Spinach Cheese Tart

I really wish that life had more recipes like this in it. Or rather, that I could eat more recipes like this in my life. It’s awesome and horrible sometimes having an athlete boyfriend—he can eat everything he wants, and so can all of his friends! (Though I can’t complain too much, because for a few months he’s got to keep on weight for regattas, and then in comparison I get to eat whatever I want.) The good thing is that he has friends who can eat whatever they want too, so I occasionally get to make really decadent dinners.

This spinach cheese tart is inspired by Jamie Oliver’s Jamie at Home, but is well and truly adapted by yours truly to hopefully fit ingredients that you’ll actually have in your fridge. I have it listed as ‘moderate’ but truly, there’s little you could do to screw this up. Anything smooshed between puff pastry and generous amounts of cheese will taste good, I promise! You could mix up this basic method by using different sorts of vegetable combinations (mushrooms, spinach, and sundried tomatoes?), different meats, or really whatever you can concoct. Enjoy!

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Edited: October 13th, 2010

Mushroom, Lentil, & Rice Bake

After my last post about Stuffed Mushrooms, I was in a real mushroom-y mood and went out and bought a big bag of them. I don’t know what I was planning on cooking, but it ended up being this! This dish was also inspired by my boyfriend Luke’s recent visit to a nutritionist—turns out that as an athlete he needs a tonne of protein in his diet (about two volumes’ worth of his palm every day). Our household is neither overly vegetarian nor carnivorous, and we certainly can’t afford to feed him a steak every day, so enter the wonders of complimentary proteins from stage left!

Not only is this recipe chalk full of nutrients and proteins and dietary fibre, but veritably flew out of the fridge into lunchboxes. I half expected the boys to turn down their noses a bit at the sheer health volume of the dish… but I guess it has its share of cheese and butter too! This is would be a very easy recipe to make vegetarian, or your own version of!

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Edited: March 31st, 2010

Seared Kangaroo Salad

Australians are oddly proud that they eat their national symbol. I’d say that Canadians can relate to this–beaver certainly isn’t available in your local grocery store as kangaroo is here, but how many national symbols were turned into hats for a few centuries?

Kangaroo populations have grown in Australia in recent decades, so the federal and state governments cooperate to perform herd cullings every year. As a meat-eater but as an environmentally-bent person, my reaction to this is twofold: initially, it seems gruesome and horrible to be killing 10% of a kangaroo herd because humans think that there are too many; but then again, if these cullings are happening, it’s better that the animal be used for something, as opposed to the alternative. Eating the meat from a wild animal that hasn’t been farmed and that has evolved to live in this rather harsh climate likewise makes sense to me.

Kangaroo meat is remarkably delicious. It smells a bit gamy raw, which can be a little off-putting; but once marinated and cooked, it tastes juicy and mellow, and pretty much like beef. This is the first dish I’ve made with kangaroo, and I look forward to trying a few more, as it is an affordable, nutritious (less than 2% fat, high in iron) and ethical choice for a red meat. Since you North Americans probably have no kangaroo meat readily available to you, I recommend trying this recipe with beef or lamb, or bison if you feel adventurous!

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Edited: January 31st, 2010