SPINACH PIE … a vegetarian dish that will make your reputation as a splendid cook

SPINACH PIE  in all its glory

This dish looks  professional and complicated.  In reality it is easy to make.  Don’t be concerned about using phyllo pastry dough.   In this recipe perfection isn’t necessary.    If a sheet tears just keep going.  The results are truly spectacular and impressive.  This is one of several vegetarian dishes I make on a regular basis.  Make it part of your repertoire.

SPINACH PIE  serves 6

3 cups finely chopped yellow onions

2 tbsp good extra olive oil

2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

3 (1o-ounce ) packages frozen chopped spinach, defrosted.  This is one of those times frozen is actually better than fresh

6 extra-large eggs, beaten

2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (don’t even think of using powdered nutmeg)

1/2  cup freshly grated  parmigiano-reggiano

3 tbsp panko  or ( plain dry bread crumbs)

1/2 pound good feta, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 cup pine nuts (optional)

1/4 pound butter (salted or unsalted) melted

6 sheets of phyllo dough, defrosted

Reheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium saute pan on medium heat, sauté the onions,( sprinkled with salt)  with olive oil until translucent and ever so slightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes.  Sprinkle with the freshly ground black pepper and allow to cool slightly.

Squeeze out and discard as much of the liquid from the spinach as possible.  Put the spinach into a large bowl, and then gently mix in the onions, eggs, nutmeg,  parmigiano-reggiano, bread crumbs or panko, feta and pine nuts.

Butter a ovenproof casserole and line it with  sheets of phyllo dough.    To do this take one sheet from your stacked pile of phyllo dough, lay it on the counter and brush with butter.  Then  lay each sheet around the edges of casserole allowing about half the phyllo  to hang over the edge of the dish.  Pour the spinach mixture onto the phyllo and spread evenly.  Neatly fold the edges up and over the top of the spinach to seal in the filling.  Brush the top well with melted butter.

Bake for l hour, until the top is golden brown and the filling is set.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.  Serve at room temperature.

SUMMER LIVES NEXT DOOR

Summer, my next-door-neighbor

Summer’s paddock is a few feet from my bedroom window.

Everyone should have a beautiful lady like Summer greeting the morning with a  gentle whinny and a few quite snorts.  She hears me speaking and is coaxing me to come out the talk to her.  How can I resist.

I keep a bag of carrots and apples, treats for this elegant lady.

The best part of having Summer next door.  We get to horse-sit when her girl (the girl with the seven-league  boots) goes away.  Then horse wrangler Husband puts the halter on her,  and takes her from her stable to the field outside my bedroom window.

Horse sitting is a little more demanding than cat sitting.  (We do a lot of cat sitting).  For one thing the litter box is quite a bit larger.  That’s Husband’s job.  My  job is giving her flakes of hay, her oats and of course treats.  Summer watches everything.

Summer in her summer whites.  Her coat keeps the flies off her.      Summer has a muzzle like velvet.  Rubbing her nose makes her as happy  it makes me.   We love horse-sitting Summer.

SUNSHINE DAHLIAS

There is a lovely  man in our village who sells dahlias.  In the spring he sells dahlia tubers and in the fall he shares his blooms to those fortunate to pass by.  It’s not a road I frequent so my gardening buddy  delivers to me the most dazzling of dahlias.

In my kitchen dahlias capture sunshine and make me smile.

More sunshine, more smiles, more dahlias.

There’s a shade of orange I call Hermes Orange.    It’s in these dahlia blooms.   I think it picks up the Hermes Orange in the slipcovers.    It’s a happy colour, and that’s important in my life.  The most humble flowers from the garden are lovelier than the most expensive florist bouquets.    (Well, that’s what I think and you all know I am very opinionated.)

ABOUT ME … LIVES LIVED, LOVES AND HOW I LOOK AT LIFE

ABOUT ME

ABOUT ME  is in the column to the right.  I’ve updated it.  I’ve shared a little more information about myself.    A great deal has happened in my life in the past year and it has been a difficult time.   But my dictum for this blog is to always be positive and  to share good and wonderful thoughts  with you.  And to live my life with joy  surrounded with positive people. Your comments are important and I love hearing from you.

