Pastitsio

I have absolutely no reason to post this recipe, because nobody is ever going to make this. Unless of course, you have a Greek-Italian father who wants you to make his favorite childhood dish for his 53rd birthday! He didn't even know how to spell Pastitsio, only that it was a pasta dish with a meat layer and a egg custard-like top.

It was fairly easy to make, and has a very unique taste due to the amount of spices used in the meat portion of the dish. This recipe calls for macaroni, but I found the apparently correct pasta, perciatelli, just a long spaghetti with a hole in it, but any pasta with a hole in it (penne, ziti, etc.). I am currently ranked number 1 on the favorite daughter list!

Pastitsio:

Ingredients

Meat Layer:
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, chopped
3 pounds lean ground beef
3/4 cup water
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten

Macaroni Layer:
1 pound uncooked macaroni
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 cup butter, melted

Cream Sauce Layer:
4 eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup half-and-half
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
ground nutmeg to taste

Directions
1.Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in onion and cook until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in the ground beef, and cook until crumbly and no longer pink. Pour in the water and tomato paste. Season with salt, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon; cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, adjust salt to taste, then refrigerate until cold. Once cold, remove any congealed fat, and thoroughly mix with 2 beaten eggs, and set aside.
2.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
3.Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain, and rinse under cold water to cool. Mix the macaroni in 2 beaten eggs until well coated.
4.Evenly spread half of the macaroni mixture into a 11x14x2 inch baking pan, sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the grated parmesan cheese, and drizzle with 1/2 cup of melted butter. Spread the meat mixture overtop, then finish with the remaining macaroni. Sprinkle the macaroni with another 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, and drizzle with 1/2 cup of melted butter.
5.Whisk together 4 beaten eggs with the half-and-half, 1 cup of Parmesan cheese, flour, and salt; whisk until well blended. Pour the cream mixture evenly over top of the pastitsio, and sprinkle with nutmeg.
6.Cover the pan with foil, and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake until the top has turned golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to stand for 15 minutes before serving.

(p.s. I made a pie instead of a cake because I'm making him an awesome cake next week for Father's day!)

Meringues

I wanted to make this purely because they looked simple, not realizing how much my sister and I would enjoy these! It only has three ingredients, and a whole lot of arm power if you don't have a mixer like me. These were light, crispy, foamy, chewy, such a great recipe to make for something sweet with few calories.
Meringues
from Closet Cooking
Ingredients:
2 egg whites (room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325F.
2. Lay parchment paper on a baking sheet.
3. Beat the egg whites until they form peaks that do not fall over when pointed up.
4. Slowly mix in the sugar and vanilla extract.
5. Beat the mixture until it once again forms peaks that do not fall over when pointed up.
6. Place the mixture on the parchment paper in whatever form you desire.
7. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Phyllo Dough Pizza

This recipe was a way for me to use up my extra phyllo dough from when I made spanakopita

I was afraid that I wasn't going to like this recipe, because the last time I used WAY too much butter and it tasted like I was biting into a flaky stick of the stuff! I eased up on the butter this time, and used the entire packet of phyllo instead of the 10 sheets the recipe called for, and WOW! It puffed up beautifully and was so flaky and delicious! I was pretty stingy on my toppings, but next time I'm going to pile them on!

Phyllo Dough Pizza
A light and fresh tasting vegetable pizza with endless choices for toppings. Perfect for a springtime lunch or an appetizer.
fromChef Chuck's Cucina


10 sheets phyllo dough
5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup parmigiana cheese, grated
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
1 tomato, chopped
artichoke hearts
1/4 cup red pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup goat cheese
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Using a 15x10 baking pan lay one phyllo sheet down, with about 1 inch over the sides of pan. This will be folded in later to form a crust. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle on a little parmigiana cheese. Repeat process till all sheets are used. Place zucchini, onions and tomatoes, peppers and artichokes on phyllo, salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese and parsley over pizza. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Time to stand on my Environmental Soap Box..

Last night I watched the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" and I almost cried! It is a 2006 documentary that follows the creation and destruction of the EV-1, the first fully electric vehicle created and destroyed by General Motors. Created in California as a way to reduce the increasing amounts of smog in areas such as Los Angeles, the EV-1 was leased to about 800 consumers, who loved the quiet, fast, zero emissions, little futuristic vehicles.

Then the California Air Resources Board ended the zero emissions mandate that began the program in the first place, and GM repossessed every single EV-1 and crushed and shredded them.

HUH? Despite the long waiting lists for more EV-1s, customers begging to re-lease or buy their cars, and outstanding protests, GM claimed their reason for discontinuing the electric cars was that the battery technology was insufficient and that the demand was not high enough. I couldn't believe my eyes as I watched car and oil company executives BS there way out of straight forward questions about why the electric car isn't on the market! The people who drove the cars LOVED them and were willing to pay millions of dollars to keep them! The documentary explores every suspect of who killed the electric car and why it was killed, and all signs point to the money made by the oil industries and the continuing flow of money from maintenance on gasoline cars. With the amount of oil currently spewing into the Gulf of Mexico and the ever-increasing amount of carbon each one of us releases into the atmosphere, I hope that people realize how important it is to have an electric car available. I'm praying that the newest version, Nissan Leaf, can survive this time around!

