Christmas Buffet - Spinach and Ricotta Pie

Just a few days ago I shared with you my Christmas Canapés! They went down a treat at our first Christmas party, but I’m sure you’ll all agree a few blinis won’t fill anyone up.

As my family has gotten older and all of the children have become adults in their own rights, the choice of food at our Christmas buffets has gone from chicken nuggets and slices of pizza, to cheeseboards, blinis and quiches.

This year we thought we’d reduce the amount of food that comes out of the freezer even more, and I wanted to cook something that would look impressive in the centre of the table and would be great for sharing.

After flicking through countless food magazines dedicated to Christmas party food, I settled on a Spinach and Ricotta pie from the Good Food Magazine.

I’ve adapted it here and there. Changed the quantities slightly and changed the method to show what worked well for me. The pie truly was a show stopper and everyone loved the simple flavours and crisp pastry.

Strawberry Ice Cream

In the summer time when the weather is high

You can chase right up and touch the sky

When the weather’s right

You got *ice-cream you got *ice-cream on your mind

Have a drink, have a drive

Go out and see what you can find...

(Hopefully more ice-cream!)

You would have to live in a cave to have not noticed the beautiful weather we have been having across the UK the last 3 or 4 days. The picnic blankets have come out, there have been walks in the park, gardening, cool cocktails in the evening sunshine and plenty of BBQ’s and the whole time I’ve been walking around with my own personal summer theme song playing in my head, except unlike the Mungo Jerry original, I have not had women on my mind, but instead, ice-cream!

I love all types of ice-cream, scoops in a bowl with fresh fruit, in a tall sundae glass covered in sauce, nuts, sprinkles and whipped cream, Ben and Jerry’s out of a tub, or soft my whippy in a cone with a flake...ALL types of ice-cream! I’m also quite partial to a sorbet or frozen yogurt too...but I’m sure there will be more of that as the summer continues.

As most of you know my exams are already over due to a horrible timetable that meant I had all of my exams in the first three days of my university’s exam period. As a result, I thought I’d return home for a week so as not to distract my friends still slogging it away over their textbooks and revision notes!

I’ve been fortunate enough to not only be able to sun myself in the garden all weekend, but I’ve also had access to my parents fridge/freezer and a couple of gadgets I couldn’t take to uni with me, like my ice-cream maker!