Oozing cheese green omelette

Wednesday is when I pick up my vegetable box...
I had heard of vegetable box schemes for a long long time, even got the Organic Directory to find out suppliers near me but it took me til last month to start. I finally decided on getting my weekly supplies from the Acorn Centre in Pulborough, a charity (part of the Aldingbourne Trust) ran for and by adults with learning disabilities. You know what? It's good, really GOOD that box. For £7, I get a full supply of veg, this week including potatoes, onions, carrots, marrow, beetroots, spinach, salad and tomatoes. All in brown paper bags which end up in the recycling bin. So I save money AND do my bit for the planet (well that's a start) all in one. A no brainer if you ask me.

Need to use the vegetables that keep the shortest first, so tonight: Spinach. First I put 1/2 the bag (about 250g) stalks and leaves in a large pan, add 1 peeled potato, several Swiss Chards leaves (just because I have some in my garden, this recipe works fine with the spinach alone), 1 heaped teaspoon of ground mace, salt and pepper and about 1 pint of water. Cover with a lid to bring to boil quicker, bang it on the gas until hot, remove the lid, leave it to cook for a further 15 minutes,(go and put your feet up!) then turn the gas off. Leave it to cool down, wizz it to a soup consistency, taste for seasonning, add a little cream if you feel indulgent and that's my starter ready for tomorrow night. Done and dusted.

Now on with my dinner (it's only me tonight so it's quick and easy):

Souflée omelette...

I like regular omelettes but this changes a bit and also avoid me using 4 eggs or it will not look enough to eat!. You need (per person):

• 2 eggs
• 30g(or more) of grated cheese (cheddar, parmesan) or diced mozarrella
• 150g of fresh spinach/swiss chards leaves
• salt/pepper
• olive oil

ready, steady, go!

• Wash and pat dry your green leaves. Chop them roughly and transfer into a microwavable dish. Add 3 tablespoons of water, steam for a few minutes full wack in the microwave, leaveto cool for a bit
• in the meantime, take 2 bowls, break and separate white and yolks of 2 eggs.
• Beat the egg whites to soft peaks (you can do this by hand really otherwise your washing up is going to start to pile up!)
• Take your green leaves, chop them finely (with knife on a board or use a small blender)
• Add the chopped green leaves to your eg yolks, mix well, add your cheese, season (go easy on the salt if you are using parmesan), then gently add your egg whites
• heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a (non stick) pan, pour your omelette mix in it and cook for a few minutes on medium heat until the sides begin to turn golden
• Finish under the grill for a couple of minutes until the top of the omelette is set.

Serve with a side dish of: chopped tomatoes with an olive oil and lemon dressing/ cucumber salad/buttered slice of crusty bread/green salad/peas...or ketchup if you must!

Pain perdu (lost bread)

On sunday morning...

I went to pick up some blackberries with the kids. As usual, Tom holds the box and I do the picking. Then Tom says "can I have one Mummy, just one?" of course you can...20 "can I have one" later, the box doesn't seem much fuller and he's grinning a dark purple smile from ear to ear. Anyway, got back home, picked a few apples fallen from my neighbour's tree into my garden and make a really yummy fruity thing/compote/puree as you want to call it.

You'll need....

Blackberries- I used about 2 coffee mugs worth...no need for precise measures for this one
Apples- about 3 or what you've got
Raspberries- a handful , only because I had some in the garden
Honey (runny)- a couple of tablespoons.

peel, quarter and core the apples. Chop them in big pieces.
Put them in a pan with about 1ooml of water
add your berries to it
put a lid on
cook slowly for 10 minutes until the apples are soft and all pink with the juice of the berries.
Add the honey, stir around and leave to cool.
(If you are making this for grown ups, you can add a dash of creme de cassis or creme de mures in it)

There's dozens of way to enjoy this mixture:

I had some yesterday night scooped on vanilla ice cream.
Then again this morning with porridge.
The kids had some tonight with some plain yoghurt.

and there is enough left to pour onto some pain perdu tomorrow for the kids lunch:

Pain perdu....

