Spinach Pie and Tomato/Onion Salad

Crap photo, great pies.



This recipe makes a huge batch. That works fine for us, as we enjoy leftovers (I like to cook and get it over with). If you prefer variety in your diet, the recipe may be halved.

I made these in individual pies as they travel better for lunches. You can however, layer it into one or two large rectangular pies that you serve cut in squares. I also opted for clarified butter, though the phyllo can be brushed with olive oil if you prefer. I'm not a cook that insists on following the recipe exactly. I don't use garlic in my spinach pie, but some people do. I use scallions here some people would use shallots. I used frozen spinach, but fresh would work too. I think you get the idea.

You Will Need:

1 box frozen Phyllo (it should have two rolls in the packet-you'll need both if not halving) thawed
1/2 cup clarified butter, melted (you won't need it all, but better to have it) or olive oil for brushing
3 blocks frozen, chopped spinach, cooked, drained, and squeezed dry
1 lb. cottage cheese drained through a sieve overnight, then forced through the sieve until smooth
8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
2 ounces parmesan cheese, crated
1 bunch scallions, chopped fine
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt/Pepper to taste
3 large eggs

Combine everything except phyllo and butter in a large bowl and mix very well. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and grease a baking sheet. Work with one roll of phyllo at a time, and keep it covered with a damp cloth to prevent it drying out as you go.

To make individual pies:

Cut sheets in half. Brush a sheet lightly with butter, and top with another sheet. You need about 5, but you could do more (no more than 8). Don't soak it with butter, but make sure to brush the edges so it won't dry out. Place a dollop of filling in the centre. Carefully fold over into a triangle trimming anyway any excess. Fold up edges. Brush top and edge generously with butter. Pierce the top with a sharp knife. Repeat until you have a full tray (you can make the rest as the others bake).

Bake about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on racks. These are best served at room temperature.

To make a large pie:

Do about 5 sheets of the full-sized phyllo for the bottom. Spread on the filling. Top with an equal number of sheets. Fold up edges, brush with butter, pierce and bake. This will take longer. You can also do this in a greased, rectangular pan, just make sure to tuck the top layers down the sides as you go. It is also nice to crumble a few sheets for the top, and brush them with butter-it makes an attractive pie.


Tomato/Onion Salad:

3-4 ripe tomatoes, cut into 8ths.
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, stemmed
(about) 8 olives (I used Kalamata, but any you like will do)
1 small onion, sliced as thinly as possible
1 tablespoon dried chervil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 small jar pickled artichoke hearts
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt/pepper

Set your tomatoes, olives, onion, and drained artichoke hearts in a bowl. In a measuring cup, combine the thyme, chervil, sugar, vinegar, oil, and salt/pepper. Mix well. Pour over the tomato/onion mixture and let sit, covered in the fridge several hours before serving. Bring it to room temperature, and serve it over crisp, cold lettuce.

Tofu Donner Kebab

I didn't attempt forming the tofu into the typical cone shape because that would be absurd. Instead, I focused my efforts on re-creating one of Mr. ETB's favourite meals. I went ahead and made pickled carrots and onions to serve inside the pita with lettuce, yoghurt, and the fake kebab-it turned out better than I expected. I knew it would be OK, I didn't think the boys would love it as much as they did.

The spices are being listed leaving amounts to your own taste. I don't see why you couldn't use it as a guide for seasoning lamb mince, or sausages-at least, I don't see it being limited to tofu.

You Will Need:

Extra Firm Tofu-sliced 1/4 inch thick in slabs and pressed dry of liquid between towels and weights for 30 minutes, changing toweling a few times.

4 Tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Cumin
Smoked salt
Thyme
mace
Fennel Seeds
1 beef-flavoured soup cube, crushed
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix all together well and pour into a large baking dish. Arrange tofu slices, turning once to coat. Cover with cling film and let sit at least six hours, or overnight in the fridge.

Next day:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake 30 minutes, uncovered. Carefully turn slices with a fork (it will be fragile) and bake another 30-40 minutes or until quite firm and resembling the texture of sliced lamb.

Cool on a fresh plate (rather than sitting in excess oil) and chill, well wrapped until needed. To re-warm, I gave it about 1 1/2 minutes in the microwave.

Phyllo Spinach Pie-Sort Of

The child hates feta cheese. I can understand this, but that doesn't mean I'm pleased about it. I made a version of a spinach pie that he found acceptable, and Mr. ETB didn't even mention missing the feta. That said, I hesitate to call this a spinach pie, but I also haven't a clue what I should call it.

