Spinach and cheese crepes

 
Time for another gorgeous retro flashback. This meal was another end-of-the-fortnight classic, courtesy of my mother in the 80s. But I thought it was the most delicious treat of a meal. Crepes! For mains! And rolled up and everything. I imagine my mother thought of this as a cunning way to get a heap of spinach into small children.

I have also trotted this out as a 'fancy' entree in times gone by, as you can easily prepare this dish and reheat when you want to serve.  In the 90s, when I was 19 years old, I served this to five friends at a How To Host a Murder Party. Remember those! Hee! Anyway, I was pretty sure it was the height of glamour.

So I heartily recommend this if you need a cheap filling meal, some wonderful comfort food, or just the desire to travel back in time gastronomically. Obviously, this can be made vegetarian by leaving out the bacon, in which case I'd suggest adding mushrooms and some extra salt.

And of course the bonus perk is that if you have any spare crepes (which I strongly suggest you should do), a little lemon and sugar and you have dessert as well. Brilliant.

Ingredients - Crepes:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• butter to cook

Filling:

• 1/2 bunch fresh spinach
• 2 rashers bacon
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 80g butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup milk
• salt
• pepper
• nutmeg

Start by preparing your crepe batter.  If you haven't made crepes before, the batter is really just a loose version of pancakes. Mix all the ingredients, blend with a whisk until there are no lumps, and leave to sit while you prepare the filling.

The filling is just a white sauce with extras bits. First prepare your extra bits. Chop your spinach, bacon and grate your cheese. Fry up your bacon in a non-stick pan, then once crunchy, remove to cool.

Start your roux, melting the butter in a saucepan and scatter the flour through it, rubbing it in with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth.

Then add the milk and cheese, then the salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir through.  If the mixture feels too thick add more milk; if too thin then add cheese. Finally, toss through your spinach and bacon. Remove from the heat and cover to keep the heat.

Now cook your crepes. Heat a non-stick saucepan to medium-hot. For each crepe, start by dropping in a small (half a teaspoons worth) dollop of butter, and disperse over the pan. Pour in a saucer size amount of batter and swirl around the pan until it covers roughly double the original surface. You want to spread it thinly to create the lovely laced, crispy edges that make crepes so lovely. Stand watch over the crepes as you go, they'll cook fast. Keep your crepes under a tea towel to reserve the warmth until the whole batch is ready.

Once you've cooked all your crepes, fill them with a line of spinach mix down the centre, and roll them up. Yummo!

Anzacs

 I do love a food-based holiday.

I guess some might suggest that ANZAC day isn't food based, it's more about honouring those fallen in war and stuff. But since I don't have much time for anything that attempts to glorify war, I prefer to focus on the biscuit element of ANZAC day.

So to make an Australian classic, I turned to another Australian classic. The Woman's Weekly Classic Cookbook. It's old, it's crusty and it's damn reliable.

The most important thing about Anzacs is their syrupy, buttery, oatey goodness. Soooooo tasty.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 3/4 cup shredded coconut 
• 125g butter
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 2 teaspoons bicarb soda
• 2 tablespoons boiling water

Mix the flour, oats, sugar and coconut, leaving a well in the centre.

Melt the butter and golden syrup over a low flame. Add the bicarb to the boiled water and add to the butter mixture.  Then pour into the dry ingredients and mix the lot through.

Spoon into walnut-sized balls and place a fair way apart on greased trays in a 160 degree oven for about 18 minutes.

Cool. Chew. Crunch.

Pavlova roll with an almond crust and strawberry cream

I've failed to post once in this month of October.  I have also failed to cook more than the most perfunctory food to cram in my gob.  I've been having another of those work and study frenzies you see.


But now I'm going to make it up to you with this amazing, decadent, easy-peasy Pavlova roll.  My Mum has always made this for dinner parties and when I was little I thought it was super fancy (and who am I kidding, I still do!).  The recipe for the Pav has come from my Nanna and it is a fail-safe, perfect-every-time kind of a number.

Then there is the deliciousness factor.  The Pavlova is fluffy and moist, the crust is light and crunchy and the berry cream filling is fresh and luscious.  All together it's utterly divine.  I don't know why Pavlova tastes better in a roll.  It just does.

Ingredients:

• 6 egg whites
• 225g castor sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• cream
• table spoon of icing sugar
• strawberries
• 1 cup flaked almonds

 Heat the oven to 180 degrees and turn it down to about 160 when you put the pavlova in. Line a wide, shallow baking dish - like a swiss roll tin - with baking paper.

Beat the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form, and add the sugar, beating until stiff and dissolved.  With a large spoon, gently fold in the vanilla, vinegar and cornflour*.  Pour into your tray and smooth out the surface so that it's more or less even.  Then scatter the flaked almonds over the top.

 Put in the oven for about 30 minutes (check regularly to see the top doesn't burn).  Remove immediately and turn onto a clean tea towel.  Roll up in the tea towel and leave it to cool.  Ideally it will roll around itself like a Swiss roll, but my Pav was so successful and fluffy that the most I could manage was a tiny amount of overlap. 

When you're ready to serve it, whip your cream with an extra spoon of icing sugar and a drop of vanilla.  Slice your strawberries very fine.  Unroll the Pavlova (it may crack a little - this is okay as you can patch it up when we roll it again) and line with the strawberries, then the cream.  Roll back up gently and place on a serving tray with extra strawberries.  Voila!

When serving, cut it into inch-wide slices. This is one of those dishes that is astoundingly easy but never fails to impress.  And I've never met anyone who didn't love it!  Pavlova: it's better in a roll.

*To make a regular round Pavlova, spread the mixture into a circle and make the edges a little higher, on a lined tray.  Bake for 30 minutes but leave to cool in the oven before removing it.