Forgotten Pizza

We made this a while ago, hopefully Anna will post the quinoa cakes since I didn't get any shots of them. This pizza has a harrowing past. First it was supposed to be grounded by some whole wheat pita bread.
Unfortunately the pita bread had mold on it. We went to Trader Joes though and per Anna's suggestion got whole wheat lavash instead. It turned out a lot better than I think the pita would have--so thin and crispy.

Also originally this was going to be based on a healthy living sort of Martha Stewart recipe of asiago cheese, ricotta, red onion, and mushrooms, a top some sort of whole wheat flat bread. Instead we decided to use leftover spanakopiropita (we've been wrong all this time apparently, spanakopita is just spinach and no feta; however this had ricotta and not feta, so I'm not 100% sure, but anyway) filling. We still grated some of the asiago cheese on top and put a few sliced mushrooms too.



So good. I really want to make this again. Maybe this on a warm summer night?

-Amanda

Boy Bait: Conquering Phyllo

Spinach Dill Pie/Make-shift Spanakopita



I made Martha Stewart's "quick spanakopita" last week. That was quick, and this one may take the same time or longer. This is also Martha Stewart actually. I'm not sure what that says about me that all my spanakopita recipes are coming from her. Anyway, I think I like this recipe better:

a) it uses ricotta instead of feta
b) It takes a shorter time to prepare the filling.
c) It uses cumin!
d) Less oil/butter.
e) I learned you can just spray the phyllo sheets with cooking spray so you don't have to melt better and pat it on with your hands!

Also, I had a lot of filling leftover with this, so Anna and I made a pizza with it, mmm, that will be posted soon. And another thing, Instead of using whole 12 by 17 inch sheets of phyllo, or whatever the dimensions are for a full sheet, I used a pizza slicer and cut them in half. AND instead of putting all eight on the bottom, I think I put three on the bottom and three on the top.

You always want a crunchy top.


Is this too tight for you? That's right, I hope you're reading this foodgawker.

It's the summer; you could listen to this while you eat it outside.

-Amanda

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

Is it Passover yet?

If you're ever out in Canoga Park, you should stop by Follow Your Heart on Sherman Way. It's this incredible vegetarian mini-market and restaurant; it's where I first was introduced to scrambled tofu at the tender age of 11. I don't think that's on the menu anymore, but their spanakopita is amazing. An order comes with two pieces--they're the same shape and size as samosas (instead of like a sheet cake slice), which I prefer since it holds in the heat better and ensures that you're biting into crisp phyllo on the outside and warm-textured-but-creamy-spinachy-goodness on the inside. And to top it off, they make them with whole wheat phyllo dough, which gives every bite so much more depth.

In any case, I'm pretty scared to work with phyllo dough, so you can imagine my excitement when I found a recipe for matzo spanakopita in Healthy Jewish Cooking by Steven Raichlen, a book I routinely check out from the library (Studio City branch in case you're wondering). Obviously it's geared towards someone craving spanakopita during Passover, but no matter. I made the recipe last summer with regular matzo, but this time I thought trying to recreate the whole wheat spanakopita from Follow Your Heart might be fun.
So, on Thursday Anna came over and we set to work. I was an idiot, and didn't think it was a problem that I didn't have dill. Herbs always enhance flavors though, and dill is always supposed to go in spanakopita. So if you make this, be sure to mix in about a 1/4 cup chopped dill into the filling. Fun fact: I read in my Trader Joe's cookbook that you can buy frozen herbs at Trader Joe's, which would be so much more convenient than having to worry about buying fresh herbs and having most of it go bad and so on.
Anyway getting to the recipe, we adapted this from Healthy Jewish Cooking's Passover Spanekopita and here we go:

16 ounce package of frozen chopped spinach
1/2 c. torn chard pieces (leftover from chard chips, though these aren't chips yet, still raw! oh yeah, and you can just replace this with more spinach too btw)
1/4 c. chopped scallions
1/2 c. matzo meal
1 c. fat-free egg substitute, or 1 egg and 6 egg-whites
1/3 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 c. fat-free ricotta (which is ridiculously difficult to find but yay for Whole Foods, the original recipe called for feta or Parmesan cheese)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Kosher salt to taste
Olive Oil for brushing
4 sheets of whole wheat matzo

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
2. Cook the frozen spinach according to the directions on the bag. Probably that means heating up 1/4 c. water to boil in a big pot. Then putting the frozen spinach in and simmering it for about 10 minutes, but you should check. Drain the spinach, then once it's cooled a tad, grab handfuls of it and squeeze the extra water out. It will be really squishy and gross. Put squeezed spinach in a medium sized bowl for mixing the rest of the filling.
3. Stir in the chard, chopped scallions, (please use dill and mix it in too!), matzo meal, eggs, lemon juice, cheese, pepper, and salt. You want to season this a lot, make friendly with the salt and pepper!
3. Take a 9 by 13 glass baking pan and spray/butter it. Put two sheets of matzo side-by-side on it and brush with the olive oil. We didn't have a kitchen brush so Anna decided to use the scallion tails for brushing. This is why Anna's amazing.


Spread the spinach filling evenly on top. Brush the other two sheets of matzo with olive oil and place on top. Sprinkle the tops with salt (not too much now!) and bake for 30 minutes until the top crust is golden brown (this is a little bit more difficult to tell with the whole wheat) and the filling seems set. Let cool enough so you don't burn your mouth and enjoy!





And like Anna said in her post before, we made chard chips again only seasoned thanks to Anna's suggestion. She though it would be good to do half a baking sheet with onion powder and cumin and the other half with Garam Masala and sesame seeds. My favorite was the onion powder and cumin--amazing!