Tag Archives: rainbows

Over The Rainbow Picnic Pie

Jul 18, 2020 CARAMELODY 19 Comments

Since the end of May/beginning of June when social distancing relaxed to the point we were allowed to have outdoor social gatherings with a limited number of people (which to me spelt PICNICS) I have had a few. Picnics that is! How awesome to have lots of chance to make picnic creations that could be used for THE GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE-OFF 2020 SUMMER PICNIC!!!

But to me…of all my picnic creations, this is the pièce de résistance. It is a Rainbow Picnic Pie that I made back in May for the first picnic I had with friends since the social distancing restrictions came into place in March. The photograph directly below is not my pie. This is what I was aiming for. You will have to scroll down to the bottom to see how my pie turned out.

raibsavos

I followed the recipe below from the BBC Good Food website, although I toll a couple of liberties.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/veggie-rainbow-picnic-pie

Here is a step-by-step run through of my Rainbow Picnic Pie journey!!! Could there be anything more fabulous than a Rainbow Picnic Pie I ask you!!!???

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So to start with, here are the ingredients I used (….oh I forgot to add you need a little flour for dusting when you roll the pastry)

RPP4

450g butternut squash, peeled, sliced and cut into small chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion sliced (I used two because I love onions)
550g small waxy potatoes, peeled and sliced
2 x 375g blocks all-butter puff pastry
1 x 320g ready-rolled sheet all-butter puff pastry
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
300g pack cooked beetroot sliced (I used a jar of already sliced beetroot)
450g jar roasted red peppers, drained
200g block feta cheese
150g frozen peas
small bunch each parsley and mint, chopped
10 eggs (yes, I know that is a lot of eggs!!!)
2 tbsp sesame seeds

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First of all pre-heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.

The butternut squash has to be sliced….I sliced all my vegetables so they were roughly the same thickness…no more than half a centimeter.

I then drizzled the slices of butternut squash in 1 tbsp oil and some seasoning and roasted them for 20 mins until they were softened.

Then the potatoes were peeled and I sliced them to half centimeter slices and boiled them for eight minutes.

The sliced onions I gently fried in olive oil for just over ten minutes until they were soft

Then the butternut squash, onion and potatoes need to cool before they can be used to fill the pie.

Now….I didn’t take a photograph, but it is important to line the baking tin (I used a 20x30cm deep pie tin) with at least two layers of baking parchment/greaseproof paper. It will be so much easier to remove if you do this. If you forget to do this…well…just don’t forget!!!

So….now we come to the pastry section. I rolled out the two blocks of puff pastry into one large rectangle. The pastry should not be too thin. Aim for around the thickness of a pound coin. Drape it into the pie tin leaving an overhang of pastry over the rim.

Then the rainbow filling process. I filled the pies pastry with the following layers:

breadcrumbs
beetroot
roasted red peppers
butternut squash
onions
feta cheese
potatoes
frozen peas
herbs

I completely to forgot to season each layer, which the recipe says to do so. I think I was distracted by taking photographs. The pie still tasted great but I gave it a twist of salt and pepper over the top.

Then I took those ten eggs and beat them up before pouring them slowly over the vegetable layers. The egg manages to find it’s way through all the gaps. I left a tiny bit of egg to use on the pastry.

I also used some of the egg to brush the overhanging pastry.

Then I unrolled the sheet of puff pastry to create a lid for the pie. I pinched the edged together and with a sharp knife I removed the excess pastry.

I used the remaining egg to brush the pastry lid and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Then the pie went into the oven at 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and it baked for an entire one hour and twenty minutes (while I did all the washing up, sipped a Martini and lemonade and watched an episode of Pride & Prejudice).

After one hour and twenty minutes, this beauty came out of the oven:

Then I had to wait anxiously for the pie to cool before I could remove it from the tin and slice into it.

When I did slice into it, I had the joy of seeing exactly what I hoped….a rainbow!!!

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Cool hey!!!!

I made it just on time for the social distancing rules to slightly ease. I chilled the pie and it was perfect for a Sunday picnic with a few friends, which was the first social event I had enjoyed in almost three months!

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That pie was demolished very quickly. Everyone thought it was fabulous! I hope you did too!!!

Storms And Rainbows

May 9, 2020 CARAMELODY 4 Comments

Despite everything that is causing anxiety, it has been an incredible spring. I have had a taste of it each morning and each evening when I am going to work and walking home. I walked down my road the other day listening to birds and admiring the colours of flowers and the scent from the wisteria. The trees are bulging with heavy green foliage.

Background, Beautiful, Bloom, Blossom

It has been glorious. My family are still staying at home. We are helping each other, supporting one another – physically, emotionally, financially and there is no shortage of home entertainment videos.

My boss likes to make sure we end a shift at work with a song and a dance. It is great fun. We need that lift after a hard day at work. I am working again today. I am looking forward to coming home and resting after a busy week at work. Sleep is so delicious of late. I am still sleeping nine or ten hours every night, which is incredible for my body and my brain.

Although I have spent more time than usual on my own of late, I keep on thinking of the incredible people I have met on my voyage through life, people who inspired me and encouraged me to make brave decisions. I spurned the world’s economic system to work full time as an international volunteer. People laughed and asked how I could live without any wages. I lived. I truly lived. I felt rich.

I have been thinking about the Liberian refugees we met in Ghana seventeen years ago. I have been thinking of my cousins who were in Rwanda working on a project with Hutu and Tutsi volunteers when violence engulfed the region. I have been thinking of Katrina, who I cared for until she took her last breaths – she was one of the most beautifully hearted people I have ever known. I am so grateful that my life has been so rich with people who have taught me that even in the most terrifying of situations, unexpected acts of love and self-sacrifice arise.

Even in storms there are people who help you see rainbows everywhere you look.

Rainbow, Thunderstorm, Storm Clouds

Rainbow Fields Forever

Jul 9, 2019 CARAMELODY 25 Comments

I don’t know what has got into me…I am feeling overly romantic – must be missing Goldfinch way too much! I very rarely attempt poetry because I am pathetic at it. But as soon as I saw this picture prompt from The Haunted Wordsmith, it started to play on my mind…and here I have something that could loosely be described as a poem because there are rhyming elements and it is all mushy and vague.