Broccoli, ricotta & smoked salmon pie

Main:Broccoli, ricotta & smoked salmon pie.
Pg: 48 Northern Beaches Cooks

Salad: Beetroot, pear & walnut salad.
Pg: 60 Northern Beaches Cooks

Dessert: Beach road chocolate malt soufflé.
Pg: 157 Northern Beaches Cooks

The Pie:

Well, of course you can imagine the MAV’s face when he could smell the cooking broccoli permeating our home and asked “what are we having for dinner?” and I told him. Always wish I have a camera handy……. BUT, what a surprise this meal was. Even I had doubts because let’s face it cooking broccoli like cauliflower is not inspiring. It.was.delicious!!

Now a couple of things to take note of. You need to get your hands involved. The filling becomes very gluggy (you need a strong food processor) and as you are working with filo which is delicate, it is so easy to tear. When you lay down the filling between the layers, dampen your hands and gently ease the filling to the corners.

This takes a little time but it is worth it. BTW I added a good grind of pepper which is not in the recipe. Some people don’t like the strong taste of smoked salmon and a little goes a long way, however, I feel this recipe doesn’t overdo it so the flavours blend beautifully. With regard to the filo, because of the shape of the pan they suggest you will have off-cuts; this means it is not really necessary to get two packets of filo pastry to end up with 32 sheets. Just use the off cuts and a little bit of jigsaw magic – no-one will know. 8/10 for this one.

The Salad:

Not a lot to say here other than the combination of flavours on a summer’s night, accompanying this delicious pie certainly made for a moreish main course.

Dessert:

A bit more difficult. I am not an expert soufflé maker but they did rise quite a bit.

I do really need to practice more. The down side of this recipe is that it called for malt and you know what, I found it so hard to find – when I did it was $10 for a rather large tin so instead I used maple syrup, just not as much as the recipe suggests because of the sweetness of the syrup. It took a lot of egg whites so I thought I would try a carton of egg whites – will not be doing that again as they definitely do not whip up into nice peaks. When it comes to mixing the choc mixture in with the egg whites, it is very difficult (well, I found it so) because the choc mix is thick and sticky so it took ages to do. I really couldn’t tell you if I had done something wrong, however, I got there in the end.

Everyone (including me) other than MAV gave them a 4/10. However, MAV gave them 9/10 because he doesn’t half love sweets. He even went around and finished the dregs of everyone else’s.

So all in all, this was a reasonably successful meal and we enjoyed the pescatarian element.

Until next week.

From my table to yours with love.

500 g Broccoli (cut into florets)
350 g Ricotta
220 g Jarlsberg cheese (grated)
1/3 c Parmesan cheese (freshly grated)
1/3 c Parsley (chopped)
32 sheets Filo pastry
100 g Butter (melted)
200 g Smoked salmon slices
1 tbsp Poppy seeds

* Preheat oven to 180º c and grease a 29cm x 24cm x 6cm baking tray.

* Place broccoli into a microwave safe container and add 2 tbsp water. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 mins or until soft. Drain and cool.

* Combine broccoli, ricotta, Jarlsberg, parmesan and parsley and place into the bowl of a food processor. process until broccoli has broken down and ingredients are evenly mixed.

* Lay 8 sheets of filo onto the work surface. Take 2 sheets and trim to fit baking dish. Place into the bottom of dish and brush second sheet with melted butter. Repeat the process with remaining pastry and butter.

* Spoon over a third of the broccoli cheese mixture, spreading mixture to the edges.

* Take another eight sheets of filo, place two sheets over broccoli mixture and brush second sheet with butter. Repeat with remaining pastry and butter.

* Spread over half of the remaining broccoli cheese mixture and top with slices of salmon.

* Repeat with eight more sheets of filo and spread over remaining broccoli mixture. Lay remaining eight filo sheets on the top, brushing every second sheet with butter.

* Brush butter over the top sheet of filo and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake in over 30-40 minutes or until pastry is golden and cooked. Stand in tin for 10 minutes before slicing.

Beetroot, Pear & Walnut Salad

1 bunch Beetroot (buy the prepared beets it is much easier)
4 Firm pears (cored, peeled and cut into wedges)
2 tsp Lime zest
1/3 c Lime juice
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
250 g Walnuts (toasted, halved)
1 bunch Rocket
S & P

Cut beets into wedges. Place in a large bowl with pears. Combine zest, juice, olive oil, balsamic, S & P to taste, in a bowl. Pour over the beetroot and pears. Toss together with the walnuts and rocket.

Beach Road Chocolate Malt Soufflé

If the liquid malt is hard to get, use a small amount of Maple Syrup

190 ml Milk
40 g Butter
40 g Sugar
20 g Flour
20 g Cornflour
1 egg yolk
80 g Cocoa
160 g Malt
320 ml Egg whites
160 g Sugar

* Preheat oven to 190ºC. Butter and sugar 4 ramekins.

* Scald milk by heating to just short of boiling (85ºC). Cream butter and sugar. Mix flour and cornflour.

* Add flour mix to the creamed sugar and butter, then gradually add to the milk.

* Return to the stove and whisk to the boil, remove and whisk in cocoa.

* Add malt. When completely blended whisk in the egg yolk. Leave to cool.

* Whisk the egg whites and the sugar to stiff peaks and fold into the other ingredients.

* Pour into ramekins and bake in the preheated oven for approx 8 mins. They should rise 4cm. Dust with icing sugar.

Broccoli, ricotta & smoked salmon pie