Polenta Pie

Since my boyfriend adores anything with a lot of tomato sauce and cheese I thought I'd give this recipe a shot since finding it at Epicurious. I had some store-bought polenta (from Trader Joes) hanging around and thought this would be a good time to use it. I don't particularly find the taste of store-bought polenta that good so it might be better to make some homemade polenta next time.

You can find the recipe for it here.

Instead of using a jar of tomato sauce for this recipe (I had none), I decided to make some all-purpose tomato sauce that's quite easy to make. It makes for a good dipping sauce for breadsticks as well.

All-Purpose Tomato Sauce
(from Cooks Illustrated)

1 large garlic clove, minced
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
28 ounce can whole tomatoes, chopped/crushed and juice reserved
Table salt and ground black pepper to taste
2-3 fresh basil leaves, shredded or 1/2 tsp dried

In a large saucepan, warm garlic in 2 tablespoons oil over low heat until soft, but not colored. Stir in tomato paste, then the tomatoes and their liquid. Simmer, uncovered, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 25 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper; before serving, stir in basil and remaining tablespoon oil.

Sweet Potato and Cheese Souffles

My first time making individual savory souffles and I think they came out okay! This recipe comes out of the UK magazine Olive and actually utilizes cheshire cheese but I used cheddar cheese instead. So because I used cheddar cheese, I think these came out a little under-salted since the recipe does not call for any salt. I'd add in some salt if you decide to use another type of cheese such as cheddar or gruyere.

Also, its good to try and mash the potatoes as well as you can. I mashed them by hand and they still came out a little chunky. Normally I like my mashed potatoes to be chunky but for this souffle dish I think it would be better if they were almost of puree quality. So the best way to achieve that would be to put them in the food processesor (but not for too long!)

Sweet potato and Cheshire cheese souffles
(adapted from Olive December 2006 issue)

25g/2tbsp butter
3 tbsp parmesan
350g/3/4lb sweet potatoes, peeled, cut, boiled, and then mashed
2tbsp plain flour
150 ml milk (a little over 1/2 cup)
75g cheshire cheese, crumbled
pinch dried chili flakes
1 tbsp chives
2 eggs, separated

Equipment:
4-6 6-oz ramekins


1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook for about 1 minute. The, gradually add the milk, mixing well, until you have a smooth sauce. Add the cheese, stirring until melted then stir in the chili flakes and chives. Remove from the heat and fold in the mashed sweet potatoes. Let cool slightly and then stir in the egg yolks.
2. Put your egg whites into a bowl and beat until stiff. Fold a quarter of the beaten egg whites into the potato mixture to loosen it up and then fold in the rest. Divide the batter among the individual ramekins (I used 4 6-ounce ones) and then put the ramekins onto a baking sheet.
3. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until risen and golden.

Note: You might try baking the ramekins in a water bath. Put the ramekins into a baking pan and then once you've put them into the oven, fill the pan with boiling hot water halfway up to the ramekins.

Edit: I'd forgotten the cheese in the recipe. Silly me but I've now updated it! :D

Spanakopita

I bought this lovely book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence written by the comedian/actress Amy Sedaris. Its very entertaining and funny and has tons of recipes (that are not fake :). The best part that I like about this book is the retro-looking pictures of the food. It reminds me of my grandmother and all her old cookbook and recipe books from the 1960s. I highly recommend at least taking a look at this book the next time you go to the bookstore. The cover is gorgeous as well. ;)

So here is the recipe for Spanakopita or Greek Spinach pie. The filling turned out very tasty and didn't have an overly strong taste of greens. I actually used all fresh spinach for this recipe even though it calls for 30 ounces of frozen spinach. I don't really recommend this as you'll have to boil up a stockpot full of water and blanch all your spinach and then wring out the water. Well, you'll have to do that for the frozen spinach too but at least that's one less pot to clean. :P

Brushing each layer of the phyllo dough was very time consuming and as dinnertime was approaching fast I didn't do the whole entire 1 lb package. It still turned out fine and I've read some other recipes that used less phyllo dough.

Spanakopita

5 eggs
3 10-ounce packages of frozen, chopped spinach, defrosted (ring out any water using cheesecloth or dishrag) Note: You can use equal amounts of fresh spinach weighing it AFTER blanching them in boiling water
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 ounces crumbled feta cheese
Olive Oil
2 bunches of chopped green onions, sauteed
1 tbsp chopped parsley
Dill, fennel (optional)
3 tbsp of Parmesan cheese
1 1-pound of box of phyllo pastry
1/2 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a mixer or food processor, beat the eggs until fluffy. Add all ingredients (except for phyllo) and process. Note: I would put the ingredients in this order after the eggs: cream cheese, feta cheese, cottage cheese.. blend... spinach, green onions, parsley, parmesan cheese, and a dash of the olive oil... blend.
2. Butter a 9 x 13 x 3 inch pan. One sheet at a time, lay the phyllo dough into the pan and brush the butter onto each sheet inbetween. After about half the box, spread your spinach filling on top of the phyllo pastry. Continue with rest of phyllo dough until box is finished (or until you get tired of doing it :)
3. You can precut the pie at this point and place in the freezer until ready to bake. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until top is brown and crispy.