spinach Archives | butter loves company

spinach macadamia pesto

January 6, 2017 by Butter Loves Company

As we jot down our New Year’s resolutions and push the leftover holiday cookies and chocolate trees aside—not too far aside, of course—let’s take a moment to welcome this healthy, vibrant green spinach pesto to our January tables.

This spinach macadamia pesto is an extremely versatile sauce, perfect for tossing with pasta, drizzling on salads, spreading on sandwiches, swirling into soup—you name it. Super Greg and I chose to serve it with lemon ricotta raviolis (will be sharing that recipe with you soon).

This pesto packs the bright flavor of basil, but with the herb out of its peak summer season, we’re punching it up with earthy, leafy spinach. We’re also swapping in crunchy macadamias for pesto’s traditional pine nut. This swap was born out of having extra macadamia nuts in my freezer (after making these), but is a move we’d certainly repeat.

If pesto is met with as much excitement in your house as it is mine, feel free to add this recipe to your resolutions list: it’ll be an easy one to check off!

white bean, spinach and mushroom egg bake

July 3, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

This recipe is amazing because it is a one-dish meal and who doesn’t love a one-dish meal? It’s also a breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, a fact that compels me to sing the Bagel Bites “pizza any time” commercial. But seriously, this is a wonderful option under almost any circumstance. You can easily adjust this recipe if you hate mushrooms, want to try it with black beans or just add some spice with a dash or two of red pepper flakes. If you don’t have a cast iron or oven-safe skillet, you can prepare everything in a pan on the stovetop and transfer it all into a regular baking dish, top with eggs and cook. In that case, it’s a two dish meal. Still not bad.

I know all of you lucky ducks with dishwashers are thinking, “Why does this girl care so much about a one-dish meal.” Well, let me take you through what brought this recipe to Casa J + G. I call it a “get home from work cleaning rampage.”

Tell me if this sounds familiar: you come home from work, look around and realize “oh gosh, there is zero clear space and I’m worse than a toddler who leaves out every last one of their toys and I really should have put my laundry away as soon as it was done and did I really think I would finish that project I took everything out of my closet for and when did that Jenga stack of dishes get that high and when did I get so many* shoes and how did that one end up over there? These are the days I go on one of the aforementioned “get home from work cleaning rampages.” I’m a firm believer that physical clutter can have a tremendous effect on mental clutter.

And how does all this relate to today’s recipe? Well, after the “get home from work cleaning rampage,” the absolute last thing I want to do is fill the sink with another full load of dishes after making dinner.

Enter: the glorious one-skillet White Bean, Spinach and Mushroom Egg Bake. The combination of creamy white beans, meaty mushrooms, iron-rich spinach and runny eggs really works here. I imagine a big dollop of this, egg and all, would be great on a piece of crusty bread. But really, what wouldn’t be good on a piece of crusty bread?

Happy Fourth of July, all!

*so many should never be confused with too many. Amen.

white bean, spinach and mushroom egg bake
Adapted from Gourmet magazine

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30–40 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:

10 oz. fresh spinach
1/2 medium-sized white or yellow onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups (5–6 oz.) white button mushrooms, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
1 15 oz. can of cannellini beans, rinsed thoroughly
1/3 cup milk, whole is best
1 heaping tablespoon all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
4 large eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Place rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 450°. Bring 1/2 inch water to a boil in a 10- to 12-inch ovenproof, cast iron or other heavy skillet. Add half of the spinach to the water and cook, stirring to flip the spinach, until it wilts and shrinks, about 30 seconds. Add remaining spinach and cook until it wilts, another 30 seconds. Continue to cook the spinach over medium-high heat until tender, about 1 more minute. Drain into a colander and immediately cool under cold running water. Gently squeeze handfuls of spinach to remove as much liquid as possible, transfer to a cutting board and coarsely chop.
Wipe the skillet dry, then melt the butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are softened and have released some of their juices, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in well-rinsed, canned cannellini beans until well distributed. Stir in milk, flour, salt, pepper, nutmeg and chopped spinach and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and make four large indentations in spinach mixture (like you’re making room for gravy in your Thanksgiving mashed potatoes). Crack an egg into each indentation and bake, uncovered, until egg whites are set but yolks are still runny, 7 to 10 minutes. Season eggs with salt and pepper if you like, then sprinkle with cheese.

tourte milanese

April 23, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

While brunching out is one of my favorite things to do—give me eggs ‘beni’ and a spicy bloody and I’m on cloud nine—there is something lovely about having brunch at home on a lazy weekend morning. It forces you and your company to slow down, catch up, and laugh into the afternoon with no real agenda.

