Recipe Swapping
Hi. I know I haven't commented back to any of you on my last post, but I wanted you all to know how much I love you guys. Seriously, everything you wrote and everything you sent was amazing and supportive and I don't know what I'd do without you all. I hope I never have to find out. *giant hugs to my beautiful flist*
And a special hug to iichristinll for dragging me out this weekend and letting me talk and talk and talk (I'm like a child that doesn't shut up) and just having a generally awesome time. Seriously, it was so much fun!
Now, because I feel like I need some happy-making posts going on, but I still don't really have much good to talk about, I'm going to swap you a recipe. Well, give you one, anyway. :)
Anyway, this recipe originally started out as a pizza pocket recipe using pizza dough and pizza sauce for dipping and, yeah. In the 5 years since I've learned how to make it, however, I've changed nearly everything about it, except the sausage and cheese. LOL. So, if you want the original, original recipe, let me know. :)
SAUSAGE & CHEESE PINWHEELS
I wish I had remembered to take a better picture when they were all done, but eh... this is what you get. :)
Ingredient List
2-8oz packages sausage (pork or turkey is fine)
1 box frozen chopped spinach (or 1 cup fresh chopped spinach or 1 cup fresh, tightly packed arugula)
2-8oz boxes cream cheese (softened)
1 1/3 cups shredded Parmesan cheese (separated)
2 packages Pillsbury Crescent sheets
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
Dipping sauce of your choice
Serves: A party of about 6. But, if you're us, three of you can eat a double batch (that's what the above ingredients are for) in one sitting. We're that awesome, yeah.
[I got the moves like Jagger and pretty pictures, too.]
Di-rections
Alright, here's how you do this. Start by putting the olive oil in a good-sized sautee pan and set that sucker on medium-high.
Once it's heated (and you'll be able to tell, because if you pick up the pan and make the oil slide around it, it'll do it really easily), throw in the sausage.
This, my friends, is an arm workout and it is, quite literally, the most annoying part. Make sure you have a really good, sturdy, not-going-to-break-on-no-sausage wooden spoon and get to work on this puppy while it browns. You don't want like giant-sized pieces. Some big pieces are okay, but not a lot. It just makes spreading the mixture later a lot harder if there are a bunch of big pieces.
While that's browning and you're not standing over the top of it sweating and swearing at the pieces, start making the cheese mixture.
Dump both bricks of cream cheese in a large bowl (and I mean large - everything is going in here) and add 1-1 1/3 cups of Parmesan cheese in. Look, I know the ingredients say to split 1 1/3 cups of Parm, but I eyeball everything. If I think it looks good, I do it, recipe be damned.
Next, add in the spinach.
Tip: If you're using the frozen spinach, either thaw that shit ahead of time, or pop it in the microwave on defrost until it's mushy. After it's thawed (or mushy), dump all of it into a kitchen towel you don't care much about and squeeze the water out of it. It'll be like a little clump of green when it's all over, but you don't want all that moisture in there.
Do not mix up the stuff in the bowl yet! I mean, you can if you want, a little anyway, to bring out the cream cheese a bit, but for the most part, it works better if you don't. Yeah.
By now your sausage should be good and browned (and tiny). Remove it from the heat and wait approximately 5 minutes for it cool a bit (drain if need be). Then dump it on top of the mixture and cover the whole thing with a kitchen towel. Let it sit for, I dunno, 15-30 minutes, depending on what other stuff you have to do that day.
This is a good time for a lemonade break.
It's also a good time to preheat your oven to whatever the directions are on the side of your crescent sheets. I wanna says it's like 350F. Whatever. Do what Pillsbury tells you to do.
Once you've let it sit a while, and really you should let it sit until the sausage is cooled, now you can mix and mix and mix until your hearts content.
Next, make an egg wash with your egg - which is to say you break an egg into a bowl, add a splash of water, and beat that sucker with a fork. Then get one of the crescent sheets out of the fridge.
TIP: Leave the crescent sheets in the fridge until you're ready to use them. They are a bitch to roll and cut when they're warm.
Next, spread the crescent sheet out on the counter and stretch it with your fingers. You don't want it to thin, but they taste better when they're not too thick. Try not to use a rolling pin. It honestly makes them too thin that way, and they have a tendency to stick to the counter top.
Once the crescent sheet is spread out, you want to put a layer of the sausage and cheese mixture down. You can be pretty liberal with this, if you want. It's all a call on preference.
Make sure you leave enough on the end to wrap around to secure the roll and give it a good slather of the egg wash.
Once it's all rolled up, you can start cutting. Make each pinwheel about 1/2" thick. Or, to whatever looks good to you.
TIP: Try not to press down too hard on the roll. You don't want them to flatted out. A serrated knife works wonders. Don't try to rush it, either, or you'll press too hard and flatten them.
Put them all on a greased cookie sheet and then brush the egg wash over the top of them, followed by a nice dusting of Parmesan cheese. Put those puppies in the oven and let them do their thing from 13-15 minutes, or until they look pretty tasty and done.
Serve with your choice of dipping sauce - my favorite is a sun-dried tomato alfredo sauce. That shit is de-licious.
