ilovegreece – My Whisk and I

45ml olive oil
1kg ground beef/mutton
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
30ml tomato paste
2 tomatoes, chopped
5ml origanum
10ml salt
200ml white wine
62ml basmati rice
a handful of parsley
500g puff pastry, store bought
100g feta cheese, crumbled
1 eg + 15ml water, whisked together

Add the olive oil to a saucepan set over medium-high heat.
Fry the meat in batches until well browned. Set aside.
Lower the heat, add the onion and cook until soft.
Add the garlic and tomato paste and stir-fry for one minute.
Add the chopped tomato, origanum and salt and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Pour in the wine and simmer until it has reduced by half.
Add 200ml water and cook the meat on a low simmer for 40 minutes.
Take the saucepan from the heat, stir in the rice and parsley and set aside to cool to room temperature.
Taste and adjust seasoning.
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray a 22cm loose-bottom cake tin with cooking spray.
Roll the pastry thinner and line the bottom and sides of the baking tin.
Spoon the cooled meat into the pastry shell.
Sprinkle the crumbled feta over the filling.
Cut a pastry round to fit the top of the pie, brush the edges with water and place on top of the filling to form a lid.
Seal the pastry around the edges by scrunching it together and brush all over with the egg wash.
Make a cross slit in the centre of the pastry lid and bake in the oven for 1 hour.
Stand the pie for 15 minutes before slicing to serve.

This cake is a good example of how something very plain can be absolutely fabulous!! The texture is fine and dense, there is a faint reminder of last summer’s olive harvest and the most perfect accompaniment to a cup of Greek coffee!! I do hope you try it soon…

3 eggs
190ml sugar
125ml olive oil – choose an oil of which you really like the flavour!
125ml milk
2,5ml vanilla
1,2ml almond extract
375ml flour
7,5ml baking powder
2,5ml salt

Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray a 20cm diameter cake tin with cooking spray. Coat the inside of the tin with flour. Set aside.
Add the eggs and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at high speed for 30 seconds.
Drizzle in the olive oil with the machine running.
Add the milk in a thin stream and beat until combined.
Lower the speed of the mixer and add the vanilla and almond extract.
Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together with a whisk.
Add the flour mixture a spoonful at a time, with the mixer running on low speed. Beat until combined before adding more flour and stop the mixer often to scrape down the bowl.
Scrape the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake between 30-35 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
Remove it from the cake tin and cool completely on a wire rack.
Brush the cooled cake with fresh olive before serving.

Tag: ilovegreece

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