I meant to just serve roasted veg over pasta for dinner tonight….but, um, you see… I, um,  kinda got carried away. Again. *sigh*

You see, I had all this filo dough leftover from making spanakopita last week, and there was a good hunk of some herby cheddar kinda cheese (I have no idea what kind of cheese it really was. It was orange, had flecks of green stuff in it, and it was taking up space in my cheese drawer). So I, um, well…I experimented. Instead of using Feta (of which I have none) I used the orange cheese. I SWEAR the rest of the ingredients were exactly as Ina Garten wrote them! I – get this – I even DOUBLE CHECKED the ingredients list before I started cooking. Yup.

Ya know what?

They __ROCKED__!!

So good I ate two. TWO. …I’m trying to resist eating a THIRD.

I ate salad to try to distract me. It took a LOT of salad. With carrots in it.

After I baked the spanakopita – can I call them that if I used a different cheese? After they were done I set them aside to cool and threw in some veg to roast. It was a TOTAL last minute decision to quarter a lemon and throw it on the baking sheet. When the veg came outta the oven I sorta mashed the lemon a bit, tossed everything around in the juices and then seasoned with salt and pepper.

Holy cow! HOLY COW holy cow!

How good was it? I forced myself to leave some for C (he’s working late tonight). It was very hard to leave any. I nearly burned all my cute little fingers as I daintily shoveled the pile of crispy lemony deliciousness into my mouth. That’s how good it is/was. IS. There’s some left.

Some.

Spanakopita Adapted from Ina Garten

Printable Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

¼ cup good olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
3 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten **I used whatever I had in the fridge. I think 2 were Large and 2 were Medium
3 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Plain dry bread crumbs **I used seasoned. Close enough.
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons kosher salt **I used regular old salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups small-diced feta cheese (12 ounces) **I used 2 cups of some herby cheddary kinda cheese I had on hand. FREAKIN’ FANTASTIC too!
3 Tablespoons toasted pine nuts
24 sheets frozen phyllo dough, defrosted **1/2 a box
¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Flaked sea salt, such as Maldon, for sprinkling **I forgot to add this.  Oopsies!

How To:

1- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2- Heat the olive oil in a medium sauté pan, add the onion, and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat. Add the scallions, and cook for another 2 minutes until the scallions are wilted but still green. Meanwhile, gently squeeze most of the water out of the spinach and place it in a large bowl.

3- When the onion and scallions are done, add them to the spinach. Mix in the eggs, Parmesan cheese, 3 tablespoons bread crumbs, the nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Gently fold in the feta and pine nuts.

4- Place one sheet of phyllo dough flat on a work surface with the long end in front of you. Brush the dough lightly with butter and sprinkle it with a teaspoon of bread crumbs. Working quickly, slide another sheet of phyllo dough on top of the first, brush it with butter, and sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs. (Use just enough bread crumbs so the layers of phyllo don’t stick together.) Pile 4 layers total on top of each other this way, brushing each with butter and sprinkling with bread crumbs. Cut the sheets of phyllo in half lengthwise. Place 1/3 cup spinach filling on the shorter end and roll the phyllo up diagonally as if folding a flag. Then fold the triangle of phyllo over straight and then diagonally again. Continue folding first diagonally and then straight until you reach the end of the sheet. The filling should be totally enclosed. Continue assembling phyllo layers and folding the filling until all of the filling is used. Place on a sheet pan, seam sides down. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with flaked salt, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the phyllo is browned and crisp. Serve hot.

Lemon Roasted Goodness by Me.

Printable Recipe HERE

Dairy-FREE, Gluten-FREE

Ingredients:

1/2 large head of Cabbage, sliced

1/2 small Onion

1 small Cauliflower, chunked or sliced

1 Lemon, quartered

2-3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

How To:

1- Oven to 400º.

2- Cut the veg into large pieces (cabbage will shrink quite a bit), toss with olive oil and place onto a baking sheet. Don’t crowd the pan – use 2 pans if more room is necessary. Lemon quarters should be nestled into the veg.

3- Whack the pan(s) into the oven and leave them to get all crispy and delicious. Oh – actually, every 10 minutes or so go shake the pan, flip the veg around and rotate the baking sheet (helps to even out the cooking).

4- The veg should take 30-45 minutes to get all crispy and browned and smell GORGEOUS.

5- When you take the baking sheet(s) out of the oven, use the back of a spoon to mash the lemon and release the lemon juices. Then toss the veg in the juices, sprinkle on some salt and pepper, taste. Taste again. Try not to shovel the whole pan into your mouth all at once as you stand over the stove.

*wink*