A wee bit late today. We had a rather big day on the drive yesterday. We have now completed 24 bays on each side of the drive and only have 30 to go !!! Chipping a little away each day helps and is actually better than a bigger effort which takes us longer to recover from.
I am also aware some my blogs have gone out with some shocking grammatical errors – although my editor “Phil’ has given me a pass, I think pressing the publish button late at night is not such a good idea. Mind you English was never my strong point and I can’t promise there won’t be more mistakes.
The weekend means I have Phil to help on the drive . We are both bad at rising early and prefer to read the paper, ( online ) check out over seas Apps – Guardian, BBC , Al Jazeera and read our novels . But we have learn’t to get cracking or it gets too hot in the afternoons.
Late lunch with a 00 beer
Avocado and Cherry Tomatoes on Toast
1 ripe avocado, zest and juice of lemon, 8-10 cherry tomatoes / cut into quarters, 1 teaspoon capers, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, 2 slices of bread ( our own baked ), 1 clove garlic, chopped fresh herb i.e. coriander, dill, parsley, tarragon .
Grill or toast your bread, then rub each side with the cut side of a garlic clove. Mash the avocado flesh with back of a fork, add 1/2 the lemon zest and juice . Season with sea salt. In a small bowl mix together tomatoes, capers, remaining lemon zest and juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Season .
Spread each piece of toast with mashed avocado, top with tomato mixture, sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs.
Philip is also busy trying to reduce the rabbit population on our property, before we start planting . They have already nibbled the little short tussocks. We are rabbit fenced but the problem is most of them are on the inside. Our walk in the afternoon along the bottom of the vineyard is very beautiful. It over looks the Clutha and although we are in a stunning landscape it still feels strange to be isolated with NO one around.
In the years we had our Cafe ‘Partners ‘ in the late 80’s and early 90’s, filo pastry was a staple and Spanokopita a favourite . Filo pastry is a versatile product that I would rarely be without in my fridge. It’s useful for making pies, wrapping around fresh fish, as a topping for sweet desserts and it can be made small enough for finger food or rolled into a log for an impressive shared lunch.
I am using a recipe from my second book ” Dinner in a Basket” and modified it to the ingredients available in the fridge. It incorporates delicious Autumn ingredients and instead of making it into a pie, I wrapped the mixture in filo to make parcels. I made 4 parcels and after a day of physical work outside we greedily ate two each.
1/2 cup raisins, 6- 8 silverbeet leaves – washed , (I also had about 1/4 bag of left over spinach leaves and used these as well ), 1 clove garlic – crushed, 100 grams feta cheese – diced, 1/2 cup pinenuts – roasted, 1 egg beaten, 1 apple – peeled, cored and sliced (I made use of leftover baked sweet pear slices from in the salad the previous night), 8 sheets filo pastry, 50 grams melted butter.
Place the raisins in a small bowl, cover with boiling water to soften. Remove the leaves from the stems of sliver beet by running a knife down the stem on each side. Slice the stems thinly . Add to a saucepan and saute gently a tablespoon of olive oil with the crushed garlic until softened. Slice the leaves and add to stems . Cook until they have just wilted. Cool slightly. Drain the raisins and combine with parmesan, feta cheese, pine nuts, beaten egg , apples slices (or pear) and finally the silverbeet mixture. Season.
Cut the bag of filo at the very top so you can put the unused sheets in and be able to fold over the top to keep the air out .
Place all the sheets on a bench . Take one and brush with melted butter, place another sheet on top and repeat using 4 sheets. Slice down the middle of the filo. Spoon on a good pile of mixture, fold up like a parcel. You may choose to make the parcels smaller in which case you could get 6-8.
I chose to serve the parcels with a simple salad of rocket leaves, thinly sliced fennel and a few shavings of parmesan cheese. Dress with simple lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil Season.
Our walk along the bottom of the vineyard overlooking the Clutha river makes us appreciate this beautiful stunning landscape that we are in lock down in . Although seeing NO one is taking some getting used to.
XXX Jude