You Will Need:

1/2 package of Phyllo dough (about 20 sheets) thawed and at room temperature
2 blocks frozen spinach, cooked, drained and squeezed dry of moisture in a towel
1 pound cottage cheese, drained and forced through a sieve
1 cup hard cheese, finely grated (I used a sheep's milk cheese because I had it)
Salt/Pepper/Thyme to taste
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1 large egg

Combine all.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9x13 pan. Work quickly with the Phyllo, and keep the remainder covered with a damp towel as you work. Pour a generous amount of olive oil into a bowl. Grab a pastry brush. Layer 10 sheets of Phyllo, brushing well between each layer with oil, and tucking the sides down as you go. After 10 sheets, pile in the filling, and smooth to distribute evenly. Layer on all but the last two sheets in the same manner as before. Score the pie in a diamond patter with a sharp knife cutting all the way through. Crumble the last two sheets of Phyllo with your hands and scatter atop the pie. Lightly brush with more oil. Bake 30-40 minutes or until top is deeply golden and filling appears cooked. Let stand at least ten minutes before serving. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

More Croquette than Falafel-and Homemade Tahini (and salad)

Danny's first serious allergic reaction was to tahini paste. He isn't allergic to sesame seeds, so the best we can figure is it was cross contaminated with either almonds or peanuts. I tried making a small batch at home today and it was successful. This has the added advantage of being able to make what I need without buying a large jar that would eventually go rancid on me.
I do not have a blender or a food processor, so I used an electric coffee grinder. In short, I put in sesame seeds, whirred it until it was mush, added a few drops of water, and that was that. To serve, I added garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It was so easy, I couldn't believe it. I'm still kind of stunned that it worked.

The falafel are most certainly not falafel in any guise I'd know. Still, they were enjoyed and made use of stuff I had sitting around at home.

You Will Need:

1 tin chickpeas, skins removed and finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped parsley
4 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon dried garlic
Salt/Pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch ground coriander
Coarse, dry breadcrumbs to coat
Oil to fry

Combine, chill 30 minutes. Remove from fridge and form into balls. Roll in breadcrumbs and return to fridge to chill until you are ready to fry. Drop falafel, a few at a time into very hot oil and fry until deeply browned (about 5 minutes). Makes about 18 medium sized falafel.

The Salad:

1-2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and cut into eighths.
1/2 red onion, finely sliced
2 cucumbers, peeled and finely sliced
4-5 radishes, finely sliced
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, halved
Generously shaved slices of hard cheese (I had a sheep's milks cheese)

Combine in a bowl.


Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

Pour and toss over salad. Chill several hours before serving over a bed of lettuce.

New Museum

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd hear myself utter again:

"I think we need to go to Chicago."

The brand-new, National Hellenic Museum opens in December. Yeah, I know-Chicago in December, but come on-they have a 12 ft. Trojan horse you can climb in. Still not convinced you need to brave a Chicago winter to go to a museum? How about a Karaoke cave where you can sing like a Siren? Swell, shove some wax in your ears, tie yourselves to the luggage rack atop the Volvo, and head out to Halsted Street for some fun. Come on, it will be great, we can slay the Cyclops and then go drink Ouzo.

If anyone would like to make this a group trip, drop me an email and we can compare schedules and such to see if it would work.

The Megaron

What didn't show well in the photo are the dolphins Danny drew for the frescoes (the piece of cardboard at the rear). He did this without any help, in fact, I didn't know what he was up to until I saw it. Particularly innovative was the use of the porcelain miniatures from Red Rose Tea for statues of various gods. I wonder if Red Rose ever had an ancient Greece collection of figurines? I'll bet they did-I should look into that.

Agamemnon Cookies

The cookie glitter shows up better in person, but you get the idea. I thought about party hats, but "Mask of Agamemnon" cookies on sticks just seemed so much cooler.

One Month To Go...

...until Operation Birthday Cake is finished. Oh dear god, I'm soooo damn tired already-why do I do this? I swear, I'm not some sort of martyr. A store bought cake is a thing of beauty, it really is. Someone really needs to open a nut-free bakery in Nebraska. Not me. I'm not opening a nut-free bakery-I can barely manage what I need to do.

All right, complaining out of the way, here's what I have in mind-the siege of Troy. In cake. The horse will be the easy part, but getting a walled city constructed with decorated cookies might be trickier. Fortunately, the templates, and cookies can be made well ahead (those royal icing cookies never go stale) and I can mess around with applying frosting to cake a few days before. In the past, I've had good luck with the golden butter cake recipe in the 1950 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. When chilled, the cake cuts and slices so neatly, that there aren't any crumbs or uneven surfaces to deal with. That was the cake I used for the HMS Victory, and for the spaceship in The Day The Earth Stood Still. I plan to use if for the horse. I'm envisioning something boxy-looking that can be held together in pieces with skewers, then frosted over. I can get a wood-paneled look with decorated graham crackers (provided I bake them small enough), but all-over frosting might be better. Gee whiz, I don't know.

