The New TV Series

Oh dear.  I have a new thing.  I've begun watching a popular TV series, and I've become hooked.

For several months, I've been seeing posts in my Facebook feed about Downton Abbey.  I had thought maybe it might be something I might possibly enjoy, but had taken it no further.  Maybe, if I ever made it back to the video store, I might try to find it...

On Saturday evening, while enjoying some pre-dinner nibbles at Robert and Aidan's, I turned around to find a fabulous DVD collection.  4 shelves!  In alphabetical order!  Drool.  A much better collection than mine, so I said to Aidan that the next time we had a girly DVD night we should go there.  He was thrilled.  The lower shelves were for series, including Downton Abbey.  Some talk of it ensued (mostly due to the fabulosity of Maggie Smith), and I mentioned I hadn't seen it.  Jaws dropped, I asked if I could borrow it, and season 1 ended up in my bag. 

I wasn't much good for anything on Sunday evening, and as my current viewing of the long-running obsession (NCIS, treated like the painting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge) was at the end of a season, I started Downton.  So far, I love it.  And I want to be the Dowager (Maggie Smith) when I grow up.

I enjoy having so many characters with interesting, individual lives and interests and parts to play.  And they have such great lines!  Some are really funny, some very insightful, and some just interesting as an indication of general thought at the time.  Plus the correlation of an entailment plot with Pride and Prejudice, but in a slightly more modern context, is always enticing.  The idea of everyone having a part to play, everyone has a place, can be so reassuring but also so suffocating.  You know what's expected of you, but you don't often have a choice as to what your role is to be.  On top of that, watching it from a vantage point of a hundred years you know what has just happened (the Boer war some years prior, and the sinking of the Titanic right before the first episode), and you know what's about to happen.  I'm still only a few episodes in but that question has been hanging around my brain.

Ooh, and great music.  And it's nicely shot, too.  Devouring under way.

Today's photo:

I had to bake a quiche today, using up the silverbeet.  The gardener said it smelt amazing.  My favourite bit about baking with pastry is the blind baking, for which I bought pastry weights specially.

Silverbeet Quiche and Cinnamon Hearts

For my most recent organic fruit and vegetable delivery, I opted to include silverbeet.  I don't think I've ever done this before.  Looking for recipes, all I could really find was one for cannelloni.  Tempting - and it almost happened, but I felt it required a few more people consuming it to be justified.  Substituting silverbeet with spinach, though, and I thought a quiche would work well.  By the time I was actually about to cook though, I was having to work with what I had in my fridge and freezer.  Ooh, and on Saturday I walked past a pie-type thing with green stuff and roast sweet potato.  So, the following recipe is a mishmash of a quiche Lorraine recipe and my own substitutions.

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a fluted 3cm deep, 23cm (base), loose-base flan pan. Steam about 1/4 bunch silverbeet, drain (squeeze out as much water as possible) and roughly chop.
2. Line base and sides of flan with 2 sheets thawed shortcrust pastry (really only a bit more than 1 sheet is needed). Trim excess. (Here I would prick the base with a fork).  Line pastry with baking paper. Half-fill with dried beans or rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and beans. Bake a further 10 minutes or until golden.
3. Heat some oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 chopped onion. Cook for 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Cool. Sprinkle over pastry, along with about 1/2 cup roasted sweet potato and silverbeet. Top with 1 cup grated tasty cheese.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C. Whisk 3 eggs, 1 1/2 cups milk (originally 300mL cream, 1/2 cup milk - I didn't have cream, and this was far too much liquid, so next time I'll use this amount), and a teaspoon plain flour in a jug (and salt and pepper if desired). Pour over vegetables. Place onto tray. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until set. Stand for 5 minutes. Serve.
   
   So, being a conscientious recipe-follower, I thawed 2 sheets of shortcrust pastry.  And I used only just more than one.  Not wanting to throw out food (I'm of Scottish ancestry, can you tell?), I looked for some more recipes.  These cinnamon hearts were perfect!  Quick, easy, no blind-baking required, hardly any ingredients... The original recipe is here or this is my version:

Preheat oven to 180C.  Line a baking sheet with baking paper.  Use cookie cutters to cut hearts (and stars and whatever else you want) from 1 or 2 sheets of just-thawed shortcrust pastry.  Brush with eggwhite, dust with cinnamon sugar.  Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden.