It's Appetizer Time!...Spinach Pinwheels

The holidays will soon be upon us, oh my! Here in the United States, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and Christmas will soon follow. It's a lovely time of parties, family gatherings, and of course...food! I typically try to keep appetizers to a minimum. My philosophy is either have an appetizer party, or a dinner party. Why have your guests fill up on appetizers when you've gone to the effort to put together a lovely meal? But, when your guests arrive, it's always nice to have a little something for them while they wait for the last preparations to be made to the meal.

I love recipes that do duel duty. This particular recipe is a fabulous appetizer, but it's also a great accompaniment to a bowl of soup. They are fabulous right out of the oven, and great served at room temperature. So you can make them a half hour before your guests arrive, and then you aren't scurrying around at the last minute.

I initially found the recipe on the back of a puffed pastry box, but I have changed it up a bit.          

Begin with a sheet of puffed pastry at room temperature on a floured the surface. Beat 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the pastry with the egg mixture. Reserve the leftover egg mixture.

Top the pastry with 1/2 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese mixed with 1/4 cup of  shredded romano cheese.

 
Thaw a 16 oz.pkg. of spinach. In order to squeeze out the liquid from the spinach, I put it on 3 layers of paper towels and squeeze out the liquid, reserving the liquid in a bowl that I will then freeze and use in a soup recipe at a later date. Once the spinach is dry, spread it over the pastry. At this point, I like to top the spinach with a salt and garlic blend that I grind.   
 

Beginning at the short edge of the pastry, roll the the pastry into a jelly roll. Using a serrated knife, cut the roll into 20 rings approximately 1/2" wide.

Place the rings onto a greased baking sheet, and brush with remaining egg mixture. Place in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Spinach Pinwheels

ingredients;
1 sheet of puffed pastry thawed and at room temperature
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese grated
1/4 cup romano cheese grated
1 16 oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach thawed 
garlic and sea salt for seasoning

directions;
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place pastry sheet on floured surface. Combine water and egg and beat well. Brush pastry sheet with beaten egg mixture. Set aside remainder. Top pastry with shredded cheese mixture. 
Place thawed spinach on paper towels and squeeze out all liquid. Liquid can be reserved and used in soup recipes. Once spinach is dry, spread over cheese mixture. 
Beginning at short edge of pastry, roll all into a jelly roll. Using a serrated knife, cut the roll into 20 rings, approximately 1/2" in width. 
Place rings on a greased baking sheet. Use remaining egg mixture to brush the tops of each pinwheel. 
Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. 
Serve warm out of the oven, or at room temperature. Leftovers, if there are any!!!, are great too!

Enjoy!

Rhonda

Something Sweet on Sunday/Rustic Tart

For those of you who look forward to soup recipes, I'll have something new up next week :)

I always enjoy sharing recipes that are easy, and yet delicious. While I love a traditional pie, time can be of the essence at times, and I need a delightful dessert that just won't take as much time as putting a pie crust together. The recipe I'm sharing today works well with apples and berries alike. I call it a Rustic Tart.

I always keep a package of Puff Pastry in my freezer. You can find these in your grocer's freezer section. The package contains 2 sheets, so take 1 out for a tart, and save the other until the next time!

I begin with my fruit. For this tart, I used 2 apples, and 2 pears, skin removed and sliced . I don't like a really sweet pie, so I use about 3/4 cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, and 1/3 cup of flour to coat the fruit.

Once the fruit is ready, I take 1 sheet of puff pastry and roll it out on a floured surface to about the size of a large cookie sheet. I like to sprinkle the pastry with a thin layer of minute tapioca. This will help to thicken up the fruit juice as the tart cooks.  

The fruit is then piled high in the center. Dot the top of the fruit with approximately 1 tablespoon of butter.

Pull the ends of the pastry over the fruit to close the tart.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and brush over pastry. 

Sprinkle the buttered pastry with sugar and cinnamon. Then bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown.

As the tart bakes. the smell in your kitchen will be so welcoming!

I forgot to get a picture of the finished apple and pear tart. But, I had made a strawberry and blueberry tart using the same directions. As you can see, this is a very versatile recipe.

