Cooking the Books – Page 2 – Read. Review. Recipe.

February 2, 2021

Pierogies, unwrapped

When I think of my family, I almost always think of food. I don’t know if that says more about me or if we are all just incredibly food-oriented.

I think it’s the latter, but this week’s recipe is maybe a case for the former.

Though I’ve never been to Poland or even really raised with traditional Polish foods, I’ve always been fond of the things that remind me of my maternal grandma’s familial homeland. I’ve written about my family dumplings, the one sorta traditional recipe that did pass down.

But when I’ve made bialys or used pierogies in other recipes, I’ve always felt like Grandma Verbrugge was with me in spirit.

Well, Grandma is gone now, leaving us this past Christmas, so I have been even more in want of a connection. Enter a recipe from the Food Network that is pierogies—but without the frustrating experience of filling dough and hoping it all stays intact.

I won’t lie, it’s not totally without effort, but like any wonderful dish that comes together and offers comfort, it was more than worth it. Maybe that’s why a good meal is like family.

Here’s what I did, more or less sticking with the original recipe from an Iron Chef fave Michael Symon.

Underneath that crust is potatoes, cheese, bacon, and onions. Amazing.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 egg
8 T. softened butter, plus more for greasing the 9 x 13
¾ c. sour cream, plus more for serving
1 T. chopped chives (I used freeze dried, though fresh is called for), plus more for serving
1 t. salt
2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough

For the filling:

2 lb. potatoes, cut into large chunks
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 c. heavy cream, heated until hot
8 T. cold butter
1 small container (about 15 oz.) ricotta cheese
1 T. olive oil
1 lb. bacon, chopped
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1 ½ c. shredded Gruyere

Directions

For the dough preparation:

Combine the egg, butter, sour cream, chives, and salt with your hands in a medium bowl. Add the flour and mix with your hands until a dough forms. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least two hours and up to a couple days.

For the filling:

Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Bring to a boil, season with salt, and reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cook until a knife easily pierces the potatoes. Drain and return to the pot and mash the potatoes, slowly mixing in the hot cream and cold butter. Add in the ricotta, and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions, and toss to coat with the bacon fat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the onions are caramelized and sweet. Let cool.

For the casserole/To finish:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 9 x 13 in. casserole dish. Roll out the pierogi dough on a lightly floured surface to a ⅛ in. thick rectangle, and cut into 4 x 13 inch strips (kinda like lasagna), rolling scraps as necessary. You’ll need about 12 strips (the original called for more, but I couldn’t make it work, and mine turned out fine).

To assemble the casserole, arrange one layer of pierogi dough strips on the bottom of the dish, slightly overlapping the edges of the strips.

Spread about half the potatoes on the dough. Top with onions, bacon, and a sprinkling of Gruyere. Place another layer of dough strips, and repeat the filling layers, finishing with the dough, followed by a little more Gruyere and some pepper.

Bake until the casserole is bubbly and the cheese on top is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let rest about 15 minutes, serve with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle of chives, and enjoy!

January 23, 2021

I’m on a roll

After my first week of making rolls, and absolutely loving them, I couldn’t resist making more when I came across a cinnamon roll-like recipe that included the delightful mixture of “orange cheesecake” and “breakfast.”

Times being what they are, cheesecake for breakfast sounded like a really good idea to me.

Plus, I miss baking bread.

Once again, this one is a bit time-consuming, even if much of it isn’t active time, so another one to make on a weekend day or over a couple of days. However, like the savory rolls from the start of this year, these were amazing and disappeared quite quickly from our fridge.

Though the cheesecake filling and orange glaze do not use any cinnamon or other similar spices, the process is very much like a cinnamon roll: making the dough, letting it rise, making the filling, wrapping the filling in dough, cutting into rolls, letting it rise, baking, and then coating in a glaze, and then devouring.

Here’s what I did, slightly altering a Taste of Home recipe:

Ingredients

For the dough:

4 ½ t. (2 packages) active dry yeast
¾ c. warm water (about 110 to 115 degrees)
1 ¾ c. warm milk (about 110 to 115 degrees)
¾ c. sugar
2 large eggs
3 T. butter, melted, plus more for greasing
1 ½ t. salt
7 to 8 c. all-purpose flour (I needed a little more, but YMMV)

For the filling:

8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese, softened
½ c. sugar
2 T. orange juice concentrate, thawed
½ t. vanilla extract

For the glaze:

2 c. confectioners’ sugar
4 T. orange juice (from one orange)
1 t. grated orange zest (from one orange)

Directions

For the dough, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and 5 c. flour. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.

Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top of the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.

In a small bowl, beat the filling ingredients until smooth.

To form rolls, punch dough down, and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Roll one half into an 18 x 7 rectangle. Spread half the filling to within ½ in. of the edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 slices and place cut side down in a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

Cover and let the rolls rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

To make the glaze, combine the ingredients and stir until well mixed. Drizzle over warm rolls, and enjoy!

January 15, 2021

Heading to Israel, via Italy, for pastel

Of course, times being what they are, my title is metaphorical not literal. The few times I’ve left my house to go anywhere other than for a walk in the neighborhood I’ve been asked the laughable (to me) question: Have you traveled outside the state?

“[Person]”, I say, “I have not even left my house.” Because my trips are mostly to the doctor’s office, I hear a “Same,” and we both sigh.

Anyway, my recipe this week is a pastel, which I understand is an Israeli breakfast item, and definitely is a delightful meat pie. However, I found the recipe through an Italian food site called Labna, and I loved that it included a red wine, which I’m not sure is traditional.

It was supposed to be an easy dish, so I made it on a weekday. As I got more than halfway into the process, I realized some steps involved cooling/chilling the parts, and I decided for my sanity and our hunger, to make a quick box meal while I continued the steps to the pastel.

So, be smarter than me, and read the entire directions before assuming how quick this will be.

However, other than the down time, it is actually pretty easy and simple; the pie crust is pre-made puff pastry; otherwise, it’s cooking some meat and vegetables together.

I mean, I’m still glad I made it, after finally tasting it the next day, but next time, I’ll try to be better about reading all the directions.

Here’s what I did, tweaking the recipe to add carrots and also upping the spice amounts:

Ingredients

~2 T. vegetable oil
3 medium onions, chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped
2 lb. ground beef
1 T. ground cinnamon
2 T. ground cumin
3 T. chopped parsley
1 c. red wine
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 sheets of puff pastry
3 eggs, divided
2 T. sesame seeds (I probably used a little more, but didn’t measure)

Directions

Heat a couple tablespoons in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute until the onions have softened, but not browned. Add the beef and the spices and parsley, and stir to combine. Cook until the beef begins to brown.

Pour in the wine and cook until the wine has evaporated, about 5 more minutes. [Time consuming direction incoming!] Let the mixture cool completely.

While the beef is cooling, line a 9 x 13 baking dish with parchment paper, and then place one layer of pastry on the paper, pulling and pressing on the dough to cover the sides of the baking dish. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Once the beef is cool, add in two whisked eggs, and stir to combine. Spoon mixture over the prepared pastry dough, and then top with the remaining sheet of pastry dough. Pinch the two pieces of puff pastry together to lock in the filling.

[Another time consuming note incoming!] Chill the pie in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Once ready to bake, heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Whisk the remaining egg and brush it over the pastry. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake the pie until golden and puffed on top, about 40 minutes, and allow to cool about 15 minutes before cutting, and enjoy!

January 9, 2021

New year, new knowledge

One of my favorite things about doing this blog is regularly challenging myself to try something new. Sure, I like getting my favorites written down and sharing them, and of course, eating my creations, but that’s not all!

This week’s joy, after a whole year of making breads, was learning about tangzhong. It’s a technique to get softer bread and doesn’t take much time or effort. And, well, it works really well. It didn’t hurt that this week’s recipe — in my new equipment for the year, the ever-useful 9 x 13 in. casserole dish — was full of butter and sour cream, as well as chives: sour cream and chive dinner rolls from Bon Appetit.

Sour cream and chive dinner roll ingredients.

Spoiler: they’re so good, they were not just eaten at dinner. They were anytime rolls, and they’re already nearly gone after making them a few days ago.

I didn’t do much to alter the original recipe, but for once, I wish I would have read the comments in an article. At least before I ran into the exact same issue and could have saved myself some time, and a little bit of yeast and milk. The recipe says to use the same saucepan from the tangzhong steps to warm a little milk and add yeast until it dissolves; mine clumped. I, instead, ended up using a small bowl and microwaving the milk for a short bit until it was warm, then adding a pinch of sugar, and then the yeast. Worked like a charm on the second go.

