..and i can almost feel all the nutrients doing me a power of good..