Tag: Main Dish
Spanakopita
Funny how, a couple posts ago, I was lamenting the fact that’s it’s so much more expensive to make spanakopita from scratch than buy it pre-made. Well, I guess I’m a glutton for punishment, because I went ahead and made it from scratch a few days later. Truth be told, I had never actually done so before. Trader Joe’s fandom has always prevailed (their $4 per box version is delicious). Still, I had this whole package of phyllo dough sitting in my freezer from when I chickened out and didn’t use it in a recipe for our Christmas party and had been wanting to try spanakopita homemade. What to do, what to do… Phyllo seemed like such a tricky thing to work with–so flaky and fine, like you’d need the precision of one of those new, high-tech surgical robots to keep everything from falling apart into a crumbly, Greek mess (not unlike the Greek government in recent years–badum ching!). Then again, it’s not like I wanted to throw it out. “That’s $2.99 worth of phyllo dough in the trash!” (spoken as Chris Rock’s penny-pinching dad in Everybody Hates Chris.) So I watched some Youtube tutorials on how to use it and decided to bite the bullet. As my mom always says, “If it’s bad, we can just order pizza.”
Well, we didn’t have to order pizza. It turns out, in spanakopita at least, phyllo dough is fairly forgiving. I am no surgical robot and the phyllo on top came out less like the glutenous bad hair day I was afraid of and more like golden brown tousled pastry tresses. It’s the Jennifer Aniston of crusts! (And hey, she’s Greek, so that metaphor really makes sense–right?)
Interestingly–and, I guess, obviously–the word “spanakopita” comes from the Greek spanáki (meaning spinach) and pita (meaning pie). What I definitely didn’t know is that spanakopita falls within the “family of pastries” known in the Mediterranean as börek.* Basically, börek dishes are pastries phylled–I mean filled–with savory ingredients like cheese, vegetables, and even meat. Yum! Having tried my hand at spanakopita with tasty results, I’d be curious to attempt other börek…though it sounds like something that would end up on the police blotter. “Woman arrested for attempted börek in a domestic kitchen.” I’ll leave the delicious details to your imagination.
Spanakopita
(Adapted from Allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
25 oz. frozen chopped spinach (2.5 10-ounce packages)
1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley (or 3 1/2 Tbsp. dried)
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c. ricotta cheese
1 1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese
15 sheets phyllo dough
1/4 c. olive oil
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 7 x 11 inch baking dish.
2. In a large skillet, heat 3 Tbsp. of olive oil over medium heat. Saute onion, green onions, and garlic until soft and lightly browned. Add frozen spinach and parsley and continue to cook until spinach is heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Drain spinach mixture (my favorite method is to place about 1/3 of the mixture at a time on a dinner plate, then top with another dinner plate right-side-up, then squeeze over the sink).
3. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, ricotta, and feta. Stir in spinach mixture.
4. Working carefully, lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough in the baking dish and brush lightly with olive oil. Repeat until you have 5 sheets stacked. (If the sheets overlap the pan, that’s okay–keep them that way for now.)
5. Spread half the spinach-ricotta filling evenly over the phyllo. Tuck any overhanging dough over the filling and repeat the layering process with 5 more sheets of phyllo. Spread remaining 1/2 of spinach-ricotta filling on top, then repeat the layering once again with 5 more sheets of phyllo to complete the pie, brushing the top layer with olive oil. Again, tuck any extra/overhanging dough into the dish.
6. Bake 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
Sweet Potato Enchiladas
Recently I Googled the phrase “enchilada fan club.” Why, you may ask? Was I playing that Stump Google game where you type in the most random, unassociated words to try to get zero results? Nope. I just really, really love enchiladas. And believe it or not, “enchilada fan club” yields only 4 results–almost stumping Google. None of them represent an actual fan club for lovers of enchiladas, though. (Boo.) Maybe I just need to start my own. There’s a meetup.com group for everything, right? I can see it on my resume now….“President and Founder, Enchilada Fan Club of Arizona.” I think that could really open some doors for me.
Enchiladas are fan club-worthy for a variety of reasons. They’re the Mexican comfort food with their hot, creamy, savory filling, soft tortilla shell, and gooey, stretchy cheese topping; they’re surprisingly easy to make; they travel well; they can be mixed up for variety. To me, they’re an ideal entree for a variety of occasions. Cinco de Mayo party? Enchiladas. Birthday party for your teacup chihuahua? Enchiladas. Your nephew’s bar mitzvah? Enchiladas.
Today’s recipe takes this Mexican classic to the next level with its unexpected filling: sweet potatoes! If you’re a vegetarian or serving vegetarians, you still have the option of making hearty enchiladas that aren’t just rolls of melted cheese (though, let the record show, I see nothing wrong with rolls of melted cheese.) If you can’t imagine sweet potatoes involved in a Mexican-flavored dish, you’re in for a surprise. Once you’ve tasted them with green onions, cumin, and chili powder, you’ll never think of them as just a marshmallow-covered Thanksgiving dish again.