Brunch, whether out or at home, often includes some sort of egg dish; a quiche, an omelet, the aforementioned eggs benedict, or, if you rewind to our apartment a few days ago, this Tourte Milanese. When flipping through cookbooks Saturday morning looking for a cookie recipe to make for Easter Sunday, I saw this tourte and said out loud “Oh!!! PRETTY! I’m making this!” Layers of herbed eggs, ham, cheese, spinach, and roasted red peppers all wrapped in a buttery puff pastry: it is a bold, beautiful thing. Little did Greg know, when I said I was making this, I meant I was making this this minute (not uncommon), and he was tasked as sous chef. The cookies had to wait.

This is a perfect recipe for brunch entertaining because you can prep and cook the entire tourte a day ahead and just bring it to room temperature or lightly warm in your oven before guests arrive. It saves you morning stress with the additional perks of extra shuteye, a tasty meal, and impressed friends.

At first glance, this tourte may look complicated, but it is really not hard to make at all. It has a few simple components that need to be prepared separately before assembly: scramble the eggs, sauté the spinach, and blister the red peppers under a broiler. The long instructions are only an illusion of difficulty, though I would suggest budgeting yourself a bit of time for the prep, chilling, and cook time.

Tourte Milanese
Adapted from Michel Richard’s recipe in Baking with Julia

Prep Time: 40 minutes
Chill Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Serves: 6–8

Ingredients:

1 pound puff pastry, homemade or store bought (If using store bought, it’s often sold in 1.1 pound packages. This works great.)
4 large red bell peppers
salt and ground black pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
1½ to 2 pounds fresh spinach, trimmed
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
11 large eggs
1 tablespoon chopped scallions
2 teaspoons chopped chives
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
½ pound thinly sliced Swiss cheese
½ pound thinly sliced ham
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Instructions:

Coat an 8-inch round spring form pan with butter or non-stick baking spray. Roll out ¾ of the puff pastry ¼-inch thick and line bottom and sides of pan leaving a 1-inch overhang. Roll out the remaining pastry into a ¼-inch thick circle (this will be the top of the tourte). Transfer onto a plate. Keep both pastries refrigerated while preparing the filling.

Prep Peppers: Turn on your oven broiler and fill a large bowl with cold water. Place the whole red peppers on a baking sheet and cook under broiler until skin begins to blister. Rotate peppers until all sides have blistered and then transfer peppers to the bowl of cold water. Using your hands, peel the skin off the peppers and discard. Remove the peppers to a cutting board, cut into flat 1 to 2 inch wide flat strips, trimming inside veins and discarding seeds. Set aside.

Prep Spinach: Heat oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet. Add spinach and garlic and sauté until spinach just wilts, about 3 minutes. Stir in heavy cream, if using. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Remove from heat, set aside.

Prepare Eggs: In a large bowl, lightly beat all 11 eggs. Add the scallions, chives, tarragon, and salt to taste. Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat (you can use the spinach skillet, just remove spinach to a bowl, discarding extra liquid). Pour the egg mixture and stir briefly. As eggs start to set, lift edges so liquid can run under. Continue lifting and pushing the eggs to scramble until eggs are completely set but still moist (keep in mind they will be cooking further in the tourte). Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic and let cool completely.

Assemble Tourte: Remove the lined pan from the refrigerator. Layer ingredients in following order: half of the eggs, half of the spinach, half of the cheese, half of the ham, all of the red bell peppers. Repeat layering in reverse order using the remaining ingredients. It need not be perfect. Fold the 1-inch overhang of puff pastry onto the top of the tourte and then brush the top of the pastry with egg wash. Remove the other circular pastry from refrigerator and place on top of tourte and seal edges with your fingers. Brush top with egg wash. With a sharp knife, cut a small hole in the center of the tourte as a vent. Cut any additional desired designs into the pastry, careful not to pierce through the dough entirely. Refrigerate assembled tourte for 30 minutes.

Cook Tourte: Position rack in lower third of oven, preheat to 350 degrees F. Remove tourte from refrigerator, place on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until deep golden brown, about 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes (we I was impatient and took it out after 1 hour. It definitely needed a little more time to full cook all sides of the pastry). Cool for 30 minutes, release from pan. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature. *Can be made one day ahead, refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before serving.