Tag Archives: diet

Artichoke and Spinach Pie

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We usually have this dish as a side for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. I thought it would make a good entrée as well, so I worked up this version. Small size, no meat, it makes a perfect light dish for summer with a salad. If you need a larger, casserole style for a big dinner, just double or triple the ingredients, skip the Filo dough and just put some bread crumbs on top to brown. We like to add some fresh cilantro to it, that brightens the taste and adds a little zing. Makes about three 8 oz. ramekins.

Ingredients

1 14 oz. can of whole Artichokes
1 Pkg. frozen Spinach
4 oz. Cream cheese
4 Tbs. of Butter, warmed
¼ cup of bread Crumbs
¼ cup chopped onion
2 Tbs. chopped cilantro leaves (optional)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 pkg. frozen filo dough
PAM spray
Cilantro or flat parsley

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees f. and spray two or three ramekins with PAM

Defrost the spinach and cook it in the microwave until it is hot. Then put it into a strainer and rinse with cold water. Press the water out of the spinach. Rinse and drain the artichokes, cut off the stems if they have any. You want these to stand up in the cup. You can add the stems to the spinach mix, if you wish for flavor. Press the water out of the artichokes between paper towels.

Cream the spinach, onions, chopped cilantro, butter, bread crumbs and cream cheese together.

Place two sheets of Filo in each ramekin and let the sides droop over the top. Stand up enough of the artichokes in the ramekin to cover the bottom of each. Put a layer of of the spinach butter combination on top. Fold the filo dough over on top of the ramekin. Bake for 30 min. or until the top browns well. Pick the package out of the dish using two forks, plate it and I like to put a leaf of cilantro or flat parsley on top as a decoration, a slice of a small tomato works well too.

Serve with a salad and a good Pinot Grigo, Enjoy!

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Filed under Cooking, cooking for two, dinner, food, Food Photography, lunch, Pie

Stand Up Lasagna!

LasagnaHead

I know, I did Lasagna in the first book. But I didn’t do it as a roll up, kind of an Italian Futo Maki. I thought it would make an attractive, different presentation for lasagna. You can also individualize the lasagnas, one meat, one veggie, one broccoli, etc. This also has the advantage of not making a huge amount of leftovers for you to gobble up at some later date. So grab your ramekins and let’s cook Italian.

Ingredients

8 Lasagna noodles (not the no boil kind)
¾ cup of hamburger and/or veggies you might prefer like finely chopped peppers,
spinach, broccoli flowers, etc.
1 garlic clove crushed
¼ cup finely chopped onion
2 eggs beaten
2/3rd cup shredded and chopped small, mozzarella cheese
1/3rd cup shredded and chopped small, Parmesan cheese
¾ cup ricotta cheese
½ Tbs. Oregano
½ Tsp. Basil
salt & pepper
¼ cup Italian Bread Crumbs
¼ cup spaghetti sauce (1 cup or so more for the side sauce)
3 ramekins sprayed with PAM

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large pot of salted water, boil the lasagna noodles until they are flexible. Sauté the hamburger in a little oil, breaking it up into small bits. Add the garlic and onion (sweet red peppers) and cook until they soften. Drain the pan and place the ingredients onto a paper towel to drain. Chop any other vegetables finely and reserve.

Beat the egg and add to it the cheeses, breadcrumbs, spices, etc. and spaghetti sauce. Salt and pepper this to taste. Lightly spray 3 ramekins with PAM

20222324Take two of the lasagna noodles and overlap the second noodle about an inch over the first to make a very long noodle. I make two holes with a small knife in this and jam a toothpick into each. Don’t try going thru with one toothpick as the noodle just breaks. Pull these toothpicks out when the roll is ready to place in the ramekin. Coat one side of the noodle with a very thin coat of the mixture. Lightly sprinkle this with the meat or veggie mixture, pat this down flat.

