Monday, July 12, 2010

Weekend Eats

On Friday night, I took my CSA Broccoli and made a Broccoli Cheese Pie with Grated Potato Crust inspired by The Way the Cookie Crumbles.  Have you guys read this blog?  It's awesome!  As some of you know, when I find a new blog I search through tons of recipes writing them down and adding them to my checklist of recipes to try out! This was one I bookmarked.  Bridget made hers with Cauliflower though.
Broccoli Cheese Pie with Grated Potato Crust 
Ingredients:
2 cups packed shredded raw potatoes, preferably russet
1 cup grated onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced small
1 garlic clove, minced
1 dash thyme
2 medium broccoli, broken into small florets
1 cup shredded Mexican Blend Cheese
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
black pepper
paprika
Instructions:
Adjust a rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400ºF. Spray a 9-inch pie pan with nonstick spray. Combine the shredded potatoes (PS- I used the shredder on my food processor- have you used that? Its amazing!), onion, salt, and egg. Pat the potato mixture into an even layer over the
bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until browned. Lower the oven temperature to 375ºF. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the
onion and cook just until they start to brown at the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the thyme, broccoli, and salt; cover the pan, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is just tender, about 8 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, a pinch of salt and another of black pepper, and the milk until evenly colored. Spread half of the cheese on the baked crust. Top with the broccoli mixture and the rest of the cheese.
Pour the egg mixture over the pie. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake the pie until the egg mixture is set and the top is slightly browned, 35 to 40 minutes. Let it cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

The crust on this pie is AWESOME.  I love finding new ways to make savory pies that don't include pastry dough or butter. I served the pie with a salad with mostly fresh produce from my CSA. 
I also had lots of leftover crust and filling so I made individual tarts for the weekends lunches.  Cute, right?
In addition to the pie, I made Lemon Yogurt Cake with Blueberries from Closet Kitchens Blog.
Lemon Yogurt Cake with Blueberries
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup yogurt
1 cup white sugar
(I ran out of sugar so I used 1/2 Cup Sugar and 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon limoncello (or more lemon juice)
Instructions:
Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Mix the lemon zest, yogurt, sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla extract in another bowl. Mix the wet and dry ingredients. Mix in the blueberries. Pour the batter into a greased 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan.Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about an hour. (Mine only took 40 minutes) Mix the confectioners sugar, lemon juice and limoncello and pour over the cake after it has cooled.  (I didn't wait for it to cool so you can barely tell there is a glaze : ( but it tasted good!

Sunday we had a Christening Party for our friends June and Gordon and their new baby Cassidy!
When I got home, I got to work on dinner- Spinach Pesto Pasta with Paprika Grilled Chicken inspired again by Closet Kitchen!
Ingredients:
1 pound pasta (I used whatever whole wheat pasta I had left)
6 chicken tenders
2 teaspoons paprika 
salt and pepper to taste
1 batch spinach pesto -
1 cup baby spinach 
1/2 cup Arugula
couple hand falls fresh herbs (chopped, I used a combination parsley, basil and thyme)
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
2 tablespoons walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup feta
3 tablespoons olive oil
lemon juice to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Make the spinach pesto by adding all ingredients into the food processor and give it a whirl. Cook the pasta according to the package. Season the chicken with the paprika, salt and pepper. Grill the chicken until it is cooked all the way through, about 5-7 minutes per side. Drain the pasta, reserving some of the water and toss the pasta with the pesto and the reserved pasta water. Slice the chicken, serve it on the pasta and garnish with Parmesan cheese.
On the side I made a nice delicious salad with fresh CSA produce- tomatoes, spring onions, radishes, romaine lettuce.

2 comments:

  1. Wow, those little pies are awesome! And delicious looking. Of course, the pesto looks amazing too :) Sounds like a fabulous weekend!

    Sues

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  2. oooo spinach and arugula pesto! of course you did! did you use a flavored yogurt in the lemon cake with bb? or plain?

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