DINNER: Ispanakli Patates Casserole

Ispanakli Patates is Turkish and it basically translates to spinach potato. Recently in Berlin, we were treated to the most fantastic food in the Turkish neighborhood where we were staying. The Turks are one of the biggest non-German ethnic groups in the city, over 300,000 live there.

Our favorite restaurant...though, it's hard to pick one out of all the good restaurants there...is Cafe Neffes.  I had this wonderful spinach and potato casserole there one night and vowed to try to make it for myself when we returned.

A couple of weeks later, after browsing dozens of Turkish recipe websites, I've came up with my own variation.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup cooked spinach (1 cup after cooking)

1 cup Greek or Mediterranean yogurt

2 oz. feta cheese crumbles

1 small pasilla chile, chopped

2 large tomatoes or 4 medium tomatoes, diced

1 cube chicken bouillon

3 Mexican green onions or 1 medium white onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon marjoram

dash of nutmeg

1/2 pound golden fingerling potatoes

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 link soujuk sausage, thinly sliced (easiest to do when frozen)

2 eggs

In a pot of boiling water, boil the potatoes for 30 minutes over medium heat.

If your  spinach isn't already cooked, put a tablespoon of olive oil in a 12" pan. When hot, fill as completely as you can with spinach and cover. It should render down to about a cup of cooked spinach in around 5 minutes. When cool enough, chop it up.

In a medium sauce pan, heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onions and cook...stirring...until translucent. About 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and pasilla chiles. Add the chicken bouillon. Add the garlic, oregano, marjoram, and nutmeg. 

Stir in and bring to a boil. Add spinach and stir in. Turn the heat to medium and boil for 5 minutes then turn heat off.

When the potatoes are done boiling, strain and set aside.

Coat a casserole dish (about 3 quarts) with another tablespoon of olive oil. Put a layer of the tomato/spinach sauce on the bottom in a fine layer. Put some sausage over that and sprinkle with feta cheese. Spread a layer of yogurt over that. Ladle some potatoes over that.

Repeat this layering until you run out of sauce.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, put two raw whole eggs on top, put back in over for 10 minutes to cook eggs. 

Let cool for 10 minutes after that before serving.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2016 - All Rights Reserved

DINNER: Lasagna

We're making a lasagna for dinner this week. The lasagna itself is not a lot of work but the sauce is so be sure to do this ahead of time (recipes via the links in the recipe below).

Lasagna is basically just layers of whatever flavors and stuffings you like, stacked up between flat ribbons of pasta and baked.

As certain cartoon cats can attest, it's delicious!

INGREDIENTS
1 box lasagna pasta (we're using a diabetic friendly whole wheat version)
1/2 pound shredded ozzarella
1/2 grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon olive oil
24 oz. Sunday Sauce 
16 oz. spinach cream sauce
1 pound Italian sausage
1/cup ricotta cheese

In a sauce pan, cook the Italian sausage until cooked through and browned. Pour in the tomato sauce (Sunday Sauce) and mix thoroughly. Let boil for a couple of minutes.

In a square or rectangular baking pan, put in the olive oil. With a paper towel, wipe all interior surfaces with the oil so it is well coated.  Put in two lasagna noodles, side by side.

(NOTE: We're using a whole wheat version that does not need cooking ahead of time but many lasagna noodles do need to be boiled in water until al dente first)

Spoon in just enough of the tomato Sunday Sauce to cover the pasta completely. Put a handful of mozzarella over the sauce. 

Put two more noodle on top of that. Press down and try to make level and flat.  Sprinkle a layer of Parmesan, then a layer of the spinach cream sauce.

Two more pastas, and another layer of the tomato sauce with a layer of ricotta. Two more pastas and another layer of the Parmesan and spinach cream sauce.  Two more pastas, the rest of the mozzarella.

Cover and tent (with an air space between the top of the lasagna and foil) with foil.  

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

SAUCE: Spinach Cream Sauce

Need a creamy sauce to help an entree? Here's a quick, creamy sauce for you. I use it in pasta dishes.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 pound spinach (frozen or fresh)
1 cup half and half
4 oz. heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 cup all purpose flour

In a medium sauce pan, preheat the oil on medium. Put in the spinach and cook until well reduced by cooking.  

