Hints for Spinach & Ricotta parcels, please?

[Linda H]

I made these for the first time the other day and whilst the finished
product "tasted" nice, they weren't "full."

Maybe I'm using the wrong type of Ricotta but I found the mix was too
mushy to be able to load the pastry triangles with.

If you have success with them, would you kindly give me your tips?

L

[canetoad]

Post by Linda H
I made these for the first time the other day and whilst the finished
product "tasted" nice, they weren't "full."
Maybe I'm using the wrong type of Ricotta but I found the mix was too
mushy to be able to load the pastry triangles with.
If you have success with them, would you kindly give me your tips?
L

Did you cook the spinach? You don't really have to. Try putting it in a
colander and pouring kettle of boiled water over, then drain, squeeze,
drain for a bloody long time. Amazing how much water still comes out of
barely cooked spinach. By the time it's cooled down enought to wrap in
pastry most of the water should be drained out.

[Jen]

Post by Linda H
I made these for the first time the other day and whilst the finished
product "tasted" nice, they weren't "full."
Maybe I'm using the wrong type of Ricotta but I found the mix was too
mushy to be able to load the pastry triangles with.

I have no idea how to do them, but I love the bought ones. Would you care
to share your recipe?

Jen

[Linda H]

Post by Jen
I have no idea how to do them, but I love the bought ones. Would you care
to share your recipe?

Sure, but before you try mine we'd better wait to see if anybody else
responds how they make them, Jen. The (uncooked) mixture in mine was
too sloppy. I need help with them, too.

I did notice Canetoad's suggestion that I may not have drained the
spinach enough, though and thinking back he/she may be right.

I kinda just guessed what I should put in the filling. I sauted some
finely diced onion, add some fresh chopped chives, black pepper, salt,
an egg (to bind - or so I thought), ricotta cheese (I think I may have
used one that's too smooth) and blanched chopped baby spinach.

I cut each (butter) puff pastry sheet (couldn't be bothered making my
own that day) into four; spooned the mix to about the centre line,
folded corner to corner to make triangles, pinched the edges, brushed
with an egg/milk glaze and baked til they looked done.

I'm pretty sure someone will be able to tell us how to make them full &
plump. As I said, mine tasted good but were too empty coz I couldn't
pinch the edges together without losing half the mixture.

L
ps: I've been going to upload some of my recent cooking photos onto the
blog but I can't find the bloomin' leads from the camera to the 'puter.
They'll turn up soon I hope.

[canetoad]

Post by Linda H
I cut each (butter) puff pastry sheet (couldn't be bothered making my
own that day) into four; spooned the mix to about the centre line,
folded corner to corner to make triangles, pinched the edges, brushed
with an egg/milk glaze and baked til they looked done.

Aha! Here might lie the answer.
If you try making them with filo pastry, theres a trick to folding them
up which is hard to describe, but I'll try.

Take 2 sheets of fresh filo, brush a tiny bit of olive oil over the
first, place the second on top then fold them in half lengthways so you
have a long rectangle of four thicknesses of filo.

Put the filling near the top of the rectangle, fold corner over to make
triangle, repeat folding until you have reached bottom of the rectangle
of filo. This seals it all up very nicely.

You can practice with a sheet of A4 paper lol!

[Linda H]

Post by canetoad
Aha! Here might lie the answer.
If you try making them with filo pastry, theres a trick to folding them
up which is hard to describe, but I'll try.
Take 2 sheets of fresh filo, brush a tiny bit of olive oil over the
first, place the second on top then fold them in half lengthways so you
have a long rectangle of four thicknesses of filo.
Put the filling near the top of the rectangle, fold corner over to make
triangle, repeat folding until you have reached bottom of the rectangle
of filo. This seals it all up very nicely.
You can practice with a sheet of A4 paper lol!

Aha, yerself! Of course, I didn't think of filo. You're a clever lil'
toad.

L

[Jen]

Post by canetoad
Aha! Here might lie the answer.
If you try making them with filo pastry, theres a trick to folding them
up which is hard to describe, but I'll try.
Take 2 sheets of fresh filo, brush a tiny bit of olive oil over the
first, place the second on top then fold them in half lengthways so you
have a long rectangle of four thicknesses of filo.

This all sounds wonderful. I might make a bunch and freeze them. Thanks
all of you.

