Archive for October, 2006
Easy (Cheesy!) Spinach Casserole + Lemon Herb Bread
Every Saturday afternoon my husband and I plan our menu for the upcoming week, then head off to do the grocery shopping. Usually we’re pretty good about putting all the necessary ingredients on our list, but every now and then one of us forgets. Like we did last week. When I didn’t realize the oversight until five minutes before I had to start cooking our Friday dinner. After I’d already used everything else we’d bought for the meals we’d had earlier that week. Oops!
What to do? I went through the fridge and the cupboard: we had pasta, mozzarella, pasta sauce, bread crumbs, eggs and spinach. And 1/2 a baguette. Not bad, I could work with these. But just to be on the safe side I did a quick internet search and found a promising recipe for a cheesy spinach pasta casserole. With a few tiny modifications I put it all together, served some lemon-herb bread on the side, and we had ourselves a delicious Friday night meal. The best part, however, was how easy it was to make (I’m all about weekday convenience!) – not to mention how much everyone enjoyed it. With eggs, olive oil, bread crumbs, spinach and cheese, this pasta dish is supremely satisfying. I’ve also included instructions for a toasty bread made with lemon zest and tarragon. Both the pasta and the bread are baked at the same temperature so you can toss the bread in the oven when the casserole is almost finished. :yum:
Breakfast Popovers
I love breakfast food but, I must confess, I have never been a morning person. The last thing I want when I roll out of bed is do anything other than drink coffee – and that is where these scrumptious breakfast popovers come in. Not only are they super simple to make, but you can mix the batter the night before and store it in the fridge for easy morning popover baking. I’m especially fond of eating them with apricot butter, but they also taste great with jam, apple butter or plain old regular butter.
Popovers are light, hollow rolls made from an egg batter similar to the one used to make Yorkshire pudding. They get their name from the way the batter “pops over” the top of a muffin tin and the question I most often hear is: why do they pop? If you look at the recipe below the batter doesn’t have baking powder or soda, which are usually responsible for rising in the absence of yeast. The answer is steam. Compared to most batters there is an unusually high amount of liquid in this one. Once in the oven this liquid converts to steam, which causes the batter to rise dramatically, while protein from the eggs makes the batter stretch, then solidify into thin, crusty walls.
Popovers can be plain like the ones pictures here, or they can be made a bit more fancy by adding bran, buckwheat and even spinach or Parmesan. I’ve included instructions for a few variations.
Click for Recipe