Otherwise, while it was time-consuming, nothing was difficult and about all of it was expected for a yeast bread, so it was a nice way to kick off the new year. And stay away from the news for a few hours.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

½ c. plus 2 T. whole milk
5 ⅓ c. bread flour (667 g), divided, plus more for dusting
1 ½ t. active dry yeast
1 c. sour cream, room temperature
¼ c. sugar, plus a pinch more for yeast
2 ½ t. kosher salt
3 large eggs, divided
1 stick (8 T.) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
½ c. finely chopped chives
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Make the tangzhong: whisk together ½ c. milk, ½ c. water, and ⅓ c. flour in a small saucepan until smooth. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a stiff paste forms (per the directions: it should resemble mashed potatoes), about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and scrape the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, which is fitted with a dough hook.

Warm the remaining 2 T. milk until lukewarm. Add a pinch of sugar and the yeast, and whisk until dissolved. Let sit about 5 minutes until the mixture is foamy.

Meanwhile, add the sour cream, salt, 2 eggs, 4 T. butter, and 5 c. bread flour to the tangzhong. Scrape in the yeast mixture, and mix the dough together on low speed until it’s shaggy. Increase the speed to medium and mix, scraping as necessary and adding any more flour by the tablespoon if needed, until the dough is smooth, about 8 minutes.

Dust the dough with flour and shape into a smooth ball. Place the dough inside a large bowl and cover. Let sit at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Meanwhile, coat a 9 x 13 in. casserole dish with 2 T. butter.

Punch down dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface and stretch into a square. Roll out into a 12 in. square, dusting with more flour as needed. Sprinkle chives evenly on top of the dough.

Starting at one end, loosely roll up dough, and flatten into a long rectangle using your hands. Roll out dough again, dusting with flour as needed, into about a 6 x 16 in. rectangle. Cut into 24 squarish pieces, in a 3 x 8 grid.

Working 1 piece at a time, pinch the corners together to form a teardrop shape. Then, seam side down, roll the dough into a round ball. Place in prepared casserole dish and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough, making about a 4 x 6 grid. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, place a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 375 degrees.

Whisk remaining egg in small bowl, uncover the dish and gently brush the tops of the rolls with egg, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake rolls until tops are deep golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately brush tops with remaining 2 T. butter. Let cool about 5 minutes and then slide the entire grid of rolls onto a wire rack. Serve warm or let cool and enjoy!

December 29, 2020

Queso syrah syrah

Well, if you’re following along, we’ve made it to the end of the year. Good riddance to 2020, and I’m sending it off with one final dip.

For some small frivolity in this downer of a year, my sweetie and I were bantering about who knows what when I stumbled onto the phrase “queso syrah.” As a regular crossword puzzler, I am shocked I’d not thought of it sooner.

But as soon as I spoke the phrase, I realized this could just be an adaptation of port wine cheese spread. I found several recipes for port wine cheese, and ultimately decided to mash up the pounded cheddar with port sauce from Amy Thielen with a more typical port wine spread from Rachel Ray.

The port syrup is a very simple addition of brown sugar to port to make a little syrup-y wine. Since I used the less sweet syrah than port, I thought this especially a good addition and added a little more sugar than called for, but your mileage may vary on how sweet you want your cheese spread.

I also think I overdid it a little on the garlic. Rarely, for me, has doubling the recipe’s amount of garlic gone wrong, but in this case, it tended to overwhelm the gentler flavors of wine and cheese. Still, it tasted good for garlic lovers, so again, YMMV.

Other than that, I used my small skillet to make the sauce and also to serve the dip rather than rolling it into a ball, like the traditional recipe. So, I got double use and still a nice serving platter (even if it was just me and my sweetie enjoying it).

Here’s hoping for a better 2021 and thanks for reading!

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

½ c. syrah
1–2 T. brown sugar
2 c. sharp white cheddar, shredded
4 T. butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 t. Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pepper
Pinch of cayenne, optional
½ c. chopped walnuts, optional
3 T. fresh parsley, chopped, optional
Crackers or bread, for serving

Directions

Combine syrah and brown sugar in a small skillet or small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for about 3 minutes, until the mixture slightly thickens and all the sugar has dissolved. Pour into a large bowl and let cool.

