Martha Goes Greek-Super Speed Style

Phyllo takes like a day to thaw, or overnight-ish (in the fridge). You've been warned.

I made dinner for Gigi, I think I liked it better than she did. I put grapefruit in the salad, that was a no-no. I also made a spanakopita à la Martha Stewart. It was quick. I used frozen spinach even though she didn't okay that (Martha not Gigi). You should make it too. I used whole wheat phyllo dough cause I'm cool like that. I used less phyllo dough than she called for, which made it even speedier.

I win.



I think it looks like a mystical spinach compass.

Speedy Spanakopita
3 TBL olive oil--I used 2ish, we have fancy olive oil that I'm not supposed to waste
1 onion (apparently if you chill onions before you cut them, they won't make you cry-I did not do this. It was bad. I'm glad I don't wear mascara.)
3 cloves garlic
1 lb spinach
(It called for 1/4 c. parsley, but I'm not a fan.)
1/4 c. dill
6 ounces crumbly feta
Salt!!
Pepper!
3 sheets thawed phyllo dough (haha she called for 10-winwinwinwinwin)
1/4 stick of butter/margarine melted

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Chop your onion. Flick off people who make fun of the fact that you're crying. Heat up your skillet with oil, sauté the onion for eight minutes. While that's going on mince your garlic. Your hands will smell gross. Once the onion has cooked its eight minutes, add the garlic and cook one minute. Then add your spinach gradually. If you're using frozen, it should be thawed P.S. and also if its frozen + thawed make sure to squeeze out excess water as you go along. Cook for about 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. Add the egg, dill, salt, pepper, and feta. Stir.
3. Get a baking sheet. Put parchment paper on it. Unwrap your phyllo. Lay it all out flat and get a towel and make it damp, but not too damp. Put the damp towel on top of the phyllo sheets whenever you're not using them, otherwise they'll dry out.
4. Take one sheet of the phyllo dough and put it on your baking sheet. It might be too big-that's okay, just fold the edges. Use your hands and dabble the sheet with butter. It's yucky, but necessary. Do this two more times (i.e. three sheets in total, each coated with butter. You'll probably have butter left over.)
5. Put the filling in the center. Fold the outer phyllo on top of the filling, crumple it however you want. Maybe you can make a swan? Someone should try that.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes-maybe a few more.



If you eat this outside this song should go well, maybe.

Also I made salad, mmm: herb salad mix, pears, persian cucumbers, grapefruit.


-Amanda

Clabber Up that Baklava

These were very simple. The honey is messy. I'm not a walnut person but maybe you are.



Care of Nigella:

Filling:
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (Pistachios would be better.)
3 TBL melted butter/margarine
1/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cake:
1 1/4 scant c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. sugar
1 big egg
3 TBL melted butter/margarine
1 + 2 TBL CLABBERED milk = 1 c. skim milk + 2 TBL lemon juice or vinegar (I used both!) --mix together and wait 5 minutes

Honey to drizzle

1. Mix all of the filling ingredients together. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar all together. Then mix the clabbered milk, the egg, and the butter together.
3. Mix the dry and wet together very carefully. Put muffins cups in a 12 muffin tin. Fill them with the batter 1/3 of the way up. Add a scant tablespoon of the filling to each. Then fill each cup 2/3 of the way full with remaining batter. Scatter leftover walnut topping on the tops.
4. Bake for about 15 minutes. Take them out of the tin-carefully! And put them on a rack to cool and be drizzled. I recommend putting a piece of wax paper underneath the rack to avoid messes. Then drizzle honey on each muffin--it's messy but it gets absorbed.




Maybe you want to listen to this song while you eat them.

I like bran muffins better.

-Amanda

Getting Up Close and Personal with Bran

If I had to choose two foods to live on for the rest of my life they would be greek yogurt and bran muffins. Some people don't like bran muffins--they are unenlightened.



But until last week, I'd actually never made them myself. If you live in L.a. I recommend Zen Bakery's vegan line. The cranberry (not dried!), blueberry, mango are incredible.

I found this recipe here.

