DINNER: Ispanakli Patates Casserole

Ispanakli Patates is Turkish and it basically translates to spinach potato. Recently in Berlin, we were treated to the most fantastic food in the Turkish neighborhood where we were staying. The Turks are one of the biggest non-German ethnic groups in the city, over 300,000 live there.

Our favorite restaurant...though, it's hard to pick one out of all the good restaurants there...is Cafe Neffes.  I had this wonderful spinach and potato casserole there one night and vowed to try to make it for myself when we returned.

A couple of weeks later, after browsing dozens of Turkish recipe websites, I've came up with my own variation.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup cooked spinach (1 cup after cooking)

1 cup Greek or Mediterranean yogurt

2 oz. feta cheese crumbles

1 small pasilla chile, chopped

2 large tomatoes or 4 medium tomatoes, diced

1 cube chicken bouillon

3 Mexican green onions or 1 medium white onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon marjoram

dash of nutmeg

1/2 pound golden fingerling potatoes

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 link soujuk sausage, thinly sliced (easiest to do when frozen)

2 eggs

In a pot of boiling water, boil the potatoes for 30 minutes over medium heat.

If your  spinach isn't already cooked, put a tablespoon of olive oil in a 12" pan. When hot, fill as completely as you can with spinach and cover. It should render down to about a cup of cooked spinach in around 5 minutes. When cool enough, chop it up.

In a medium sauce pan, heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onions and cook...stirring...until translucent. About 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and pasilla chiles. Add the chicken bouillon. Add the garlic, oregano, marjoram, and nutmeg. 

Stir in and bring to a boil. Add spinach and stir in. Turn the heat to medium and boil for 5 minutes then turn heat off.

When the potatoes are done boiling, strain and set aside.

Coat a casserole dish (about 3 quarts) with another tablespoon of olive oil. Put a layer of the tomato/spinach sauce on the bottom in a fine layer. Put some sausage over that and sprinkle with feta cheese. Spread a layer of yogurt over that. Ladle some potatoes over that.

Repeat this layering until you run out of sauce.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, put two raw whole eggs on top, put back in over for 10 minutes to cook eggs. 

Let cool for 10 minutes after that before serving.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2016 - All Rights Reserved

SUPER SIDE: Broccoli Au Gratin

Eating healthy can be a bit daunting sometimes but here's a cheat even my son loves. A creamy, cheesy, broccoli side dish.

We're serving this on the side of some pork chops with a port wine, mushroom reduction sauce.

INGREDIENTS (3 servings)

1 large head of broccoli
4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup low fat mile
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper.

In a small sauce pan, melt the cream cheese into the milk.

Break up the head of broccoli and put into a casserole dish. Salt and pepper the broccoli. Cover with the cream cheese and milk sauce. Sprinkle the cheddar on top.

Bake, covered,  for 20 minutes at 300 degrees.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2016 - All Rights Reserved