And while I have your attention, can I interest you in membership in Arizona’s newest elite foodie fan club? No money down, low commitment–you just have to be able to eat 6+ enchiladas in one sitting. Video applications accepted.
Sweet Potato Enchiladas
(Inspired by Allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:
5 sweet potatoes
5 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 green onions, chopped
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
12 6-inch corn tortillas
1 10 oz. can red enchilada sauce
6 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
1. Place sweet potatoes in a large stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to medium and boil gently for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Let cool. When cooled, peel skins off and place sweet potatoes in a large bowl.
2. Mash sweet potatoes. Add cream cheese, green onions, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper and mix well.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Cover the bottom of a large baking dish with a layer of enchilada sauce.
5. On a microwave-safe plate, individually microwave 1 tortilla 10-15 seconds, or until pliable. (This is so you don’t have to fry them in oil…much healthier!) Place about 1/3 cup sweet potato filling down the center of the tortilla, roll it up, and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with all remaining tortillas.
6. Drizzle remaining enchilada sauce over rolled tortillas. Sprinkle with shredded Cheddar.
7. Bake in preheated oven 25-30 minutes until enchiladas are bubbling and cheese is beginning to brown.
Makes 12 enchiladas.
Creamy Crock Pot Tomato Soup
Remember that ad campaign Campbell’s Soup ran a few years ago, “Make it Campbell’s Instead”? I’m sure all sorts of market research and lots of money went into creating it, and maybe there was more to it than just that phrase, but it always seemed like kind of a lame slogan to me. Like, really? Like their marketing team was tired one night and just said, “We got nothin’. Just tell ’em to choose Campbell’s instead of something else.” And then it always made me think, Well, maybe it’s because it doesn’t have that much to recommend it, so there was nothing else to say…?
That being said, I love tomato soup and used to eat lots of the iconic Campbell’s variety. Every time I watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I thrill at the thought of trying Violet Beauregarde’s Everlasting Gobstopper with the tomato soup that runs down her throat (then again, I’m not crazy about the idea of turning into a giant blueberry…so scratch that). Up until a few years ago, I would buy Campbell’s tomato soup and eat it with a passion, despite the fact that it left my microwave looking like a scene out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. As I became more aware of the downsides to processed food, however, I eventually realized that, like most canned soups, the classic Campbell’s tomato is not a particularly great choice. The sodium in just a 1/2 cup is 20% of the daily value, plus it contains high fructose corn syrup and some funky additives. I’ve since converted to the Trader Joe’s variety (organic, no HCFS, only one not-so-awful additive) but am always on the lookout for a homemade version to provide that perfect hot, creamy cup of comfort.
Of the recipes I’ve tried, this one is the clear winner:
Not only is this crock pot gem creamy and delicious, it also clandestinely contains 3 full cups of vegetables, not including the tomatoes, which is great for kids or other picky eaters! (Though I’m not really into the whole hide-vegetables-in-your-kids’-food movement. I think beets belong in salads, not in brownies. …Actually, no. Beets belong in the trash. They’re disgusting.) Regardless, you really can’t taste the other vegetables in this soup. The flavor that comes through loud and clear is tomato. We had it with homemade bread (pictured) and I’m sure you couldn’t go wrong with garlic croutons or grilled cheese. All in all, a huge improvement over anything you’ll find in a can.
Creamy Crock Pot Tomato Soup
(Adapted from Skinnytaste)
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 c. finely chopped celery
1 c. finely chopped onion
1 c. finely chopped carrot
28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes with juice
1 tsp. dried ground thyme
1/4 c. fresh basil, chopped
3 1/2 c. chicken broth
Parmesan or Romano cheese rind (optional)
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 3/4 c. 2% milk
garlic salt and black pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, onion, and carrots and sauté 5-6 minutes or until onions begin to turn golden. Add to slow cooker.
2. Pour the juice from the tomatoes into the slow cooker, then roughly crush the tomatoes with your hands and add. Add thyme, basil, chicken broth, cheese rind, and bay leaf.
3. Cover and cook on Low for 6 hours, until vegetables are soft.
4. Remove cheese rind and, using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth.
5. Melt the butter over low heat in a saucepan. Whisk in flour and stir constantly for 4-5 minutes. Pour about 1 cup of the hot soup into the saucepan, then add the milk and stir until smooth.