{Their blog entry is funny-read it!)
Except, I
a) Doubled the recipe--yay more bran!
b)Used skim milk instead of soy or low fat.
c) Put in extra orange zest--good call, I recommend!
d)Put in dates instead of raisins, but only half the amount called for.
e)Added frozen cranberries.
f)Used almonds instead of walnuts but only a few tablespoons.
g)Added some chopped strawberries that were going bad.



I would say next time--more fruit and less honey. There was wayway too much honey. Any vegan would have cried. Well they wouldn't have touched it in the first place thanks to the eggs or milk, but regardless. I would say halve the amount of honey.



Also they would go well with this song.. Actually, I don't know what wouldn't go well with bran, or this song.
Enjoy!
-Amanda

Pixies in Your Breakfast Dish

Finally! An original recipe!

So I was feeling down, and decided to walk through the glistening heap of (unaffordable, just now) surprises that is Sur La Table. And I made my first purchase--a pixie muffin pan (and a cookie cutter). I also talked to someone who went through culinary school who used that cookie cutter to shape his rice.

Anyways, I had no idea what pixie muffins were, but they had little flower patterning, and muffins are always too large for me, so I gave them a try.



Lemon Berry Pixie Muffins
yield:24

2 heaping (and I mean huuge) tbsps of flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 (slightly smaller) tbsps of sugar
1 heaping (bigbigbig) tbsp of yogurt
half an egg's worth of egg white liquid
1 tsp fine lemon zest
blueberries and raspberries (i used less blueberries than there were muffins, and ripped the raspberries up into pieces)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine flour and baking powder, then add combined yogurt and sugar, and finally add combined egg and lemon zest. Then throw in as many berries as needed--I liked my muffins rich and juicy, oozing out deep blues and purples.

Fill well-buttered (I used my finger to get into the crevices) pixie muffin pan either 2/3 of the way or completely with batter, depending on the size of muffin you want. Bake until just before it would start to brown (the muffin will feel nice and springy to the touch). There you have it!

These did not last long at all, so don't plan on serving them to anyone. Just show someone how pretty they are, and then devour them.



I also attempted to make banana nut yogurt pixie muffins, but I was not a fan, so you don't have to suffer through the recipe and consequent disappointment in muffin taste.

But here's a photo for y'all. I still like their figure.


-Anna

Dinner, by Anna and Amanda

Muhammara-inspired deviled eggs, quinoa-stuffed mushrooms, and a lovely gateau au citron, with honey lavender creme.


I bought a little muhammara at Berkeley Bowl, and spread some on boiled eggs on most days during finals. So I realized, why not make things a bit more complicated by reattempting my favorite dish from middle school days. (I only made deviled eggs and pinwheel sandwiches)

These babies are stuffed with a mixture of yolk, pomegranate molasses, chopped walnuts, quinoa, roasted red peppers, and paprika.


Mmmm. Amanda's brilliance! I wonder what she put in here..


More cakes should be viewed from the bottom. This glaze-soaked, fork-marked floor of cake, for your enjoyment!

We did try to whip the cream, but unfortunately we are not as skilled with a whisk as real women should be. Fortunately, no one cares!

http://lauriebot.com/2010/05/15/gateau-au-citron-avec-la-creme-lavande/

Sweetening the Studies

Inspiration is like hunger. Have a nibble, suddenly you're ravenous. The trick is, it's harder to motivate myself to take a bite of a book than a cookie. Studying also doesn't have quite the same level of stress-relieving ability as baking does. So during finals I found a sugar cookie recipe to love and adore, and my cookies were a lot less unappetizing than my prior salty, rock-hard, or completely melted attempts.



For the above cookie, I followed the recipe for lavender lemon cookies, and made a little lavender flower trail for appeal.

http://52kitchenadventures.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/week-19-lavender/

For the cookie down below, I used chai tea spices on the same sugar cookie recipe to make cookies that were basically snickerdoodles.

Grapey Grapey Grape

When you are studying and you would rather not be studying and you have grapes and they are in your freezer and then they are no longer in your freezer and then suddenly they are where your textbook should be, this is when you are truly happy.