Phyllo Feta Torte: Entertaining Menu Option

Guests are very often my kitchen guinea pigs, since I normally use them to debut new recipes that have captured my fancy. Thankfully, my choices are seldom failures--it's a bit risky to mix a new recipe and company. I've been a cooking fiend in recent weeks but got too busy to post. This is a catch-up with some truly must-try dishes that I've made recently.

When my friend Missi was here, I pulled out all the stops for a dinner I hosted for her. Not only did I make the Phyllo Feta Torte mentioned in the title, but I had her teach me how to grill by making Beef Andouille Burgers, and I did Epicurious's Lemon Curd Tart for dessert, which I highly recommend.

The Phyllo Feta Torte is one of my NYT finds. Apparently it's traditional fare at Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations. It's also the single easiest way to use phyllo dough that I have encountered (spanakopita is the hardest, baklava relatively easy). In fact, the whole recipe is a cinch to make, yet everyone gasps at its beauty when you unmold it. While it doesn't hit my cooking-for-myself trifecta of easy, healthy, and yummy, it more than meets my cooking-for-guests trifecta of easy, gorgeous, and yummy. This dish may well be the winningest I have.

When I made it the first time, I was delighted with how it tasted plain, but then I bravely tried the honey--yes, honey with feta and dill!--and ZOMG it was transcendent! A light to heavy drizzle of local honey really should be a requirement for this impressive and easy dish, and everyone who likes flaky pastry and a complex array of flavors should give this baby a go. 

Spanish Lamb Chops: Menu

I happened upon twelve beautiful lamb loin chops at GIANT: original price $33.18, scavenged price $19.03.  It was definitely time not only for my wonderful Spanish lamb chop recipe, but to make Voluptuous Vegan's Fennel, Orange, and Pomegranate Salad.  (Second only to unveganing a vegan recipe is serving it with baby animal, since both please my warped sense of humor.)

Friday's Tip: Egg-cellent Advice

A Tip  Today's post is all about the glorious, wonderful, incredible, edible egg.  I feel sorry for my egg-eschewing friends, since these little guys are really quite an amazing package:

• They are the perfect protein.  Really, there is nothing better nutritionally.
• They are the cheapest animal protein you can buy, even if you get organic eggs.  Let's say you buy a dozen eggs at $4.00, and you eat 2 at a time--that's a whopping $.67 per meal.  Thankfully, I can get local, pastured eggs cheaper than that.  Serious Eats recently confirmed my suspicion that eggs taste like eggs regardless of how footloose and fancy-free the chickens are, UNLESS they're pasturized (and then they suck).  
• At about 70 calories per large egg, they are an excellent low-calorie, low-fat, high-protein snack, particularly if you are cutting calories, hungry, and don't want to sabotage your weight-loss goals.  Protein is very filling!  I've been keeping boiled eggs in the fridge just for this purpose, and they really do the trick.

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of these little powerhouses:

1. Fresh eggs are desirable for baking, particularly if you need to separate white from yolk.  Less fresh eggs taste the same, but the white deteriorates with age and is less separable.
2. Older eggs are preferable for boiling, since the peels will come off easier.  Boiling, in fact, is an excellent use of eggs on the verge of passing their Best By date.
3. Not sure if your eggs are fresh?  Fill a large pot or bowl with water, and put them in.  If they sink, they're good; if they float, very delicately but decisively throw them out (the reason they float is that they have begun oxidizing).
4. Don't pay more for egg-shell color, which is determined by chicken color and does not affect taste or quality; instead, pay more for eggs from humanely-kept chickens!
5. How to hard-boil eggs with energy efficiency in mind: Fill a pot with cold tap water.  Place eggs in.  Sprinkle liberally with the cheapest salt you own (egg shells can crack, and the salt fills the cracks to keep the insides from leaking out).  Cover (optional step, but it helps them boil faster so saves energy).  Bring to a full rolling boil.  Cover if you haven't already and turn off heat.  Let sit 12 minutes.  Uncover and add a tray's worth of ice cubes.  Let sit 10 minutes.  Remove from water and place in fridge.  N.B.  This process takes less than 30 minutes, but requires you to hang out in the kitchen.
6. Secret ingredient to boil fresh eggs to help with peeling: 1 teaspoon baking soda. (h/t Summer Tomato for this excellent video--I always buy farm-fresh eggs and was losing lots of white when peeling.  This trick seriously works!)
7. Secret trick to separate eggs: Do it when they're cold and the whites are at their firmest, and then bring to room temperature to bake.
8. Have extra egg whites?  Eat them within 2-3 days, or freeze them in ice cube trays and store till ready to use in freezer.
9. Have extra egg yolks?  You can freeze them, too, but you need to liberally sprinkle them with sugar OR salt so that they keep their consistency--if you plan to make a lemon curd or flan with them, for instance, choose sugar.  You have to have a plan in mind for them to know which to choose.
10. Finally, don't be afraid of the cholesterol or other bad press eggs have gotten.  They are a great food for everyone but truly a dieter's friend. 

