Crispy Artichoke Roulade--A Wine Party Snack

After months of sabotaging me, my laptop caught on fire last week. Apparently, two years too late I have learned that it is a common problem with that model to the point that the company even sells the wire that usually breaks down. (I do not know why they just don't fix the problem themselves). If you think about buying a laptop for yourself or as a Xmas gift for someone you like or love, I have to warn you that it was a Toshiba, and my disappointment can be reversed only if they offer me a new laptop, which I don't think is going to happen.

As a result of that accident I have been incapacitated for a few days and I feel completely uninspired and powerless, because I have never realized how my creativity, inspiration, and everything else was facilitated by that small gadget. I hate the other big fancy computer I have to use now, and can't wait to find out if my little laptop is fixable. Meanwhile, I am just struggling to write anything, in particular something revealing. But since I was at a big party last night, and there are a few more ahead, maybe another party idea would be useful, especially with the New Year festivities approaching.

This is one of those simple snacks that do not take much but make a huge difference, especially if peanuts or a bag of chips are the alternative. I made some shortcuts while preparing it, which is buying puff pastry instead of making it myself (uncharacteristically, the one I bought was as good as a home-made one) and using easily available and canned ingredients. This recipe can be an inspiration for trying different fillings that you have handy, such as sun-dried tomatoes or mushrooms.

Artichoke Roulade

Ingredients:
1 pack of puff pastry (two sheets), thawed,
1 can artichoke hearts,
1 bag baby spinach, about 6 oz,
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese,
2 tbsp butter,
1 egg,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Heat the butter in a medium skillet and fry the onion in it for about 3 minutes, or until soft.
3. Add spinach to the onion and let it cook until it softens and releases water; let the water evaporate and continue to cook until the leaves become dark green.
4. Take the skillet from the heat, cool, and add chopped artichokes.
5. Add Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper.
6. Unfold sheets of pastry and top each with a half of the filling.

7. Roll up each piece and brush with beaten egg.

8.Cut the pastry diagonally and place it on a greased baking tin, one inch apart. Bake for 15-20 min, or until gold.

Serve as a snack while still warm,or cold.

Cabbage Sautéed with Prunes--And Let's Go Shopping

December is not the month when we cook the most. It is the month when we shop. Actually, I think that until last days before Christmas we cook less than ever. My local Giant food store is not yet busier than usual, but my huge local shopping mall is crowded at any hour. We shop, but we do not shop for food, at least until next week. We shop for gifts, we shop for ourselves, we shop for parties. So who has the time to cook? These days, not even me.

Tomorrow, I going to a big Christmas party, and others will be cooking. For me, this is going to be about a tufted black Marc Jacobs dress, red lipstick, and perfumes. So, before the compulsive Christmas cooking starts, I decided to take a break and just use whatever is left in my refrigerator. I found there a half of cabbage, which has been there probably since October, but cabbage preserves well. This is why it has been such a popular vegetable during harsh winters in Poland.

At the bottom drawer of my refrigerator I also found an onion--which always goes well with cabbage--and a bag of Californian prunes. All those ingredients brought back the memory of a dish that I cooked years ago in Poland--cabbage with prunes. Today, I would think that this recipe had its roots in the Asian cuisine, but being such avid cabbage lovers, maybe we invented it ourselves, to bring a new flair to the old vegetable. It is an easy, fast, and I would say quite interesting dish. It can be eaten alone or as an accompaniment to meats. Whatever you decide, unlike many other cabbage dishes, it does not take long to prepare it, which is particularly important during these busy days.

Cabbage Sautéed with Prunes

Ingredients:
1/2 medium cabbage,
1 medium onion,
1 tbsp grated ginger,
3 tbsp soy sauce,
1 tbsp white vinegar,
1/2 cup prunes,
3 tbsp vegetable oil,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Cut the cabbage into thin slices, salt it, and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and, when the oil is hot, add ginger. Fry together for 2-3 minutes.
3. Cut the onion in half-moon slices, add it to the saucepan, and fry until transparent.
4. Add cabbage and saute it for 8-10 minutes, until it is soft.
5. Season with vinegar--you may add a little bit more if you like it on the sour side, soy sauce, and salt and pepper.
6. Cut the prunes into thin slices, add to the cabbage, and cook together for another 5-8 minutes.

