Spinach and Cheese Bake

The food gods haven't been kind to me recently. I must've done something really terrible in a former life. I was beginning to lose the love. It was a scary time.

There was a Moroccan pastilla that was just, well...meh. Strawberry jam that could easily have passed for a power ball. And worst of all, some walnut and honey soda bread that, no matter how long I baked it for, just wasn't ready. It's doubly disappointing when you didn't buy anything else in case of disaster and the shops don't open till four. A lunch of cheese minus soda bread wasn't quite as much fun.

So, owing to the Moroccan pie, I had a big wodge of filo pastry to use up. I wanted to make a 'spanakopita', a greek spinach and feta pie but, after looking at various recipes, I found that the quantities just didn't match with what I could buy from the shops here. So, I decided to make an Emma style Greek pie and just use whatever I could get hold of. It's certainly not a authentic spanakopita which uses leeks and certainly no ricotta. Let's just say I took inspiration from the Greeks shall we. (Before I upset too many people). This here is more of a spinach, feta and ricotta bake with a filo blanket.

A Dutch Tradition...the Uitsmijter

There's nothing better than your parents coming to visit you when you haven't seen them since Christmas and spending a week eating, drinking good wine, good beer and just chilling out. We spent the week in the province of Friesland which is in the North of the Netherlands. If you ever get a chance to visit, you definitely should. It's one of the most peaceful places I've ever been to and was the most beautiful area that we've been to in the Netherlands so far. Think windmills, boats (or rather yachts), tiny houses, bikes and fresh seafood by the sea. Bliss.

Cheese & Pickle Burgers

Cheese & Pickle makes for a pretty formidable partnership. Fact. 
The two just kinda go hand in hand don't they?

Sometimes, living in a foreign country, you get a bit homesick and you just want to eat food that reminds you of home. Nothing fancy, just something takes you back for a moment and for me that something is cheese and pickle. What could be more British and comforting than that? And not fancy schmancy pickle. Oh no, I'm talking about the good old Branston variety. And imagine how excited I was when I found some in one of the supermarkets here! OK, so it was a 10 mile round trip on my bike to get my hands on it but I'd say that it was a small price to pay to have the pickle in my life once again. And after all that exercise I definitely had to do something awesome with it.

Goats Cheese and Roast Tomato Tart

Don't you hate it when you get a bill from the tax man demanding money? Well, that's what happened to me this week.  Not my favourite way to start a week.

So, to try and make my bank balance feel a little better about itself I've been tight with everything else. The only problem is that my default place to go when I'm feeling stressed or down is kitchen which usually involves spending money. And so the challenge began...to make a meal from what we had lying about in the fridge. Easier said than done when your fridge looks like it's just been raided by the food police.

I had butter, eggs, tomatoes and goat's cheese. Mmm, what to do? My little brain was beginning to steam when...brainwave! In times like these, make a tart! Tarts or quiches are a great way of using up all those odd bits in the fridge that are just asking to be eaten but you don't know what to do with. (OK, I admit that I had to go and pick up some cream, but at 57 cents, I could just raid the copper jar). All I do is rustle up a bit of short crust pastry, pop whatever I have lying around in the case, top it up with a mix of eggs and cream, bung it in the oven and bob's your uncle, 30 minutes later you've got a tasty dinner out of what you'd otherwise written off.