Beautiful baklava.

I'm extremely excited about this post as it's something that has been on 'the list' for a long time. I have two main lists to do with food, the first is places I want to dine and the second, the more important obviously, is things I want to make and bake. Baklava has been pretty high up but always something I've not got round to making. Mostly because it's quite pricey to make when buying all the ingredients what with all the nuts and the filo pastry. 

On this lucky day I found myself owning most of the ingredients and so set myself to make it. I thought it would be labour intensive and a faff to make but really it was so simple and worth the little effort you do need. The flavours ended up tasting a bit Christmassy (which I love but some people don't) so maybe next time I would leave out the cinnamon from the nut mix. Also feel free to mix up the nuts you use depending on your own personal taste.

Serve with tea or coffee after a Middle Eastern or Turkish meal. Alternatively just gobble it up all by itself. 

Walnut, pecan and pistachio baklava

150g pistachio

75g pecan nuts

75g walnuts

150g light brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

22 sheets filo pastry (cut in to 25cmx15cm or to the size of your dish/tray) 

75g butter, melted

For the syrup

180g caster sugar 

180ml water

1/2 cinnamon stick

Zest and juice of half a lemon and orange

2tbsp or 30g dark honey. 

3 cloves

3 cardamom pods, crushed

1 1/2 tsp orange blossom water

Start by putting all the ingredients for the nut mix in to a food processor until blitzed finely with a few chunky bits. If you don't have a food processor then chop the nuts up as finely as you can and then mix with the sugar. 

Next cut the filo to shape and then cover with a damp cloth. This is important as filo pastry dries out very quickly. Then taking one sheet at a time, place in a lined tray and brush with the melted butter in between each layer. Do this until you have 6 sheets of buttered filo. Tip half of the nut mix on top and spread out so it's even and flat. Repeat the process again until you have 6 layers of filo and then top with the rest of the nuts. Press down and then continue with the pastry until you have 10 sheets on top.

 

Taking a sharp knife cut out squares, diamonds or rectangles in the top sheets.

Place in a preheated 180 degree oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown. 

While the baklava is baking, start making your syrup. Place all the ingredients in a small pan and boil until it reaches 108 degrees Celsius. The syrup will be thick and coat the back of a spoon easily. Keep it hot until ready to pour over the baklava but don't over boil or burn. It's best to reach the right stage just as the pastry is ready. 

When the baklava is out of the oven, take the sharp knife again and cut all the way through where you cut before. It's a little tricky as the top layers will be loose but just be careful and keep going. Once cut, pour the syrup over the top and leave to cool. When it is cooled fully, wrap and leave for at least 7 hours or overnight so the syrup has time to soak fully. 

Pie fit for summer.

Now that the sun is shining and things are warming up, I've been inspired to cook something a bit summery to suit the weather. I normally end up thinking about what I want to cook, while at work, when I know that I have the evening off. This time wasn't any different, so while busy with working I managed to come up with this recipe. Obviously it changed a bit here and there whilst cooking when I realised one or two of the ingredients had past their best without me noticing (this happens more often than I care to admit.)

The main event was some filo pastry that I had in the freezer and some vegetables and cheese going equally soft in the fridge. I wanted something a bit lighter than a normal pie but with the same satisfaction in the eating. It didn't disappoint. Feel free to mix up the veggies and/or cheese, its a great recipe to experiment with. You can even add in some cooked meat too, it's such a versatile dish. Perfect for a midweek treat, lunch or veggie dinner party. 

Spinach, mushroom and goats cheese parcel

Serves 2

2 onions, sliced

a handful of mushrooms

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp dried thyme

1 big bag of fresh spinach

2 slices of goats cheese

6 sheets of filo pastry

Start by frying off the onions with some salt (this speeds up the caramelising process) until they start to go golden and soft. Next add in the mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the sherry vinegar and honey and keep frying until you have a nice soft and sweet mix. Stir in the thyme and then add all the spinach until it wilts down. Take off the heat and allow to cool down, after stirring through some black pepper. 

Take the filo pastry and cut the sheet in half. Get a tray ready with some baking paper and melt down some butter. Place two of the halves on the baking tray, side by side. Brush some of the melted butter on each and then place another filo half on top in the other direction so you have an X shape. repeat until you have used all the pastry halves. 

Next, divide the vegetable mix and place in the middle of the pastry. Break up the goats cheese and place on top. 

Butter the edges of the pastry and gather them up so it ends up looking like a money bag. 

Bake in a 180 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until golden. Serve with a nice green salad. 

Last minute cannelloni

First of all I need to ask you to be patient as I made this recipe quite some time ago and have only just got round to writing it up. It may be hazy in places and probably not exactly how I made it but hopefully you'll get the idea about this simple Italian dish. I decided to make this just after my lasagne post a few weeks back as I had so many of the ingredients in my fridge and store cupboard, in particular the ricotta which was soon to be going past its best. Obviously the first food pairing that comes to mind is spinach and luckily I had some in the freezer. The beauty of this dish is that you can have most of the ingredients in your cupboards and freezer, only needing to buy one or two extra fresh ingredients if you don't have them already. I made it quickly after work, worth the extra effort when it came to the eating. Feel free to skip the white sauce and just use some mascapone let down with a bit of milk. I was going for cheap and cheerful but to make it more luxurious use some sliced or grated mozzarella on top too. The beauty of this recipe is it can be a humble weekday dinner or an oozy cheesy dinner party meal depending on what you put on it. It's also perfect for when you have vegetarian guests over too. A jolly good all rounder!

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni 

Serves 4

Spinach filling
400g frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed of all excess water
250g ricotta
zest of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
small grating of fresh nutmeg

Chop the spinach up and then mix with all the other ingredients. Put inside a piping bag if you have one or just keep to one side in a bowl if not

Tomato sauce
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar or honey
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
chopped basil, oregano and rosemary.

Bechamel Sauce
Follow the recipe in my lasagna post (you might not need the whole recipe)

Fry off the onion until soft then add the garlic. Saute for a couple of minutes then add all the other ingredients. Cook slowly, the slower the better for at least 45 minutes, stirring often to prevent it catching.

8 sheets of lasagna pasta or cannelloni

Boil some water and blanch the pasta until slightly soft, about 4-5 minutes.

Lastly assemble. Spread the tomato sauce on the bottom of and ovenproof dish (I did this the wrong way round.)

Fill your pasta with the spinach filling, place on top of the tomato sauce. 

Lastly pour over the bechamel and grate some Parmesan or cheddar over the top. Bake at 180 degrees until golden on top and the pasta is soft.