Once the wine syrup is cooled, add in the cheddar, butter, cream cheese, mustard, garlic, and peppers. Stir with a fork or spatula until all ingredients are well combined.

In a cleaned small skillet, spread the cheese mixture. Press to create an even layer. Add the walnuts and parsley on top, if using.

Chill for at least an hour, or overnight, for the mixture’s flavors to combine, and enjoy!

December 18, 2020

Ham, apple, and a half-day quiche

The recipe for this ham & apple quiche from Food & Wine warns up front that it takes about 4 hours to come together, so I figure I should offer the same caution in starting this post. Granted, most of that time is passive, and none of it is all that taxing if you’re prepared. But this is not the dinner to start after work.

This is a good dinner for snow days, holidays, or other days off from work. *wink wink, nudge nudge*

Like with any good pie crust, this one should chill for about an hour in the fridge, and then another half-hour or so once it’s rolled out and put into the skillet. This one also calls for pre-baking the crust.

Once that’s all done, the next step involves trying desperately to create these beautiful little florets of ham and apple that are kind of a pain but do look quite nice if you can pull it off. (If not, honestly, getting thin slices and then chopping them up small will perhaps work just as well, if not as pretty.)

Then, finally comes the cheese, and then the egg and half and half mixture.

Oh, and then the baking. While it says to bake for 40 to 50 minutes, I found myself looking at upwards of an hour before the thing set, though I didn’t use the larger tart pan called for but rather my small skillet. The ingredients, with slightly fewer florets, otherwise worked in the differently sized equipment, but perhaps that was the reason for the time difference.

Either way, I quite enjoyed this one, even with all the work. It had a nice presentation and a better flavor.

Here’s what I did, altering the Food & Wine recipe to fit 9-inch skillet:

Ingredients

1 ½ c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 stick (½ c.) unsalted butter, cubed
Salt and pepper, to taste
Ice water, for crust
8 oz. thinly sliced Black Forest ham, cut into 1 ¼ in. strips
1 medium Granny Smith apple, quartered, cored, and very thinly sliced on a mandoline
1 c. shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
1 ¼ c. half and half
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 t. fresh thyme

Directions

Mix together the flour and a little salt and pepper. Add the cubed butter and mix in using a pastry blender until you have chickpea-sized pieces. Drizzle in ice water until dough comes together. Work until it comes together and pat into a disk. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 45 minutes to an hour.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out chilled dough into about an 11 in. round. Fit dough into a 9- to 10- in. skillet. Chill rolled out and placed dough for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375 degrees.

Line the pie crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for about 40 minutes, and then remove weights and parchment and bake until golden and crisp, about another 10 minutes. Let cool.

Place a strip of ham on a work surface. Arrange a row of slightly overlapping apple slices lengthwise on a ham strip; roll up loosely and place in the pie crust, spiral side up, and repeat as appropriate to fill up the pie shell. (I had to use other utensils to keep the florets from unraveling, but if you dear reader find a better way, please let me know!) Sprinkle cheese on top.

Whisk together the half and half, eggs, egg yolk, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour in and around the apple and ham rolls.

Bake at 375 degrees until the custard is set, about 50 minutes, loosely tenting with foil to prevent the crust from burning. Remove from heat, and let cool for about 15 minutes, and enjoy!

December 13, 2020

Simple dinner sans skewers

Given how close we are to year’s end, I have the rest of this small skillet year planned at this point, and I know that next week’s recipe is going to be time-consuming. So, I went with something simple this week.

I realized after the fact that though it was called “skewerless stovetop kabobs” from Taste of Home that it’s basically just fajitas with a few more vegetables. But, you know what, it’s been a long year and it’s fine.

This was in the vein of some of my favorite simple recipes, in that it uses fewer ingredients by including salad dressing. Easy flavor works for me.

I did change the recipe in one notable way: it called for pork tenderloin as the meat but that seemed like an expensive and fancy cut for something that was ultimately going to be smothered in Italian dressing. So, I just went with chicken, making it even more like a fajita. I also left off mushrooms, and added a little more vegetables.

