Spinach Artichoke Spread

If you have a jar of artichoke hearts sitting in your cupboard....you know the one that you meant to use but never got a round to it. This is a nice way to use it. It's a spread that I serve cold and is great on those little garlic toasts that you can make or pick up at the deli section of your grocer.

Ingredients:
1 jar (or can) artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained and chopped
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and liquid squeezed out
4-6 oz cream cheese softened at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1-2 teaspoons roasted garlic or 1 - cloves chopped
1/2 tarragon

Make sure you rinse the artichoke heart when you are draining them, try to use the ones that are packed in water. If not just rinse well and drain.
If you want to use roasted garlic...peel away the outer layer of skin and slice off the top of a head of garlic so you can see some of the cloves, and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap in foil or place in a clay garlic roaster or baking pan or muffin tins. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when squeezed. Roasted garlic can be added to so many dishes and gives it a wonderful mild not so sharp garlic flavor.

In a bowl (of course) stir the soft cream cheese until smooth and add the sour cream and mayo. Then add the remaining ingredients and blend together. You can adjust the amounts until it is the right consistence for a spread. You might want to less mayo or more cream cheese if you like a spread rather than a dip.

You can always add mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese, some hot sauce, more garlic and bake it in the oven to have a hot spinach artichoke dish. Or maybe I'll just post that one latter for the holidays! Enjoy!

Parmesan, Goat Cheese and Spinach Flan?

In keeping with the French theme, I made this for a nice weekend lunch. It would be perfect for a breakfast or brunch. Since I already had the goat cheese...and Maranda wanted me to make something "French" when I searched I made sure I could use it. Why not? I found a recipe at French Cooking for Dummies it confused me a little because it's called a flan. This is so similar to the Spinach Frittata recipe that I made for Martha Mondays awhile ago. That one confused me because it wasn't what I would call a frittata. It reminded me more of a souffle, except using the whole egg instead of egg whites. As always, I made some changes to the recipe and made it the way I liked it.

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 cup fresh spinach leaves - washed and a coarse chop - 1 small shallot - minced - 1 teaspoon fresh chives - chopped - 3 oz goat cheese - diced - 2 oz Parmesan cheese - grated - 2 eggs 2 tablespoons heavy cream - salt and pepper - 1 tablespoon butter

Saute shallots in butter until soft, add spinach and cook until soft, let cool a bit (just so the heat won't scramble the eggs). Preheat oven to 350 degree F or 180 C. In a large bowl whisk eggs, add cream, Parmesan, and chives. Add goat cheese, and the spinach/shallot mix if cool enough. Salt and pepper to taste and whisk again. Pour into buttered ramekins and bake for 20 minutes. Serve right away while still warm.

Mmmm...tasty! This recipe made two ramekin size portions, I am sure you could double it and it would work just as well.

I really don't care what you call this it was fantastic! I loved the flavors and I don't know if it is a French flan, or Italian frittata! I glad I made this simple and elegant dish.( It would be perfect with a glass of champagne ) Ha! Then it must be French!! :D

It was a treat nice and creamy, and the spinach and tang of the goat cheese...

...good to the last bite.

I linked this toLet's Do Brunch

I noticed last week that a pineapple is staring on one of my pineapple plants. I have a hard time throwing away the top of a pineapple when I eat one, so I plant them. I have had a few now that have produced tiny pineapples, and it is still fun to see the process as it grows.

Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast

When I saw my good friend Kristy's post on Lychee Chicken Rolls on her food blog it reminded me of a chicken roll that I've made a lot, but haven't made recently. Thanks Kristy! This dish is a nice way to do something different with chicken breasts, it really dresses it up, looks impressive, but is so easy to make. Perfect for a quick easy midweek meal, or a way to impress dinner guests!

I served this with the baked beets I posted yesterday, and (as long as I had the oven on) I threw some cauliflower with olive oil and lemon juice, in another stoneware pan next to it.

First flatten the chicken breasts if you didn't buy the cutlets that are already flat. I just cut these in half and opened it up like a book. I didn't take the time to pound them out to make them all even and thinner, and it worked okay for my family. Lol! You might want to make it look a little nicer if serving it for guests. :D

Season the chicken, I used zaatar (a middle eastern seasoning of sumac, sesame seeds and green dried herbs, like marjoram, thyme, savory and others, there are many different versions) salt and pepper. Then add the the spinach and feta. For my daughter I used provolone and salami, she's okay with a little bit of spinach, but I just left it out of hers this time. The zaatar gave it a nice tang to the spinach.

Roll them up like a burrito and secure them with some cooking twine (I happened to have a lot of this and am so happy to be using it). If you don't have any butchers string you can always use 15 toothpicks ...hehehe! (Kristy that was just for you! and I'm just kidding! I couldn't resist). Try to tuck some of the ends in if you can, but don't worry if you can't, you'll just have some of the cheese ooze out if you are using a melting cheese. It's still good!

Use a skillet that you can put in the oven. Heat a little oil in the pan and brown the chicken on stove top. Finish in a medium heated oven 350 F for about 15 minutes until cooked through.

I really like it when some of the cheese and juices cooks on the bottom of the pan and all those good flavors...mmmmm!

I did get plenty of compliments at dinner, maybe it was after dinner, it was pretty quiet while they were eating! Always a good sign! This is too easy and good not to try it!

Enjoy!