Spinach-Feta Pie: Results!

Happy New Year!

OK, first let me call you out on a softball challenge. Then, let me thank you for that. You guys, in your wisdom, could see past Christmas and into this holiday limbo before New Years, and know that huge gourmet undertakings are not first priority. We ended up squeezing this one in for lunch before heading out of town again.

We followed instructions to the T, except for replacing fresh spinach with the frozen blocks (no fresh to be found), and making an entirely separate second trip to the grocery for the feta.



The process was simple, and the results were pretty darn good. I think working with the frozen spinach definitely complicated matters - with so much water already in there and all compacted together, it was pretty time consuming to get it thoroughly dried out. Maybe you guys had an easier time with the fresh?

This is one instance where the addition of onions (eek!) or garlic (ah) wouldn't hurt. We added no salt, and didn't think it needed any either. J said he thought it was a touch too spinachy for him, but it suited me. It's always nice to have a quiche-like dish sans the crust too. And no dairy? Which made us ask, 'which is better, a lot of eggs no dairy, or a few of both?' I really don't know. I did read recently that eating egg yolks and all their cholesterol actually doesn't increase your cholesterol levels....





Thanks for the challenge - next one coming up soon!!

CD Challenge: Spinach-Feta Pie

CD (that's cullinary drift for the acronymically declined) challenge 4 (we think). Listen up cause this is going to go quickly: Spinach-feta pie.

2.5 lb fresh spinach - you should probably remove the stems
8 eggs - yep, beat em
6 oz crumbled feta
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
black pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil - yes, unfortunately RR is still referring to it as EVOO

Step one: Heat the oven - preferably to 375 degrees F.
Step Two: Fill a pot halfway with water.
Step three: Bring the water that you just put in the pot to a boil.
Step Four: Add the spinach by the handful to the pot with the boiling water and cook until wilted.
Step Five: Drain the wilted spinach and let cool.
Step Six: Squeeze out all the liquid from the wilted spinach (this is why you let it cool in step five).
Step Seven: Chop the wilted spinach coarsely.
Step Eight: Whisk the eggs, feta, 1/4 c pecorino/romano, 1/4 c parmesan, and a bunch of pepper in a bowl.
Step Nine: Add the wilted spinach that you just chopped coarsely...
Step Ten: Butter a 2 qt baking dish.
Step 11: Add the mixture to the baking dish.
Step 12: Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp of pecorino/romano and parmesan on top.
Step 13: Drizzle the olive oil all over.
Step 14. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden and sizzling.
Step 15. Let cool for 10 minutes.
Step 16. Enjoy... But make sure you post by 01-Jan-2010.

Culinary Drift Challenge - Apple Strudel

Okay, so we are more than a month late in posting the results of our apple strudel debacle.

For the record, we also made apple strudel two ways, although the first way ended up in the trash without any photos - it was that bad a mess. Which will undoubtedly surprise you when you see how the one we're posting turned out. All I'll say as a sneak preview is that it tasted better than it looked!

So the first mystery in making apple strudel was the instruction that the dough should be rolled out thin enough to read a newspaper through.



This is where things went horribly wrong both times we made it. We got it rolled out thin, really thin, but couldn't understand then how the dough was to be wrapped around the fillings without everything breaking through the dough, which was what happened when we made it.



Are you ready to see how good it looked when we rolled it up? I can guarantee you that this has gotten a lot funnier in the month since making this.



Yep, and it got even prettier when it came out of the oven. Somehow what you can't see here is the apples poking through the crust of the dough - yea, don't think that is supposed to happen. Oh... the trials and tribulations of apfelstrudelin'...



We were clearly missing some technique in making this. I would love to see someone else making it, because it seemed really, really difficult for something that seems like it's supposed to be rustic. Additionally, the photo above obscures the immensity of what we created. It could have fed a group of 20 easily.

I'm glad we gave it a second shot, but in the end felt like we would have been better off making an apple pie.

Lindsay, you'll have to show us how it's done at some point!

Salmon en Croute

The December 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online

In what's becoming a monthly pattern, we got this made just under the wire. Having left it to the last minute, we weren't able to make our own pastry crust, as Simone encouraged us to do, and as we had originally intended. Harris Teeter and frozen puff pastry crust came to our rescue. Someday we'll make it from scratch.

For this challenge, we rolled out the pastry dough to a thickness of 2 -3 mm, and then placed the salmon in the center of the rolled out crust. Atop the salmon, we placed a blended mixture of mascarpone cheese, arugula, watercress, spinach, salt, and garlic powder. Then we wrapped up the salmon, so that it looked like this:



We then made three slits in the top to allow steam to escape and brushed it with an egg wash and put in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, it came out looking like this:



We ate the salmon with broccolini that unfortunately was not photo-friendly due to overcooking. However, we both enjoyed the salmon, which looked prettier, and was more delicious than we had expected.

Thanks to Simone for a great challenge, and a surprisingly easy weeknight dinner, as long as the puff pastry crust comes from the store!