“Lips that touch liquor shall not touch ours”
Spanakopita
Ask an Italian if spanakopita is Italian or Greek, and you might be treated to a long anecdote about the Roman empire and why the dish is, in fact, Italian. The rest of us will probably just agree that spanakopita, like its name, is Greek. Regardless, we recently made some slight modifications to an ancient family recipe, which, Greek or Italian, was pretty awesome.
Cue less than stellar picture and recipe below.
I swear to god the filo was golden. Anyway! Give it a shot, it is good:
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup butter
- 5 packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
- 1/2 cup feta
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon marjoram, minced
- 1 teaspoon dill, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 package filo, thawed
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Saute onion and garlic in butter just until tender. Combine all ingredients, except 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese and filo. Turn mixture into greased 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle top with reserved cheese. Top with 6 sheets filo. Spread olive oil or butter between each sheet. Bake 60 minutes.
Makes 12 servings.
Northern Lights Crystal Bitter
One of life’s simpler pleasures during these cold months is sampling the many seasonal brews, and few serve up a better one than our very own Northern Lights. With that said, this might also the season to enjoy the brewery’s standby, the Crystal Bitter, which will warm up even the coldest soul during these dark evenings.
Reminiscent of a British bitter in many ways (the label hints that German and American brewing techniques were also involved in production), the Crystal Bitter has a lovely deep, amber-ish brown color, and a fairly gentle hop aroma. Tasting reveals a crisp, sweet, malty flavor, which leaves a slightly dry aftertaste. The hops are front and center, but not in an overpowering manner a la Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA. In other words, there’s a nice complex flavor to be found here, one that I imagine would go well with some fish and chips.
Crystal Bitter might be the easiest Northern Lights beer to track down, be it at bars or in the store. Pick up a bottle, or get a growler from the brewery—it will guaranteed give you an entertaining night.
Three worstest beer
If not “getting” macrobrews makes me a snob, then I am fine with that. But I do understand that there are times when you have to let your Better Taster qualities go; when you have to dive into colorless, odorless beers. Here’s a recent beer trifecta I recently went through, just so you don’t have to:
Worst: Icehouse
When I was just a wee lad, I often enjoyed an Icehouse. Hey, I’ll admit it, we all make mistakes. Even I! Icehouse is an ice lager—read this if you need information abut the gimmick known as iced beers—brewed by Miller. It has a hint of flavor and nose to it, and if you close your eyes really hard and concentrate intensely, you might just feel like you’re drinking a beer.
Worster: Coors Light
We’ve all been there: You find yourself at some less than awesome concert and you just want to numb yourself down to being indifference. What do you drink? No, not PBR, that’s just sad. A pitcher of Coors Light, however, is… Well, it’s not good, it’s pretty awful, but in terms of a bottom of the pack standby, it will have to do. Get a pitcher and tune out the band you don’t care about anyway.
Worstest: Busch Light
See those pictures above? That’s me, drinking Busch Light for the first time. Do I look happy? No, no I don’t. Busch Light is awful. Don’t drink Busch Light. I have never tasted cat urine, but I imagine Busch Light being close to par with it.