homemade crackers

Hehehehe, that’s how I felt yesterday until I actually tried the crackers which I made. I mean, who spends an hour of their day making something that is quick, easy to buy and very cheap?
Me now!

Simple cracker recipe adapted from here

3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup warm water
1/3 cup olive oil

Method: Heat oven to about 180-200 degrees (mine’s an old dodgy oven so I have to adjust between tepid and fried to a crisp)
Pop the whole lot into your bread machine and mix on the quick pasta setting (about 20 minutes). You can also add your favourite spices and herbs towards the end. I made plain, sesame and cheese and chive crackers.

Forget about your dough for about an hour (or four in my case!)
Roll dough into a thick sausage shape and cut into 8 pieces. Set your pasta machine to the thinest setting and put a piece of dough through one piece at a time. Use a pizza roller to cut them into cracker size pieces works really quickly with less drag on the dough.

Bake on trays greased with olive oil for about 10minutes the more golden they are the crispier they get, or as The Husband said

“The ones closest to burning are the best” Jury is still out as to whether he was being a w!n(*%)..

Let them totally cool then store in an airtight container.
So the actually rolling, cutting and baking took an hour.

Xmas Artichoke Strudel

I make this at Xmas as it is so simple, looks elegant, liked by meat eaters and is amazingly easy and quick to make. The recipe is a Charmaine Solomon one.

ingredients:

1x400g can artichoke hearts
1 cup cottge cheese
1 cup freshly grated pamasan cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup finely chopped spring onions
1/4 cup finely chopped red capsicum
1/4 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tea tarrogon leaves
1/2 tea pepper
6 sheets of filo pastry
melted butter

Drain artichokes and cut each one into quarters. Put into a bowl with all the other ingredients except butter and filo. Mix well and gently.

Lay a sheet of filo on kitchen bench and brush with melted butter. Add another layer and brush with butter. Keep going until all six are layered and brushed. Place filling in a log shape on the pastry and roll the whole thing up like a swiss roll and tuck the ends under.

Carefully put on greased baking tray and bung in a preheated (200 degrees) oven for 25 minutes until a nice golden brown. Let it sit for about five minutes before cutting into thick slices.

Serves 6.