Rustic Tart

ingredients;

1 sheet of puffed pastry
2 apples
2 pears
2 tablespoons butter divided
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon minute tapioca

directions;

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Remove skin from apples and pears, and slice. Add sugar, flour and cinnamon to fruit mixture and stir to coat. Set aside,

Sprinkle surface with flour. Roll out puffed pastry sheet to size of a large cookie sheet. Line baking sheet with baking paper and place rolled out pastry sheet on top. Sprinkle center of sheet with minute tapioca. Pile prepared fruit in center of sheet. Dot fruit with 1 tablespoon of butter. Fold pastry over fruit to cover. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and brush over pastry crust. Sprinkle buttered pastry with sugar and cinnamon.

Place tart in preheated oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Allow to cool, slice and enjoy!

This is a recipe that my husband absolutely loves. If you give it a try, I hope your family will love it too!

  Rhonda

A Little Something Sweet On Sunday/Easy Apple Tart

After a little absence, I'm back with something sweet and so, so easy to make. If you are in need of an easy dessert that will still impress, this apple tart is a must!  

Easy Apple Tart

1 Sheet puff pastry

3 Granny Smith Apples peeled and sliced

1 12 1/2 oz. can Almond Cake and Pastry Filling

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

3 Tablespoons butter melted

1/2 cup slivered almonds

Begin with 3 large Granny Smith apples. Peel and slice. Set aside.

Roll out 1 sheet of puff pastry to fit a 9" x 13" baking sheet. Make sure that the edges overlap the edge of the baking sheet. Lightly grease pan before laying out pastry.

Take 1 can of almond cake and pastry filling and spread evenly over puff pastry.

Arrange sliced apples over almond filling.

Sprinkle cinnamon over apples.

Sprinkle sugar and slivered almonds over apples and cinnamon.

Crimp edges of the puff pastry inside the baking sheet. This is a rustic tart, so the edges don't need to be perfect.
Brush melted butter over apples and the edges of the puff pastry.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake tart for 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the almond filling is bubbling between apples. 

This will yield 8 slices.
Serve as is, or if you like, serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. I like it just as it is :) 
Enjoy!
Rhonda

Sunday's Supper/Chicken Pot Pie With Puff Pastry Crust

My husband tells people that he's a vegetarian by proxy, in other words, he eats what I cook :-) I think he may want people to feel sorry for him, but actually, it's worked out rather well as when he goes in for his yearly checkup, the doctor tells him that if all of his patients were like the 2 of us, he wouldn't have a practice! But, from time to time, I do feel a little sorry for him and make a none vegetarian meal. He's like a kid in a candy store...beyond excited!!
As I've shared in the past, I love the blog Design Sponge. It's just a well of great information and inspiration. From time to time, they do an article on a chef, or just share a recipe that sparks my interest. My husband absolutely loves chicken pot pie. If I'm out of town and he's on his own for supper, he is very likely to head to the store and buy a frozen pie. In my opinion, not the best. so when I saw this recipe, I decided to treat him to a lovely homemade chicken pot pie. He was in heaven!
Below is the pie featured on the Design Sponge blog. It does look great! You can find the original recipe HERE.  

Since the recipe calls for frozen puffed pastry, the pie is really quite easy to put together.  
As usual, I made a few changes, actually, just additions. The recipe calls for 2 Idaho potatoes, or as my grandmother always called them, Irish potatoes. I used only 1 potato and added a rutabaga turnip. I love the sharper taste of the rutabaga, and I especially like how it blends with the other vegetables. I also added a half pound of baby portobello mushrooms.   

Above is a picture of Chef Shields' pot pie ingredients, and below you see mine. The mushrooms were added after I cooked the onions, carrots and celery. In the picture below, I have yet to add the chicken. 

The addition of the rutabaga turnip was perfect and I liked the added color. 

So now an apology is in order as I completely forgot to take a picture of my pie before my husband tore into it. At least you can see that it was a hit! 

Be sure to add salt and pepper to taste. If you look closely, you'll see that I used quite a bit of black pepper. 
The recipe makes up quite a large batch of the filling for the pie. So much so that I had enough to freeze for a second pie. The dish that you see above is a fairly large size casserole bowl. 
The pie is so lovely when it comes out of the oven. This would make for a wonderful meal to serve for a casual at home dinner with friends. Pair it with a salad and I think all will be quite satisfied. Just a great comfort meal.  
If you give it a try, I hope you enjoy it as much as my husband did!
Rhonda
BTW, in case you are wondering about what I ate, I chopped up extra vegetables for me, and basically followed the recipe except using a vegetable stock. So more vegetables and no chicken. The recipe will adapt easily to a vegetarian version.