HEARTY SPINACH POLENTA PIE and A MEAL IN A MUFFIN

Muffins have a made a few appearances on billie bites, but I have a confession to make: Billie didn't actually manage to eat those. She wasn't quite ready to deal with the texture. Too crumbly or something.

But times have a changed. When I pulled out these vegetable muffins at our wee mothers' group gathering at Bronte Park this week, Billie instantly began her arm-flapping routine reserved for letting us know she wants some of that food please. This was despite her already haven eaten a hearty lunch at home. She demolished one and a half muffins, enjoying the freedom of being able to make as much mess as possible.

This was a little experiment to see if there's a limit to how much vegetables pack into one batch of muffins. At first when they came out of the oven I was concerned they were too moist. But after being left a few minutes to cool they were a fabulous mini meal. You could reduce the carrots, perhaps.

MEAL-IN-A-VEGETABLE-MUFFIN

220g self raising flour (half wholemeal)

1 cup grated strong cheddar, or 2 cups mild

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

2 medium carrots, grated

2 small courgettes/zucchini, grated

1 handful parsley, finely chopped

1 spring onion/scallion, finely chopped

Generously grease 12 muffin tins with butter, or line with paper baking cups. Preheat oven to 200 c. 

Sift flour into large bowl, add cheese and parsley and spring onions/scallions. Set aside. Whisk eggs, oil and milk together and add carrot and courgette. When everything is ready, gently and quickly combine wet and dry ingredients in large bowl and swiftly divide into muffin tins. Lingering at this point is not good for your muffins. Place in oven for about 20-25 mins or until browned on top and cooked through. Remove from tins and cool on wire wracks. Nice warm but Billie and I enjoyed left-overs the next day.

Navajo Tribal Nation - Monument Valley

Now for dinner...
I returned home from our re-acquaintance with the ocean to learn friends were coming for dinner. And a gluten-free friend at that. So I dived for the polenta jar and re-created this warming pie which proved popular with the Chicago in-laws. Despite it being the height of summer there.

HEARTY SPINACH POLENTA PIE

2 litres water

350 g polenta

1/4 t salt

 3 T olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

800 g tomatoes

1/2 t salt

2 T fresh oregano or basil, chopped

2 T parsley, chopped

Bunch English spinach

2 cups grated strong cheddar, or Parmesan

First prepare the polenta. Bring 2 litres of water to the boil in a large pot. Grease two large wide square or rectangle pie dishes. Or you can use one pie dish and one baking sheet. Sprinkle from a height 350g polenta and 1/4 t salt, stirring as you go. Turn heat to low and stir almost constantly until thickened. It will probably only take a few mins. When you can almost stand the spoon up in it remove form heat and whip through a tablespoon of butter and grind in some black pepper. Pour and spread evenly into pie dishes/baking sheet. One layer will be left as is in the dish and the other will be removed when cool and set to layer on top of the other.

Preheat the oven to 220 c. Prepare the red sauce (or use a good quality jar if in a hurry). Heat oil in a pot. Saute onions and garlic, add tomatoes and salt and black pepper. Simmer on low with lid off for about 30 minutes (or until you are ready to use). Add fresh herbs and remove from heat.

Pick spinach and wash. Lay uncooked leaves flat on top of polenta layer in large pie dish. Layer up half the bunch. Spoon over a third of the sauce. Sprinkle some of the cheese over. Now place the other polenta slab (you can cut it into manageable pieces) on top and then cover with another third of the sauce and the rest of the cheddar. Place in hot oven for about 20 mins or until golden and heated through.

Cook the remaining spinach in a large pot with a knob of butter on medium heat for 5 mins. Shake half way through. 

Serve the pie with the wilted hot spinach on the side, and a spoon of the remaining sauce, reheated.

Makes very good leftovers for lunch.

Interesting research into how diet affects babies' future obesity and allergy tendancies

Muffins on Cockatoo Island

I've swapped sunny England for rainy Sydney (yes, you read that correctly) to come and visit my friend Sarah. She's suffering from a touch of RSI at the moment so I've been given the keys to the blog in order to share some of the new heights of culinary expertise lucky Billie has been getting her newly-arrived incisors into.                             

I'm happy to report that it's all true, by the way - Sarah really does spend a lot of time creating delicious new dishes and Billie tries all of them. I was greeted last night by a massive helping of chili and a slice of steaming cornbread (officially my new favourite thing) which cut through my jet lag nicely. This morning I found Ms. Allely making her own muesli, using exotic ingredients like coconut oil to transform oats and nuts into a sweet, toasted treat served with yoghurt and freshly sliced apple. While she crunched up nuts and melted honey, I attempted to feed Billie and Billie attempted to cover me, the table, the floor and herself in porridge, while still somehow managing to remain adorable.

The best recipe so far has been feta and spinach muffins, which were thrown together in oh, y'know, half an hour, and taken with us on a visit the Sydney Biennale on Cockatoo Island. Most of them were hoovered up by the time we made it onto the ferry, but we managed to save a few for when we actually felt we deserved lunch.

Sarah has just whispered 'shall I make us a little desert?' so I'd better sign off in order not to miss the next exciting eating event.

Emma Rubach (Billie Bites British Correspondent and chief taster - apart from Billie and Miles that is.)

SPINACH AND FETA MUFFINS

Here's a basic muffin recipe adapted from one emailed to me by Hannah while I was in the midst of a pregnancy induced muffin-making frenzy. You can add sweet or savory flavours, what ever you fancy, to this very versatile recipe. 

100 g self-raising plain flour 

120 g self-raising wholemeal flour 

Two eggs, beaten

 3/4 cup milk 

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

200g feta, crumbled into small pieces about the size of your little fingernail.

Small bunch of chopped spinach (about two big handfuls) 

Grease, with butter, 12 muffin tins; preheat oven to 220 c. Sieve flour into a large bowl, add dry ingredients, in this case the spinach and cheese. In a small bowl, mix the eggs, milk and oil together (and any wet ingredients if you're using them - tomatoes, berries, what have you). Make a well in the dry ingredients and quickly but gently mix in the wet ingredients. Immediately spoon into the baking tins and place in the centre of the oven. Check after 15 minutes and remove when lightly browned on top. Up end onto a wire rack and eat while warm or pack for a picnic.

CORN, COURGETTE AND CHEDDAR MUFFINS

As requested by Cara, simply add two cups of grated courgette (three small courgettes) one cup of grated cheddar, the kernals of one corn cob to the above recipe.

RHUBARB PEAR AND GINGER MUFFINS

One pear chopped finely, two cups finely sliced rhubarb, half a tablespoon of fresh grated ginger, a tea-spoon of ground ginger and half a cup of sugar.