Spinach and Artichoke Dip

When I'm at home in the United States, this is one of my favorite restaurant appetizers since it's filled with cheesy goodness while still masquerading as vaguely healthy by including spinach. I know, that's not very convincing as far as health food goes but this is too tasty to care! It's also one of my go to party recipes because it comes together so quickly and can be served hot or room temperature so you don't need to worry about keeping it warm. Finally, I used low-fat cheese and light cream cheese to try and keep the calories down and the flavor was still fantastic.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Serves: A lot! 

Ingredients: 

1 can of artichoke hearts in water, drained and rinsed.
250 g of fresh spinach
A handful of fresh basil (chopped) or 1 tsp dry basil
200g light cream cheese
1 tbsp light mayonnaise
100g low fat mozzarella cheese, grated
100g parmesan cheese, grated
Tortilla chips to serve

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Fill a kettle with water and allow to boil while you place the spinach into a colander in the sink. When the kettle has boiled, slowly pour over the spinach to wilt. Follow with cold water so that you can handle the spinach and press out all the excess liquid. When ready, place the spinach and artichoke hearts into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped (this can also be done by hand if you prefer a chunkier consistency). Remove the mix to a bowl and add the cream cheese, basil, mayonnaise, and cheese. Mix thoroughly and place in an oven safe dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips and enjoy! 

Parmesan Stars

And... this is the second recipe that I managed to make and consume without photographing. Sorry! They were just too tasty! This is also a fantastic recipe to make if you're using puff pastry for other dishes as well since that means there will be lots of leftover pieces of pastry that might otherwise be wasted. All you need is a small cookie cutter shape (I used a star but any shape will work), an egg wash, some grated parmesan and paprika.

Photo from myrecipes.com, by Ian Bagwell and Heather Chadduck

I can't remember where I saw the original recipe that made me start making these a few years ago but the internet has several different incarnations of it: with basil or other spices, different types of cheese, etc. I prefer to keep things simple with just parmesan and a little pop of paprika and I basically make it up as I go along so apologies in advance for vague ingredient amounts! The final amount of stars you'll have will depend on the size of your cookie cutter so that is also a bit vague I'm afraid. I had about 30 and that was after only using the pastry leftover after the pigs in a blanket. 

Prep TIme: 10 min

Cook Time: 7-10 min

Makes: Lots! 

Ingredients: 

Puff pastry sheets

Grated parmesan cheese

Paprika

1 Egg 

Method: 

Roll out the puff pastry and cut into the bite size pieces with your cookie cutter. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and paint with an egg wash. Sprinkle generous helpings of parmesan cheese onto the top of each piece and follow with a tiny bit of paprika. Bake for 7-10 minutes (until the cheese has melted to a golden brown and the pastry has puffed up) and enjoy! 

Pigs in a Blanket

This recipe came about after an internet search to try and find a slightly cheaper/quicker alternative to sausage rolls since the party was coming on the heels of a surprisingly busy week. This method could not be simpler. Buy puff pastry and hotdogs. Roll hotdogs in puff pastry and seal with egg wash. Slice into four pieces. Bake. Eat. Done. Seriously, it's that easy.

Photo credit: www.leitesculinaria.com

The picture isn't mine since we ate the little rolls too quickly for me to remember to take their picture! Oh well. They were delicious and I served them with little bowls of ketchup and mustard. Perfect party food! I didn't have my computer open while making these so I used the cooking times/temperatures found in Lorraine Pascal's "hotdog's big night out" recipe.

Recipe via www.leitesculinaria.com

Prep Time: 5 min 

Cook Time: 15-20 min

Makes: 40

Ingredients: 

10 hotdogs
2 sheets of puff pastry
1 egg

Method: 

Preheat the oven to

Beat the egg in a small bowl and add a tablespoon of water, then set aside. Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Place a hotdog along the short end of the pastry and, using your knife, slice the pastry so that it's as wide as the length of the hotdog. This way, when you begin rolling the hotdog in the pastry, you won't have excess pastry at the ends. When rolling, cut the pastry just past the point where the pastry around the hotdog meets the remaining pastry so that you only have a little bit of overlap. Seal the edges with an egg wash and place onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Continue with the remaining hotdogs and pastry, reserving the leftover pastry for the parmesan stars. Place the baking tray into the refrigerator for half an hour. Just before baking, slice the rolls into four pieces and evenly distribute around the tray. Serve with your favorite dipping sauces and enjoy! 

