Friday, June 18, 2010

Crepes!



Every once in a while I get on one of these cooking kicks, lately it's been anything with vegetables (I've been vegetarian for almost a year!) This week I made crepes, actually it was Spinach & Ricotta Crepes from the book Crepes: Sweet and Savory Recipes for the Home Cook, and they were delicious. Just as good as left-overs, believe it or not. Here's the recipe, photo not so great because I used my cell. Crepes are so easy to make, I don't know why I don't make them more often. You can make them ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze. It's sort of therapy for me to make a batch of them ahead, as I did again this morning.

Here's the recipe, I can post the basic crepe recipe, but I think any crepe recipe will be fine (I found that there are very many different versions).

Spinach & Ricotta Crepes

8 crepes, 6- or 7-inch (not sweet)
2 pounds fresh spinach, about 2 bunches, stemmed and washed
1 1/4 cups ricotta cheese, 10 ounces
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup shredded Jarlsberg cheese or crumbled feta or aged goat cheese, 2 ounces
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil or melted butter
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare the crepes. Preheat the oven to 350F. Cook the spinach in a covered pan over medium heat for 1 minute, or until slightly limp. Drain the spinach and press out the excess water with the back of a large spoon, then chop finely. In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta, egg, Jarlsberg, feta, or goat cheese, nutmeg, spinach, and salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon 1/2 cup of filling in a ribbon down the center of each crepe and roll up. Arrange in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Brush the tops with the olive oil or butter and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until heated through. Serve at once. Makes 8 crepes; serves 4.
Lou Seibert Pappas, Crepes: Sweet and Savory Recipes for the Home Cook


Saturday, June 12, 2010

Classic Creamy Coleslaw

Yikes, sorry I'm late! I can't believe it's Friday already! I mean I'm happy about it, but really this month is flying by too fast. Only a few more days left of school and I'll be thinking about taking time off from work. Anyway, here's something I made during the week. I've only made coleslaw once before, I'm not really a big coleslaw fan, but lately I've been wanting it and homemade is so much better than what you get at the markets. This recipe is pretty good and very easy to make. I used used light mayo and sour cream, and only about a tablespoon of grated onion. I think this will be my next potluck take along. This recipe is from the Martha Stewart website.

coleslaw and pizza

Classic Creamy Coleslaw

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon course salt
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used light)
1/4 cup sour cream (light again)
1 small green cabbage, finely shredded (about 1 3/4 pounds)
2 medium carrots coarsely grated
1 small onion, coarsely grated, optional (1 tablespoon instead)

Whisk together mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt, mayo and sour cream in a small bowl. Combine cabbage, carrots, and onion in a large bowl. Pour in dressing, and toss thoroughly. Refrigerate, covered, until coleslaw begins to soften, 1 to 2 hours. Can be covered up to 2 days. Just before serving, toss coleslaw again.



Food on Fridays

Friday, June 04, 2010

Food on Fridays: Focaccia

Every once in a while I get a craving from something bready and cheesy. Actually this doesn't have that much cheese on it, and I tried to make it healthy by using half whole-wheat flour. I think I have tons of similar recipes, but searched online anyway for a focaccia recipe that the dough can be made in the bread machine. I wanted to make it before I left for work and then just assemble it when I came home. Anyway, here's the recipe from my wooden spoon, with my little changes. Well, my big changes because I wanted to add cheese, onions, etc. Really, really easy and can be made by hand if you don't have a bread machine.

Focaccia Bread

1 cup + 2 tablespoons water (80F/27C)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour)
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon active dry yeast

Topping:
carmelized onions and garlic in olive oil
sliced olives
Mozzerella cheese, grated
Parmesan, grated
Kosher salt
cracked black pepper

Add water and olive oil to breadmaker pan. Then add salt, sugar (I used agave nectar), garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil, and flour. Make a well in center of flour and add yeast. Set bread machine to dough cycle.

With oiled hands, evenly press dough into a greased 9x13 inch pan ( I used a 9x13 glass dish). Cover and let rise in warm place for 30 minutes or until double in size. While the dough is rising, prepare topping.

Use fingers to press dimples into dough. Spoon topping over dough. Sprinkle with remaining ingredients. Bake at 425F for 20 minutes or until done.

(sorry for the terrible photo, I used my cell phone and didn't think I was going to blog about it, otherwise I would have used a real camera and take a nicer photograph.)



Enjoy!



This is my first post for Food on Fridays, hope to do more since I love to cook but not great at blogging about it.

Have a great weekend!

I'm back cross-stitching

  Well, not yet, but real soon because my daughter found a Halloween cross-stitch booklet that I thought I lost forever. So my plans are to ...