In exactly 3 weeks time we will be hopping on a plane and heading to the United States for our much anticipated holiday. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am!!
While our itinerary is full of all the usual tourist must sees, I’ve dedicated some time working out which restaurants I want to visit while we are in San Francisco, Las Vegas and New York, as well as other foodie experiences to do in each city. Being a foodie, as far as I am concerned anyway, no holiday is complete without experiencing the food of the country you are visiting.
Having been a fan of Top Chef Masters, we are looking forward to visiting Susur Lee’s (who, by the way, we both feel deserved to win) Shang Restuarant while we are in New York. While there are a number of other foodie experiences I’ve added to our itinerary the one I am most excited about is visiting restaurant Daniel by Daniel Boulud. Not only because he is an amazing Michelin 3 star chef, who I’ve read and heard so much about, but also because he offers amazing vegetarian dishes on his menu. In fact there is a whole vegetarian menu! Quite often the vegetarian in a dining party draws the short straw and is limited to one or maybe two menu items to chose from, so the thought of having a whole menu of food from such an amazing chef to choose from is really exciting.
When you are planning a holiday do you plan part of it around restaurants you want to visit?
Now, from wonderfully sophisticated food from a Michelin 3 star chef to simple home cooked fare, and more particularly to my Mushroom, Spinach and Feta pie. This mushroom, spinach and feta pie is a really simple dish but a wonderful thing to serve should you have a dinner party where a vegetarian is attending.
I know quite often the thought of catering to a vegetarian diner can be confusing and daunting – thanks in no small part to my pet peeve of people who call themselves vegetarian and then eat fish or some other type of meat – but really it doesn’t need to be. It also doesn’t necessarily mean you have to cook a completely separate dish just for the vegetarian. This mushroom, spinach and feta pie is so full of flavour that I guarantee the meat eaters in the party will be satisfied (I should know, I tested it on my meat eater). However, if you want to, you could make the base for this pie and make a vegetarian one and then add some meat to the rest, if you so desire. It’s up to you.
Mushroom, Spinach and Feta Pie
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 2 small brown onions, peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup of white wine
- 600g of mushrooms
- 150g of spinach
- 60g of Danish feta
- 4 sheets of frozen low fat puff pastry, defrosted
- 1 egg, beaten
Notes:
I used a mix of button and portobello mushrooms. I also added a couple of pinches of truffle salt which added extra depth to the pies.
While I used low fat puff pastry, you can of course use regular frozen puff pastry.
Method:
- Place a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil and onions. Cook the onions until golden.
- Add the mushrooms, garlic and salt and pepper to taste, and cook until the mushrooms are softened before adding the white wine. Simmer in the wine for 10 minutes.
- Add the spinach and cook until wilted and set aside to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (355 Fahrenheit) and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof baking paper.
- Cut the pastry into quarters. Top one quarter with the mushroom mixture and crumble a quarter of the feta on top. Top with one of the pastry quarters and press to seal the edges. Repeat with the remaining pastry and mixture.
- Cut a small hole in the centre of the top of each pie and brush with beaten egg.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and puffed.
I was just telling my hubby that I desperately feel like eating a mushroom friand:-) and here I arrive looking at these gorgeous treat. I don't care for the meat. This is so good that I can almost taste it.
Awww.. I don't see Texas on the list:-(
Hi Soma :D unfortunately we don't have time to visit all the places we want to go to. :( We had hoped to at least have a stop pover in Texas on our way home, but in the end that wasn't to be.
This is even better than a spanakopita. Must try iy. Hubby would like it.
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Your pies look truly delectable! Have a lovely and relaxing trip!
Thanks Lisa!! :D
that looks really really yummy! I'm excited about your trip to america, can't wait to here about the restaurants!
Thanks Muppy :D I'll be sure to post as many photos as I can.
Oh wow, these look so good! I used to love the spinach and feta traingles you could get from bakeries when I was little, bt growing up they all started to taste pretty bland..I should definitely give home made ones a crack!
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These look so good! Have a wonderful vacation! All 3 of those cities have wonderful restaurants and of course lots of great things to see.