MUST HAVE EFFORTLESSLY CHIC ACCESSORIES AND ……TOP TWENTY-FIVE CLOTHES THAT JUST GOTTA GO

This list is from  HOW NOT TO LOOK OLD:

This must-read book applies to ANY age.  There’s detailed information (I’ve learned the perfect width of boot-cut jeans and how never to put  make up on without first using primer) and it is good practical information.    After all, don’t we all want to look our very best all the time.

CHIC ACCESSORY ESSENTIALS:

Gold hoop earrings

Diamond stud earrings

Classic watch with gold and silver chain links

Chunky mangle bracelets

Sleek black heels

Sparkly evening clutch

Quality leather bag for day

Quality tote bag for books, magazines and newspaper

Nude coloured heels (they make your legs look longer)

Black and brown knee-high boots

Black and brown-heeled shoe booties

Black, brown, navy and gray opaque tights

Black brown, good, and silver belts

Chunky-chain necklaces

And now for a list of clothes that gotta go.

Clothes on this list will date you and make you look old.  Don’t even think about keeping them for stay-around-the-house days.  You don’t want to be caught in them if the Fed Ex guy rings your bell!  How fast can you get them out of your drawers and closets?

l. Holiday sweaters with bells and  appliques (reindeer, teddy bears, bumblebees,pumpkins)

2. Granny/mommy necklaces that tell how many grandchildren/children you have

3. Souvenir T-Shirts or T-Shirt with names of  bars or restaurants

4. T-Shirts with meant-to-be funny sayings

5. Overalls

6. Acid-washed jeans

7. Ripped jeans

8. Shoulder pads

9. Flannel shirts

10. Muumuus

11 Photo handbags (no matter how cute the kids!)

12 Flesh-coloured hose

13. Penny loafers

14. Oversized blazers

15. Mommy robes

16. Thin-gold-necklaces

17 Elastic-waist pants

18 Granny undies

19 Baggy sweats

20. Bearlike, full-length fur coats

21. Short shorts

22 Cargo pants (not only a dated look but horrors of horrors they make you look fat)

23 Stockings with reinforced toes

24. Three-piece suits with vests

25. Backpacks

Here’s a list of forbidden fashion items for every woman past the age of thirty who wants to look effortlessly chic and classy.

Ankle bracelets    Belly necklaces    Body piercing    Boy shorts    Collegiate sweats,     T-Shirts and caps   Colored cowboy boots      Crocs (out of the garden) don’t even think of it      Daisy dukes      Earmuffs      Ear piercing in multiples       Flip-flops in the city      Go-go boots      Leg warmers      Microminidresses      Microminiskirts      Mittens       Nameplate necklaces      Newsboy caps       Scrunchies        Super-low-riding jeans   Tattoos   Tie-die anything      Tights in neon colours        Toe rings      Tube tops (as stand-alone)

Another piece of good advice from this must-read book  DON’T BUY IT YOU DON’T LOVE IT.  AND LOVE IT ONLY IF IT FLATTERS YOU!    You don’t need another piece of clothing in your closet taking up valuable real estate.

HOW NOT TO LOOK OLD … HOW TO NEVER LOOK FAT AGAIN

TWO BOOKS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD READ

I PROMISE YOU .  These books are worth their weight in gold.  They will change the way you look (for the better) for ever.

How Not To Look Old by Charla Krupp.   Fast and effortless ways to look 10 years younger, 10 pounds lighter, and 10 times better.

How To Never Look Fat Again:  over 1,000 ways to dress thinner without dieting by Charla Krupp

Aging isn’t great, age-spots,  crows-feet, gray hair, chin hair, saggy boobs and other things I’m not even going to go into.    I would love to give these books to every woman I know.   Here’s some excerpts from How Not To Look Old:

TEN NEW RULES FOR HOW NOT TO LOOK OLD

l. Up is better than down (brows, glasses, bust, bum).

