Quattro Fromaggio Muffins

There's something about this time of the year that's impossible; the public holiday extravaganza of April has long passed, winter has pushed his big, hairy, cold feet into our beds and somehow while we're dragging our feet - distracted by the pretty things in the window displays, the world is kicking up a gear and charging fourth whether you're ready or not. Well, that's how I am feeling anyway. But it's not a bad thing - life is getting on with it and we just need put our heads down and catchup.

Work a little harder, play a little softer and work towards the promise of the next long summer and with it the next long holiday, it won't be long...well it won't be too long. Instead of hating the cold and longing summer days we need to indulge in a bigger red wine collection, get out the feather-down duvet and dig out those loose-fitting jeans! Yes-sir-ee soup is the new salad, it’s about the braising, the baking and the oh-so-slow  roast, yum, yum, yum.

Now I do know that for most people a normal day doesn’t hold the capacity for such indulgence in the kitchen so I have come up with a few delicious winter treats that won’t take you all day but will help you embrace the wonder that is winter…
 

Quattro Fromaggio Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 onion (chopped)
• 200g English spinach
• 1 tsp sage/origanum
• 1 tsp paprika
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 3 cups thickly grated cheese (any combination of cheddar/gouda/emmental/mozzarella etc)
• 2 wheels of feta (cubed)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 200*C.
• Put a saucepan onto medium heat and sauté the onions with a little olive oil and the sage/origanum for 5 minutes or translucent, set aside to cool.

• In the same pan toss in the spinach and add a touch of water, cover with a lid and allow to wilt down for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, allow to cool slightly, then squeeze out the excess liquid and add to the onions.
• In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and paprika.
• Mix in eggs and milk to form a soft batter.

• Add the cheese and stir through before lastly adding the spinach and onion.

• Spoon mixture into 12 large, greased muffin pans and bake for 20 min. (Rather leave muffin cases out of the equation as they stick to the cheese :)

• Serve warm.