Tag Archive for: tart

Pull-Apart Chicken Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don’t think anything could make me more excited right now.

This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.

You all know by now, how excited I get when I see spring starting to blossom. If I’d have to choose I’d say winter is my favorite season, but there’s something magical about early spring. The thing I love the most is to go out in the forest and pick fresh new wild foods. By now I’ve already picked the earlies small fragrant leaves of wild garlic and I’m waiting for more spring goodies to start growing.

I didn’t use wild garlic in the recipe, although it would fit in just perfectly.

Since we’re talking about wild food, I’d love to know your spring wild food favorites? 😀

This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.

Chicken Spanakopita

I love anything wrapped in phyllo dough or even making my own phyllo dough. Okay, I cheated with this one, I bought it 😉 But whenever I have time I make my own. It makes a huge difference. If you have the chance to find freshly made phyllo dough in your local food market, buy it. Your dishes will go from great to awesome.

I mean it!

Spanakopita is originally made without meat and in layers of phyllo dough. I added chicken for some extra flavor and to make my hubby happy 😀 I figured why not make it easier to serve and make it more like individual böreks. Imagine if börek and pie would have a baby, it would look like that! Wrapped in mini rolls and served without cutting.

The ingredients are pretty basic but delicious each on it’s own. For sure, spinach is the hero of the dish. And you can get amazing fresh baby spinach in spring in any food market. I like combining it with leeks, since it makes the food so incredibly sweet and fragrant. The combo with feta, chicken and nutmeg is so good.

This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now. This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.

To hold it all together, I made a ricotta, egg and cream mixture and poured it over the rolls. This also makes the pie dense and creamy in the bottom, but the top stays crunchy. So make sure you dont pour the mixture all the way to the top. 

It might no be a traditional spanakopita, but it is just as delicious and the main ingredients remain feta and spinach.

With some extra foodies 😉

This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.

These would be awesome at a picnic party or any party for that matter. They take a little time to assemble, but the cooking process is sooo simple. Since it is quite rich, you can actually feed up to about 8 people with it, if they are not huge hungry men 😉 or me!

This is by far my favorite spring pie and I’d serve it with spring strawberry layer cake in a glass following as dessert.

Picnic menu, done!

A glass of roasted peach and strawberry fizz to go along and you’re good to go 🙂

This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.
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Pull-Apart Chicken Spanakopita

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Chicken Spanakopita

  • 16 sheets phyllo dough
  • 300 g chicken breast 1cm cubes (or use leftover chicken)
  • 1 small leak cut into quarter lenghtwise and thinly sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
  • 500 g fresh spinach (or frozen and drained of excess water)
  • 200 g feta cheese crumbled
  • 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

Egg Mixture

  • 2 eggs
  • 60 g ricotta cheese
  • 60 ml whipping cream
  • a generous pinch of salt

Instructions

Egg mixture

  1. Mix all ingredients for egg mixture together with a fork or a whisk, to get a smooth creamy texture.

Filling

  1. In a preheated skillet roast chicken breast cubes with a tablespoon of olive oil for a minute or two until they get golden.

  2. Add leaks, garlic and spinach and cook uncovered for about a minute or until the spinach cooks down. I you're using baby spinach this will take a minute, older spinach takes two to three minutes. If there is any excess water in the skillet drain it before filling the pie otherwise it will get soggy.

  3. Remove from heat and add feta, nutmeg and black pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Assembly

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

  2. Line a 23 cm (9 inch) cake mold with baking paper.

  3. Lightly coat one pyhloo sheet with olive oil, cover with another phyllo sheet and coat with olive oil again. Over the long edge of the dough spread one eight of the filling about 4 cm wide. Roll the dough to get a long roll. Now roll this into a snail shape and place it in the cake mold. Repeat until you've used all the sheets. I like to start placing the rolls on the sides first and add the last one in the middles, since the last one usually has less or more filling than the others. This makes the pie look more even.

  4. Coat the tops with more olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.

  5. Remove from the oven and pour the egg mixture over the baked rolls.

  6. Return to the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.

  7. Remove form the oven and wait for 5 minutes before removing the rim. Be careful, it's still hot!

  8. Serve warm or cold.

This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.

Dried Fig Blood Orange Tart

One of the best flavor pairings – dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine’s day dessert – a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!

One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!

It’s almost Valentine’s day. 