Take some brioche or white bread slices (crust removed if you want)
Beat 1 egg with 150 ml of milk or cream and about 2 tablespoons of sugar or honey
Dip the bread in the egg/milk mix
Melt a little butter in a non stick frying pan,
Cook your bread in the melted butter, turning after a couple of minutes when golden.
Top with the blackberry/apple compote, or jam or caster sugar even.

Best eaten straight away slightly warm. My grandmother used to cook this for us when we came back from school,

oh it's sooooooooo good!

Little Tom's Enchiladas

Yesterday our childminder called off sick...

got that ugly bug going round. My husband caught it last week and he spent the night shivering with high temperature and all that. Not nice.
Anyway, suddenly have got our 2 kids with me for the day. By the time we've got dressed, made a rocket, painted with potato stamps, it's lunch time and I have got nothing ready. So we made one of Tom's favourite meal: En-Chi-Lah-Dah (it's the way he says it that counts!).
It's a brilliant way to keep him busy. Plus I can use it to finish leftovers since the recipe changes (magically) each time we make it. And 10 minutes later it's ready. A no brainer really.

You'll need...

mexican wraps (flour or corn tortillas)

any of the following ingredients (the list is not exhaustive, feel free to improvise with your child's favourite foods):

tinned sweetcorn
cheese (cheddar, mozarella, babybels even)
avocado
tomatoes (fresh, puree, passata, sauce for pasta...)
cooked meat (sausages, chicken, mince beef, leftover cooked burger- that's what I used that time)
mushrooms
peas- cooked
cream cheese
canned tuna, even fresh prawns if you like

Count to 5 and enjoy!

1. take a tortilla
2. arrange your chosen ingredients in the middle
3. roll as tight as possible
4. place in preheated oven (190 degres) for abotu 10 minutes until the tortilla is slightly golden and any cheese melted.
5. Take out and leave to cool a bit,

Enjoy with a glass of squash and batons of cucumber on the side!

La tarte aux restes de fromage

It happened...
the day we were leaving for our summer holiday: I had loads of bits of cheese left in my "cheese box" (really an old tupperware). a quarter of brie, 2 babybels and some goats cheese. and 2 leaks. As usual, i didn't want to throw the whole lot in the bin. that's how this recipe was born, and we all enjoyed it cold whilst crossing the Channel that evening.

You'll need...

• 1 block of shortcrust pastry (of puf if you mind the crumbs in the car!). If you are a purist by all mean make your own, it tastes a lot better but lasck of times often means small cheats.


• about 2 to 3 tbsp of French mustard


• enough cheese leftovers to cover the tart (chevre/goat's cheeses work well, as well as blue cheeses, parmesan...avoid feta though!)a couple of leeks (I am sure you could use tomatoes as well, if you try it before me, let me know!)


• some thyme (fresh or dried, whatever you;ve got). If no thyme, you can use herbes de provence dry mix, dry parsley, oregano, chives, basil. the idea is to use what you have.


• some foil to blind bake your pastry (or anything you normally use to prevent it from rising)


• a bit of olive oil+ a pastry brush ...or kitchen paper!


• a tart shaped pastry case, non stick if you have.

Get going...

• take your pastry out of the fridge 10 or so minutes before starting.


• roll it as thin as possible on a floured surface


• take your kitchen paper or brush, dip it in olive oil, brush bottom and sides of the tart case


• put your pastry on it, tuck it in well, cut the excess but not too close to the edge (I always leave about 1 cm extra in case it shrinks during cooking)


• make some holes in the bottom of the pastry with a fork, use foil...to make sure it stays flat, bling bake for 10 minutes , remove the foil, bake for a further 5 to 10 minutes until pastry is nearly cooked but not coloured


• take out, leave to cool for a little


• meanwhile, chop the leeks in half lengthway, then chop thinly. wash, pat dry, drop in a frying pan with a little olive oil. cook slowly until tender but not coloured.


• take your pastry, smear it with the mustard, scatter your leeks on it, arrange your cheese thinly sliced on top as you like (I put them in circles so everyone gets a bit of everything, but you can also make "quarters" ). top with the thyme.


• put back in the oven, about 200 degrees C (but watch it, each oven is different!) for 15 /18 minutes until cheese is melted and the pastry is nice and golden.

Bon appetit!