cheesy, spinach pie

So I'm a big fan of using what's in the fridge. Consequently, as I was putting away the groceries from this weekend's shopping saga, I discovered some slightly wilting spinach ( silver beet) and some feta ( I have no idea how long it's been in the fridge, I don't remember buying it... oops!).
My brain jumps into overdrive trying to come up with healthy options for recipes and I decide to make 'kat's spanakopita'.

First, it's really important to thoroughly wash the spinach, the smallest speck of dirt in your dish and you'll definitely know it, one word... GRITTY. After washing the spinach, and removing the white vein running up the centre of the leaf, roll the leaves up and finely shred them. I like to give the spinach a few spins in the salad spinner to get rid of some of the extra liquid (spinach can be really watery). After the spinach is spun, I add it to a large bowl with 2 medium onion, diced, a pinch of salt and a decent amount of freshly ground black pepper.

Let the onion and spinach mix sit for about 30 minutes any drain off any water that leeches from the veggies. Then add some crumbled feta ( about 100g), some grated tasty cheese ( 100g) and I added some goats cheese ( just because it was in the fridge).
Mix the ingredients together and start to assemble the pie.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

To make the pie you need a deep baking tray about 20cm x 15cm. Spray the tray with canola cooking spray and place 3 layers of filo pastry in the base of the tray spraying each sheet with the canola spray before layering with the next sheet of filo. After you have lined the base with 3 layers, tightly pack the spinach mixture into the dish.
Next, beat together 5 eggs until frothy and pour evenly over the pie.

Although 5 eggs may seem extravagant, the size of the pie means that per serve you are getting about 1/2 an egg. Additionally, if you are using reduced fat cheese like I do, the fat content of your food goes down and you can enjoy a second serve sans guilt.

Top the pie with another 3 layers of filo pastry, again spraying each layer with canola oil before proceeding the next layer. Score the final layer of filo with a diamond pattern and spray with more canola spray so that the party browns slightly and crisps when you bake it.

Put the completed pie in the moderate oven for 45 minutes ( depending on the size of your pie and the level of goldness on the crust of the pie, you might want to leave the pie in the oven for another 10 minutes, your call).

Super tasty pie, packed full of iron and healthy vegetables.

Give it a try, bonne chance.

sweet soy noodles

These sweet soy noodles are great for when the fridge is bulging with an over-abundance of Chinese vegetables.

To begin, as with all Asian recipes, you need to fry the aromatics. In a wok, heat some sesame oil and fry off, 2tbsp of garlic, ginger and a finely sliced red chili (large). Meanwhile pour a kettle full of boiling water over a 1kg bag of thick cut rice noodles, to soften them.

Once the aromatics have just turned in colour, add 600g of thinly sliced chicken thigh (it needs to be thigh for this recipe, as breast would become to dry and ruin the texture of the dish).
Brown the chicken, it will cook very quickly, if you have sliced it thinly.

Add a lot of bok choy/ Chinese vegetables to the wok, at least 3 large bunches (the more the better really, because it cooks down to nothing), and allow to cook until softened.

Next, you want to add the drained rice noodles, and the sauce.
To make the sauce mix together 2 tbsp of kecap manis (sweet thick soy sauce), 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1 tbsp of fish sauce and 1 tbsp of palm sugar. ( I like to 1 & 1/2 or double the sauce quantities). Add the sauce to the wok, turn of the heat, stir the ingredients together and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving, this allows the noodles to absorb the sauce and intensify the flavours of the dish.

Trés tasty.