Green Market Quesadilla

Farmers Market season is back. Thank goodness. This time of year, there is an abundance of greens – young kale, chard, lettuces and cabbages – all so fresh and bright, they emit the aromas of spring’s sun and rain. You can taste the photosynthesis, they’re that fresh.

There are plenty of wonderful things to make with greens. Salads and sautés spring to mind. This quesadilla recipe is like baking them into a little present. Greens are sautéed beforehand to reduce their volume and remove some moisture.  Onion scapes add an additional layer of savory-sweetness, as well as texture.

I used Neighborly Farms Monterey Jack cheese and Grafton Cheddar, both from Vermont, but check your farmers market for local cheese artisans.

Green Market Quesadilla - serves 4 – 6

6 onion or garlic scapes, finely chopped
1 T olive oil
1 lb fresh young mixed greens – pepper greens, young kale, young chard, baby bok choy, etc
4 ounces Monterey Jack, grated
2 ounces Cheddar, grated
6 – 8 inch tortillas

Remove any tough stems from the greens. Loosely chop all greens. Combine the grated cheeses in a shallow dish.

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium. Add chopped scapes and sauté for 5 minutes until softened and bright green.

Add greens, cover and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Remove the cover and cook an additional 5 minutes, allowing excess moisture to evaporate off.

Preheat oven to 375.

Sauté scapes in olive oil for 3 min over medium heat. add greens and cook down until wilted and some moisture evaporates off – about 5 minutes.

To assemble each quesadilla, lay tortilla on a work surface and cover one half with a layer of cheese. Cover the cheese with greens.  Top the greens with more cheese. Fold the tortilla in half so that the bare side covers the stuff side.

Helpful hint: In order to evenly distribute the cheese and greens for each quesadilla, it helps to divide the cheese and greens into 6ths (see pic).

Arrange quesadillas on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Serve hot as an appetizer or main dish. Great to serve while watching the World Cup!

Ingredient origins: scapes and greens – Massachusetts; olive oil – Italy; Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses – Vermont; Tortillas -Rhode Island.

Sun-Dried Tomato Spread

I know, I know, I know. Sun-dried tomatoes are a un peu 1992, but I guess I’m a child of the 90’s. For years I really didn’t care for sun-dried tomatoes, so I missed out on it the first time around. They say your taste can change over time and in this case it certainly has. It’s hard to imagine not liking them now.

Goat cheese has a lovely tang and provides the perfect foil for the sweet sun-dried tomatoes. Olive oil lends a grassy flavor and creates a vehicle for cracker dippage.

This is a good spread to throw together for impromptu visitors, provided that you keep a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil on your refrigerator door and, like me, have a good goat cheese on hand at most times.

Sun-dried Tomato Spread – serves 4

4 oz. fresh goat cheese
5 – 7 pieces sun-dried tomato in olive oil, diced (about 4 T), + 1 T oil
2 – 3 T olive oil
a dash of finely ground sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Mash together using a fork.

Transfer to a pretty, pretty dish (as my mother says), using a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and get all the goodness.

Serve with a sliced baguette or crackers.

Ingredient origins: Goat cheese – Vermont; Sun-dried tomatoes – Turkey; Olive oil – Italy; Sea salt – Maine

Spanakopita

One of my favorite things to do for dinner is to make a few types of appetizers. It’s especially fun if you plan on having friends over to watch a movie or sporting event (a-hem) on television. My favorite appetizers tend to be flaky, savory treats. Dips and things are great, but there’s something decadent about having something that tastes like it came from a pastry shop.

These fit the bill nicely. Only a few ingredients will bring you a crisp, piquant treat. Briny feta brings out the tang of the steamed spinach and the buttery filo forms a smart wrapper.

Spanakopita - makes 28 pieces

1 stick of butter, melted
14 sheets of filo dough 14 x 18 inches
4 oz feta cheese, cut into small, 1/2 inch cubes and crumbled slightly
1/2 lb baby spinach

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Steam the spinach however you’d like. Transfer to a colander and press to remove excess liquid. Transfer to a cutting board and loosely chop. Allow to cool slightly before combining with the the feta.

Line a cutting board or work surface with plastic wrap. Place the 14 sheets of filo on top and cover with another sheet of plastic wrap. This device will be used to keep the filo from drying out as you work.

Place a piece of filo dough onto another cutting board or work surface and lightly paint it with butter using a pastry brush. Place another piece of filo on top of that one, pressing it slightly to create a little seal and paint that one with butter too.

Using a pizza wheel, cut the filo into 4 lengthwise strips (to make them even, I like to cut a line down the center and then cut lines down the two halves, but that’s just me. It’s your kitchen). Place a heaping teaspoon of the spinach mixture in a corner of each strip closest to you.

Fold the corner up into a triangle, then up again and so on, just as you would fold a flag back in your summer camp flag ceremony days. Just don’t laugh during the ceremony because the director can’t stand it.

Gather the little guys onto a baking sheet or two and bake for 20 minutes or so until golden brown.

Ingredient Origins: Butter – Maine; Organic filo dough – New Jersey; Organic feta – Wisconsin; Organic spinach – Maine

Mushroom Canapés

These are great little party nibbles and they’re really easy to make too, which is good because they tend to go fast. The shiitake mushrooms bring a good bit of mushroom flavor and the white mushrooms carry the rest – very civilized of them. As they bake, the pastry rises around the mushrooms, forming a shallow cup. The mascarpone acts as an adhesive as it melts, leaving behind the rich flavor of cream.

I normally like to make things from scratch, but puff pastry is the one exception. My only rule is to use puff pastry made from real butter, rather than hydrogenated soybean oil because you can really taste the difference. Puff pastry made with hydrogenated soybean oil has a waxy mouthfeel as opposed to butter based pastry which does not. Dufour is a good one, but I’m sure there are others around.

Mushroom Canap�s- yields 32 canapes

14 oz. natural butter-based puff pastry
1/4 C butter
1/2 lb white mushrooms, diced
1/4 lb shiitake mushrooms, diced
1/4 C sherry
4 ounces mascarpone cheese

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and sauté 10 – 15 minutes until mushrooms have softened, juices have been extracted and then evaporated off. Add sherry, reduce heat to medium and cook uncovered until the mushrooms turn a deep brown and most of the liquid is gone. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl and refrigerate.

Lay thawed puff pastry on a cutting board and roll out to about 8 x 16 inches. Using a pizza wheel, cut the pastry dough into two 8 inch squares and then into eight right triangles (see picture). Cut those triangles in half again, so that each piece is 4 inches on the longest side on the longest side.

Take mushrooms from the refrigerator, add mascarpone and mix to combine.

Working on a baking sheet, scoop one heaping teaspoon of the mushroom mixture onto the center of each triangle.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until puffed and lightly browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Ingredient origins: Pastry – New York, Mushrooms – Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, Butter – Maine, Mascarpone – Wisconsin, Sherry – California