Ricotta Spinach Pie

It's Oscars Season!  I now have about 25 movies I have to see between now and the Academy Awards.  I'll be spending way too much money (and time) sitting in a dark room with strangers over the next few weeks but at least I will be able to make pretentious comments about the contenders.  I saw Les Miserables last night and I am disappointed to say that it was the most boring two and a half hours of 2013 so far.

For the record, here were my top five movies this year:

• Argo - Ben Affleck with facial hair.  Hollaaaa!  In my opinion, he deserved Best Director and Best Acting nomination.  But I am a huge fan and obviously many people disagreed with me.  
• The Intouchables - A French film that is AWESOME.  It's a really touching story and if you want to watch one feel-good movie prior to the Oscars, make it this one.  NOTE: This French film should not be confused with the other French film, Amour - another great movie according to my husband.  Unfortunately, I have not seen it but any movie that has a title that means 'love' and has my husband's raves must be exceptional.
• Dark Knight Rises - My movie experience was heightened because the two nights prior to seeing the movie, I rewatched Batman Begins and Dark Knight and therefore, I was of the variety of viewers who recognized the obscure connections from the previous two movies (thereby irritating all those people around me with my chuckles of acknowledgement).  
• The Amazing Spider-man  - I adore movies with real life couples.  Emma and Andrew were precious.  I have reenacted the scene where Spiderman throws his web out to catch Gwen Stacy and she twirls back to him over and over again in the living room/kitchen/foyer area of the apartment.  Note the use of 'I' in that sentence. I'm reenacting this by myself while Newt stares lazily back at me from the couch.
• Zero Dark Thirty - Another one who was snubbed for Best Director category.  I actually saw this one in 2013 but I'm going to still count it if you don't mind.  It was the most intriguing movie I saw this year.  If I can't chose this one then I will replace it with Wreck-it Ralph.  But the intellect of my list will take a severe hit.  

You should find the nearest Redbox and pick up some of these or go to the movie theater and enjoy the magic.  We will be watching Beasts of the Southern Wild tonight.  24 to go!  

Now, what to eat for these movie marathon watching sessions?  I recommend something easy to throw together and then something that will need to bake so you can get the movie started.  Then, it will give you a good break from the movie to discuss second-act transitions while you pull the dish out of the oven and enjoy.  Start off with this Spinach Ricotta Pie.  I completely removed one of the cheeses from the recipe as I didn't want to have a heart attack during the credits.  

Spinach Ricotta Pie 

Adapted from Bon Appetit

• 1 refrigerated pie crust at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon all purpose flour

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1 15-ounce container ricotta cheese
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 large eggs, beaten to blend

Preheat oven to 350°F. Unfold pie crust and press out folds.  Sprinkle the tablespoon of flour over the crust and place the crust flour-side down in a pie dish.   Crimp the edges decoratively.   Take your thawed spinach and drain it of as much moisture as you can.  (I put mine in a wide lipped bowl and then placed an empty wide lipped bowl on top of it and pressed out the liquid into the sink.)  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes.  Add spinach, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Sauté until all liquid from spinach evaporates, about 3 minutes. Combine ricotta and Parmesan cheeses in large bowl. Mix in eggs. Add spinach mixture from the pan and blend well. Pour the cheese mixture into pie crust. Bake until filling is set in center and brown on top, about 35-40 minutes. Let stand for a few minutes before cutting and serving.  

Egg and Kielbasa, Open-faced

One of the (many) amazing things about living in NYC is being exposed to an unprecedented amount of culture oftentimes at minimal cost to your pocketbook and sometimes at no cost. For instance, this weekend held the New York Food & Wine Festival, the New York Musical Theatre Festival and the New York Film Festival. If you lived within 12 subway stops of any of these places and complained that you were bored you should be ashamed. I, on the other hand, quickly realized I would not be able to go to a symposium on meatballs, see a musical version of Pride and Prejudice and stalk the celebrities in town for the film festival in one weekend – there just weren’t enough hours in the day. So I had to choose.

Luckily, Robbie and I live a mere twenty blocks from Lincoln Center and the proximity made my decision easier. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights we strolled down to the new film theatre at the Lincoln Center to listen to two different panels of screenwriters all of whom live in New York (this tends to be an anomaly as most screenwriters are based in LA). We heard the writer of Working Girl, Meet the Parents, Spiderman, Jurassic Park, American Splendor and Black Swan (just to name a few) and they all talked about their love of New York City -- albeit the gritty side of it which seemed to be their favorite part.

