Christmas, Casseroles, Cooking

Merry Christmas! Due to the holiday falling on “going to press” day, this column is being written very shortly after last week’s piece. I’m sure next week’s will be due early, as well. Strange thing about New Years always following Christmas by exactly one week, huh? It’s kind of like my very-young-at-the-time niece being amazed that her birthday fell on the same day EVERY year.

The Courier is working on curing my strong tendency to procrastinate. It’s for my own good, really, that I have this push. I should officially thank them - but I won’t. Perhaps they think my gifts of caramel popcorn (one baggie for each staff member) last week was a thank you?

I made up another hot dish yesterday. Then I had to come up with a snazzy name for it. I’m going with this decidedly un-snazzy name:

Hamburger Quinoa

1 # hamburger

1 Tbl olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 small shallot, chopped

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1 Tbl Worcestershire

Salt & pepper to taste

1 1/2 tsp Better Than Bouillon

1/2 C raw quinoa

1/2 C plain Greek yogurt

1 1/2 C water

Saute onion and shallot in oil until translucent and fragrant. Turn out into a bowl. Brown meat in same pan. Season with liquid smoke, Worcestershire, and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat, stir onion and shallot back in. Stir in quinoa, along with the rest of the ingredients. Stir well to incorporate yogurt. Let simmer on low, covered, stirring occasionally, until it is cooked and liquid is reduced about 30-40 minutes.

You could sub in noodles or rice for the quinoa. If you aren’t bothered by dairy products, sour cream could be used in place of the yogurt. And you could use a beef bouillon cube. Have a salad or other greens (broccoli, green beans) on the side. I had sliced tomato and red pepper as my side. (Those balance out the dessert, don’t they?)

Now, on to the very unhealthy for you but, oh, so very tasty, mock baklava. I mentioned that last week, and my photo of it was featured then. It’s so rich you only need (I’m not sure it is necessary at all) a very small piece for a serving. I’m hard pressed to only have one small piece... This is half the recipe. Should you decide to double it, don’t double up on the lemon slices or the cinnamon stick. You should use phyllo dough instead of the puff pastry for official baklava, buttering each sheet, and layering the nut mixture in between every 10 sheets. I found that to be very slow going, as well as very messy. This is relatively easy.

Mock Baklava

1 pkg puff pastry, thawed

2 C walnuts, finely chopped

2 1/2 Tbl sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Dash ground cloves

3/4 C melted butter

1 C sugar

1/2 C water

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 C honey

4 thin slices lemon

1 (3”) cinnamon stick, broken

1 tsp vanilla

Combine walnuts, 2 1/2 Tbl sugar, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl. Set aside. Pour melted butter into a 10”x8” pan, then back out, making sure entire bottom and up the sides of the pan are coated. Butter both sides of one pastry sheet, place in pan. Sprinkle with nut mixture. Butter both sides of the other pastry sheet. Place on top of the nuts. Pour rest of the butter on top. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 300° and bake an additional 30 minutes. While this is baking, prepare the syrup. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, water, juice, honey, lemon slices, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce and simmer at least 10 minutes. (I let it simmer until the baklava was baked.) Remove lemon and cinnamon, stir in vanilla. Pour over hot pastry. Let cool. Store airtight.

You could use a 9”x13” pan, as I did, and try to stretch the pastry to fit. It won’t stretch far enough, and lots of your filling will go out the sides. That can be scooped up and added to the pieces. Or just eat it with a spoon. It still tastes great. I’m really glad I finally tried this idea I had a couple of years ago. That’s dedicated procrastination.