While it wasn’t the most exciting of dinners, it did the job. It fed us, it was healthy enough, and it was quick and easy to pull together.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

1 lb. chicken breast, cut into ¾ in. cubes
½ c. Italian dressing, divided
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

In a medium skillet, 8- to 9-in., cook the chicken over medium-high heat in half the dressing until cooked through. Remove from pan.

In the same skillet, cook the vegetables in the remaining half of the salad dressing until the vegetables are tender. Return the chicken to the skillet, heat through, and enjoy!

December 5, 2020

Orange you glad to have a well-stocked pantry?

I wasn’t on my A-game when my sweetie did his weekly grocery shopping this past week, so I completely forgot to get any ingredients to make something in my small skillet. If this weren’t a pandemic with worrying signs in Iowa, I would have said “no worries” and made a special trip.

However, with everything *gestures at Iowa’s mess*, I thought it best to forgo an extra trip and see if I couldn’t find something to make with what we had on hand.

Chocolate-orange shortbread ingredients.

Thankfully, we have a well-stocked pantry and a copy of my favorite cookbook “5 Ingredients” by Jamie Oliver. I managed to find three official recipes that would fit in a small skillet not including ones I’ve made before or ones that’d fit some other piece of equipment. We also had a few other things in the freezer where I could fake some sort of filo dough pot pie and enough eggs I could have managed a quiche.

However, I liked the idea of the 5 Ingredients, because it was guaranteed to be easy. After a short debate on pros and cons of any item, my sweetie and I thought the chocolate-orange shortbread sounded ideal.

I had to do slight alterations, using two mandarins instead of one navel orange and a mix of semi-sweet chocolate chips and a milk chocolate Hershey’s bar instead of dark chocolate. But all in all, with just five ingredients, it was pretty easy to have them all on hand, especially as someone who likes to bake and whose sweetie eats a lot of fruit.

And boy, for so few ingredients and so little work, it was a perfectly delightful dessert. Maybe I’ll have to wing it more often.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

150 g. butter, at room temperature (about 1 ½ sticks), plus more for greasing
200 g. all-purpose flour (about 1 ¼ c.)
50 g. granulated sugar (about ¼ c.), plus more for topping
Zest from 1 navel orange or 2 mandarins (divided)
50 g. dark chocolate, chips or chunks (or however you can get chocolate for melting!)

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease a 9-inch skillet with butter. Line with parchment paper, and grease that as well.

Mix together the flour, sugar, and zest from ½ the orange (or 1 mandarin). Use your fingers to mush in the butter, without kneading; the texture should resemble a pie crust that just barely holds together. Press the mixture into the prepared skillet until it’s in an even and cohesive layer. Pierce with a fork throughout.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly golden. Sprinkle with a couple pinches of sugar on top while still warm. Then, remove to a wire rack to let cool completely. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate on a double broiler with water underneath, or a microwave like I did, though it is unlikely to spread in a pretty manner if you do it my way. Spread the melted chocolate on top of the cool shortbread. Grate the remaining zest (or 2nd mandarin) on top, and enjoy with orange slices!

November 30, 2020

Beans, beans, they’re good for the heart

I have had a number of solo or near-solo Thanksgivings, so this year’s forced isolation wasn’t so bad for me. While I know it’s not the same for everyone, I do truly appreciate all those who decided to stay home for the safety of everyone.

However, just because it was just the two of us this Turkey Day didn’t mean I didn’t go all out with my usual meal prep. I’m a sucker for traditional sides, if not traditional main meats. A turkey is too much for two people.

So, after a busy day of cooking, it’s nice to be able to have something super simple to make.

I must confess that I found yet another dip recipe from Better Homes & Gardens, and I couldn’t resist making just one more. They’ve all been so good and delightfully simple, and I wanted to make just one more before the year was out.

This one is billed as a bean dip, and while there are both pinto beans and black beans, there’s enough else in there that it doesn’t seem right to focus on the beans. There’s chorizo (I used fake!), chipotle, cheese, and that’s just other food items that start with C.

OK, there’s not too many more beyond that and the beans, but still there’s a lot going on, and it’s simple and a total delight. Just what’s needed after stress-cooking and/or a stressful year.

