But of course, I used Smitten Kitchen for the three recipes we tried: gnocchi, spanakopita, and cheesecake. I'll link to the gnocchi and show some pictures, but as my sister is actually the one who cooked it (I helped roll and cut), and we didn't feel that it was really worth passing on in spite of the flavors, I won't post more about it. I've tried cooking gnocchi twice, but since I don't die for it unless its fabulous in a restaurant anyway, I'm fairly disenchanted with trying to cook it again.
On the note of the gnocchi, a few words. It did taste good, so the recipe may well be fine - we all know I worship SK as a source. It ended up being quite sticky, and even though we cooked them in boiling water until they floated, they didn't really seem cooked correctly. They were too soggy, so my sister popped them in the oven for a bit to try to dry them out. They are just a mystery to me. We paired it with my host mom's simple Italian tomato sauce [at the end of that post], and together it worked, flavorwise.
The spanakopita, now there was a hit. My dad's girlfriend, like my sister, only eats fish. She also loves spinach and we're all fans of cheese. I was pretty surprised at how insanely simple it was to make this. I guess if I had to figure out phyllo dough, I would be in real trouble, but otherwise the recipe was very manageable. I recommend it! My dad's girlfriend finished the leftovers off for breakfast and lunch, and she and my sister thought the filling would even work well mixed with a pasta.
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound fresh spinach (coarse stems removed if ‘grown-up’ spinach; baby spinach can be used in full)
3/4 pound feta, crumbled
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Melt one tablespoon butter in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat, add onions and garlic and saute for a minute, then cook spinach, stirring, until wilted and tender, an additional 4 to 8 minutes. SK says less for baby spinach, more for grown-up spinach. It took me a really long time, and I had to add it in gradually because a pound of spinach is actually a lot of volume. I put a few handfuls in, covered it with a lid, stirred things a bit, and repeated for a long time. I think it took me closer to 15 minutes or more than 4 - 8. Essentially, do it until it all gets mushy together.
Remove from heat and cool for about 10 minutes. Press mixture in mesh colander to remove as much liquid as possible. I put it in a colander, pressed it, put it on the cutting board, squished it with the knife and realized there was a lot of liquid left, squished it a lot, repeated the colander, and then got around to chopping it coarsely. Transfer to a bowl and stir in feta and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let filling cool and follow instructions for phyllo triangles.
10 (17- by 12-inch) phyllo sheets, thawed if frozen - buy more than 10, my pack was of 20 and they were messy
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
Preheat oven to 375°F. Melt butter in a small saucepan, then cool. Cover phyllo stack with 2 overlapping sheets of plastic wrap and then a dampened kitchen towel. I had a lot of difficulty with getting my phyllo sheets apart. We bought a frozen roll of 20 and let it sit out on the table for a few hours until we were ready to cook. When I started unrolling them and trying to peel them apart, they were ripping all over the place. Luckily, I guess you can just use middles and fudge sizes a bit, so it worked out, but I'm just admitting to having my fair share of frustrations with this.
Take one phyllo sheet from stack and arrange on a work surface with a long side nearest you (keeping remaining sheets covered) and brush with some butter. Top with another phyllo sheet and brush with more butter. Cut buttered phyllo stack crosswise into 6 (roughly 12- by 2 3/4-inch) strips.
Put a heaping teaspoon of filling near one corner of a strip on end nearest you, then fold corner of phyllo over to enclose filling and form a triangle. Continue folding strip (like a flag), maintaining triangle shape. Put triangle, seam side down, on a large baking sheet and brush top with butter. Make more triangles in same manner, using all of phyllo.
Bake triangles in middle of oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool slightly.
I guess I was so effusive about the spanakopita because my dad's girlfriend is a fairly picky eater, or at least has really high standards, and she really liked it a lot. I did too. But I definitely also have a sweet tooth, and the cheesecake was delicious every step of the way. And I would know.
Crumb crust: - based on SK's recommendation, we did 1.6 of this recipe
8 ounces (15 4 3/4 x 2 1/2-inch sheets of graham cracker; yes, I am crazy enough to both count and measure) finely ground graham crackers or cookies such as chocolate or vanilla wafers
8 tablespoons (1 stick or 4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Very tall cheesecake filling:
5 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
5 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
SK has a topping, but we did not get around to making that. My dad's girlfriend had a jar of some cherries in a sauce and we mixed that with the mixed berries intended for the sauce, and everyone was content. I really enjoyed my cheesecake mostly plain, though, because the flavor was great.
Make crumb crust:
Stir together crust ingredients and press onto bottom and up the sides, stopping one inch shy of the top rim**, of a buttered 9 1/2-inch (or 24 cm) springform pan. (SK: You can fill it right away but I like to pop my into the freezer so it quickly sets while I prepare the filling)
Make very tall cheesecake filling:
Preheat oven to 550 degrees* (yes, really that much. Also, really not on the highest rack because then the top will turn brown and make you sad. Also, probably put your cheesecake springform pan on another pan so it doesn't leak something and make your oven smoke so much that it fills the kitchen when you open it to discover your browned top. But 550 is correct. Don't believe me? Check SK's comments. I'm not the only one with oven troubles).
Beat together cream cheese, sugar, flour and zest with an electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla, then eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating on low speed until each ingredient is incorporated. Scrape bowl down between additions - it's worth it.
Put springform pan with crust in a shallow baking pan (to catch drips - SK said it, I didn't see it). Pour filling into crust (springform pan will be completely full) and baking in baking pan in the middle of the oven for 12 minutes or until puffed. Please watch your cake because some ovens will top-brown very quickly and if yours does too fast, turn the oven down as soon as you catch it. Reduce the temperature to 200 degrees and continue baking until cake is mostly firm (center will still be slightly wobbly when pan is gently shaken), about one hour more.
Run a knife around the top edge of the cake to loosen it and cool the cake completely in springform on a rack, then chill it, loosely covered, at least 6 hours.
Then, wow all your family and friends with your delicious cake, and then take some to the rest of your family because there are leftovers, which only happen with a cake this dense and filling. Everyone loved it, including me, and I almost want to make it again here because it was just so darn good. I wonder if I can get my hands on graham crackers, but that will be the determining factor. And time/motivation.
All pictures were on my dad's camera, and I uploaded all of these before the cheesecake came out of its cooling overnight. He has a picture to email me of the finished (brown) version, so I'll add that when it arrives.
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