Pumpkin, Leek, Mint & Spinach Tart

This is several evolutions from the original recipe, which involved ricotta and far less veges. Mint works so well with both spinach and roast pumpkin.

T scored this recipe a 9.5 but D said it was minus 1000. I liked it, so poor old D will have to suffer again.


~Pumpkin, Leek, Mint & Spinach Tart~
6 sheets filo or 2 sheets puff pastry, or some alternate base, like coca flatbread
800g butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut in 1.5cm dice
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
about 10 baby leeks (1cm diameter, 10cm length), cut into 2cm pieces
salt and pepper
200g fetta, crumbled
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups firmly packed, chopped spinach or silverbeet
2 tab finely chopped mint
2 tab grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Combine pumpkin, garlic, leeks, olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake for about 20 min or until pumpkin is browned. In the last 5 min of cooking, make space for the spinach on the tray; pile it on and loosely cover with alfoil to allow it to steam and wilt slightly. Remove veges from oven and cool slightly.

Lay the base on a flat tray and curl the edges up to hold the filling. If using filo, spray with olive oil between layers. Bake for a few minutes to help cook the base.

Combine the eggs with 2/3 of the fetta and spread over the base.

Layer the spinach over the egg mixture. Sprinkle over the mint. Arrange pumpkin and leeks on top, then crumble over the remaining fetta and sprinkle with parmesan.

Reduce heat to 170 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes or until egg mixture is set and all is golden brown.

This would work well as a cocas/pizza topping.

Neverfail Vegetable Muffins

The original recipe for these surfaced in my consciousness at a bush BBQ about 30 years ago, but since it is in imperial measures it must be a bit older than that. I've seen it in so many places since; it would be fascinating to know the origins and how it spread across Australia...

I haven't come across anyone, man, dog or child, who won't eat these :)

~Zucchini Slice~
12oz zucchini, grated
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 rashers bacon, chopped
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup SR flour
1/2 cup oil
5 eggs, beaten
black pepper

Mix zucchini, onion and SR flour, until veges are "coated" in flour. Mix in bacon and cheese, then stir through oil and eggs until it's all well combined.

(Original recipe says - Pour into well greased tin and bake in mod oven about 30-40 min until firm.)

But I like to make muffins b/c they freeze well for school lunches, and use less power to cook - Spoon into silicone muffin trays and bake in a moderate oven (about 150 degrees) for about 15 minutes. Turn tray around at 10 minutes and check if they're cooked by poking a knife into the centre.

Remove from oven and leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire racks to cool.

Variations :

Silverbeet & Corn
replace zucchini with :
4 leaves silverbeet (deveined & chopped finely)
1 tin of corn (drained)

Leek & Semi Dried Tomato
replace zucchini, onion and bacon with :
2 leeks, washed and finely sliced
6 halves of semi-dried tomato in oil, sliced
2 tab chopped parsley

Substitutes :
you could probably substitute whatever you wanted into this, in the way of veges, or meat instead of bacon, or different cheeses, but I'd recommend that the ratios of flour:eggs:oil be left somewhat similar to the original.

Roast Leek, Garlic and Potato Soup

The plan was to make roast leek and celeraic soup, but somehow celeraic was unavailable in all the places I searched. Maybe because it's an autumn vegetable and even though our weather is decidedly autumn-like here on the mountain right now, it is in fact summer...

The leeks and garlic were roasted last night while the oven was on for roast lamb. I did a tray of roast pumpkin for the freezer as well - very handy to have in store and we are about to overflow with pumpkins from the garden.

So, this is what was mixed up and it's pretty good :

~Roast Leek, Garlic and Potato Soup~
3 leeks
1 head garlic
olive oil
1kg potatoes
7 cups stock - chicken/vegetable
1 cup cream
parmesan and black pepper to serve

Split white part of leeks lengthwise, wash if needed, then chop into 5cm lengths. Place in tray with unpeeled garlic bulb and drizzle with olive oil. Roast at 200 degrees until they are roasted looking. Leave the garlic in for longer if needed. It needs to be soft.

Place leeks and garlic pulp (squeeze out cloves) in a heavy based saucepan with stock and peeled, roughly chopped potatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer until the potatoes can be squashed easily with a wooden spoon.

Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes. Whizz with a stick blender to puree, then stir through cream.

Serve with finely grated fresh parmesan and lots of black pepper.