Jen

[canetoad]

Post by Linda H

Post by canetoad
Aha! Here might lie the answer.
If you try making them with filo pastry, theres a trick to folding
them up which is hard to describe, but I'll try.
Take 2 sheets of fresh filo, brush a tiny bit of olive oil over the
first, place the second on top then fold them in half lengthways so
you have a long rectangle of four thicknesses of filo.
Put the filling near the top of the rectangle, fold corner over to
make triangle, repeat folding until you have reached bottom of the
rectangle of filo. This seals it all up very nicely.
You can practice with a sheet of A4 paper lol!

Aha, yerself! Of course, I didn't think of filo. You're a clever lil'
toad.
L

Did you say here or in melb. gen that you are out with the hill tribes
in Kinglake? I'm practically a neighbour. Eltham.

[Linda H]

Post by canetoad
Did you say here or in melb. gen that you are out with the hill tribes
in Kinglake? I'm practically a neighbour. Eltham.

Um, would'a been melb.gen probably. Bloody chilly, innit? (This will
be our first winter up here - brrrr.)

L

[canetoad]

Post by Linda H
Um, would'a been melb.gen probably. Bloody chilly, innit? (This will
be our first winter up here - brrrr.)
L

Yep. Did you have a frost this week? Our first one was Monday, had to
scrape the ice off the windscreen.

[Linda H]

Post by canetoad
Yep. Did you have a frost this week? Our first one was Monday, had to
scrape the ice off the windscreen.

No, didn't get a frost (which makes my plants that are still in pots
happy.) Bracing ourselves though.


L

[Ms Leebee]

Post by Linda H

Post by canetoad
Did you say here or in melb. gen that you are out with the hill
tribes in Kinglake? I'm practically a neighbour. Eltham.

Um, would'a been melb.gen probably. Bloody chilly, innit? (This will
be our first winter up here - brrrr.)

You picked a pretty cold part of Melb ;)

[Linda H]

Post by Ms Leebee
You picked a pretty cold part of Melb ;)

Crazy, I know. Everything else measured up for what we wanted:
Small acreage at a reasonable price - check.
Distance from the bikie gang's mortar shell explosions of Bayswater - check.
Constant access/view of the gorgeous vineyards/wineries of the Yarra
Valley - check.
Temperate weather conditions - not check.

Still, I went to the local fruit & veg Co-Op yesterday for the first
time and bought back a laden box full of fresh, fabulous veggies that I
paid a song for. The Yering Station Farmer's Market is gorgeous and the
berry farms have paid off so far.

I've been having fun baking like a real ol' farm lady in our big new
oven, now that I'm enjoying a self-imposed semi-retirement from work.
Been making (my famous*) veggie bake domes and freezing them. I've even
been taking photos of all the cooking ready to put on the blog but the
stchooopid leads were missing from the camera to the puter, since found
in the packing boxes. So I'll get those up soon.

* I know it sounds like I'm blowing my own trumpet too hard to say the
veggie domes are famous but well, it seems family & friends can't get
enough of them. Whenever we go to a family gathering they're requested.
Even by kids who hate veggies. The thing is they take me about three
days to peel, bake, assemble, so that's why I've been freezing a whole
lot at once.

The last lot I had more than 10kgs of just the vegetable peelings. I
haven't yet set up a compost heap so, as weird as it sounds, I bundled
the peelings into a bag and shoved 'em in the freezer.

Or... I could'a just left them outside in this Tundra!

xx L

[Ms Leebee]

Post by Linda H

Post by Ms Leebee
You picked a pretty cold part of Melb ;)

Small acreage at a reasonable price - check.
Distance from the bikie gang's mortar shell explosions of Bayswater -
check. Constant access/view of the gorgeous vineyards/wineries of the
Yarra Valley - check.
Temperate weather conditions - not check.
Still, I went to the local fruit & veg Co-Op yesterday for the first
time and bought back a laden box full of fresh, fabulous veggies that
I paid a song for. The Yering Station Farmer's Market is gorgeous
and the berry farms have paid off so far.

Were you there when the fires were ?
My sister's best friend lives in Kinglake, and they had to evacuate a home
they'd just finsihed building by hand ( bloody hippies ;). It was spared
though.

Post by Linda H
I've been having fun baking like a real ol' farm lady in our big new
oven, now that I'm enjoying a self-imposed semi-retirement from work.
Been making (my famous*) veggie bake domes and freezing them. I've
even been taking photos of all the cooking ready to put on the blog
but the stchooopid leads were missing from the camera to the puter,
since found in the packing boxes. So I'll get those up soon.

yayy !!

Post by Linda H
* I know it sounds like I'm blowing my own trumpet too hard to say the
veggie domes are famous but well, it seems family & friends can't get
enough of them. Whenever we go to a family gathering they're
requested. Even by kids who hate veggies. The thing is they take me
about three days to peel, bake, assemble, so that's why I've been freezing
a whole
lot at once.