This dish, as almost all cabbage dishes, tastes even better on a next day.

Onion Tart with Gruyère--A Guilty Pleasure

Among all the ingredients that one can imagine to make tarts with, onions or mushrooms seem most appropriate for this season. I often bake tarts using seasonal vegetables, but when the weather is cold like this, an onion tart often comes first to my mind. And I really mean a tart not a quiche.

Wherein does the difference lie? First of fall, the crust. A quiche is most often made on a puff pastry crust, while a tart is made on a short pastry crust. Second, how many eggs are used to make the filling. A typical quiche uses a lot of them and, in a quiche, eggs often dominate the taste of other ingredients. But when you make a tart, you can almost do without the eggs. Once I clarified that distinction for myself, I realized that I belonged among the tart, not quiche, lovers. I ate many quiches when I lived in Switzerland, but ever since I tried tarts that are made of pâte sablée or shortcrust, I fell for them deeply.

Recently, I have been experimenting with different tart crusts, and some of them turned out to be very interesting. I will eventually share some of these results. The crust I used today, however, is the most classical and pure, and all the character of the tart is in its rich onion topping.

I got the basic recipe for this tart from my French friend. She made her tart using pâte sablée and did not put any eggs in the onion mixture, which got me very intrigued. The richness of the filling was coming from the heavy whipping cream and cheese. That tart was delicious, although the presentation suffered a bit from the absence of eggs, which would help to lift and tie all the ingredients together. For that reason in my version of that tart I use one egg, which is barely detectable, but makes the topping look smooth and creamy.

Another secret which makes it exceptionally good is the cheese. Nothing can replace Gruyère with its sharp taste and strong flavor. The combination of the sweet onion and Gruyère makes this tart whole. I like to add a little bit of fresh thyme to the topping, but I did not have it handy this time. I suggest to use fresh thyme as it has a milder taste than when it is dry. There is not really any way to make this tart to be a diet meal, but since I already used an egg I decided to replace the heavy whipping cream with the regular table cream to cut down on a few calories, but even with that little replacement, this is not a light dish. But, after all, what is wrong with offering yourself a piece of comfort food with a glass of wine and a bowl of salad on a cold December day?

Onion Tart with Gruyère

The crust (for a 10" baking pan)

Ingredients:
2 cups of flour,
1 stick butter,
3 tbsp shortening,
1 tsp salt,
3-4 tbsp ice cold water.

Preparation:
1. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and working with your fingers create a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Add cold water at the end and stir the mixture until it starts to stick together.
3. Collect the dough until it forms a smooth ball.
4. Wrap the dough in a plastic foil and chill in a refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes.
5. Take the dough out and put it on a work surface dusted slightly with flour.
6. Sprinkle a rolling pin with flour and use it to roll the dough to the size of the pan, plus the height of the edges.
7. Preheat the oven to 375F and bake the crust for about 15 minutes, or until the bottom is slightly gold.

Onion topping:

Ingredients:
3-4 medium, regular (not sweet) onions,
1 large egg or 2 smaller eggs,
1 cup grated Gruyère cheese,
1/2 cup table cream (if you are not scared of calories you can use heavy whipping cream),
1 tsp salt,
freshly ground pepper,
1 tsp fresh thyme,
3 tbsp olive oil.

Preparation:
1. Peel the onion and cut it in half and into thin slices (half-moons).
2. Heat the oil and fry onion for about 5 minutes, until it becomes transparent. Cool it down.
3. Mix together egg, salt, and cream and pour the mix over the onion.
4. Add Gruyère and thyme. Mix gently and pour over the pre-baked crust.
5. Bake for another 40-45 minutes until the top becomes gold.
Serve with green salads.