Add the half and half, salt, pepper, and garlic. Bring to a boil for 2 or 3 minutes.

Lower heat and slowly stir in flour.  Simmer for five minutes and turn off heat.

After two minutes, add heavy cream and stir in.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Pasta Parma Verde

You know the dilemma...what'll we have for dinner? That one question causes so much stress for a family cook. What will I do for my family for dinner?

We all want to cook a great meal and not just serve the same thing, time after time...no matter how good it is.

That was my quandary this Sunday morning as I perused the freezer for something to thaw for dinner. At first, I pulled out a smoked ham hock but I just wasn't feeling it.

Before I resigned myself to ordering a pizza or going out for burgers, I went to Claros', our local Italian deli, to see if I could get some inspiration.

Claro's never lets me down, and today is no exception.  

With a package of some super premium Parma ham in my hand, I headed home to make the following dish for dinner.

INGREDIENTS

4 oz. egg noodles

4 oz. casarecce noodles

1/2 pound Parma ham, thinly sliced

half a bunch of spinach leaves

2 stalks of broccolini finely chopped

4 small,green onions finely chopped

1/4 cup quattro formagio or parmesan

1 ounce (quarter stick) butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup half and half

2 tablespoons soft goat cheese
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Put water in a large pot (5 quarts or so) and start heating towards a boil.

Put a sheet of wax paper over a plate.  Hand-tear the Parma ham into small pieces and place on the was paper.

Spread the ham out evenly. Save this for later.

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan on high heat.  When hot, add the spinach.

Put the pasta into the boiling water. Cook until al dente (about 9 minutes)

Add the green onions and broccolini. Cook until the broccolini softens.

Turn the heat down to low/medium and add the garlic and quattro formagio. Mix in thoroughly.

Add the goat cheese.  

When the goat cheese is melted, add the ham and mix in very thoroughly.  

Turn off the heat, wait two minutes. Add the cream and stir in.

When the pasta is done, drain and mix into the sauce.

Darryl
Copyright - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Intercontinental Egg Scramble

I had a late lunch with an old high school friend recently. A very good dish of chilaquiles and eggs overlooking a harbor a bit north of Los Angeles.

The next morning, the mix of the eggs and tortilla chips stayed with me and helped inspire this dish, which pulls a bit from Mexico, France, and the good 'ol USA.

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs
1 merguez sausage
1/4 cup bacon bits (leftover from another breakfast)
6 leaves of spinach
1 teaspoon half and half.
1 stalk of broccolini or broccoli
2 tablespoons soft goat cheese
2 cloves fresh garlic
pinch of salt
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 corn tortillas

Cut the tortillas into small triangles.  Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saute pan on high heat. When very hot, cook the tortilla triangles until crispy. Remove and set on a plate with paper towels to drain and save for later.

Chop up the merguez sausage into small bits. Add another 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. 

Cook the sausage and spinach together until the spinach is well wilted.

Chop the garlic finely. Do the same with the broccolini. 

Add to the pan and stir until the broccolini begins to soften.

Add the bacon and goat cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted.

Put the eggs into a bowl. Add the half and half plus a pinch of salt and stir until well combined. 

Add the tortilla chops to the pan and pour the egg mixture over the top. Stir with a spatula until done.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Falling for a Speckled Lettuce...and Spinach too!

My next fall project is to make a salad. I planted some lettuce last spring but the local wildlife gobbled it up as soon as the first tender shoots broke ground.

I've also had my share of tomato problems but I'm not ready to throw in the towel on my home-grown salad yet.

I've got some cool weather heirloom lettuce and spinach that I'm going to plant for fall. It's a slightly less than 2 months from sowing-to-harvest variety so maybe I can have that salad for Thanksgiving.

I'm putting the soil into the seeding tray. Funny how the hardware store doesn't sell them with drain holes in them already, first I had to take a nail and poke a bunch of holes in the bottom.

I'm putting the lettuce on one side and the spinach on the other. After sowing and covering up the seeds with soil, I tuck the top of each seed packet into the side of the tray so I can remember which side is which.

Water in...

...and cover with cling wrap (more to keep the animals out than anything else). Once I've got some good, healthy little plants, I'll transplant into the space that the onions and bell peppers were growing in during the summer.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved