Tomato Pie

Pies are the ultimate home-made take-away. Since most pies can be prepared ahead of time and eaten warm or cold, this convenience food is ideal to pack away for school or and office packed lunch.

With busy winter schedules just around the corner, over the next couple of weeks I shall be giving you some recipes for you to enjoy. And even if your days are still not busy, you can prepare these pies to take with you on the beach or a picnic.

For the pastry
150g flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup of water
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar

For the Filling
1 kg tomatoes
Fresh Basil leaves
Olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar

Start off by making the pastry. Place the flour, sugar, salt and olive oil in a blender and pulse until the oil is properly mixed into the flour. Now, with the machine running add the water, a little at a time, until your flour turns into dough.

Topple the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball. Allow the pastry to rest for about 30 minutes at room temperature.

In the mean time, wash your tomatoes and slice them into 0.5cm slices.

Roll your pasty out and place it in a round baking dish of about 23cm. Blind bake your pastry in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes at 160C. Place piece of foil, shinny side down, on the pastry and weigh it down with baking beans of some coins. Spread them evenly so that your pastry will not rise.

Once your pastry is cooked, switch the cooker onto the grill setting.
Take the pastry out of the oven and keeping it still in the dish place the tomatoes in it. Sprinkle the tomatoes with the sugar and some freshly ground pepper and grill for 8 minutes or until your tomatoes start to crunch up.

Remove the pie from under the grill and drizzle with a generous helping of olive oil and fresh basil leaves.

Mushroom Risotto - Risotto ai funghi porcini

Rice is cultivated commercially in the Po Valley, the northern part of Italy where it has the perfect environment and climate: flat lands, abundance of water, and humidity. Risotto is an Italian dish and is quite popular all over Italy with the different regions having their own specialties.

Risotto Milanese, very popular in Milan (as the name suggests) and the rest of the Lombardia region, is said to go as far back as 1574 when the Duomo di Milano was being built. The stained glass window paint seemed to have been tainted with saffron to obtain a more brilliant color. So much fuss was made about the colour that in one of the banquets, saffron was added to the rice to make it look like the stained glass. The rice was so good that the saffron became a staple addition.

I like preparing risotto for dinner since it is a one-pot dish. All you need to do is prepare your ingredients and add them at the right time! Here is what you need to make risotto ai funghi porcini:

250g Italian Risotto Rice such as Arborio or carnaroli
About 50g of dried Porcini Mushrooms
1 ½ cups full bodied Italian Red wine, chicken Stock
1 medium onion - sliced
1 handful of fresh parsley – chopped
2 tablespoons of Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Start off by soaking the funghi in some hot water and let them soak until the mushrooms have softened.

Now, in a pot or a wok, fry the onion in the olive oil and once it has softened, add the rice (raw) and stir. Coat the rice with the oil and start adding the stock a little at a time until the rice starts to soften, it is best to use a ladle or a little jug to calculate how much stock you are adding. It is important that the stock is completely absorbed before adding any more.

Add the wine to the rice and once the rice is nearly done, add the drained mushrooms.

When you are draining the mushrooms, reserve the water and straining it through a fine sieve and add the water to the rice. Again it is important that any liquid is absorbed before adding any more.

Finely add the chopped parsley and serve immediately.

Marrow & Feta Cakes

The marrows in my garden are taking it somewhat easy this year! I’ve been having lots of flowers and very few marrows. Marrows will grow in your gardens or pots quite easily. All you need are some seeds and plenty of water and sun. Marrows however, are quite cheap and abundant at this time of year in most green grocers.

Having had my dose of BBQs and carbs this month, I decided to try something different for dinner. Here are my marrow and feta cakes, they are delicious as a snack, in a sandwich or as a main course accompanied by a nice salad.

Here is what you need to make about 10 little cakes
500g marrows – grated
200g feta cheese - chopped
Extra Virgin Olive oil
Fresh mint leaves
Black olives – Optional
1 egg

Start off by draining the grated marrows. Place them in a colander and sprinkle some salt over them, now allow them to drip for at least 30 minutes.

Once the marrows are drained, place them in a bowl together with the feta cheese, mix them together using a fork so that you can mash the feta cheese when needed.

Add the other ingredients one at a time mixing well after each addition.

You can dry fry these cakes in a non-stick pan or else fry them in a little oil.

Serve these warm as part of a meal or cold as a snack. These cakes can also be prepared ahead and stored in the fridge till you are ready to use them. Consume within 3 days.