On the menu we have:
Spanakopita
Chick pea salad
Zatar potatoes
Tostones with mojito dip (fried plantains with green sauce)
Everything but the spanakopita is a cinch but man is it worth it when the filo dough is perfectly crispy an dripping in butter... maybe I'll go steal some more!
Spanakopita:
Stuffing ingredients:
20 ounces of chopped frozen spinach thawed and drained
4 large shallots, minced (any sweeter, lighter spring onion will probably do)
3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (no, this won't work with the dry stuff)
8 ounces of crumbled feta
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Wrapping:
Store-bought filo dough
1 stick of butter, melted
Cooking instructions:
Make the stuffing first by sauteing the chopped shallots, parsley, salt and pepper in olive oil for 3-5 minutes. Add the above to thawed (and drained) spinach in a bowl. Add feta and eggs, mix well.
Assembly instructions:
Peel off a filo dough sheet and place on flat surface. Lightly cover the surface with melted butter (a pastry brush would have been SO helpful here). Fold the dough over on itself (butter should meet butter); at one end of the pastry sheet, put a table spoon (or a bit more if you like them more stuffed) of stuffing. Fold into triangle (if you need help, check out the interwebs). Brush both sides of the triangle with butter and put on shallow, ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 25ish minutes on 350 degrees. Check to make sure the filo dough isn't getting too brown - it should come out a beautiful golden color.
Chickpea salad:
Ingredients:
Can of chickpeas
Half an English cucumber (yes, it must be extra-crunchy)
2 good-sized plum tomatoes (or tomatoes of your choice) - I took the guts out to make them less slimy
1/2 cup red onion
1/2 cup (or more if you like) crumbled feta
2 tbsps olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and a bit of dill (our substitute for not having rosemary) to taste
Cooking instructions:
Chop everything up and mix it all around!
Zatar potatoes:
Ingredients:
Any kind of potato you wish, cut into wedges (if the potato skin is rough, peel it, if it's tender, leave it on)
1 cup olive oil
2 tbsp zatar seasoning (comes from the Middle East, super awesome)
1 tbsp garlic powder
Some salt
Some pepper
Cooking instructions:
Take large bowl and mix together olive oil, zatar, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Plop potato wedges and with your bare hands (spoons don't work as well, trust us), mix everything together so that the potatoes are completely coated. Bake on semi-shallow baking sheet, 350 degrees, till potatoes are appropriately soft or crunchy to your liking (we like them crunchier so we kept them in about 45 minutes). It's VERY important to mix the potatoes around every 10 or so minutes so they are cooking equally on all sides.
And last but not least.... the Tostones!
So here's the deal. Tostones are really easy to make but it's kind of a process so get ready for process.
Ingredients:
Green plantains (4 plantains will make a full, large plate, double-layered)
Vegetable oil
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
Mojito dipping sauce ingredients (or what we used anyway)
Half a good-sized bunch of cilantro
1 head of garlic
2 tbsps lemon juice (can up or decrease the lemon juice depending on how much you like it)
1 cup olive oil
Some salt and pepper
Tostone preparation instructions:
Heat about an inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Slice peeled plantains into inch-thick slices and fry them until they are very golden-brown and soft, for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. You can use a fancy thing called a tostonera (a press) to slightly mash each piece until it is about 1/2 inch thick, or, if you're not fancy like us, you can just use the back of a saucer or small plate and mash away (they smush just as well). Press all of the pieces before going onto the next step. When you have all your plantain pieces in thin, smashed form, return them to the hot skillet and fry until crispy, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and season with garlic powder and salt while still warm.
Instructions for the magical, you'll-never-forget-it mojito dipping sauce:
Plop all ingredients into a blender and blend away until you have a smooth mixture (aka dipping sauce). Taste it and add salt, lemon juice, or more cilantro to your liking. Mmmmmmmm then dip EVERYTHING into it for the rest of the evening including the potatoes and anything else you might dip into a magical green sauce!
That's all folks, until next time...