Zero emissions, charge it at night and go all day and cute as a button, the Nissan Leaf is expected to be released in Hawaii in early 2011. I want this car so bad! Everyone should watch this documentary, because its such an eye-opener to what we are up against in making our dreams for clean air and a better future happen.


Off my soapbox now! I promise the next post will be about food! :]

Baked French Toast Cups

This recipe was on my "To make" list, and I thought this morning was the perfect time to make these because it was the last morning my grandparents would be in town. These were like little bread puddings, and very good! I doubled the recipe to make 12 servings.

My suggestions with this recipe:
-The recipe calls for wheat bread, I used 1/2 potato bread and 1/2 oatnut bread that I had on hand. The oatnut bread was SOOO much better!
-I would let the bread filling soak for a minute or two, so that the flavors marry together.

Baked French Toast Cups
Adapted from Live.Love.Eat
Ingredients:

makes 6 servings

4 slices whole wheat bread, cut into cubes
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk (I used fat free)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash of ground nutmeg
For the apples:
1 large apple of your choice, cut into cubes
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

In a medium skillet, saute apples with butter & cinnamon for about 5 minutes, or until soft. Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon & nutmeg until well combined. Add bread cubes & mix together until all the bread is saturated. Add the apples & mix until well distributed. Using a regular size muffin tin, scoop bread evenly into 6 greased muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until set & lightly golden brown.

Spanak..spaknopi..Spinach Triangles!

Why couldn't my childhood memories be of store bought cupcakes?
My Grandma Lilly is Greek-Italian, so growing up whenever my grandparents visited we would have spanakopita, or as I knew them as, spinach triangles. I knew my mom never made them because they were difficult to make, but I had no idea how difficult that actually was!
My grandparents visited us this week, so I thought it was a great idea to try these out. Little did I know how sensitive phyllo dough is, and how much butter is used in these! Really good, brought back old memories, but no way am I making these again anytime soon!

p.s. I apologize for the poor quality of my pictures, I did them quickly because my grandma was looking at me like I was from the future :/

Ingredients

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 (8-ounce) package feta cheese, crumbled
24 sheets frozen phyllo pastry, thawed
1 1/2 cups melted unsalted butter

Directions
Position rack in center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the spinach in a wire-mesh strainer or colander, place over a sink and drain well. Use your hands or a paper towel to squeeze the excess water out of the spinach.

Place the spinach in a medium mixing bowl. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, and basil. Stir in the beaten egg, olive oil, and lemon juice. Add the feta cheese and mix well to combine. Set aside.

Gently unfold the phyllo dough.* Lay 1 sheet of phyllo on a large cutting board and gently brush with the melted butter. Place a second phyllo sheet on top of the first and brush with butter. Repeat 2 more times until you have a stack of 4 phyllo sheets with butter brushed between the layers.

Using a sharp knife, cut the phyllo sheets lengthwise into 3 strips. Place 2 tablespoons of the spinach filling 1 inch from the bottom end of each strip.

Take the bottom right corner of the strip between your thumb and finger and fold over the spinach filling to the left to make a triangle. Gently pull up the bottom left corner and fold up to make a second triangle. Continue folding until you reach the top. Place the triangle, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the completed triangle lightly with butter.

[A little confusing. Remember in middle school when you made those little paper footballs to flick across the classroom? Your doing exactly that!]
Repeat with the remaining strips and phyllo sheets until all of the filling is used.

Arrange the triangles 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden and heated all the way through. Remove the spanakopita from the oven and cool slightly on the baking sheet.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

*It is important to keep a piece of plastic wrap and a damp cloth or paper towel over the phyllo sheets that you are not working with to keep them from drying out.

As easy as Apple Crumb Pie

This is one of my family's favorite recipes, particularly of my mom. When she buys green apples, its her way of telling me "I want a pie!" The most difficult part of this pie is the crust because it falls apart when you move it, but that's what makes the dough flaky! I'll admit it is more like a cobbler because of the crumb topping, call it whatever you want!
Normally my pie doesn't look so sad and flat, but I used one less apple than normal (I was hungry okay?). I think this also affected the texture of my pie, because the inside baked too quickly and the apples were soft when normally they are crunchy. It just gives me an excuse to make another pie!

Pastry for pie crust
Ingredients:
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-1/2 t. salt
-1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp shortening
-2 to 2 1/2 Tbsp cold water

1. Combine flour and salt in medium mixing bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry blender (or fork, because no one actually owns a pastry blender) until mixture is consistency of cornmeal.

2. Sprinkle on cold water 1 Tbsp at a time; stir in with a fork. Add additional water to driest part of mixture. The dough should be just moist enough to stick together when pressed gently with a fork. It should not be sticky.

3. Shape dough into smooth ball with hands. Roll on lightly floured surface from center to outside until pastry is about 1/8" thick. (This dough is difficult to handle. I loosen it from the counter with a knife, roll it onto the rolling pin and into the pie pan. It will fall apart, but just piece it back together. This actually make the dough more flaky.)

Apple Crumb Pie
Ingredients:
-5 to 7 tart apples (depending on the size of your pan, I used 5)
-1 9-inch unbaked pastry shell
-1/2 cup sugar
-3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/3 cup sugar
-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
-6 Tbsp butter or margarine

1. Pare apples; core and cut into eighths. I cheat with an apple core-er thing. Arrange in unbaked pastry shell.

2. Mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over apples.

3. Mix 1/3 cup sugar with the flour. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over apples. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or till done (If pie browns too quickly, cover edges with foil.