So we have discovered the answer to the mystery of the missing eggs.
Poppy suffers from
Cushing's disease.
This gives her an insatiable appetite.
She has always enjoyed the occasional raw egg but lately she has had more than the occasional treat.
By keeping the chooks in until lunchtime so making sure they have laid their eggs, I collect them and then open up the chook yard so the girls can go foraging.
Poppy misses out on the eggs and I finally have fresh eggs for cooking.
In fact I have many eggs as Stephen bought some at the tennis club last week.
So time for a Spinach pie and some home churned ice cream to follow.
We have just finished tea and it was declared the best ever.
I think it had something to do with the secret ingredient - marscapone.
I know, super indulgent.
The pie is normally made with ricotta cheese but I had this marscapone hanging around in the fridge, bought on special and only a little had been used, now it was just a little past its use by date.
I mixed it in with the ricotta.
Delicious.
I also added mushrooms, locally grown and bought mainly for me to eat, the only willing mushroom eater in the house.
There are only so many times I can eat mushrooms alone for my lunch.
Nobody suspected they were in the pie and the flavour was yum.
I only put pastry on the base of the pie and left it without a lid, we prefer it that way.
It really is the best pastry though.
Super easy to make, light and short, no need to bake blind and I whizz it together in the Oscar ( food processor).
The pastry recipe , if you only want a pie base is 75g unsalted butter,
150c plain flour,
a tablespoon of sour cream ( but I used cream as that was all I had)
and some iced water.
Whizz the butter with the flour, then whizz the cream in and then add a little water and whizz again until the mixture comes together.
I only needed about1 tablespoon of water.
Let the pastry rest for an hour, then press it into the pie dish, add the filling and bake for about 45 minutes in a moderate oven.
The filling is 400g ricotta,
3 eggs,
1 large onion,
2 cloves garlic,
450g green leaves of your choice ( I used silver beet from the garden, mushrooms and some baby spinach leaves),
6 tablespoons of grated parmesan,
salt and pepper, herbs of your choice and a grating of nutmeg.
Cook the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil over a low temp until onion is translucent, add the mushrooms ( if using) and cook gently until soft.
Add the chopped greens, turn off pan and put lid on to let the greens gently wilt.
Allow to cool.
Mix the ricotta ( and marscapone) with the eggs, parmesan and herbs and spices.
Mix in the cooled vegetables.
Add filling to pie base.
I added a sliced tomato to the top as well and then baked it for 45 minutes.
You can serve it hot, warm or cold.
My pie looks so bright because of the fresh, free range, home grown eggs.
The original recipe was in a
Gardening Australia Organic Gardener magazine from a few winters ago.
I change the recipe every time I use it depending on what we have available.
Poppy went to the vet yesterday and he gave his diagnosis of Cushings Disease.
She is quite old at 13 years ( 74 dog years) and the Cushings so far is relatively mild so chances are she will just appear to age more rapidly.
We are giving her oestrogen tablets to help her bladder control and that's it for the moment.
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