Mushroom and Spinach Pancake Bake

With spring ever so slowly emerging, the pots lined with vegetable seeds are beginning to sprout and open fire is being lit less and less. With this spring excitement Hubby has come all Hugh F-W (again!) and has had a go at curing his own pork and making nettle beer. The pork is still drying and the beer still brewing so in a week or so I hope to write about Hubbies Foodie Adventures...but don't get too excited about the nettle beer. We had a sip of the beer tonight and in Hubby's words "it isn't nasty, but it isn't exactly nice" ...hmmmm I think I'll be staying away from this slightly carbonated home brew that looks worryingly like dirty dish water.

The week of dinners from Delicious continues. I've recently become a fan of the magazine and switched my subscription for GFM to Delicious. The recipes are far more inspiring and don't use as many cheat ingredients as GFM does. Saying that tonight's recipe did call for ready-made pancakes. Me being me, refuses to buy ready made pancakes so made my own. The dish turned out really well. Hubby commented on how meaty the mushrooms were. It's so simple and I'm surprised I hadn't thought about it before. In the future I'm going to try it with different fillings. Sorry for the not so perfect pictures. I forgot to switch the kitchen light on while taking the photo so have had to do some serious photoshopping to get the colour as best as I can.

Mushroom and Spinach Pancake Bake
Serves 2-4

Pancakes
Makes around 6 pancakes

115g plain flour
300ml milk
pinch of salt
1 egg

For the main dish
7 large field mushrooms
1 tsp garlic paste (or 1 garlic clove)
225g spinach, wilted and the water squeezed out
25g butter
25g plain flour
300ml milk
nutmeg
40g Gruyere, grated

1) Sift the flour for the pancakes and salt into a bowl. Crack egg into well then gradually whisk in pancake milk. Beat until smooth. Refrigerate batter for 1 hour (optional).

2) Heat non-stick frying pan to med-hot. Pour a ladle of batter into the frying pan, enough to cover the bottom of the pan. As bubbles begin to appear under the batter flip the pancake over. Once cooked pile on a plate with a piece of greaseproof paper between each pancake. They can be made in advance.

3) Preheat oven to 180oc. Fry the mushrooms for around 5 minutes, add the garlic then fry for a further minute. Put to one side

4) In a medium saucepan melt the butter then stir in the flour to make a roux. Cook for 2 min then gradually whisk in the milk. Keep stirring as it begins to simmer. Keep simmering until the sauce has thickened. Take off the heat and stir a small pinch of nutmeg and 1/2 of the cheese.

5) Roll up each pancake with some of the spinach, mushrooms and a small amount of sauce. Place in a baking dish. Repeat with the other pancakes. Pour the remaining sauce over the pancakes in the dish and bake for 20 min, until bubbling and golden.

Spinach & Feta Frittata

This week is Farmhouse Breakfast Week and to celebrate I made Scotch Pancakes with the butter and buttermilk I made earlier on in the week. They were beautifully fluffy and if my waistline allowed I would eat them every day.

With the miserable weather and all the stodgy comfort food we've been eating today I was craving a simple veggie summer dish. Although a frittata is traditionally done on the hob in a frying pan, I prefer to oven bake it. This is a slightly different version on the oven-baked frittata I've baked before. On the way home from work I popped into Morrisons to pick up some feta, while walking to the fridges I noticed a huge display promoting 5-a-day. On this display was potatoes, I didn't dare point out to the woman setting up the display that potatoes don't count as one of your 5-a-day!

Spinach & Feta Frittata
Serves 4

4 eggs
1 tbsp cornflower
200ml milk
200g spinach
handful of feta
seasoning

1) Heat oven to 220oc. Wilt spinach, allow to cool then squeeze out water. Blend the cornflower with a bit of milk, then whisk in the rest of the milk and eggs. Season with salt and pepper.

2) Line 8in x 8in baking tin with baking parchment. Pour in the batter, then sprinkle the spinach and feta over the batter. Bake for 20 min until firm and golden. Can be eaten warm or cold.

Spinach & Potato Omlette

After the disaster of my lasagna (even though I've made it loads of times before), I decided to make something tonight that couldn't possibly go wrong. Until just under a year ago I had convinced myself that I didn't like omlette/quiche/egg based meals apart from scrambled eggs. I don't know why. As I'm not really an meat eater I decided I really should begin to like eggs. Tonight's most recent veggie dish was spinach and potato omlette. Both hubby and I liked it, but next time I'll add a bit more seasoning. The leftovers will be in my bento tomorrow!

Spinach & Potato Omlette

250g spinach, wilted
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 medium potatoes, finely sliced
8 eggs
olive oil

1) Slowly fry onion and potato in non-stick frying pan until potato is softened. Stir in spinach.

2) Whisk eggs and season. Pour over potatoes, stir until it begins to firm. Once the omlette is almost set put until a high grill to set top. Turn omlette over and put back onto the hob for a couple of minutes.

We're working for my brother at a big sailing event this weekend as photographer/dogsbody/chief biscuit maker and I'm planning to make custard creams and chocolate caramel nuggets . In the coming few weeks hubby wants to attempt Créme Brûlée Bubbles