I, on the other hand (again), like to think I live in the New York of Carrie Bradshaw, shopping for Louboutin’s and having brunch every day while not gaining a pound. I do not find intriguing the life of Travis Bickle as he traversed the NY streets at dark and befriended a child prostitute. The reality is that I live in neither of these worlds. I may catch a glimpse of these various segments of New York City living but in reality, living in New York is pretty much the same as if I was still in North Carolina – just with mass transit and no personal space.

That’s where this recipe comes into the picture – it’s a little rough around the edges. Some people won’t like it. It is probably an acquired taste but it is easy enough to make for Carrie and company and comforting enough for the loneliest of taxi drivers.

Egg and Kielbasa, Open-faced

Adapted from the New York Times

1 pound kielbasa (salami or corned beef will work too -- could this be more New York-ish?)

oil

8 eggs

Dijon mustard

Rye Bread

*I made this in portions. It's pretty easy to throw together depending upon how many you serve. For the two of us I did 1/2 the kielbasa and 4 eggs and then made the second 1/2 later in the week.

Slice kielbasa and saute in a little oil. Break the eggs in a bowl and beat them as if you were making scrambled eggs. Add the eggs to the saute pan and scramble along with the kielbasa. Serve atop slices of rye bread that have been spread with Dijon mustard.

Cucurumao

Or, Eggs in Purgatory. I chose to title this post Cucurumao because that is the dish’s Sicilian name and I wanted to sound more intelligent than I am. You may call it Eggs in Purgatory if you actually have to tell someone what it is. Luckily, I just have to type it.

Brunch is my favorite meal. I am a happy girl when pancakes, muffins, banana bread, oatmeal with fruit and sugar, or waffles are put in front of me. Yes, my tendency to go directly to the “raise-your-blood-sugar-to-unprecedented-levels” section of an IHop menu is a problem on which I am working, but recently I challenged myself to make a savory brunch dish. And I must say, it was definitely worth it.

This was one of those recipes that I saw and said to myself “I can totally make that!” But then, at step two of the recipe, I began to doubt myself. How long before the sauce is supposed to reduce? (Much longer than the original recipe suggested when I did it on my stove.) How is this not just like tomato sauce? (It isn’t that much different except poached eggs + tomato sauce + Parmesan cheese + toast = substantial yumminess.) When is a poached-in-tomato-sauce-egg done? (About four minutes earlier than when I took mine out.)

So I will let you learn from my mistakes. Although “mistakes” may be a bit harsh of a word. I will let you learn from my second guessings. Happy Brunch!

Cucurumao
From Brunch! by Gale Gand (I was a big fan of her show on Food Network back when Food Network was just show after show of one camera focused on someone cooking in a kitchen. I think it was called Sweet Dreams. I also appreciate her use of the exclamation point in her title.)
Serves 3 to 4

2 tbs olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
One 28-ounce can whole or crushed Italian plum tomatoes, with juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 to 2 pinches sugar, to taste (optional – I didn’t use any because I find tomato sauce pretty sweet already)
4 fresh basil leaves, torn
6 large eggs (I used 5.)
Grated Parmesan Cheese for sprinkling
1 loaf crusty Italian bread

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes - if whole, crush them with the back of a spoon. Cook until the mixture is fairly thick, about 20 minutes; then season it with salt and pepper. (This took much longer than I anticipated and I think I could have waited a bit longer for it to thicken even more.)

Taste the tomato sauce – add sugar if you think it should be sweeter. Adding sugar can be used to cut down on the acid of the tomato sauce. (Thanks Mrs. Swallen!) Stir in the basil leaves.

Make six (or five if you are using just five eggs) depressions in the tomato sauce and break one egg into each depression. Baste the eggs with a little tomato sauce. Cover the pan, and cook over medium heat to poach the eggs, about four minutes. (Not eight, like I did. I swore they didn’t look done but the yolks were definitely cooked by the time I cut into them with my fork. Next time it will be four minutes.)

Carefully remove a couple eggs and sauce into a bowl. Top with grated Parmesan and serve with thick slices of hearty bread. The best bite consists of a bit of the egg on the toast smeared with the tomato sauce.