So much cheese, chorizo, and chipotle (and beans!). Nom noms.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

10 oz. ground chorizo (fake OK – but add a little oil if cooking with fake meat)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
¼ c. fresh cilantro, chopped
1-2 t. chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped
1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained (since these end up smashed, I think you could buy refried beans, but I did follow the recipe and it worked out well)
1 c. jalapeno jack cheese, shredded
Lime wedges, for serving
Tortilla chips, for serving

Directions

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

In a 9-inch ovenproof skillet, cook sausage, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until the sausage is brown, and using a wooden spoon to break up as it cooks (if using real meat). Remove mixture from skillet and drain on paper towels.

In a medium bowl, combine black beans, tomatoes, cilantro, chipotle peppers, and sausage mixture. In a small bowl, mash the pinto beans (if you didn’t use refried beans). Spread the pinto bean paste into the skillet. Top with the chorizo mixture. Add cheese on top.

Bake about 15 minutes until cheese is golden and mixture is bubbling. Serve with lime wedges and tortilla chips and enjoy!

November 21, 2020

I’m strong to the finish, cuz I eats my spinach

I hope and pray that people have a safe Thanksgiving. To will that into the world, I decided to do a slightly more complicated dish this week since hopefully most readers are not traveling or planning on feeding a large number of guests on Thursday.

However, fret ye not about the level of complication. In fact, the reason I chose this one is because I wanted to make it more simply than the New York Times recipe suggested. Plus, I love spanakopita, and have made variations of it over the years of this blog.

I was super excited to find that this spanakopita pie fit in a 9- to 10-inch skillet!

The downside, if you’ve ever worked with fresh spinach, is the sheer amount of it you need to buy to get the amount you need to fill a pie, say. So, rather than worry about that, I just bought frozen; plus, it cut down on cooking.

The other ingredient that caught my eye as troublesome in this particular fancy recipe was getting a block of feta in brine. Now, I love it when I’ve gotten it from my local Middle Eastern store; however, usually I get it when I need to use the brine as well. It’s less easy to find in my usual grocery stores, and since the brine wasn’t used, I skipped it and went for the pre-crumbled container I usually get.

Everything else was more or less standard for what I expect to be in a spanakopita, and it worked out to be quite the delight. A little skimpy on the phyllo dough, but it was a pie, not a roll; but that also made it less work.

All in all, it was worth the effort, and where else do you need to be this weekend? May as well spend it in the kitchen.

Hidden underneath this tasty flaky crust is a wonderful spinach mixture.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

8 T. unsalted butter, divided
2 medium leeks, white and green parts only, halved and sliced
6 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
20 to 24 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
¾ c. fresh parsley leaves, chopped
½ c. fresh dill, chopped
½ c. grated Parmesan
Zest from one lemon, plus juice from the lemon
Pinch of ground nutmeg
2 large eggs, beaten
8 oz. crumbled feta
10 sheets phyllo dough, thawed

Directions

In a 9- to 10-inch skillet, melt 3 T. butter over medium heat. Add the leeks and garlic, and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the spinach, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, and cook for about another 5 minutes. Remove from skillet and let cool.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the parsley, dill, Parmesan, lemon zest and juice, and nutmeg. Stir to combine. Working about 1 c. at a time, transfer the spinach mixture to a fine mesh strainer and set in the sink to press out as much liquid from the mixture as possible. Add the strained handfuls to the parsley mixture, repeating until all the spinach has been added to the large bowl. Stir to combine, and add any additional salt and pepper as desired. Stir in the beaten eggs, and then fold in the feta, trying to leave larger chunks intact.

Melt the remaining 5 T. of butter over the stove top on low or in the microwave. Meanwhile, wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel. Brush the bottom and sides of the skillet with some of the butter. Then, working quickly with 1 sheet of phyllo dough at a time, lightly brush the top of one sheet with butter, and then lay it in the skillet, butter side up, with an overhang on either side. Repeat with 7 more phyllo sheets, rotating each sheet in a different direction as you add it.

Spoon the spinach mixture into the skillet, spreading into an even layer. Starting with the top layer of phyllo dough first, lift it over the spinach mixture toward the center of the pan, and repeat with remaining overlapping dough to create a top crust.

Crinkle on top the remaining 2 pieces of phyllo dough, and brush with any remaining melted butter.

Cook over medium heat on the stovetop for about 5 minutes to crisp up the bottom crust. Transfer skillet to the oven and bake until the phyllo dough is golden and filling is warmed, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Slice into wedges and enjoy!