Leek and Lemon Risotto

On Easter morning, Sam and I wandered over to the Brixton Farmer's Market on the hunt for tasty ingredients for a hopefully spring-like dinner. We thought a risotto would be the perfect mix of spring veggies and filling warmth since "spring" has been mostly freezing so far. The green grocer's stand had some great leeks so we grabbed a few and decided to top our risotto with sausages since they were on sale with three six sausage packages for ten pounds. We went for the honey mustard, italian seasoning and hop flavors. Since we had the honey mustard ones for lunch, those ended up on our risotto later that night.

Some of the ingredients 

Chopped leeks

Rice being added to the leeks 

This is a great recipe from Ina Garden, the Barefoot Contessa. She uses mascapone cheese in her recipe which proved a little too hard to find in our corner shops so we went with herb cream cheese and it was delicious. I'd never added a cheese other than parmesan to risotto before and have to say it definitely improved the creaminess. I generally avoid risotto since it seems like such a pain to have to stay by it, stirring, for half an hour but actually this dish comes together so quickly that I didn't even notice the time. We had to use a wok for our pot since this makes a lot of risotto but it worked out surprisingly well so this is definitely a customizable recipe in all regards. As far as the ingredients, Ina's recipe included asparagus and peas but we skipped them since there weren't any available at the market. You could easily add mushrooms or other veggies that you have on hand. The lemon gives a bit of a kick but it was such a nice fresh flavor that this dish has helped to cement it in my favorites list. 

Finished product

Dished up with some leftover sausage 

Recipe inspired by www.foodnetwork.com

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp butter
3 cups leeks, chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
2/3 cup white wine
4-5 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp lemon zest
Salt
Pepper
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling

Method:

In a smaller pot, heat 4-5 cups of chicken stock to simmering. Keep warm for the risotto.

In a separate large pot, add the butter and olive oil and allow to melt. Meanwhile, wash and chop the leeks. When the butter has melted, add the leeks to the pot and cook until softened. When soft, add the rice and stir to ensure all the grains of rice are coated in the oil and butter before adding the white wine. Stir until the wine has been absorbed. Now, adding one ladle at a time and allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next, slowly begin to incorporate the chicken stock into the risotto. As you get to the end of the chicken stock, it will take longer for each ladleful to be absorbed, which is a sign that it is getting close to being ready. Give it a taste to ensure the rice is getting close to al dente without moving into mushiness. When the rice is almost ready, add the lemon zest and season with salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, mix the cream cheese with the lemon juice and then add to the risotto, followed by the parmesan cheese. Make sure everything is well mixed and the rice is finished before serving. Top with more parmesan cheese (and sausages if you'd like!) and enjoy!

Moussaka

In honor of Easter, I wanted to make something lamb based but thought that a leg of lamb might be a bit too pricey/fancy. So after a quick search, I settled on making moussaka - a Greek dish comprised of lamb mince and aubergines. Having never made this before, I was a bit nervous but luckily the Guardian had taken all the hard work out for me. Their weekly food column, "How to Make the Perfect...", by Felicity Cloake takes a dish and examines the different recipe tips and tricks before giving their verdict on how to make the perfect version. Her recipe had a manageable number of ingredients and was fairly simple to prepare - which are of course my main criteria for a first attempt at a dish.

Ingredients (ignore the chopped tomatoes)

Aubergine ready for the oven

Aubergine fresh from the oven

This version was surprisingly easy to make and had a great cinnamon flavor. The béchamel topping was equally easy and had the perfect amount of salt from the pecorino cheese. If you're looking for a dish that will  be warming but still spring-like, this is a great option. Also, by baking the eggplant first, this negates the need to salt them and also keeps the oil level of the overall dish much lower than other versions.

Layer 1: Aubergine

Layer 2: Meat sauce

Layer 6: Béchamel 

Finished result!

Recipe via www.guardian.co.uk

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 45 min

Serves: 6

Ingredients: 

2-3 aubergines, sliced lengthwise
1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp oregano
500g lamb mince
2 tbsp tomato puree, mixed with 150ml of water
150ml red wine
1 tbsp parsley
500ml milk
60g butter
60g flour
50g pecorino
1 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
Salt
Pepper

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 180C / 355F.

Lay aubergine slices on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Brush both sides of each slice with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the slices are soft and browned lightly.

Meanwhile, saute the onion in olive oil over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add in the garlic, cinnamon and oregano. Saute for a minute before adding the lamb mince. Continue to saute until lamb has browned and then add the tomato puree mixture and the red wine. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

In a separate pan, heat the milk until just before boiling. In another pan, melt the butter and add in the flour to make a roux. Slowly whisk this into the milk to form the béchamel sauce. Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Allow to cool slightly before adding the two eggs so they don't scramble.

