ThingsThatRock Thursday

So, how did it get to be Thursday again already? I guess time just flies because life is busy. Too often, J and I find that we are rushing around past each other, with different commitments on different days (today, for example - he's fixing someone's plumbing and I'm working late with some stuff to finish before I go on holiday on Saturday. But that's another story). And too often, we find ourselves grabbing something quick to eat which is probably the same quick thing to eat we had at least twice already that week. (In our house, that's spaghetti with quick homemade tomato sauce. Nice, but three times a week is probably enough). So a while back, we instituted a tradition of making sure that once a week, at least, we had something delicious for dinner - preferably a new recipe that hadn't been tried before, or something really nice we hadn't had in a while. Normally, this ended up being some kind of pie (who doesn't love pie!) so it got christened 'thursday night pie night'.

But then along came weight watchers, which is why I'm talking about this tradition in the past tense. Feeling a bit chubby? Well, sorry, no pie for you. At least, not the kind of pie I loved to make - a pie bursting with creamy deliciousness, preferably from Sophie Conran's Pies (an absolute jewel of a book) guaranteed to make your waistband tighter with just one slice. For a few weeks, I mourned the loss of the pie, until I discovered my new best friend, and this Thursday's Thing That Rocks: Filo Pastry. Until recently, I'd never cooked with it, but on reading a Weight Watcher's cookbook I discovered that a sheet of this wonder ingredient was only half a point. Suddenly, in my house, it is all filo, all the time.

Here is Sunday lunch from a week ago:


which is the original WW recipe which caught my eye (Roasted tomato tart, made with a filo crust and a filling that is basically quark beaten with herbs and two eggs then baked in the oven. Super simple, super tasty, only three points!) I've also been promised a butternut squash and lentil strudel recipe by a colleague, which will apparently change my whole outlook on life. I can't wait. So far, I've managed to stop myself making any baklava, despite the obvious temptation, or layering it up with butter and feta, all of which would rather defeat the WW point of the whole thing.

So anyway, sorry for two food posts in such quick succession, but filo is definitely something that rocks. Bake with some today!