Courgette & cheese pie

So... It's been nearly 6 months from my last post and I really don't have any excuses for that. When I was still studying I used to think that the reason working people end up eating take-aways, deliveries and ready made meals was because they were lazy and were not trying hard enough, but now, having worked for the past year my outlook has totally changed. Although I still managed to cook at home most days, to eat relatively healthy took a lot of planning and dedication. And batch cooking was my biggest friend - I prepared few dishes over the weekend and all my lunches and dinners for the week were sorted. Admittedly it all wasn't very exciting, because I ended up making the same soups and stews over and over again, but still it was better than throwing a ready made meal into an oven. 

In addition to working, and summer being a relatively busy period, I moved to Dubai end of last month. So, another way of life to get used to and I have to admit that my meals during my first week here consisted mostly of oven grilled cheese sandwiches and ice-cream (very grown up, or what?). Now, after having settled in a bit, figuring out where to get the good groceries (good old Waitrose to the rescue) and getting my act together I've finally started to pay a bit more attention to my food. 

I don't know whether I've mentioned it on this blog before, but although I love eating out, I am a big fan of brining my own lunch to work. Not only does it work out cheaper than buying something out every day, it also means that I have a lot better idea of what I'm actually putting into my body. If I was in London around this time of the year (let's just pretend it's a normal autumn and the city is not suffering from a heatwave), I'd probably start preparing some lovely stews and soups. Easy to prepare in batch, transport, warm up and relatively healthy to top it off. However, over here I've struggled a bit because it's still over +35C outside and I just can't imagine warming up something warm and filling for lunch. As I went a bit overboard when ordering some groceries online and have half a fridge full of courgettes I was looking for something easy to make out of those that I could take with me to work. 

I came across this lovely recipe and just knew I had to give it a shot. I love courgettes and absolutely adore cheese. Add a bit of puff pastry and I knew I had found a winner. This one is super easy to make, makes a lovely packed lunch or even a great something to put together when having friends over. The topping is to die for and completed with a crispy puff pastry base. What else could you wish for? 

Ingredients

Makes approx. 12 slices

- 500g courgette

- Olive oil

- Salt

- Pepper

- 1 clove of garlic, crushed

- 150g Philadelphia cream cheese

- 100g grated cheese (I used 60g parmesan and 40g mature cheddar)

- 500g puff pastry

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200C. 

To prepare the filling, cut the courgettes into thin slices either using a kitchen mandolin, spiralizer, vegetable peeler, cheese knife or a normal knife. Place the courgette slices into a bowl, pour over some olive oil and   add the crushed garlic clove and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside for 10 minutes or so. 

Roll out the puff pastry so it would cover the whole baking tray and then place it on the baking tray which has been lined with baking parchment. Cut a line with a knife 1-1,5 cm from the edge of the pastry. Now, to prepare the cheese filling, mix together the cream cheese and 50g of the grated cheese. Spread it evenly on the puff pastry, keeping inside the line you've made with the knife. Then, place the courgette slices on top and bake for 15 minutes. Take out the tray, sprinkle with rest of the 50g cheese and bake for another 15 minutes. Enjoy hot or cold! 

Recipe from nami-nami.ee http://www.nami-nami.ee/retsept/11408/parmesani_suvikorvitsapirukas

Crispy Greek-style pie

One of my main source of inspiration is the BBC Good Food website (I'm sure you've noticed that already) and for the past few months I've bought the magazines as well. I have to say that some recipes appear both online and in the magazines, but there is nothing better than flicking through the glossy pages and earmarking everything I want to cook in the near future. And trust me, there are a lot of recipes I've marked so far.

As I bought the latest edition and went through it, the Feta pie just looked too good not to give it a go. So I got the ingredients and made the pie and I have to say it was just divine. Incredibly crispy on the outside and the filling just melted in my mouth - even my other half who's not big on Feta helped himself to a second serving! I also love the fact that there's no added salt in this pie as Feta is salty enough to flavour the whole pie.

It is a lovely summery dish and makes a great lunch or dinner or even a starter. Serve it with generous amounts of green salad for a healthy and quick meal that is guaranteed to leave you satisfied at the end.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)
- 200g spinach leaves
- 175g jar of sundried tomatoes in oil
- 100g Feta
- 2 eggs
- Green salad, to serve
- 125g filo pastry

Directions
Put the spinach in a large pan with 2 tbsp water and cook until just wilted. Place in in a sieve and leave to cool for a bit. Squeeze out the excess water and roughly chop the spinach and place it in the bowl. Roughly chop the tomatoes and then add to the spinach along with eggs and crumbled feta. Mix well to combine.

Preheat the oven to 160C (fan) and prepare the filo crust. Carefully unroll the filo pastry (let it thaw a bit) and cover it with damp sheets of kitchen towel to stop it from drying out. Take one sheet of pastry and brush it generously with the sundried tomato oil. Place it oily side down into a springform tin so that some of the pastry hangs out over the side. Repeat that until you have 3 layers. Spoon over the spinach mixture and pull the overhanging sides into middle, crunch them up and make sure the filling is covered (if necessary place another sheet of pastry on top before folding the edges) and brush with little more oil on top.

Bake for 30 minutes until the pastry is crispy and golden brown. Remove from the tim, slice into wedges and serve with a green salad.

Recipe from BBC GoodFood Asian Edition May 2013

Spinach & feta crustless quiche

Quiches a great for lunch or served alongside a salad. However, usually they are far from healthy - the pastry crust is a killer, so to speak. Making a quiche without the pasty is actually a lot easier than it sounds and adding a tiny bit of flour to the mixture, which settles around the edges, creates a fake feeling of 'crust'. So, this is a lighter version of normal spinach & feta quiche. Spinach and feta are known for going together (one very mild and the other a bit salty) and this makes a really nice lunch meal. Also, as it serves two, the other can be kept in the fridge and eaten the day after - for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Ingredients
(Serves 2)
- 30g spelt flour (or any other flour)
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 150ml skimmed milk
- 85g spinach
- 40g feta cheese
- Butter, for greasing the tins
- Freshly ground pepper, to serve

Directions
Heat the oven to 200C / 180C fan. Heat a bit of oil in a pan and fry the onion for few minutes. Then add the spinach and mix until spinach is completely wilted. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, egg, egg white, salt, baking powder and milk. Add the spinach to the mixture. Grease two small tins / ramekins (approximately 12 cm in diameter) and divide the mixture between them. Bake for 20 minutes (until golden brown) and then leave to rest for 5 minutes before removing them from the tin and cutting them. Serve either warm or cold with freshly ground pepper, just on its own or with a leafy salad.

You can also double the recipe and use a 23cm springform tin instead - just increase the cooking time to 25-30 minutes.