2. Soft is better than hard (makeup).

3. Illumination is better than darkness (face,hair).

4. Warm is better than cool (hair colour, makeup).

6. Moist is better than dry (skin, lips, eyes).

7. Smooth is better than dry (eyelids, lips, shape-wear).

8. Casual is better than fussy (hair, makeup, clothes).

9. Less is better than more (nails, jeans, legs).

10. And anything is better than nude hose!

TEN THINGS YOU CAN DO IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES TO TAKE OFF TEN YEARS.

l. Pick pink for your pout.

2. Arch your brows upward.

3. Cover gray brow hairs with pencil and powder.

4. Slim down your eyeliner.

5. Falsify a few lashes.

6. Don’t outline your lips with dark liner.

7. Lighten up on the foundation and powder

8. Unchain your reading glasses.

9. Lose the suit.  Switch up the pieces instead.

10. Slip on heels or high-heeled boots.

TEN THINGS YOU CAN DO FOR LESS THAN ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS TO TAKE OFF TEN YEARS”

1. Slim down with shapewear bike shorts.

2. Boost your bust with the right bra.

3. Slough off old skin with a microdermabrasion kit.

4. Switch from powder to cream blush.

5. ut some bangs.

6. Polish your toes – black, burgundy, whatever.

7. Pick up a hip accessory.,

8. Spring for “body bling”.

9. Whiten your teeth.

10 Have a tailor shorten (and narrow) your skirts.

LIFE IS JUST A BOWL OF CHERRIES ….OR WHATEVER YOU WANT TO FILL YOUR BOWL TODAY

I’m mad for bowls.  Any size, from tiny china bowls to safeguard earrings to oversize wooden bowls that will hold twenty pounds of potatoes.

In the summer I fill this crystal bowl with delicate seashells gathered from one of the beaches close to our home.    Come fall I keep it filled with our local fresh fruit.  I’ve discovered one layer of fruit  matures to a run-down-your-arms ripeness much better than heaping your bowl.

I have a fondness for blue and white china.  The teap0t we use daily is a deep blue.  And, you can never have too many blue and white platters.   This blue bowl filled with eggs from the farm down the road  (you can see the straw clinging to the eggs)  is how I store my eggs in the refrigerator.   It’s much prettier than egg cartons.

A battered and worn silver bowl  discovered at our local thrift shop.  It had obviously been well used and well loved.  Much of the silver has been worn away but it tells such a wonderful story.   Sometimes it’s filled with vegetables and sometimes I fill it with all the postcards our children have mailed to us from far away places.  This is bowl to hold memories and hold them well.

This bowl just makes me smile.  The colours are so rich and luscious.  It was a gift from my sister Heather.    She shares my love for dishes and bowls.

A huge wooden bowl with a very long family history.   My bread-making husband’s  great, great, great grandmother made bread in it.  His family  has lived in Kitchener-Waterloo since  before Confederation   We don’t use it for bread-making now.   It generally holds whatever produce I have picked up at the market that day.    It can easily contain a twenty pound bag of  potatoes or two beautifully coloured  squash.  It is our favorite bowl.

Fill your bowls with something that makes you happy today.

A RECIPE FOR A HAPPY DAY AND CROSTINI TOSCANE

This summer I reached one of those milestone birthdays.   I was far from home and my husband and I celebrated my birthday with our Toronto family.   They made it a joyful time and I will be forever grateful for their thoughtfulness and their sense of the occasion.   I received the definitive Italian cookbook,  the flyleaf inscribed with beautiful thoughts from our step grand children and their partners.

The book is enormous,  promising many nights of bedtime reading.     Leafing through the pages I found the section on crostini recipes, a chicken liver pate.  To my delight  two pages of recipes for me to try.    Crostini is an appetizer I like making in the fall and winter.  The rich flavours of wine , tomatoes, anchovies and capers combine beautifully with the chicken livers.

I’ve taken inspiration from the Silver Spoon Cookbook and  created  a new crostini recipe I call Crostini Toscane.   It’s easy to make and other than the chicken livers you should have everything  in your well stocked Italian Pantry.  It will keep several days refrigerated.  In fact, it tastes even better the next day.  Serve it with crackers or thick slices of Italian peasant bread.   It’s a lovely spread to have on hand to nibble on with a glass of red wine.

