Inna’s Culinary Inventions

This past weekend, Francis and I had our housewarming in our new townhome. Personally, I love housewarmings because it’s a way to take your not-yet-warm, not-yet-totally-unpacked house, bring your family in to warm it up for you. Overall, I think it was pretty successful except for the fact that I think I may have overcooked a tad…which I tend to do. However, I think that everyone enjoyed the food, despite all the leftovers (anyone want a shipment of spinach-tart leftovers?)

Though I didn’t get a picture of everything I made, I did get pictures of a lot of things, so here I’ll just post everything:

Sundried Tomato and Goat Cheese-Stuffed Phyllo Shells

Source: Adapted from Elly Says Opa!

Ingredients:
Sundried tomatoes
One packet of goat cheese crumbles
Phyllo pop-out-shells

Mix the sundried tomatoes with the goat cheese with the goat cheese and some ground pepper. Meanwhile, bake the pop-out phyllo shells at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. Take the tops of the shells and spoon the tomato/cheese mixture in the center. Bake approximately another 10 minutes.

Mushroom Pie

No picture of this one! Sorry! Source:Adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients:1 basic pie dough (recipe below) rolled out and lining a 9" pie dish chilled 2 Tbsp butter1 lb sliced mushrooms1 large clove garlic, mincedSalt and pepper1/2 cup cream1/3 cup milk1/3 cup sour cream2 eggs, lightly beatenA dash of  nutmeg 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley 1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese (I subbed Parmesan because that's what I had on hand)

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line the inside of a pie shell with heavy aluminum foil, pressing it against the side. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove foil, poke the bottom of the pie crust with the tines of a fork to create air vents. Return crust to oven, bake for an additional 4 minutes, or until the crust just begins to brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

In a large sauté pan melt butter on medium heat. Add mushrooms, stir to coat with the butter. Increase the heat to high, stirring constantly until the moisture the mushrooms has released and evaporated, a few minutes. Lower heat to medium, add minced garlic, stir with the mushrooms for 30 seconds then remove from heat.

Beat together the eggs, sour cream, milk, and cream. Add freshly ground pepper, a pinch of salt, and nutmeg . Stir in the grated cheese and chopped parsley.

Spread the sautéed mushrooms along the bottom of the pre-baked pie crust. Pour the cheese and cream mixture over the top of the mushrooms. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until nicely browned on top and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

For the Pie Dough:

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar (increase to 1 1/2 teaspoons if for a sweet recipe)
2 to 4 Tbsp ice water, very cold

Start by cutting the sticks of butter into 1/2-inch cubes and placing in the freezer for at least 15 minutes (preferably longer) so that they become thoroughly chilled.

In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar, pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add water 1 Tablespoon at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together.

Remove dough from machine and place on a clean surface. Carefully shape into a discs.Sprinkle the disc with a little flour on all sides. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Remove the crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disk. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12 inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. Fold in half. Place on to a 9-inch pie plate, lining up the fold with the center of the pan. Gently unfold and press down to line the pie dish with the dough.

Mozarella Cheese Focaccia

Source: The Home Baker Cookbook

This is a re-post of an old recipe I have been using but the last time I wrote about it, in March, I did not get to take a photograph of this delicious bread before my niece got to it. This time, I got a picture, and though the picture isn’t great, it’s still better than nothing.

Link to the previous post

More to come:

-Spinach Dip

-Teriyaki Grilled Chicken

-Roasted Red Pepper and White Bean  Dip

-Spinach and Feta tart

-Mango Sorbet with plum berry compote

-Strawberry Sorbet

…as I said…I overcooked!