Saturday morning and a chance to walk the drive and admire our happy tussocks after a night of wonderful rain. We were also on a mission to find more Rabbit burrows in the hope to eliminate them before they do so much destruction to new trees that we intend to plant soon. We are rabbit fenced but haven’t been very proactive at protecting our property in the past.
I haven’t done very much baking and today I made an apple shortcake and included roasted figs and red currant jam. OMG it was so good and we turned lunch into afternoon tea with a cup of good fresh espresso (Our coffee beans had just been delivered from ‘Common Ground’ in Dunedin – I love those guys )
Apple and Fig Shortcake
150 grams butter, 150 grams caster sugar, 1 egg, 250 grams plain flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 kg apples, peeled, cored and sliced thickly, 50 grams butter, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon caster sugar, ½ cup jam- apricot, red currants raspberry etc
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and slowly add the flour and baking powder. Remove. Roll into a ball. Knead until dough becomes smooth and soft. Cut in half. Roll out half to fit a 24cm shallow pie dish or oblong tart tin. Melt the butter in a heavy based large frying pan. When it sizzles add the apples. You want them to cook a little, brown a bit but not enough to break them up. Scatter in the sugar and lemon juice. Continue cooking until the apples are fluffy . Remove from the heat. Spread your jam of your choice on the bottom. Fill the baking dish with the cooked apples, layer grilled figs halved (if you have any ) Roll out the second half of the pastry. Carefully lay the pastry over the fruit. Bake at 180 Celsius. Brush top with milk and sprinkle with a little caster sugar. Bake at 180 Deg C for 40 minutes – or until the shortcake is golden and crumbly. Cool briefly before serving. Note : I used Apple pulp that I had left over after making my apple jelly
Dinner was a team event and to be fair between tours over the past few years my prioity of continually coming up with new ideas had dropped off . I haven’t had the time to play with recipes for along time . Using my all time favourite Spinach and Feta Fritters I topped them with seedy crusted chicken thighs and yoghurt tomato sauce
Spinach and Feta Fritters
150g mixed green leaves – spinach, rocket, spring onions or chives, 150 grams Parmesan cheese. grated, 150 grams feta , 1 cup flour, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons cumin seeds – lightly roasted , 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, finely chopped, salt and pepper, olive oil or vegetable oil for frying
Trim greens and chop coarsely. Thinly slice spring onions and combine with the greens. Add cheeses, flour, thyme, cumin seeds and eggs in a bowl. Season to taste and mix well with your hands. Shape mixture into 10-12 balls and flatten slightly. In a frying pan heat 1cm oil. Shallow fry tablespoons of the batter in batches for 2-3 minutes or until golden. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve fritters immediately. I halved this recipe for two and made two large fritters .
Seedy Chicken Thighs
6 chicken thighs, 1/2 cup flour, 2 eggs – lightly whisked, 1 cup panic crumbs, 4 tablespoons sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons nigella seeds, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds – chopped , 1 tablespoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon turmeric , pinch chilli flakes,
Place the chicken fillets in a plastic bag 2 at a time – beat with a rolling pin until flattened. Combine the panko crumbs and all seeds in a bowl – mix together. Place flour in another bowl. Season with salt and pepper and place beaten eggs in another bowl Dip flattened chicken thighs in flour, then egg followed by panko seed mixture . ( These would be amazing in a burger)
I boiled 1/2 cup of puy lentils, drained them and added to 1 cups my remaining tomato ragu . Heat them both together and fold 2-4 tablespoon of yoghurt.( if you don’t have any tomato ragu – use passata. Place Spinach and Feta fritter on a plate.. Sit on seedy chicken thigh and dollop tomato yoghurt on top. Sprinkle with chopped coriander .
Phil made the Spinach and Feta fritters while I put together the other components of this meal. It was so very tasty with wonderful flavours.
Enjoy your weekend.
XXX Jude
.
.