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.

Chocolate Fruit and Nut Tart

Jamie Oliver's recipe for Chocolate Fruit and Nut Tart had been tempting me for a little while.  I'd stocked up on Green & Black's 85% before Christmas, and I had 2 blocks best before... yesterday.  So this recipe, calling for 2 blocks of this chocolate, couldn't have been better. 

On the left you can see the illustrations from Jamie's book (Ministry of Food, if you're interested).  Note the regular shape and actual shell styling of the pastry.  Below, you can see my finished product.  Hmmm.  The overview was just too blob-like so I've spared you that photo. 

I think part of the problem was that the Brits do shortcrust pastry differently from Aussies.  He gave instructions for rolling out to just under a centimetre thick, but mine was already rolled to about 4 millimetres.  So pinching the edges to form a sort of lip was not brilliantly successful.  Then, when baking the pastry, if I'd used pastry weights it might have stayed as a shell instead of ending up looking like a rug with stuff swept under it. 

The finished product tasted rather like melted Green & Black's 85% on top of pastry with stuff added to it, funnily enough.  I don't know if it was the pastry I used, but I don't think it was a great addition.  If this gets a second run, I might try making my own and seeing if that solves the above problems.

Instead of using the suggested raisins and hazelnuts, I used some (more) leftover dried apricots and roasted almonds.  One of the things I enjoy about Jamie's cooking is the substition - this, or this, or you know whatever you have to hand...  (Normally I appreciate the quantities as well - handful of this, a bit of this, just chuck in a few of these - but I have quite small hands so often have to guess when it comes to things like a thumb-size piece of ginger, for example).

If anyone wants the recipe let me know and I'll add it.