Spinach, leek and gruyere tart

I made this lovely recipe from Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook last night.

Ingredients

• One packet ready-rolled shortcrust pastry (375g) - or make your own.
• 90g grated gruyere cheese
• 2 leeks, thinly sliced
• 200g baby spinach leaves
• 30g butter
• 2 eggs
• 300ml milk (or 150ml milk and 150ml cream)
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees (200 degrees if fan assisted).
2. Roll out the pastry and line a 28cm flan tin. Blind bake (see pastry post) for 20 minutes, removing the foil and beans for the last 10 minutes.
3. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Fry the leeks over a high heat, stirring so that they don't burn, until golden brown.
4. Add the spinach and cook for 2 minutes until it wilts.
5. Beat the eggs, then mix with the milk (and cream, if using) and cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Spoon the leek and spinach filling into the pastry case. Pour in the cheese mixture evenly.
7. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.
8. Serve with salad, and rice or potatoes if you wish.

Bolognese sauce

Everyone thinks they know how to make a bolognese sauce. But I think it fair to say that there are some recipes that are much better tasting than others. This week I made Jamie Oliver's recipe from his Ministry of Food book. Bleurgh! If that's all Jamie can manage, then I am well on my way to being a celebrity chef.

This recipe is so easy to prepare, but the longer you cook it the better tasting it will be. Traditionally bolognese sauce is made with white wine but I don't include any in mine.

Bolognese sauce - for pasta, lasagne, cottage pie, jacket potato topping...

Ingredients

• 500g beef mince
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 large onion
• 2 medium carrots (optional)
• 250g mushrooms (optional)
• Any other vegetables you feel like adding - red or yellow pepper and celery go well
• Oxo cubes - 1 beef, 1 Italian
• Balsamic vinegar
• Worcestershire sauce
• Dried herbs - basil, thyme, oregano are all good
• Tomato ketchup
• Tomato puree
• Olive oil

Method

1. Finely chop the onion and garlic.
2. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large saucepan over a medium heat. Fry the onion for about 3 minutes until it starts to go soft, then add the garlic and fry for a couple more minutes
3. Chop the carrots into small pieces (and any other vegetables you are using).
4. Add the minced beef to the saucepan. Bash it around with a wooden spoon to break it up into a fine, crumbly texture (or you can use your hands to do this beforehand - just put the mince in a bowl and scrunch it up). Fry until browned and stir frequently so it doesn't stick to the bottom. If it seems a bit dry and keeps catching, add a little bit of water
5. Add the tinned tomatoes, carrots and any other vegetables and stir into the mince.
6. Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a dash of balsamic vinegar, a tablespoon of tomatoe puree, and a good squirt of tomato ketchup. Crush up the Oxo cubes and sprinkle them in. Then add a good sprinkling of any herb you feel like using. Stir this all into the sauce along with the mushrooms.
7. Bring it to the boil, then turn down and simmer for at least 30 minutes and preferably more like 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally and making sure it doesn't catch on the base of the pan. If you're going to cook it for a long time, fill up one of the tomato cans with water and add it, and make sure the sauce doesn't dry out.

I have had a few culinary disasters with bolognese. Once, my husband and I decided it would be a good idea to add some cinnamon. Bad choice! Cinnamon goes well in chilli but not in bolognese!

I think I've perfected it now, but as you can tell from the recipe above it's not exactly science!