Rachels quiche

Intro

For a few years I was part of a really lovely family which included my lovely, talented and beautiful sister-in-law Rachel. This is her recipe - the best kind of recipe: throw anything you like in a bowl, mix it up, cook it up and eat - hot or cold. Oh  - and double or treble it up because it freezes and reheats well too.

I often use leftover roast or Christmas ham, bacon bits, smoked or even tinned salmon. During the season this is a great way to use up surplus zucchini.

Recipe

• 1/4 cup melted butter (or oil)
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1 cup fish or bacon
• 1 cup grated veges (carrot, zucchini, blanched silverbeet, leeks, sweetcorn, onion)
• 1/2 - 1 cup self raising flour
• seasonings: salt, pepper, fresh herbs

Throw it all together in a bowl and stir in enough flour to get a really sloppy thick batter-like consistency. Pour into a greased dish. Optional decoration is sliced tomato and chopped chives or cracked pepper.

Bake for 45min - 1 hour, 180 degrees celcius or until set.

Belgium Biscuits

Intro.

I love Belgium Biscuits. They are the perfect combination of sugar and spice and jam and lemon and actually nicer on day 2 once the flavours have merged and the biscuits have softened.This recipe is really 'short' and I find it heaps easier to make them in a log and slice them rather than roll them out and use a cookie cutter. The plain biscuits are a gorgeous spicy crisp shortbread and perfectly nice plain.

Recipe

• 225g softened butter
• 250g brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 2 teaspoons cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• raspberry or strawberry jam
• pink icing (2 tblps lemon juice, 2 cups icing sugar, red food colouring
• pink sprinkles or glace cherries.

Cream together butter and sugar until pale and creamy, add egg and beat well. Fold in sifted dry ingredients. 

Tip onto a piece of greaseproof, in foil or baking paper and shape into a long log about 5cm diameter. Chill at least a couple of hours or overnight.

Remove from fridge, slice into 3mm thick slices, place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake for 15 min at 180 degrees. Remove from oven and leave to cool on trays.

Once cold sandwich together with jam and ice tops with pink icing. Decorate with sprinkles or halved glace cherries.

Paratha

Intro
I love Indian food but we live miles away from a town with an Indian restaurant so I have learnt how to cook curries - easy and yummy. The next challenge was bread and this weekend I finally made layered bread - so easy and so, so delicious.

Recipe

• 350g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tblsp oil
• about 175ml hot water
• 3 tblsp ghee

Place the flour and salt into a food processor, add the oil and pulse until its 'rubbed' through. Slowly tip enough hot water through the funnel until a soft dough forms.

Knead for 5 -10 minutes until it is no longer sticky. Divide into 16 balls and roll each one out thinly to a 20cm circle. Brush with ghee, fold in half, brush with ghee then fold into a small triangle (one corner to the centre of the curved edge other corner over the doubled layer). Roll the triangle out quite thinly on a floured surface.

Heat a heavy frying pan and dry fry the triangles for 2 or 3 minutes per side until brown specks appear.

When they are all done, tip ghee into the frypan and gently fry the parathas until golden brown (1 or 2 mins each side). Keep fried parathas warm by wrapping in tinfoil until all are cooked).