rebness | (no subject)

I wish my camera would work! I want to take photos of all the neat English Meals I have made in the last few days. Uh, when I say English, I may be including the cuisine of most of Europe. Oh, well. This is what I have done, you guys:

Apple Crumble
This is my quintessential autumn pudding. My mum and I went scrumping (ha) on the farmland adjacent to us and came back with a haul of unloved British apples which-I-can't-identify. Our two oldest apple trees have died, sadface, and the other two are too young to provide us with a decent haul.

The only proviso for this pudding was that I had to do it because my mum is sick of me being afraid to cook any dessert. It was gorgeous! I used some of that walnut syrup I got from Destrehan plantation in Louisiana when I was preparing the apples and oh, my God. It was gorgeous.

Spanakopita
Jamie Oliver has gone all Graecophile, which I am really digging. We followed his 30-minute recipe for spanakopita (spinach and feta filo pie) which totally takes longer than thirty minutes but is worth it. It's the best spanakopita I have ever, ever had, all those of Greece included. Oliver uses a lot of lemon and pine nuts in his recipe and the difference in taste is amazing. Definitely making this for the New Year buffet. I also recommend the cucumber salad he does on that page, though go easy on the chillis unless you're a sadomasochist with your mouth like me.

Greek Chicken
Okay, so I went into a bit of a rage when my mum proposed Greek chicken because -- and I gaped -- the stuffing wasn't my beloved sage and onion, but rice. RICE IN MY CHICKEN. Then again, the recipe was given to her by a Greek friend who cooks the most amazing stuff, so I gave it a go. It was really good! We added a touch of butter to the rice, lemon, garlic, all kinds of herbs, onion and a cheeky bit of parmesan. It made a lovely stuffing that was also less dry than usual, so I was less ragey by the time it was done.

Tonight, I'm making lasagne but can't decide on what I'm going to do with it to make it a bit special. Ideas, flist?

Threaded | Flat

What type of cheese do you top your lasagne with? I use creamy (not crumbly) Lancashire and it melts beautifully then browns if you leave the lasagne in longer. I've always used an old recipe from the back of a Safeway lasagne sheets packet so I've no idea what's supposed to be in a 'real' one. It includes sliced mushrooms and green pepper. Put a bayleaf in with the basil and remove it before layering.

Apple crumble is an old-man dessert.

Make your own bechamel sauce for the lasagne instead of from a packet. :p

I have a -raging- culinary crush on Jamie Oliver!! I will certainly have to try that spanakopita recipe you've linked. Also, that Greek-style stuffed chicken sounds pretty delectable.

*ahem* The apple crumble sounds fabulous. Now when you say pudding do you mean, pudding or like cake? :P

Recipe please? It sounds lovely for my Thanksgiving and I too normally refuse to make desserts. Thanks! <3