6. Pour entire mixture into the slow cooker, along with grated cheese.
7. Continue cooking until warmed through. Season with garlic salt and black pepper to taste.
Caramelized Onion and Apple Pizza
Has this ever happened to you: You have a meal planned for dinner, but something happens and then you don’t end up getting to it until a few days later. You go to start dinner around 5:00, only to realize that in the intervening days, a key ingredient has gone bad! What are you supposed to do? Pack up your three small kids and make a grocery run? Not worth it. Borrow something from a neighbor? In my case, the ingredient was pre-cut butternut squash chunks. I’m close with my neighbors so I wouldn’t mind asking, but I don’t think they’re likely to have any of those lying around. The meal in question was this roasted apple-butternut squash-onion pizza with a white bean puree for the sauce. It sounded really interesting…but, you know, without the butternut squash not quite the same. Faced with this dilemma, I decided it was time to switch gears a little. Having just (almost) finalized my Christmas party menu, which includes these puff pastry apple and caramelized onion bites, they were on my mind. I figured if it works on puff pastry, it’ll work on pizza, right? As a matter of fact, yes! The only thing I really wish I had added was some crumbled bacon. But that would have required a trip to the store…which, again, I wasn’t about to do. Fortunately, even without bacon, this turned out to be a really delicious vegetarian dinner. (But next time, yeah, it’ll include bacon. Here’s even an NPR article about why bacon makes everything better. ‘Nuff said.)
Caramelized Onion and Apple Pizza
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. butter
1 lb. yellow onions, thinly sliced (about 2 medium onions)
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 recipe whole wheat pizza dough (or the bagged Trader Joe’s kind, which is what I always use)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
6 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tbsp. fresh thyme
Directions:
Make the caramelized onions and apples:
Melt butter in a medium to large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add apples and stir to coat. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are medium brown, about 20-25 minutes.
Prepare the pizza:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.* Spread pizza dough in a greased 10 x 15 in jelly roll pan. Prick dough with a fork and brush with olive oil. Place caramelized onions and apples on the dough, then shredded mozzarella. Sprinkle fresh thyme over top. Bake 8-10 minutes.
Serves 4.
*Note: If using Trader Joe’s bagged pizza dough, I recommend pre-baking at 375 degrees for 9-10 minutes. The dough will remain gooey if not pre-baked.
Chicken Tetrazzini
Here in Mesa, it’s been raining. It rained for two days in a row, which by Phoenix-area standards is nothing short of miraculous. We here in the desert tend to get extra excited by rain. We tend to think of it like that old Weather Girls song It’s Raining Men, if you take out the word “men,” as in:
“It’s raining! Hallelujah, it’s raining!”
The reason, of course, for our unmitigated joy over the mysterious wet stuff that comes out of the sky is that (being in a desert) we don’t tend to see a lot of it. I vividly remember the record dry spell of 2006. After 143 days without rain, it was as if the clouds had been saving it up and rained so hard and so much there was SNOW on Superstition Mountain. In March. When it’s usually 85 degrees and you’re hoping you remembered to take your sunscreen with you to the Renaissance Fair.
The reason I remember all of this is that I was scheduled to run a 5K at the Phoenix Zoo that day, and since apparently the race planners had not considered rain a possibility, I ended up running wearing one of the black garbage bags they passed out instead of rain ponchos.
Garbage bag ponchos aside, I really do love the rain. And when it rains, I always crave comfort food, don’t you? So last night, after almost an entire day of rain (hallelujah!) it was time for something warm, hearty, and creamy: chicken tetrazzini, one of my favorites. I didn’t grow up eating this dish–in fact, I had never heard of it until my husband made it for me on my 23rd birthday. We were living in our ghetto first apartment with a tiny kitchen, irrepressible cockroaches, and the claim to fame that the management gave all new residents The Club car lock as a welcoming gift.
Upon tasting it, I was instantly hooked. Eight years later, this meal is still in my rotation. You might look at the recipe and wonder how it could be at all flavorful, since the only spices it contains are salt and pepper, and the other ingredients wouldn’t appear to add much in the flavor department. All I can say is you’re gonna have to trust me on this one. The richness of the roux (butter and flour heated to bubbling) combined with cream and chicken broth make this a melt-in-your-mouth dish that needs no additional seasoning. Additionally, it boasts the interesting trivia of being named after the turn-of-the-century opera star Luisa Tetrazzini (who looks like she probably ate quite a bit of it in her time, if you know what I’m saying). All in all, it’s a perfect dinner for those rare and wonderful Arizona rainy days…when you have an opera singer on your mind. Or something along those lines.
Chicken Tetrazzini
(Adapted from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook: Bridal Edition)
Ingredients:
7 oz. spaghetti, broken into thirds
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. heavy cream or 1/2 and 1/2
2 Tbsp. dry sherry or water
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook spaghetti as directed on package.
While spaghetti is cooking, melt butter in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in broth and cream. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
Drain spaghetti. Stir spaghetti, sherry or water, and chicken into sauce.
Pour spaghetti mixture into an ungreased 2-quart casserole. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until bubbly in center.