looooong post

okay seriously. tell me you would not want to open your lunch and see a little pastry with a freaking leaf on it.
how cute is that?? sometimes i just want to make two of me.

this recipe would probably make just under 2 cupcake trays, but i did one tray, some little stand-alone pocket pies (Canadian pocket pies), and made some traditional spanakopita triangles with defrosted phyllo dough (eaten before pictures could take photos).

Okay, I’m just going to tell you that this is a long post, and I’m going to give you detailed instructions to do some big-batch weekend cooking for your lunches.




also, let me tell you, i made this pocket pie dough after months of having it transposed on my computer. the good eats episode of pocket pies was very inspiring, however it took me until this week to actually get motivated enough to do it. I made the dough and rolled it out on one day, then went back and assembled on the second. it wasn't intentional, but it worked out better than if i just powered through and did everything in one day. it became very manageable. I used two recipes from the internet. One was the Good Eats pocket pie dough, and the other was the basic meat and tofu mixture. Feel free to refer to these instead of reading my yammering.


Let's talk about this dough, because it bears mentioning. i know that you have to grate frozen butter, but it goes no slower than grating cheese, and letting it sit in cold water actually helps you, so don't omit that step.
This dough is extremely user-friendly. it doesn't tear, it stretches out really thin without any problems, and really makes a great product. if you're getting antsy about working with (essentially) a cross between a pie and a pizza dough, have no fear! it's fail-safe and will not let you down. the result is the kind of dough you see in frozen chicken pot pies. i'm sure i could have gotten it flakier by throwing the cupcake tin in the fridge for 20 minutes before adding the spanakopita, but come on. they turned out great and i shouldn't tinker with Awesome.

now, a word about spanakopita. these little pies make a great filler for when you're trying to eat right and take some soup and a salad for lunch. You can just grab a couple out of the freezer that morning and by the time you’re ready to eat, they’re defrosted enough to throw in the microwave for 45 seconds, and they’re delicious with some sour cream or even Caesar dressing.
Also, throwing in one of these won't add a lot of fat or calories, and is LOADED with spinach, feta cheese, and the bread from the crust that, in reality, is not that fatty. i even added some leftover firm tofu (more on that later) that is completely perfect for this. it does not taste like you have tofu. everything else is savory and briny, that the tofu is nothing more than nutritious filler.
(sorry. i always feel like i have to give tofu credit where credit is due, because we haven't had the best working relationship. i have had horrible, disgusting things that someone swears you can't tell there's tofu in it, and then i feel all betrayed when i bite into it and the beginning tastes okay and then you have this sinking feeling that you have got to be polite and not spit it out loudly into their trash can. so i feel your pain. i PROMISE this tastes good.)


okay one more thing. a lot of the ingredients for the spanakopita cross over to the mini meatballs that i'm going to be posting on shortly. i'd recommend hammering out both these spanakopitas and the meatballs in one weekend, because two days of light work will yield enough for it to be worth it. i've split up the time over one prep night and one afternoon. Both days require at most two hours each. by splitting both things up, you're doing all of your chopping and prepping on one day and then you're basically assembling and cooking on the next. it's a good split, because to think of spending one day not only making the filling, but then doing something with it is very uninspiring.
and, if that little pep talk didn't work, i'm even going to make you a shopping list for both things.


this is a loose re-enactment of what i did:
overnight or when you come home from the grocery store
1. throw the spinach into a container and defrost in the fridge, get the butter in the freezer.

then, when you're ready to go:

1. defrost both packages of spinach in the microwave for 10 minutes or so, but maybe put them on a plate or something so spinach juice doesn’t leak out everywhere
2. follow the pocket pie dough recipe as follows:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt (big pinch. measuring isn't that necessary)
* 2 1/2 ounces of butter or about 6 tablespoons. i just approximated from the little measurements on the paper
* 3/4 cup milk
* 1 egg mixed with 1 to 2 teaspoons water for egg wash

3. combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.
4. grate the butter into a cereal bowl with water, then add the butter, draining the water through your fingertips, into the mixing bowl.
5. quickly grab a clump of the mixture and squish between your fingers and thumb, letting the flour scour away at the bits of butter. working relatively quickly (you want the butter to stay cold, not warm with your fingers), make sure the mixture resembles something relatively consistent
6. make a well and add the milk and stir together, making sure you're moving the flour from the bottom to the top.
7. when it has just come together, empty everything onto a work surface with some flour and knead 10-20 times.
8. roll out to about a 1/2 inch thick (i did a little thinner, maybe 1/3 inch), and, using some kind of round cookie cutter or a mug or glass, cut out some rounds, putting them on a big piece of parchment paper or saran wrap as you go. roll the scraps together and cut the remaining few rounds out
9. wrap them up and put them in a container and then in the fridge overnight.

fillings:
10. get out two containers, both of the spinach packets from the microwave, the tofu, feta, 2 onions, oregano, pork and turkey meat.
11. dice the onions and add them to a heated pan with oil with salt and pepper.
12. As they’re cooking, give the spinach and tofu a good drain. You’re going to use about a package and a half for both things, all told. When you’ve squeezed the spinach out as much as you think is possible, wrap your little clump in a paper towel and squeeze around to really get every last drop out. If you don’t, it’ll get a little soggy and just won’t be as good as it could be.
12b. Do sort of the same thing with the tofu… it’ll get squishy but should retain most of its shape while you’re wringing it out.
Then break your spinach clumps up with your fingers as you’re dropping them into your bowl. One full spinach package goes in the spanakopita bowl, and a third of the second package goes into the second, meatball bowl.
12c. add the crumbled feta to the spanakopita bowl and put 1/3 of the tofu packet into each bowl.
(You’ll have 2/3 of your spinach container and 1/3 of a container of tofu left over to do with as you wish… might I suggest spinach pancakes or scrambled eggs?)
13. add half of the cooked onions to both containers once they’re translucent and cooked-looking.
14. add 2 eggs to your spanakopita container, generously salt and pepper. Add 1 egg to your meatball bowl
15. add nutmeg, oregano, lemon zest and juice of ½ the lemon to the spanakopita bowl, and the parmesan cheese if you have it. Mix it all together and put in the fridge until tomorrow.

Second container: meatball mixture
16. Firstly, you should have the following common ingredients already in your bowl: onion, egg, tofu, spinach, salt and pepper. To this, add in 1 cup of breadcrumbs and then about 2 tablespoons or so of milk to let the breadcrumbs soften up. Mix everything together and throw in seasoning salt or anything else you want to in here. It’s not necessary, but some people are kind of picky about their homemade meat mixtures. Put in the fridge until tomorrow.



Day 2:
17. Take out the dough and two mixtures, break an egg into a small container, get out a pastry brush and some flour, spray a muffin tin with some Pam or brush with melted butter. Set all of this stuff up around you so that you can roll the dough out and set into the muffin tins as you work. Turn your oven to 350.
18. put a clean dishtowel over your stacks of dough rounds, and flour the surface you’re going to be working on. Roll out your first round, and when you’ve given it a couple of once-overs, lay it over a muffin mold and gently fit it in. if it fills the bottom, goes up the sides with a little extra dough, it’s a perfect size.
19. when you’ve filled your muffin pan up, start spooning in your mixture, making sure to drain away any liquid that may be sitting on the bottom of the bowl. I fill about 2/3 of the way up, but you can always do more.
20. fold the excess dough towards the middle, then brush on the beaten egg and cook for 20-30 minutes. I think mine ended up taking about 25. They should be a nice golden brown, no wimpy beiges here. Gently slide in a knife or spatula between the pastry and mold. I waited until they were cool and transferred to a freezer bag.

Meatballs:
21. heat a pan on medium heat ( I used nonstick) with some oil and get an ice cream scoop, spoon, or something else that you can use to measure little mini meatballs with so that you get a consistent size.
18. add in your ground meats and mix everything together, being careful to not squeeze everything into oblivion.
19. once your mixture is ready to go, carry it over to the heated pan and start making your meatballs, adding them into the pan as you make them. I cook about 10-12 at a time, but mine were only about 2 inches in diameter.
20. Once you’ve got them all in, cover with a lid and let cook for 4 or 5 minutes and then flip and cook without a lid for another few. It’s really hard to overcook these… the tofu keeps them moist. When they’re done cooking, transfer them to a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper or parchment paper, then quickly wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add a little more oil, and repeat. When you’re finished, transfer the pan into the freezer for a couple of hours. I separated them into Ziploc baggies with 8-10 meatballs each, enough for two lunches or one dinner.

I’ll make a post about some ideas for sauces in a bit!