Leek and Spinach Tart

This is one of my favourite "light meals" recipe. I spoke about Teresa Cutter before but honestly, this woman creates the best healthy clean recipes that are so nourishing for your body. I have made this tart a few times and even had it at my baby shower.

One of the reasons why I made this various times is because I have trouble removing tarts from tins. This version was one of the semi successful ones- but you can see it suffered some trauma. The filling is beautiful and the crust is so yummy though.

Some mistakes I made included
- Not oiling the tin enough
- Pressing the pastry too hard into the tin. Gentle pressing is sufficient.
-Not rolling the pastry evenly.
- Underbaking the crust.
- Using the wrong type of tart tin. I used the high wall type but found out that NOT all tins are created equal. Too thick a tin actually made it harder for the tart to be removed.

There was one week, that I was so frustrated, I made 3 tarts to prove that I can do it :x

Leek and Spinach Tart (Serves 10-12)
Crust
300 grams of Almond Meal
1 Cup of desiccated coconut or around 100grams
3 tablespoons of linseed
pinch salt
3 eggs

Filling
2 leeks
500 grams of spinach
500 grams of ricotta cheese
seasoning

Preheat Oven to 180C. Oil your tart tin VERY well. Blitz crust ingredients in the food processor. Roll pastry in between two pieces of baking paper and gently press it to the tin.

To make the filling, cook the leek with a little oil till soft. Add spinach till it wilts. Mix vegetables with ricotta and seasoning. Spoon into tart. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with rocket and balsamic vinegar.

Lamb Sausage Rolls

The aroma of freshly baked pastries as we walked passed a bakery hits us. The internal battle of "should I or should I not" crosses my mind. The golden brown pastries sparkle under the light. The tomato sauce by its side. The price, being $3.50 isn't really too expensive... or so I thought!

Often, we avoid having meat pastries from shops as the type of meat, amount of fat and ingredients is unknown. A quick search on line gave me the inspirations of making sausage rolls at home. Gathering up the ingredients, I realised that puff pastries, lamb (or even lean beef mince), plus the other ingredients add up to be around $15. With that amount, I managed to make enough sausage rolls to last us for 3meals + a snack for hubby. That's around 16 sausage rolls!!! Although they are not huge in size, but at least when hubby is eating them, I know he is not eating fat and sinew. Not forgetting a big serve of salad to counteract the the cholesterol.

At least that is what I kept telling myself ;P

Lamb Sausage Rolls (makes at least 16 rolls)

450 grams of lamb mince-as lean as possible.
2 springs of rosemary
1 cup of bread crumbs (I used packaged but 2 pieces of old bread processed into crumbs)
some spices- I used 1/4 tsp of chili, 1 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of curry powder
1 tsp of honey 
2 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
cracked pepper
2 tablespoon of corn flour
1 egg

4 pieces of puff pastry-defrosted1 tablespoon of poppy seeds
1 egg -beaten lightly

Marinate lamb mince with the other ingredients. Preheat Oven to 200C. Place baking paper on 2 baking trays.Divide each pastry into fourths. Place around 1 to 2 tablespoon of mince in the middle of the quarter. Roll. Seal using some of the egg. Place on baking tray. Repeat. Brush eggwash on to each sausage roll. Sprinkle poppy seeds on them. Bake for 25 minutes till golden brown. Serve with a salad.

Chorizo Prawn Salad

I think it is a huge myth that salads can't be tasty. One of my favourite Sunday lunches would be a quick salad filled with ingredients. Now, Chorizo isn't exactly the healthiest sausage around but it's strong tasting- which means less is more. I used a cold pan to fry slices of chorizo in, which helps the fat melts. I drain the fat away (although if you want more flavour, you can always retain it) and place chorizo on paper towels to further absorb more oil.

Chickpeas, grilled red onions, juicy prawns- what's not to love!  Although it's winter now, a warm salad sorts of break the monotonous meals of stewed meat, casseroles, soups...etc. It's light and hearty at the same time.

Tell me what are your favourite combination of salads?

Chorizo Prawn Salad
1 Spanish Chorizo sliced
1 red onion sliced finely
1 can of chick peas
around 150 grams of shelled prawns
2-3 cups of baby spinach leaves

Grill chorizo slices till done. Drain oil and place chorizo on paper towels. Using the same pan, grilled red onions till nice and done! Toss in the prawns and then chick peas. Add chorizos. Spoon mixture onto baby spinach. Sprinkle some black pepper of needed. EAT =)

Sweet Corn Fritters

I have been reading "Australian Healthy Food" and I come across this cute little recipe call "Super Healthy Sweet Corn Fritters". Now, anyone will know that it is rare that fritters are healthy (Especially if they are fried with heaps of oil), but I have a weakness for anything corn (i mean it!) and since it says healthy, I decided to give it a go.

I have only used polenta once, and that turned into a mess. So when I saw that this recipe calls for polenta, I went "hmmm..." not only that, it has beans in it as well!

The result was a thick satisfying fritter. One thing though, it has more of a "grainy" texture to it-which I actually didn't mind. It could be because I wasn't using the fine polenta (Although the package did not say anything?). This dish consisted of 5 grams of fat (including salad), so I think it is a satisfying and healthy lunch altogether.

Sweet Corn Fritters 
2 cups of corn kennels
1 can of cannellini beans
1 cup of polenta
1/4 cup of flour (the recipe calls for wholemeal flour)
1 cup of buttermilk
1 egg
spray oil

Process beans and corn together. Add polenta, flour, buttermilk and egg. Pulse till combined. If time permits, sit mixture for 20 minutes. Spray pan with oil. Ladle 1/4 cup of mixture each time to hot pan. Flip it over when cooked. Serve with salad and herbed yogurt if you like (herb yogurt-mix 1 cup of yogurt with chives)