52 Cookbook Challenge, Week 1: Bill Granger, Feed Me Now

We decided to begin with our most recent Bill Granger purchase. I think Hubby bought me this for my birthday or maybe our anniversary a year or two ago but (shamefully) I don't quite remember. Either way, we haven't actually made anything from it yet, despite taking it down and salivating over the pages on a number of occasions.

This is a lovely coffee table sized book filled with gorgeous photos. Bill's intro and chapter headings are as warm, inviting and encouraging as in all his other books and I found myself commenting to Hubby as I do whenever I see his TV programmes that I both love and hate him. The mixed feelings are born entirely from envy: he seems so at ease, so comfortable and thoroughly blessed, with his cute wife and his cute kids and his lovely beach house and, well, you get the picture.

Setting aside his practically perfect "Mary Poppins" persona, which could border on smug if he didn't seem like such a thoroughly nice guy, the guy knows how to cook. His style is relaxed, family fare; the kind of thing I would serve in the imaginary picnics that I create in my head where all my friends and family somehow appear and the sun shines long into the evening and we all sit around nibbling on this and that and everyone laughs and... Oh, yes, the imaginary picnics where all of us, including me are other than we actually are and the weather comes from the mythical "olden days". More realistically, Bill offers a tempting mix of Mediterranean and Oriental/Pacific Rim flavours, with lots of perfect BBQ foods (as you might expect if indulging Australian stereotypes). His ethos is healthy, balanced eating. Just leafing through his books inspires me to eat better, lose weight and generally get outdoors. The Tabbouleh recipe from Simply Bill has featured at most of the summer parties and BBQs I have hosted over the last three years and I've already blogged about his healthier take on fish & chips, which was popular with all three of us.

 So, we were pretty excited about this week's challenge (this may have had something to do with Hubby's suggestion we start with this one...)It took us quite a while to pick what to make. It was tempting to start with breakfast, it being our favourite meal of the day (more on this anon) and it took a lot of willpower not to dive into the afternoon tea and dessert chapters. A number of post-it notes have been left in the book from the shortlist for this week's challenge in the hopes of reminding us to look in here again and we have already worked out the menu for the next time our best friends and their kids come to stay!

What did we end up with? Well, we wanted something for Saturday dinner that would be satisfying but not too heavy as we had already eaten a fairly big brunch. We also wanted to use up some veggies from the latest box, so we ended up choosing the Cheese and Mixed Greens Filo Pie from p.166.

With only two and a half of us, I halved the recipe which gave us enough for dinner and a small amount for Monday's lunch. If I had space in the freezer, I would have made the full amount but in two small tins rather than one big one, as Bill informs us you can freeze this before baking and I think it would be pretty great to have one of these lurking in the freezer for when you need an impromptu lunch for guests (these things DO happen!), especially in the summer.

It is an easy make. The only snag I hit was with wilting the mixed greens (we used spinach and Swiss chard). I'm not quite sure what happened but I must have been a little too thorough with drying the leaves after washing as some of them stuck and charred a little in the bottom of the pan.  I made one slight tweak to the recipe, using Philadelphia instead of ricotta, owing to the latter not being available in the supermarket this week while the former was in the fridge. I was really pleased with the finished result. It looked and tasted great. When sliced, it held together well and was moist without being watery (a problem I've had with previous pastry/spinach combinations). The feta and mint gave it a pleasant flavoursome punch, while the filo added crunch and the greens gave it peppery substance. We accompanied it with a simple roast pepper and tomato salad as suggested by Bill. This meal will definitely reappear as we head into summer. We could practically feel the warm sun on our backs and taste the chilled white or iced rosé that would accompany it. Hubby was incredibly enthusiastic about a meal that lacked any meat at all and included a large amount of very healthy veg. I had expected to like this, but was surprised when he agreed to try this over a host of very tempting meaty and fishy alternatives.

 The only slight black spot on an otherwise lovely meal was Baby Bird's reaction. To say she was underwhelmed by dinner would be an understatement. She played with a tomato slice, sucked a roasted pepper and ate a few tiny morsels of the pie filling. She ended up with breadsticks and carrots for dinner. I'm torn between recognising that his was a pretty grown up meal to offer her (Hubby commented that she probably needs to be about 14 before she will appreciate what we served her on Saturday evening) and being surprised, since everything on the plate is stuff that she has consistently enjoyed, including one of her favourite foods (yep, my baby is really quite fond of spinach!). Still, I will definitely let her try some again. We prefer to feed her the same stuff we eat and to stretch her tastebuds. Besides, she is only consistent in her inconsistency so there is every chance that next time, she will wolf it down.Overall, a very satisfying start to the 52 Cookbook Challenge. It's going to be a fun year.