Here are some recipes that I recommend, all of which are easy and yummy:
A lowfat Egg Salad.
A lowfat version of Eggs in Purgatory.
My current favorite dessert, Lemon Curd Tart with Olive Oil.
A great use for summer's cherry tomatoes, Cherry Tomato Frittata (I use only half the parmesan, and then add hot sauce).

Do Not Punish America's Poor: Sodas and SNAP

I don't drink sodas or other sugared drinks, since I limit my liquid (and thus not satiating) calories as much as I can.  Still, I cannot get behind movements that locate such habits in the poor and seek to punish them.  I wonder how many sugared-drink imbibers there are out there who see no irony in hitting the poor with this kind of ruling--one thinks of glass houses and stones.

I simply cannot be a fan of a policy that singles out the poor, as if they are the only Americans who drink these things, the only Americans plagued by obesity, or the only Americans who deserve no treats in their already impoverished lives.  Pass a soda tax or remove the subsidies that make these noxious concoctions so cheap--that would be more even-handed and effective.

#AmericaNutritionFail

This article from the Washington Post captures what's wrong with the way we approach nutrition: we create a single image that cannot help but be mired in conflicting messages thanks to all the interests it must appease.  I agree that most Americans don't want to be told what not to eat, but an alarming number have no idea what they should be eating.

The simple truth is that the Food Pyramid will not solve anything, though a healthier articulation of it would help poorer Americans, whom it help feeds.  What we need to do is teach our children how to eat, whether it's a return of Home Ec or a nutrition class, and stop subsidizing processed foods so that they are no longer appealing for their price, or worse, placed on SNAP when they do anything but assist nutrition.

A Tip and a Tool for Friday

TIP  A full freezer is an efficient freezer, and here are some excellent, cost-effective ways to fill it!  Use a gallon-sized freezer bag to save all of your veggie scraps (such as garlic, onion, carrot, and celery ends) rather than throwing them in compost, or worse, throwing them away.   Just pull the bag out of the freezer and toss in these scraps whenever you cook!  When the bag is full, you can use these to make a brilliant homemade vegetable stock.  These bits are actually the best-tasting parts for making stock--so not only do you get more bang for your veggie dollar (more significant if you buy organic), you get some mighty good and pretty dang easy-to-make broth.

I normally combine the veggie-scrap bag with a chicken carcass bag (see below, though you can skip the chicken or add another set of meaty bones) in a large pot, add water to cover, bring to a boil and then simmer for hours. I make sure I add ginger if I have it (that freezer bag is a good place for ginger peels), and herb stems like parsley along the way (though don't get too crazy with the herbs), and peppercorns to the stock.  I never add salt, though.  Strain the broth when you're done, reserving the liquid and tossing all solids in the trash,  and then measure off amounts into glass jars (which I conserve rather than recycle).  Place them in the fridge for a few hours before placing them in the freezer to prevent glass-jar explosion, which spoils all the cooking love. (You can also fill ice cube trays with stock and then store these cubes in quart-sized freezer bags.)

If you prefer chicken stock, use another gallon-sized freezer bag to store raw or cooked portions of chicken.  Since whole chickens are cheaper anyway, simply buy one, chop it up for the usual parts, and throw the rest in the freezer bag.  Then throw leftover bones in there, too, rather than throwing them out. 

TOOL  If you work with dough at all, anything that needs to rest from corn tortillas to bread, King Arther's Dough Whisk will be your new best friend.  I confess I got mine in a happy accident--for some reason, it was included in a box of goodies I'd ordered, and I keep thanking the generosity of the employee every time I use it!  It is So. Much. Better. than a regular whisk--not only does its circular shape mix up dough faster and more thoroughly, but less dough sticks to it (and what does stick is much easier to clean off).  Truly one of my favorite favorite baking tools and a must have for any baker!