Quickies - just a few

I don't have much time today so here are some quickies.

Lychee granita - this is a photograph of a Donna Hay recipe for Lychee and coconut granita - however, it's not the recipe I was going to share, because it's rather more complicated than the one I was going to tell you about. Just to finish off his Cook Up show, which I caught the other night, Adam Liaw completed his 'summer' theme with this amazingly simple granita. It is indeed summer - very hot today - and moreover this is a tinned fruit recipe. Just chuck a tin of lychees - syrup and all and a tin of coconut milk in a blender, whizz, freeze - hey presto. I thought I might try it sometime. It looked delicious and that would be a good pairing.

Easy cheese and herb impossible quiche - a Woolworths recipe. It's called 'impossible because there is no pastry crust. To quote their blurb:

"As the flour sinks to the bottom during baking it forms a light crust on the base, which means you don't have to make the crust separately."

Seems unlikely and more like a frittata, but I guess, just for curiosity's sake, it might be worth a try.

My pissaladière this should be a photo of my pissaladiere but in the end I was running late and panicking and so I totally forgot to take one. But I can report that it was a success and almost every bit was eaten. As to the olive oil pastry - well it served its purpose in that it was vegan, and it was quite light and flaky but it's not the easiest kind of pastry to handle. I tried just pressing it into the tin and also rolling out, and think that rolling it out is the way to go. And bake it blind too. Maybe I should have tried either a bread dough or a non butter puff pastry. Those olives were pretty tasty and I'm not a real fan of olives. A success. Must do it again some time soon, though this time with shortcrust.

Chiltatis - Mexican dukkah - This is from Thomasina Miers who describes it as:

"A nutty, gently spiced, seasoned seed sprinkle to throw over salads, soups, pasta dishes and more."

Being Mexican it features chillies of course - ancho chillies, but it also includes hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, coriander seeds, grated lime rind ... An interesting mix and yes it would indeed make a good Christmas gift for foodie friends. Although you would need to make sure they were into chilli I guess.

And that's it for today. I have to go make meatballs for my son and family who leave for Spain and Portugal tonight for a winter adventure. I hope the adventure does not go awry. Must ask them to make a note of Iberian food favourites.

Have a go at pissaladière some time, and lychee/coconut granita.