Greekster

Yesterday was Greek Easter. Usually, our celebration is straight out of My Big Fat Greek Wedding- lamb on the spit and a huge, loud family. This year, the weather was not on our side and we got rained out of our backyard celebration at my brother's house. With the help of Amy Sedaris' fabulous cookbook and a big bottle of red, I threw together a last minute Greekster celebration for my dad, mom and myself at home.

I Like You: Hospitality Under The Influence is comedian Amy Sedaris' guide to entertaining. You've probably seen her most recently as the high-strung Mimi Kanasis on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. She is ridiculous and hysterical. I purchased this book 9 years ago when I was a freshman in college and working at Urban Outfitters solely because it was pretty and I liked the title. This has surprisingly turned out to be one of my most utilized cookbooks, to the point that the pages are falling out. Everything I've made from this book is amazing, and there are some great recipes for traditional Greek cooking.

Below are my adapted versions of Amy's Spanakopita (Spinach Pie) and Pastitsio (Greek Lasagna), as well as my recipe for Roast Rosemary Pork Tenderloin. I know what you're thinking- isn't the line "It's okay, I make lamb?" My parents are not huge fans, so I substituted for our impromptu celebration. Opa!

Spanakopita

Adapted from I Like You: Hospitality Under The Influence by Amy Sedaris

Ingredients:

-5 eggs

-30 oz of frozen chopped spinach defrosted and drained

-8 oz cream cheese, softened

-10 oz. feta cheese, cubed or crumbled

-8 oz. small curd cottage cheese

-2 sticks of unsalted butter

-Olive Oil

-1 tsp salt

-2 bunches of green onions, chopped

-1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

-2 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped

-1 roll of frozen phyllo pastry dough, thawed

Directions:

1. Place defrosted chopped spinach in a strainer with small pores. Press spinach to ring out water, continuously lifting to let the water drain out the bottom. WARNING- You will have spinach all over your hands and it will get everywhere.

2. Heat 3 tbsp of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add green onions and sauté until soft. Let cool.

3. In a stand mixer, beat the eggs until fluffy. Add everything except the phyllo, just until mixed.

4. Melt the remaining butter. Using a pastry brush (I recommend the silicon kind as they're easy to clean) butter a 9x13 pan. Line the bottom with half of one roll of phyllo dough, brushing butter between each layer. They come 2 rolls in a box. Only use one, or you'll want to kill yourself. Phyllo dough is a bitch.

5. Add spinach filling and spread evenly. Top with any extra feta you have left. Place the remaining phyllo on top, again buttering in between each sheet.

6. For easy serving, precut the spanakopita. You can keep it in the freezer until ready to bake. Alternatively, you can prep the spinach filling and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator overnight.

7. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes-1 hour. The top should be brown, crispy, and flaky. If it gets to brown, cover with foil.

Pastitsio

Adapted from I Like You: Hospitality Under The Influence by Amy Sedaris

Ingredients:

-1 Bag of Greek Pastitsio Noodles (long tubes) can be found in Greek specialty stores or here. If you can't find them/are so excited you need to make this right now, a 1 lb. box of ziti macaroni will do.

-5 tbsp plus 1/3 cup of butter

-3/4 cup of parmesan cheese

-Salt and Pepper

-4 eggs

-1.5 lb of ground beef

-1 onion, chopped

-1 garlic clove, crushed

-3 tbsp olive oil

-1 small can of tomato paste

-1/2 cup of red wine (plus more for drinking)

-1/2 can beef broth or stock

-2 tbsp fresh parsley

-1/2 tsp sugar

-1/2 cup all-purpose flour

-3 cups of milk

-Nutmeg

Directions:

1. In a large pot, boil and drain the pasta and return it to pot. Melt 5 tbsp of butter, pour over the noodles and toss. Add 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese, 1/4 tsp of nutmeg (I use whole nutmeg and grate with a microplane for more flavor), salt and pepper to taste. Toss again and set aside. Let it cool before adding 3 lightly beaten eggs. Toss well.

2. To make the meat sauce, brown ground beef in a frying pan until almost fully cooked. Drain off the fat and set meat aside. In the same skillet, cook onion and garlic in 3 tbsp of olive oil until soft. Add meat, tomato paste, red wine, beef stock, parsley, sugar, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. If it looks dry, add more stock.

3. To make the creamy bechamel sauce, melt 1/3 cup of butter in a sauce pan. Whisk in flour and cook until smooth. Ad milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper. Let it cool, then stir in 1 beaten egg.

4. Add 1/2 a cup of bechamel cream sauce to the meat sauce and mix.

5. Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Spoon half of your macaroni evenly on the bottom, then top with the meat sauce. Spread evenly. Cover that layer with the remaining macaroni. Pour cream sauce on top and spread. Sprinkle the remaining parmesan cheese on top and bake until golden brown on top, about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Let set 10 minutes before serving.

Roast Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

-2 pack of pork tenderloin

-Salt

-Pepper

-Dried Rosemary

Directions:

1. Evenly coat tenderloins with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with as little or as much dried rosemary as desired. I use about 1.5 tbsp for each tenderloin.

2. Place tenderloins in a 9x13 baking dish. Cook at 350 degrees for about an hour.

3. Remove from oven and cover with aluminum foil. Let sit 5-10 minutes so juices can soak back in. Slice and serve.