:)
ETA: I should mention that you'll likely have filling left over. This stuff is amazing to use as filling in an omelet. Sometimes I make these things just so I have omelet filling for later. So, yeah. There's that. :)
And a special hug to iichristinll for dragging me out this weekend and letting me talk and talk and talk (I'm like a child that doesn't shut up) and just having a generally awesome time. Seriously, it was so much fun!
Now, because I feel like I need some happy-making posts going on, but I still don't really have much good to talk about, I'm going to swap you a recipe. Well, give you one, anyway. :)
Anyway, this recipe originally started out as a pizza pocket recipe using pizza dough and pizza sauce for dipping and, yeah. In the 5 years since I've learned how to make it, however, I've changed nearly everything about it, except the sausage and cheese. LOL. So, if you want the original, original recipe, let me know. :)
SAUSAGE & CHEESE PINWHEELS
I wish I had remembered to take a better picture when they were all done, but eh... this is what you get. :)
Ingredient List
2-8oz packages sausage (pork or turkey is fine)
1 box frozen chopped spinach (or 1 cup fresh chopped spinach or 1 cup fresh, tightly packed arugula)
2-8oz boxes cream cheese (softened)
1 1/3 cups shredded Parmesan cheese (separated)
2 packages Pillsbury Crescent sheets
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
Dipping sauce of your choice
Serves: A party of about 6. But, if you're us, three of you can eat a double batch (that's what the above ingredients are for) in one sitting. We're that awesome, yeah.
[I got the moves like Jagger and pretty pictures, too.]
Di-rections
Alright, here's how you do this. Start by putting the olive oil in a good-sized sautee pan and set that sucker on medium-high.
Once it's heated (and you'll be able to tell, because if you pick up the pan and make the oil slide around it, it'll do it really easily), throw in the sausage.
This, my friends, is an arm workout and it is, quite literally, the most annoying part. Make sure you have a really good, sturdy, not-going-to-break-on-no-sausage wooden spoon and get to work on this puppy while it browns. You don't want like giant-sized pieces. Some big pieces are okay, but not a lot. It just makes spreading the mixture later a lot harder if there are a bunch of big pieces.
While that's browning and you're not standing over the top of it sweating and swearing at the pieces, start making the cheese mixture.
Dump both bricks of cream cheese in a large bowl (and I mean large - everything is going in here) and add 1-1 1/3 cups of Parmesan cheese in. Look, I know the ingredients say to split 1 1/3 cups of Parm, but I eyeball everything. If I think it looks good, I do it, recipe be damned.
Next, add in the spinach.
Tip: If you're using the frozen spinach, either thaw that shit ahead of time, or pop it in the microwave on defrost until it's mushy. After it's thawed (or mushy), dump all of it into a kitchen towel you don't care much about and squeeze the water out of it. It'll be like a little clump of green when it's all over, but you don't want all that moisture in there.
Do not mix up the stuff in the bowl yet! I mean, you can if you want, a little anyway, to bring out the cream cheese a bit, but for the most part, it works better if you don't. Yeah.
By now your sausage should be good and browned (and tiny). Remove it from the heat and wait approximately 5 minutes for it cool a bit (drain if need be). Then dump it on top of the mixture and cover the whole thing with a kitchen towel. Let it sit for, I dunno, 15-30 minutes, depending on what other stuff you have to do that day.
This is a good time for a lemonade break.
It's also a good time to preheat your oven to whatever the directions are on the side of your crescent sheets. I wanna says it's like 350F. Whatever. Do what Pillsbury tells you to do.
Once you've let it sit a while, and really you should let it sit until the sausage is cooled, now you can mix and mix and mix until your hearts content.
Next, make an egg wash with your egg - which is to say you break an egg into a bowl, add a splash of water, and beat that sucker with a fork. Then get one of the crescent sheets out of the fridge.
TIP: Leave the crescent sheets in the fridge until you're ready to use them. They are a bitch to roll and cut when they're warm.
Next, spread the crescent sheet out on the counter and stretch it with your fingers. You don't want it to thin, but they taste better when they're not too thick. Try not to use a rolling pin. It honestly makes them too thin that way, and they have a tendency to stick to the counter top.
Once the crescent sheet is spread out, you want to put a layer of the sausage and cheese mixture down. You can be pretty liberal with this, if you want. It's all a call on preference.
Make sure you leave enough on the end to wrap around to secure the roll and give it a good slather of the egg wash.
Once it's all rolled up, you can start cutting. Make each pinwheel about 1/2" thick. Or, to whatever looks good to you.
TIP: Try not to press down too hard on the roll. You don't want them to flatted out. A serrated knife works wonders. Don't try to rush it, either, or you'll press too hard and flatten them.
Put them all on a greased cookie sheet and then brush the egg wash over the top of them, followed by a nice dusting of Parmesan cheese. Put those puppies in the oven and let them do their thing from 13-15 minutes, or until they look pretty tasty and done.
Serve with your choice of dipping sauce - my favorite is a sun-dried tomato alfredo sauce. That shit is de-licious.
:)
ETA: I should mention that you'll likely have filling left over. This stuff is amazing to use as filling in an omelet. Sometimes I make these things just so I have omelet filling for later. So, yeah. There's that. :)