To assemble the moussaka, start with a layer of a third of the aubergine and top with half of the lamb mixture. Continue with these layers, finishing with a final aubergine layer. Top with the béchamel sauce. Bake for 45 minutes until the top is nicely browned. Allow to sit for 30 minutes so that the layers solidify a bit before slicing. Enjoy!  

Marbled Eggs

Marbled Hard Boiled Eggs 

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays with great memories of my grandparents setting up (surprisingly difficult) easter egg hunts and having tasty dinners all together. Plus, there was always the added bonus of getting to wear a special hat to church for mass. This year, however, I'm on my own in London and not really celebrating in the more traditional ways. Therefore, I wanted to find a way to take some of the traditions and use them more appropriately for the situation. I settled on dyeing eggs since it was always one of my favorite activities and I haven't actually been able to enjoy it for a couple of years now. However, I can't really set up an easter egg hunt for myself (cheating!) so I found this technique online for marbling hard boiled eggs.

Ingredients

Cracked Eggs

Eggs in their food colorings

Essentially, you're dyeing the eggs as usual but cracking them before hand so the dye gets into the shell and colors the white of the hard boiled egg inside. I was really pleased with the results and with the fact that this technique only requires eggs, food coloring, vinegar and plastic bags... all things I usually have on hand. If you're looking for something fun or a little different for a party, these would also make really cute deviled eggs - something I'm considering for an upcoming wine and cheese party since my recipe for deviled eggs includes cheddar... I'll have a separate post on the recipes I use for that event (I like to serve some cheese or wine based food options alongside so that no one leaves hungry!). In this post, I'm also including my recipe for egg salad as an example of how you could also use these eggs to brighten up your lunches.

Dyed eggs 

Marbled eggs fresh from their shells

Blue

Green

Marbled Eggs Method

You will need: 

Hard boiled Eggs
Liquid Food Coloring
White Vinegar
Water
Paper towels
Kitchen gloves (optional)

After hard boiling the eggs, rinse under cool water until they have cooled enough to handle or leave to cool completely if you aren't in a hurry. When cool, tap on a hard surface to crack the egg all over it's shell. I was a little overzealous with my cracking for one of my eggs and as a result I had a colored egg and not a marbled one. The fewer the cracks, the more the marbled effect will show but that's entirely up to you. When ready, place the eggs in plastic bags designated by color (I only had three eggs so I used three different colors and three bags but you could probably add several eggs to each bag). Pour the food coloring in a few drops at a time until you feel the egg is well covered. I was very generous with my pours and the eggs turned out great although it seemed a bit wasteful. Twist the bag so that the food coloring won't slide out as you turn the eggs and make sure they're well coated in color. Leave the bags to sit for 30 minutes. When ready, remove the egg from the bag and give it a quick rinse with white vinegar to set the color. Next, rinse with water to remove the excess food coloring and place onto paper towels to dry. When ready, remove the outer shells and reveal the marbling! I wore kitchen gloves for this because there will be food coloring in the cracks of the shell etc and it can dye your fingers some interesting colors but that's entirely optional. Enjoy!

Ready to grate the egg

Grated Marbled Egg 

Finished egg salad! 

Egg Salad Recipe

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: N/A

Serves: 1

Ingredients: 

1 hard boiled egg, grated
1/2 stalk of celery, finely chopped
1 tbsp red onion, finely chopped
20g mature cheddar, grated
1 tbsp sweet pickle relish
2-3 tbsp mayonnaise or miracle whip (I use a mix of both)
Crackers or 2 slices of bread

Method: 

Using a cheese grater, grate the egg and cheese and add to your mixing bowl. Next add the celery, red onion and pickle relish, followed by the mayonnaise or miracle whip. Mix thoroughly and enjoy with crackers or make into a tasty sandwich. 

Dangerously Easy Brownies

I'm calling this recipe "dangerously easy" because it's the perfect treat to make with items you probably already have on hand... which means that after a bad day or when you're craving something chocolatey, you can have these ready in less than 45 minutes. Easy and delicious... but if you're anything like me, having sweets like this so easily on hand might be a bit dangerous! Anyway, I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and have made it a staple since it's so uncomplicated. You don't even need to use an electric mixer - a simple whisk will work fine. Also, I didn't have enough sugar the second time I made these and found that a mix of sugar, brown sugar and stevia was equally tasty so feel free to mix and match with whatever you have in the cupboard. Finally, this recipe fits an 8 x 8 square pan.

Ingredients

Batter

Finished product

Recipe via www.allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 25-30 min

Serves: 9

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Method:

Preheat the oven to 300F/175C.

Whisk the melted butter together with the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract until well incorporated. Next, add the cocoa powder, flour, salt and baking powder. Give everything a good mix and then butter and flour your dish before pouring in the brownie batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!