Spinach-Mushroom Puffs

As you all know, I'm a sucker for easy make-ahead appetizers. This one is no exception.

Last weekend I catered a 60th wedding anniversary for some extended family. There were about 35 people in attendance, and all of them big eaters. I had to make enough food for about 50.

Here's what I made for the party:

Fruit plate with my mom's famous marshmallow dip
Veggie platter with balsamic dip
3 lbs Fried gnocchi (a la Nigella Lawson) with pesto
Crab toasts (triple batch)
10 lbs pork and beef tenderloin
Wonton tacos (double batch)
Smoked salmon platter
Mushroom puffs (double batch)

The mushroom puffs, while great on their own, showed some serious potential. This recipe makes a lot of puffs, but the point is that you freeze them and eat them 4 or 5 at a time. Trust me, you'll want a lot of these babies.

Recipe Adapted from Southern Living

Ingredients
1 package frozen puff pastry sheets
1 8-oz can mushrooms, drained
1 8-oz can spinach (or 1 package thawed frozen spinach), drained
1 8-oz package cream cheese (can be light)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
Black pepper

Preparation
1. Mix together the cream cheese, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Parmesan, mushrooms and spinach (make sure they're dry!).




2. Thaw the puff pastry overnight in the fridge or for a couple hours on the counter. When it's pliable, roll it out with some flour so that it's almost doubled in size.
3.  Cut the puff pastry in half lengthwise. Dollop the cheese mixture onto the puff pastry and spread it in an even layer across the sheet.

4. Paint the edges of the pastry with a beaten egg. Fold the pastry over lengthwise, across the mixture, and seal the edges with a fork.

5. Brush more egg on top of the pastry and sprinkle with pepper. Cut the pastry log in half, then in half again. From there, you can cut the quarters into thirds or halves, depending on how big you want the puffs (I opted for thirds, and that will make quite a few puffs).

6. Freeze the puffs until you're ready to use them. Bake them at 425 for 20 minutes or until toasty.

-Katie

Venetian Artichoke Pesto

A lot of my food inspiration comes from the places I've been — namely, Italy. Spending four glorious months there changed my life intellectually, spiritually, and of course, gastronomically.

Early on in our study abroad experience, Justin and I made the trip to Venice. You can't go to Italy for a length of time and not see Venice. It's hauntingly beautiful, full of strange and wonderful nooks and crannies and crooked cobbled streets. The canals are beautiful, of course, but what struck us the most was the fog that settled over the ancient port town like a veil.

Yep, we fed the pigeons. They are terrifyingly unafraid of humans.

One of the single best things I ate in Italy was an artichoke pesto penne that we had in the old Jewish ghetto in Venice.

This was a close second to an otherworldly eggplant parmesan that I had a tiny waterside restaurant called Timon — but I'm still trying to figure out that recipe. So you'll have to make do with artichoke pesto. For now.

This recipe is the closest I could get to the pasta I had in Venice. Smooth, creamy, and somehow still bright and light. The best thing is, this recipe is super duper easy — no peeling or trimming artichokes. Yup, we're using the canned version.

Ingredients
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
zest & juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3-4 tsp water
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2-1 cup chicken broth
1 lb pasta (penne, rigatoni, whatever you like!)

Preparation

1. Drain the artichokes. Put all the ingredients EXCEPT the chicken broth and pasta into a blender, and give it a whir until smooth. If you need to thin it out a little, add a little bit of water in intervals until it blends.

2. Boil pasta in heavily salted water. Drain. Toss with pesto. Thin out the pasta/pesto combination with a little bit of chicken broth, until it's the consistency you like.

-Katie