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Thanks Stephanie! :)
Wow what a well-planned trip ahead! Looks like I must ask for your itinerary when I do visit US :) The pie has such wonderful golden hue and crisp finishing! Drool~
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Thanks Min :D I will be more than happy to give you our itinerary if you want it. Are you planning on visiting the US soon?
This is a beauty ! I don't particularly plan my holiday around restaurants that I want to visit. I usually arrive in a city, and ask the locals what is good around the area, or start researching when I'm there. I can't wait to hear about your exciting trip too! Sounds like you're gonna have lotsa fun - a gastronomic holiday:)
It certainly will be a gastronomic holiday and a sightseeing holiday. I am so excited. I plan to share as many photos as possible, so watch out ;)
These look really good. I always keep puff pastry in the freezer for any pies that need to be made. I've never seen or heard of low fat puff pastry before. What's that all about? Less butter? No butter? Is there any taste or texture difference?
I sometimes plan meals when we go on holiday. Like when we were in Hong Kong recently, I was adamant that we would try a private kitchen dinner, but which private kitchen, I didn't really mind.
Usually though, it's specific dishes that I want to try in specific countries rather than specific restaurants. I prefer eating my favourite recipes in their country/place of origin. It's magic. Like trying Peking Duck in Beijing, eating Pho in Vietnam, green curry in Thailand etc. Culinary tourism. I like it.
Hi Bunny Eats Design, Thanks for visiting :)
This is the puff pastry I used http://www.pampas.com.au/products/products.php?ca... I don't notice any difference in this pastry compared to regular puff pastry.
I love trying recipes in their country of origin too, but I think with the United States I've seen and read about so many fantastic chefs I'm really interested in trying their food.
This sounds great, what a delicious vegetarian meal!
Thanks Maria :D
I can't say that I plan trips around restaurants - rather, scenery that I want to explore and take photos of :) On another note, I've always loved the mushroom, spinach and feta combination and make a dish very similar to this about once a month as it stores well in the freezer and makes for a quick meal when you're too tired to cook :)
All my vacations revolve around food, not necessarily restaurants, but any local food. That's what vacations are all about, scouring the city for the best things to eat! I know you guys are going to have a fantastic time, you've picked some great cities to visit.
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I agree Sylvie, vacations are all about finding the best local places to eat...and shop! ;)
Enjoy your vacation! I think you're going to see more sights and eat more place than this girl who's lived in the US her whole life. Enjoy!
Thanks Nicole. :D I'll be sharing as many photos of our trip as I can here, so you can live vicariously through our trip ;)
Have a fabulous holiday! Instead of plannign my trips around food, I plan them around shopping :) Pie looks great btw
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While I love the foodie aspect of a holiday I definitely love the shopping aspect as well. I've got a lot of shops listed that I want to visit New York. I can't wait! :D
You're going to have so much fun... wow dinning out in San Fran and NY!! Super Awesome!! These little pies look cooked to perfection, lovely golden puff pastry, yum!!
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A trip to the US sounds great! It's one of my dreams too, planned for next year! Have a lovely time there and enjoy your stay!
The recipe sounds pretty good too, I have omnivorous friends coming for a visit and I will cook it for them, hope they won't miss the meat with that delight in the plate. Thanks for the recipe! :)
Sounds so delicious! I love the US - we are off there in 3 weeks ourselves! Only Vegas and LA with a smattering of other places (Grand Canyon, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Tucson etc.). In Vegas, we like Bouchon but please steer clear of Bobby Flay at Caesers Palace. Ridiculously disappointing. I want to eat at a Mario Batali restaurant in Vegas this time - still to work out which one!
Looks delicious!
Can we use normal feta? And what can I use as an alternative to white white and can this be applied to all recipes?
Hi Nemo :D You can use normal feta, or even perhaps goats cheese. I like Danish Feta because of it's creamy consistency, and it tends to be less salty than regular feta.
Nice! I hadn't considered doing puff-pastry for my savory pies, but that looks fantastic!
I make a curried vegetable/feta cheese tart (which is fantastic), and I think the puff-pastry approach may be a winner - I'll try it next time!
http://www.naturallyradiant.info/site/curried-feta-tart/
These were delicious!
I'm so glad you enjoyed them :D I loved these little pies too and they are so easy to put together.