Me and my husband don’t really celebrate it, but this year we made plans to have dinner with two our friends, so we’re having a double date. They are cooking the main dish, we are making dessert. And I think this pie is perfect for the occasion. Only change I’ll have to make is the crust, because my friend is gluten free. I’ve never made a gluten free chocolate tart crust before, so any suggestions are welcome 🙂 If I manage to do a nice one, maybe I’ll even add the recipe here.

One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!
One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!

First of all, I’m in love with the dried fig and orange combo. Blood orange or regular orange, both is super delish! I tried it for the first time in a smoothie. I was combinig these two just because I had nothing else to put in and it sounded like a great combination. Yes, yes, you’re missing a lot if you’re never tried those two together. I mean it! Go ahead, make this blood orange tart or simply take an orange and eat it next to a fig. How is it? Are you loving me right now? 😉

One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!
One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!

Okay, so I was thinking about what to make for Valentine’s day. I’ve shared a brownie recipe last year, this year I wanted something more fruity. Yesterday we celebrated the death of our greatest poet, which is also the biggest cultural holiday in Slovenia. We had a big celebration in the town where he lived, just a couple of kilometres from my village. Wow, way too many people, I had to hug my belly to protect it from the accidental bumps.

This poet liked to give out dried figs to the children. One of his nicknames was also Dr. Fig, for that reason. So I used figs as an insiration and added the oranges, because AGAIN they are perfect for each other 🙂 Of course I couldn’t go without just a tinsy bit of chocolate, so I not-so-secretly added some cocoa powder to the crust.

One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!
One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!

I’m absolutely in love with the color of the curd. I know, you’d expect a red color, especially if you look at the red juice from the orange, but the eggs and butter make it a more pale yellow to orange color. So it might look like an orange, not blood orange tart. The oranges I got were not red all the way through, if you try with oranges that have a completely red flesh you might get a slightly different result. But the eggs and butter will still make it pale. I think it’s such a romantic color, but I’m probably under pregnancy hormones influence 😛

One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!

Now let’s make a blood orange tart with dried fig jam and have the best Valentine’s day ever!

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!
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Dried Fig & Blood Orange Tart

Makes one 22 or 25 cm (9 or 10 inch) tart.

Course Dessert
Keyword blackberry pie, blood orange tart, fig tart, puff pastry tart
Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Chocolate Crust

  • 1⅓ cup all-purpose or wholegrain wheat flour (190g)
  • ½ cup icing sugar (55g)
  • ¼ cup cocoa powder (25g)
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 140 g cold butter cubed

Dried Fig Jam

  • ⅔ cup dried figs hard stem removed and quartered
  • 1 cup 100% apple juice

Blood Ornage Curd

  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • ¾ cup blood orange juice freshly squeezed
  • ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
  • zest of one big orange
  • 150 g room temperature butter cubed

Instructions

Chocolate Crust:

  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C

  2. In a food processor, mix toghether dry ingredients. Add butter and pulse about 10-15 times to get dry crumbs. Add the egg and pulse just unil the dough starts to come together, but does not form a ball. Gently form a ball with your hands, no kneading is needed. Wrap into plastic foil and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

  3. After 30 minutes roll the dough into a circle of the diameter of your tart tin + two times the height of the sides. (My tin is 25 cm + 2,5 cm height, so I rolled it out to 30 cm). For easier rolling place a slightly wet teatowel on the counter, then baking paper over it, then the dough and another piece of baking paper. This way the dough doesn't stick to the rolling pin and the teatowel prevents the baking paper to slip. If you notice the dough is starting to stick to the baking paper, flour it lightly.

  4. Transfer the crust to a buttered tart tin, cut away the excess dough. Make a few holes in the bottom with a fork, cover with tin foil and place baking weights (I use old coins) over the foil.

  5. Bake for 20 minutes, then uncover and bake for 10 more minutes.

  6. Leave to cool in the tin, before taking out or you might break the crust.

Dried Fig Jam

  1. In a small sauce pan, soak dried figgs in apple juice for 15 minutes: After that bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a food processor or a blender and mix. I prefer the jam to still have small pieces of figs, but you can mix it all the way to a smooth jam. At first, the jam will look a little too runny, but will thicken while it cools.

Blood Orange Curd

  1. Place eggs, egg yolks, orange juice, orange zest and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl. Boil water in a sauce pan and place the bowl over it. Leave water so simmer on medium while whisking the egg mixture for 15-20 minutes or until it starts to thicken and it reaches 75°C (170°F).