The bigger problem will be getting my hands on an affordable copy of Chapman's Homer*. I know, I know, but the kid is hung-up on Elizabethans, and he really wants it. I'm not kidding, I caught him flipping through Spenser, and I asked if he knew what he was reading and the reply I got was, "Several hundred pages of sucking-up to the monarch." No child of mine will be going without his Elizabethan translation of Homer, if I can help it. I feel like I'm supposed to say something like, "At least he isn't into Pokeman." I don't know anything at all about Pokeman, but what I know about Elizabethan verse, makes me wonder if Pokeman might be, if not inherently more interesting, easier to read aloud. At least no one can accuse me of forcing my interests on the child, because if I were, I'd just show him old episodes of Soupy Sales, and call it, Humanities class.

Anyone out there have experience with large scale, epic cake? How about a used set of Chapman's Homer? I'd gladly swap for a nice food basket of jams, Christmas cake, bread-whatever. I'm flexible, and I can take (bake) requests-but I need it soon. I can go about twenty bucks, max for both.

* It isn't that we lack usable translations of Homer. I have many from which the child may choose. Just for funsies, he can flip back and forth between translations, but for classwork, I'm not using Chapman.

Wanted

We need a tutor for ancient Greek. I know we live in somewhat of a cultural wasteland, but someone in the state must be qualified to teach ancient Greek. We still need an accordion teacher as well. I'm thinking of posting an ad in the local paper:


Wanted, accordion teacher/ancient Greek tutor. Must have chest hair.

Christopsomo-Greek Easter Bread

This is a huge bread, which almost makes me feel better about the four eggs and entire cup of butter it contains. Fennel, butter, sugar...I think you know how my kitchen smells right now.

I used bread flour rather than AP flour as I wanted a less cake-like texture. You may use either.

Adapted from Sunset Breads Step by Step

You Will Need:

4 1/2 teaspoons granulated yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
1 cup melted butter, cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons anise seeds (you can crush them if you like)
1 teaspoon salt
(about) 7 cups bread or AP flour
9 dried apricots
1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water with a pinch of sugar. Let stand until foamy. Add the cooled milk, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, fennel and flour, a cup at a time until you have a dough that is no longer too sticky to knead. Work until smooth. Place in a buttered bowl, turn once and cover. Let rise until doubled-about 2 hours.

Punch dough down. Pull off 2 blobs of dough about 3 inches in diameter. Shape remaining dough into a ball and flatten to a 10 inch round. Place on a buttered baking sheet.

Roll each ball into a 15 inch rope and at each end of each rope, cut the bottom about 5 inches up into two pieces. Place atop the bread being careful not to press the decoration into the dough. Arrange in a cross and curl the ends around an apricot. Brush with the egg wash and let rise again until nearly doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake about 45 minutes or until deeply golden. Cool on rack.

Kota Kapama (Chicken In Tomato Sauce)

Tonight's recipe returns to the stack of old Gourmet magazines. This one is from April of 1972.

I'm guessing that the readers of Gourmet in 1972 knew a good bit more about cooking than readers today. I'll try to give a bit more explanation so that readers unfamiliar with "make a roux" will have a bit of guidance.

So how was it? Well, it was much better than vegetarian chicken substitute, but I guess that isn't too surprising. The addition of ¼ cup of olive oil didn't hurt either. We rather enjoyed it. The tomato sauce was light enough that it didn't turn the dish into spaghetti with chicken. Rather, the tomatoes worked well with the oil and lemon juice. The cinnamon might sound off here, but it really does give the dish depth.

The original recipe called for dry white wine. I've given up on finding a dry white wine we like enough to keep on hand. I don't really care for it and instead I've resolved to use extra dry vermouth in its place. This has worked out quite well for us.

You Will Need:

A 3-pound frying chicken cut into quarters
Juice of 1 lemon
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1-teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup olive oil
1-tablespoon butter
1 large onion, diced
½ cup dry white wine or vermouth
1/3 cup boiling water
1-tablespoon butter
1-tablespoon flour
1-cup water
1 cup drained Italian plum tomatoes (I used tinned)
1-cup tomato sauce
¼ cup dry white wine or vermouth (again)
½ teaspoon additional cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
Cooked pasta


Cut a chicken into quarters and place in a large bowl. Cover with the lemon juice, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Let sit 15 minutes.

In a very large skillet, heat the olive oil and brown the chicken pieces. Remove browned chicken pieces to a plate. Add 1-tablespoon butter to pan and fry the onion until soft and golden. Return the chicken to the pan, add 1/3 cup wine and simmer the chicken gently, covered for 15 minutes.

Add 1/3 cup water and cook the chicken 15 minutes longer.

In a saucepan, melt 1-tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add 1-tablespoon flour and with a whisk, quickly blend together to make a roux. Cook the roux for about 1 minute, taking care to keep it moving. Slowly add the water, whisking as you go. Blend well. Add the tomato sauce, ¼ cup wine, cinnamon, and salt and pepper. Add the plum tomatoes last. Cook the sauce gently, stirring regularly for 10 minutes. Blend in the Parmesan cheese. Pour sauce over chicken. Cover, and cook another 15 minutes until tender and sauce is well incorporated. Serve over pasta.