Tag Archives: spinach

Spanakopita

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Filed under appetizers, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, silpat, vegetables, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

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I have always loved spanakopitas. They are so yummy. Yet I will tell you that I never tried to make them because they look so difficult to make. Well, over the holidays I bought a large bag of fresh spinach for my morning smoothies, not really thinking that the bag I purchased would be so much. And since we were going  away for a week I decided I would make some for appetizers for the holidays. I used the recipe from a Costco Cookbook that I adapted to use what i had on hand.

It was really good, and guess what??? It was really not that hard to make. Just needed to be patient.

Ohh and you can fix them in advance and freeze them for later use.

Ingredients for about 30:

  • 15 oz of frozen spinach thawed out, or fresh one that will weigh to 15 oz cooked.
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 cups of feta cheese or 2 cups of feta and 1 cup of ricotta ( will make the spanakopita more
  • 4 scallions chopped very thinly
  • 2 tbsp of the dill/ lemon demarle herb blend
  • 1 clove of garlic pressed
  • 1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 salt
  • 1/4 tsp of pepper
  • 1 pack of phillo pastry
  1.  Mix all the ingredients together and set them aside.
  2. Open the filo dough and cut the filo dough into 3 strips. Take one strip out, and roll the other ones back into the plastic so they will stay moist.
  3. Pull apart 2 layers from the stack, keep the other one under a moist paper towel. Either brush some melted butter, or olive oil, or if you have spray some Pam.
  4. Spoon 1 tbsp of the spinach mixture and place it in the corner of the large triangle. Fold the corner where you placed the spinach onto itself  so that it will form a triangle. Continue folding until the filo has been used and the end result looks like a triangle.
  5. repeat all those steps until you have used all the spinach mixture.
  6. Spray the spanakopitas with some butter and cook them into a warm oven for 8-12 minutes at 400. Eat warm.

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Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Green Curry Chicken Panang

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Filed under entree, meat, poultry, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, stainless steel cookware

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This past weekend, I had the pleasure to keep my nephew for the weekend. Since most of my husband’s family lives in town, it is rare that any of my nieces or nephews spend the nights at our house. It only happens if my children wants to have sleepover with them or if their parents are going out-of-town. This past weekend my brother-in-law decided to go away for the weekend with his wife and thus let us keep Aksel, my nephew.
My weekends are usually quite boring, we rarely go out as I am happy to just relax and do nothing.  But this weekend, having company, we decided to go here and there. One night we went to the movies, another night we did pizza and movies, and another night we went to a restaurant to eat Thai food. One of my favorite:-) and my children. I ordered the same as : always : Chicken Curry Panang with steamed tofu…. Yum!!!

Well this weekend as I was cleaning my refrigerator and needed to cook some of the chicken I had left over, I decided to cook another curry dish for my school luncheons…;-)

Better than a peanut butter sandwich, right!!?!:-)

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Ingredients for 4:

  • 1 tbsp of sesame or peanut oil
  • 1/2 container of the green curry paste or about 4 tbsp. 
  • 2 tbsp of brown sugar
  • 1 can of coconut milk
  • 2 chicken breasts cleaned, and diced in small cubes
  • 1-2 bags of fresh baby spinach
  • 1 cup of carrot matches
  • 1/ 2 red pepper diced very small
  • 1/2 yellow or orange pepper diced very small as well. 
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 4 cups of cooked rice
  1. In a large date pan, warm up the oil and sauté the chicken on all sides. season with salt and pepper.
  2. Remove the chicken from the sauté pan and set aside.
  3. In the same sauté pan, stir in the curry paste.
  4. Pour in the coconut milk, the brown sugar and stir. Bring the mixture to boil.
  5. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes.
  6. Them add the peppers, carrots and spinach and bring the mixture to boil again.
  7. Stir , reduce the temperature and cook do 5 minutes.
  8. When ready spoon some rice ( or not) and spoon the mixture over the rice.
  9. Enjoy!!!

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Bon appetit and Happy Cooking!!!!

Creamed Spinach

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Filed under Recipe with Demarle Cookware, stainless steel cookware, vegetables, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

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Yesterday evening, I invited my brother-in-law and his family for dinner to exchange Christmas presents. Yes, isn’t it sad that even though we live in the same city, we could not meet until this weekend to meet?!?! But they left before the holidays, and we left out of town for a few days ourselves right after the holidays, therefore we could not meet until yesterday.

For dinner I prepared one of my daughter’s favorite dinner:

  • Cabernet Beef and Veal Meatballs
  • Truffle Mashed Potatoes
  • Creamed Spinach
  • Steamed Brusell Sprouts and
  • Chocolate Eclairs
  • Raspberry Macarons

This evening I will share with you a recipe of creamed spinach ( serves 4-6):

  • 1 box of frozen spinach leaves 
  • 1 tbsp of butter
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 cup of heavy cream or skim milk ( if you wish to make it healthier)
  • 1 tbsp of all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup of parmesan ( optional)
  • 1/16 tsp. nutmeg
  • salt
  • pepper
  1. Place the frozen spinach in the round mold, place the octogonal silpat on top of the round mold, and microwave for 5 minutes.
  2. Drain the spinach of the water using the colander and pushing with a spoon to remove as much water as you can. Set aside.
  3. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan and when the butter is sizzling, add the chopped garlic. Saute for a few minutes.
  4. Add the spinach and saute them quickly ( 1 minute) to dry them up a bit more.
  5. Then add the flour and mix well.
  6. Add the cream, or the milk or the skim milk and bring to boil.
  7. When the mixture comes to boil, lower the temperature to low.
  8. Add the parmesan, 1/16 tsp of pepper, 1/16 to 1/8 tsp of nutmeg and mix well.
  9. Cook for a few minutes. Add salt if necessary.

Et voila!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Grown-Up Chicken a la Creme

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Filed under entree, meat, poultry, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, stainless steel cookware, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

The recipe of the cream chicken is really good and like my children, it used to be my favorite growing up. But as I took a bite I also thought it could taste better with the addition of a few other ingredients such as red bell pepper, sun-dried tomatoes…..So here it is;-)

Ingredients for 4: 12-16 chicken tenderloins, 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 whole bell pepper roasted and peeled and sliced in very small strips, 2 tbsp of sun-dried tomatoes ( kept in olive oil), 1 tbsp of fresh chopped basil, 1 cup of fresh spinach, salt and pepper.

In a large frying pan, melt the butter and when the butter is sizzling, add the chicken. Saute the chicken for a few minutes on each side ( 1-2 minutes). Season with salt and pepper ( 1/8 tsp of salt, 1/16 tsp of pepper) and remove the chicken from the pan. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and the bell pepper and saute them on a medium heat. Add the cream, and the spinach and bring to boil. Add salt ( 1/8 tsp) and pepper ( 1/16) and stir well. Add the chicken for a few minutes, just enough to cook the chicken through. To serve the chicken, place the tenderloins on the plate and spoon a bit of the sauce over the chicken. Eat with rice or pasta. C’est tout!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!