 

COSTINI TOSCANE  (serves 4 -I suggest you double it)

 

3 t bs olive oil

1 medium red onion finely diced

2 tbsp anchovy paste or 4 anchovy fillets finely chopped

1 tbs. capers

1/2 pound chicken livers

1/2 cup dry red wine

2 tbs. tomato paste

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp salt or to taste

A generous amount of freshly ground black pepper

(To serve sliced Italian Peasant Bread)

Saute olive oil, onions, anchovy, capers   until lightly brown.(above 5 min)  Stir in wine, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and increase heat to bring mixture to the boil.  Immediately reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes.  You need to reduce almost all the liquid.

Turn the mixture into your food processor fitted with chopping blade.  Process five or six times until chopped but not pasty.  Some lumps should remain.  You can serve this directly (still warm) or chilled.  It is even better the next day, so this is an ideal appetizer to make ahead of time.

 

AN EASY EXOTIC ASIAN SOUP

YELLOW PEA AND COCONUT MILK SOUP  (with spinach, rice and spiced yogurt)

A few days ago it was summer and  I turned around and now it is fall.      I generally cook French or Italian food.  For me  these two cuisines are “the little black dresses” of good food.  But I also love the flavours and spices of Asia.    I  call them my jewelry.  These are the recipes that add a little sparkle to your table.    Cooler weather cries out for soup and here is a simple recipe that delivers big exotic flavours with-out having to resort to too many hard-to-find ingredients.  If you maintain a well-stocked pantry and spice cupboard you probably have almost everything you need to  to put this soup on the table tonight.    As usual my cooking companions the recipe is to the right.  Enjoy

THE ABSOLUTE FINEST BARBECUE SALMON RECIPE

We are experiencing an incredible salmon run here in British Columbia.  The best in decades.  The Fraser River is a ten minute walk down the end of our street.  The other evening we walked down to see the river dotted with fishing boats,  the banks lined with fishermen.   Our village, Ladner, is  a farming and fishing community.     Today in the village  you could buy  whole salmon for twelve dollars.    Time to throw some salmon on the BBQ.

ASIAN FUSION CITRUS  PLANKED SALMON

This salmon recipe rivals any  I have tasted, and this includes salmon served at the very finest restaurants.  The recipe originated with  our  step grand-son.    He’s a creative cook and he’s very good.  He cooks from the heart and the soul.   Our son-in-law took the recipe and put a Japanese – West Coast spin on it.    He added Wasbi and used a cedar plank on the bbq.  Fabulous.

You’ll need salmon – allow one half pound per person.    For this recipe the salmon was around 3 pounds.  Buy the thickest cut of salmon.

For the Marinade:

Grated rind of two limes and one big orange (DO NOT ADD THE JUICE).   Make a margarita with the limes instead.

A generous amount of white wine (around 2 cups)

1/2 cup of maple syrup

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon Wasabi paste,  a good sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put the salmon into a ziplock plastic bag and pour in the marinade.  Refrigerate for at least four hours.

While your salmon is marinating  soak your plank in a bucket of water.  It’s important  you do this as far ahead of time as possible.  The plank should be completed submerged.  It will pop up so put some heavy cans on top.

Now comes the really important part.  Preheat the bbq but don’t have it too hot.  The salmon is  going to take a bit of time to cook and you don’t want the plank to smoke too much.

Remove the salmon from the marinade.  Pour the marinade into a small sauce pan and set aside.

Set the salmon on the plank and place in the BBQ.   Cooking time will depend on the size of your salmon, but it will take longer than cooking the salmon on the grill.   Cook the salmon covered but check frequently as you definitely don’t want to over cook this gorgeous piece of fish.  When the salmon is done remove it from the plank and tent with tinfoil.

While you salmon is cooking reduce your sauce by about half then whisk in a couple of tablespoons of unsalted butter cut into  small cubes.  Pour over the salmon.  Bon Appetite.