Roll the noodles up. Don’t be afraid if it oozes out the side or it is crooked. You can pat the filling back

27into the top and bottom and press it between two hands to reform it. Place it in a lightly sprayed ramekin. Put a little bit of the meat or veggies on top so you know which is which. I stick a toothpick into the seam in the roll to insure that they don’t unroll as they cook. Bake at 350 for 30 mins. Let them cool for 5 min. or so to harden up. In the meantime, heat up the side sauce. Then using two forks pick the roll out of the ramekin and put it on the plate. Serve it with some of the sauce on the side, a cool caesar salad and a good Valpolicello wine.

This will definitely go into the next book.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

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Masala Monday

ShrimpMasala

We created a recipe for Chicken Masala for the new book. That’s Masala not Marsala. The one is made with Garam Masala spices. The other with Marsala red wine. Then we started thinking that it might be nice to have a seafood version, basically the same thing but with shrimp instead of chicken. This is a “first try” recipe. We usually wind up doing something two or three or more times, seldom do we just hit it the first time. My wife thought it was fine as is, I thought it needed more Masala spice. You be the judge, here it is so far.

Ingredients

1/2 of a 14 oz. of canned chopped tomatoes (6-7 oz.)
1/2 medium onion diced (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 clove of garlic (whole clove if you love garlic)
2 tbs. tomato sauce
1 tsp Garam masala spice (1.5 if you love indian food)
1 pat of melted butter
Salt to taste
About 10 jumbo raw Shrimp shelled and deviened

1/4 cup basmati or white rice with 1/2 cup water, salt and a pat of butter or use the one minute instant cups, just microwave.

PAM spray

Directions

Cut the shrimp into large bite sized pieces
In a medium bowl, mix the shrimp, butter, tomatoes, onion, garlic, salt, tomato paste and the masala spice.

PAM spray two ramekins and fill each with the mix

Cook at 350 degrees for 30 min.

While its baking, cook the rice in a small pot according to directions. Or get the rice cup ready for microwaving.

Put a tablespoon or two of the rice on top ( an ice cream scoop is perfect) and serve. We put the rice on a plate and poured the dish onto it. Some people might like some plain yogurt or sour cream on the side. A grande flour tortilla lightly toasted is a good substitute for the Indian bread, Nam.

Garam Masala spice: 1 Tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp ground pepper, ¼ tsp ground fennel, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, pinch cayenne pepper and cardamom. You may need a seed grinder or a mortar and pestle for some of these. Store this in a bottle or plastic bag for future use.
You can sometimes find this in your food store or an ethnic foods store. It’s hard to find some of these things ready ground. If you buy true Indian Masala it will have big nuts and seeds in it, sift these out.

Serve with a good burgundy white. It really needs something with body to offset the spices.

Enjoy!

 

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Small Foods – The Beginning

Image I started writing Small Foods about two years ago. I’ve been cooking for about 15 years, maybe more.My wife worked in major ad agencies as a creative director. I worked in technical marketing. She went home when the work for the day was done. She would call to let me know approximately when she would get out. I left at about 5 PM with everybody else. She had an hour commute, mine was usually short. When I arrived home I would start the dinner. When she arrived, I would plate it up.

One evening, while making spinach pie, I thought about just how much of this pie went to waste. There were only two of us and it would only keep so long. So the next time I made it, I made it in two 7 oz. ramekins. It was perfect, just the right size for dinner with a salad and no left overs.

After I retired, I started cooking other foods in ramekins. And after adjusting for a small size (proportionaly you need more spices not less) they came out perfect as well. My wife commented that I should write a cook book. So I did. You can buy it on Amazon, just search for Small Foods by Bill Fishbourne. Here’s a spread below so you can see my photos and my wife’s super book design. You can double click on it to see it in high-res. Enjoy!

PromoSpread

I intend doing a lot with this blog, more recipes, cooking videos, previews of my second book and even funny stories. Check back once in a while to see what’s going on. Or click on FOLLOW and be notified whenever we put up something new.

 

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June 29, 2014 · 5:35 pm