Hello, yes it's me. Miss Bad Blogger. The holidays can go either way really. Some years I have next to nothing going on so I'm blogging away about this and that and other years I'm so busy that I'll be walking down the street thinking some random thought and taking a mental note to blog it later and then I'm distracted by whatever bakery I pass or some odd smell (pine, good. homeless, bad). This holiday is busy. I know I said I wasn't going to use that word… so let me rephrase. This holiday has been hectic. You already know I'm moving, work is full throttle until break, I have 3 freelance projects going at once (not complaining, I love you freelance clients. You rock my world!) and I'm trying to find the energy to begin running again and possibly pick boxing back up.
In the midst of everything I've been cooking and baking lots. So much that I haven't been able to post any of the recipes. I hope that someone out there takes a chance and cooks something I post because they really are tried and true. Either way, it's nice to bookmark recipes so that I can go back to them from time to time. I just sat down after prepping tonight's dinner for Chris and I. The menu is comprised of roasted brussel sprouts, garlic and rosemary potatoes and lemon chicken. After dicing and chopping and having everything ready to boil, brown and bake I sat down to work on freelance and thought… one quick post.
A month or so ago I picked up November's issue of Bon Appetite and tried to cook my way through it. I think the favorite dish was the spinach puffs. I made these during hurricane Sandy. My supermarket was surprisingly stocked and I was itching for some sort of a project. I set to these puffs and ate the entire pan myself. Not in one day though, I'm not that disgusting. They are delicious and like most things I post, easy. I would suggest whipping these up for a dinner party because they taste very impressive and require minimal ingredients. My only recommendation is that you use a mini muffin pan. These are a bit big so I think if I were to serve them to guests, I'd make them more bite size and easy to eat. I was unable to purchase the frozen puff pastry so I made crust and rolled it thinly to line the pan. I also used fresh spinach where the recipe called for frozen. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 cup chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup minced onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped dill
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (from a 17.3-ounce package), thawed, rolled out to a 12-inch square, kept chilled (or sub homemade crust, just scroll down some here)
Chop up your spinach and mix with next 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. In a separate small bowl, beat 1 egg to blend; fold into spinach mixture.
Cut puff pastry into 3 equal strips. Reserve 1 strip for another use. Cut each remaining strip into 3 squares for a total of 6. Place a square in each muffin cup, pressing into bottom and up sides and leaving corners pointing up. Divide filling among cups. Fold pastry over filling, pressing corners together to meet in center. If you make your crust just be sure to roll it to about 1/4" thin.
Preheat oven to 400°. Beat remaining egg to blend in a small bowl. Brush pastry with egg wash (this will give the pastry a nice sheen). Bake until pastry is golden brown and puffed, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let puffs cool in pan for 10 minutes. Run a sharp paring knife around pan edges to loosen; turn out puffs onto rack to cool slightly before serving.