It's nice to be able to turn out soemthing consistently worth drooling over,
so toot away.
Unfortunately, i'm a bit hit& miss as a cook - mainly as i'm a bit slap-dash
with a recipe, I suppose.

I make great scrambled eggs and chicken salad sandwiches - not exactly haute
cuisine ;)

Post by Linda H
The last lot I had more than 10kgs of just the vegetable peelings. I
haven't yet set up a compost heap so, as weird as it sounds, I bundled
the peelings into a bag and shoved 'em in the freezer.

You sound like you need chooks.
Took me forever to 're-learn' to throw peelings in the bin like
urban-dwellers do. It still feels weird.
Moving soon to a place with a backyard, so plan to get a bit more
down-to-earth soon .............

[Linda H]

Post by Ms Leebee
Were you there when the fires were ?
My sister's best friend lives in Kinglake, and they had to evacuate a home
they'd just finsihed building by hand ( bloody hippies ;). It was spared
though.

Yes. And midst moving in. We were still in the process of laying
floorboards (we requested receipt of the house, concrete slab, without
floor coverings ('cept wet areas) as we wanted to do our own a
particular way.

All our furniture was stored in the double garage attached including all
of our "precious things you grab during fires" packed into boxes that
were "somewhere."

I evacuated (because I ain't built for fire-fighting AND because of our
dogs, one being quite elderly that wouldn't have coped with the smoke.)
Fortunately we'd prepared well before it hit with a fuel driven fire
pump that drops into the water tank, plugged up the downpipes the day
before, did all the other prep. My hubby stayed coz yeah, we were well
set up and being that it was a new building, nuthin' but excavated DIRT
surrounding the whole house. The CFA units were brilliant in coming
down to the end of our road regularly informing the 3 property owners
who remained what the situation was.

I came back to a lot of spent embers, debris etc. I still don't know
where the so-called precious crap is.

The plant hire place was nice enough to not charge us for the extra few
days we kept the floor sander and edger but weren't able to do the work.
They'd looked at the address on the hire docket, saw the address and
wondered if they were going to get their stuff back anyway. Should'a
done a runner!

;-)

L

["Michael" @hotmail.com>]

Spinach, and most green leafy things love a little grate of whole nutmeg.
Garlic with your onions wouldn't hurt either. Filo would be the biggest
improvement though, as the filling already sounds nice. You could lose the
egg and squeeze the spinach with a tea towel instead too. Spinach is 92%
water, so that sounds like your mush problem.

Post by Linda H
I made these for the first time the other day and whilst the finished
product "tasted" nice, they weren't "full."
Maybe I'm using the wrong type of Ricotta but I found the mix was too
mushy to be able to load the pastry triangles with.
If you have success with them, would you kindly give me your tips?
L

[PeterL]

Post by Linda H
I made these for the first time the other day and whilst the finished
product "tasted" nice, they weren't "full."
Maybe I'm using the wrong type of Ricotta but I found the mix was too
mushy to be able to load the pastry triangles with.

Too much ricotta, is my guess.

Post by Linda H
If you have success with them, would you kindly give me your tips?
L

http://www.waitrose.com/food_drink/recipes/recipesearch/Recipe/0201034-
r06.asp

or


http://tinyurl.com/mq972

[Linda H]

Post by PeterL
Too much ricotta, is my guess.

Noted. Thanks Peter.

Post by PeterL
http://tinyurl.com/mq972

Ta. I noticed (in that method) that they suggested washing the
(large-leafed) spinach in 3 changes of cold water. Why would that be?
(Maybe it takes out bitterness or something?)

L.

[PeterL]

Post by Linda H

Post by PeterL
Too much ricotta, is my guess.

Noted. Thanks Peter.

Post by PeterL
http://tinyurl.com/mq972

Ta. I noticed (in that method) that they suggested washing the
(large-leafed) spinach in 3 changes of cold water. Why would that be?
(Maybe it takes out bitterness or something?)

If it's the fresh stuff, it's probably to wash off any bugs, sprays etc.

[Chookie]

Post by Linda H
Ta. I noticed (in that method) that they suggested washing the
(large-leafed) spinach in 3 changes of cold water. Why would that be?
(Maybe it takes out bitterness or something?)

Nope -- dirt.

[Ms Leebee]

Post by Chookie

Post by Linda H
Ta. I noticed (in that method) that they suggested washing the
(large-leafed) spinach in 3 changes of cold water. Why would that
be? (Maybe it takes out bitterness or something?)

Nope -- dirt.

lol - too true ;)