  2. Remove the bowl from the sauce pan and whisk in butter, a few cubes at a time.

  3. Cover the bowl and leave to cool.

Assembly

  1. Spread fig jam over the cooled crust and pour over cooled blood orange curd.

  2. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 6 hours or better overnight.

Notes

The fig jam recipe is sightly adjusted from the Fig Butter recipe by Stephanie Cooks.

One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat!
One of the best flavor pairings - dried figs and orange in a perfect Valentine's day dessert - a decadent dried fig and blood orange tart. Simple chocolate tart crust is holding a dried fig jam and a zesty blood orange curd, which is decorated with tiny orange hearts. What a treat! Click to find the whole recipe or pin and save for later!

Roasted Tomato Galette with Olive Tapende

The sweetest most delicious tomato galette honoring the season of homegrown tomatoes.

The sweetest most delicious tomato galette honoring the season of homegrown tomatoes.

This is one of my favorite dishes in the entire world and I’m not exaggerating.

I’ve been making it for a couple of years now and I’ve perfected the recipe in the meantime.

The sweetest most delicious tomato galette honoring the season of homegrown tomatoes.

I’ve talked about my love of tomatoes a lot and roasting them like in the Simple Fish Slider with Roasted Garlic Sauce. The basic technique of roasting tomatoes is the same as in the slider recipe.

But for this beautiful galette we’re gonna roast them TWICE. Yep, that’s right. First roasting helps the tomatoes loose excess moiture and the second one brings all the components together and adds extra sweetness to the tomato galette.

Isn’t this awesome?

The sweetest most delicious tomato galette honoring the season of homegrown tomatoes.

You could easily use big tomatoes as well, but make sure, they loose most of their moisture after the first roasting, otherwise you’ll get a soggy crust.

And we don’t want that!

The crust should be flacy and crunchy, hence the pre-roasting. Important step – don’t leave it out!

The sweetest most delicious tomato galette honoring the season of homegrown tomatoes.

This tomato galette is filled with so many other ingredients that complement the tomato. 

Like olives, anchovies, fresh herbs like basil and olive oil.

All of those incredible ingredients in one dish 🙂 Perfection…

The sweetest most delicious tomato galette honoring the season of homegrown tomatoes.

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

Let’s roast some tomatoes!!!

The sweetest most delicious tomato galette honoring the season of homegrown tomatoes.
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ROASTED TOMATO GALETTE WITH OLIVE TAPENADE

Yields one 28-30 cm (11-12 inch) galette.
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Keyword blackberry pie, blood orange tart, tomato pie, tomato tart
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

CRUST

  • 1 1/4 cup wholegrain spelt or wheat flour
  • 60 ml ice-cold water refrigerated for a while
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 110 g ice-cold butter cubed

TAPENADE

  • 1 cup green olives pits removed
  • 5 dried tomatoes
  • 5 anchovies
  • 1 TBSP pine nuts
  • a handful parsley
  • a handful chives
  • a handful basil
  • olive oil

FILLING

  • 3 cups cherry tomatoes 600-800g
  • parmesan
  • 3 TBSP olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 egg
  • 1 TBSP cold water

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 190 °C

Crust

  1. Combine butter and flour in a food processor to get a dry mixture. Add salt and water and pulse until the dough starts to form a ball, but not any longer to not overheat the dough. Wrap it in plastic foil and store it in the fridge for an hour.

Roasted cherry tomatoes

  1. Halve the tomatoes, cover with olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss to spread the seasoning. Place cut-side up on a baking tray covered with baking paper and bake for about 30 minutes or until the tomatoes get a nice golden color and have lost a lot of their moisture.

Tapenade

  1. Chop parsley, chives, and basil into smaller chunks and place them in a food processor. Add olives, dried tomatoes, anchovies, pine nuts, and 4-5 TBSP olive oil. Pulse to get an almost smooth texture. Add more olive oil if necessary.

  2. Turn the oven up to 220 °C.

Galette

  1. Roll the dough to about 3mm thick circle. Spread the tapenade over the dough, but leave a clean 2-3cm edge. Cover with roasted tomatoes and fold the edges in over the tomatoes.

  2. In a small bowl beat an egg with a TBSP of cold water and spread thinly over the crust edges.
  3. Sprinkle the galette with some grated parmesan and a little pepper.
  4. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the crust is golden and crunchy.

Notes

Dough recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

The sweetest most delicious tomato galette honoring the season of homegrown tomatoes.