Spinach Artichoke Souffle

Our hands-down favorite breakfast item to get at Panera is their Spinach Artichoke soufflé. Though it has both spinach and artichoke and lots of protein from eggs, it is not necessarily the healthiest breakfast choice Panera offers - it has roughly 25% of a day’s worth of calories and 33g of fat - but oh boy, is it tasty! Since we usually end up indulging in one just about every weekend, I figured I ought to try making it at home - hopefully helping both our waistlines and our wallets!

Ingredients: (makes 4 soufflés)

4 large eggs

¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

2 TBSP reduced fat sour cream or Greek yogurt (I used yogurt)

½ tsp baking powder

Salt to taste

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup frozen spinach, thawed (can use fresh chopped, packed)

2 artichoke hearts, chopped

1 TBSP chopped red bell pepper (I didn’t have bell pepper, but I did have pimentos, so I tried those instead)

~4 TBSP additional shredded Parmesan cheese for topping

1 frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed (I used Phyllo dough, it came in a box with 2 large rolls - I ended up using about half of one roll)

Heat oven to 400F.

In a bowl, beat 3 eggs. Add yogurt (or sour cream), baking powder, salt, garlic, bell pepper (or pimentos), and ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, and mix well. Add spinach and artichoke and stir to combine.

In a small bowl, beat remaining egg. Roll out pastry on parchment paper or Aluminum foil and cut into 2 squares/rectangles about 3-4 inches on one side (this ended up being about half of one roll of the Phyllo dough).

Each square will have about 20+ sheets - separate them into stacks of about 10 each, to end up with 4 squares/rectangles of pastry with about 10 sheets in each stack. With each square, gently separate the layers of pastry one at a time to brush with the egg wash. (Note: you can also do the egg wash first before cutting the sheet into squares.)

Carefully lift each pastry square and lay in soufflé cups or baking pan. Spoon 3-4 TBSP of the spinach artichoke mixture into each cup and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Fold the pastry corners over top of the egg mixture and brush the tips with extra egg wash.

Bake 20-25 minutes, until pastry turns golden brown. Let cool 5-10 minutes before removing from pan.

Dig in and enjoy the Panera-style deliciousness!

~ Karla

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Egg Stuffed Paratha

Stuffed parathas are a very common dish in Indian cooking. The fillings range from vegetables such as potatoes, cabbage, to cheese, paneer etc. It’s basically thin bread stuffed with deliciousness, so the possibilities are endless! One of my favorites is egg stuffed paratha. This version of the paratha does not involve filling the dough before rolling. Instead, you roll out the dough very thin and then add the raw egg mixture onto it as the paratha cooks, and then fold the edges over to hold the egg mixture inside. I know it sounds very tricky! My mom has been making it for us for years but I only recently garnered the courage to try making it myself. I have to say my dough wasn’t rolled out as thin as hers, so the dough-to-filling ratio ended up being a little higher, but it was delicious nonetheless.

This paratha is best made on a concave pan, so that the egg mixture can stay in place without spreading outside the paratha. Since I didn’t have a pan like that, I decided to make it in a fairly small flat bottom pan so that the sides of the pan could help contain the filling.

Ingredients:

Chapati dough

Whole wheat flour

Oil (optional)

Warm water

Salt

Filling (enough for 2 parathas)

1 large egg

1-2 Tbsp chopped onion

½ Roma tomato, chopped

1 Tbsp chopped green bell pepper

1 tsp chopped cilantro or parsley

Minced green chilies (to taste)

Salt (to taste)

Any other spices/herbs that you enjoy in your omelettes

Make the chapati dough by mixing wheat flour and salt to taste. Add a little bit of oil (if using) and mix. Knead with enough water to get a soft (but not sticky) dough. Alternatively, you can skip the oil mixed in with the flour and put some oil on your palms as you knead.

There are several good tutorials for chapati/roti making online if you’ve never made the dough or the chapatis before. This is a good one from Aayi’s recipes.

Prepare the filling by whisking the egg and mixing in all the other ingredients. If you prefer, you could saute the onions first.

Make a small ball (~2” diameter) of the dough and using a rolling pin, roll it thin into a somewhat square-ish shape. If you have a flat bottom pan like me, it’s best to have the chapati size larger than the pan size, so that the filling won’t spread outside.

Heat a couple drops of oil in a pan over medium heat, gently transfer the chapati to the pan. Add half of the filling in the center and move the pan around to spread it a little. Bring in opposite corners and try to seal them with some of the egg mixture using a spatula. Once they seem somewhat secured, bring together the other two corners and do the same.

After the bottom is cooked completely and has some nice golden brown spots, flip the paratha over and cook on the other side. There might be some egg mixture leaking out if it is still too raw, but it tastes great so that shouldn’t be a problem!. Take the paratha out once both sides are cooked and the egg mixture feels like it is cooked - a good way to check is to press down gently with the spatula, and a perfectly cooked omelette inside the paratha will seem puffy and spring back.

Serve hot with ketchup or your favorite chutney.

~Gayatri

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Egg stuffed paratha - a perfect breakfast paratha!http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2016/02/egg-stuffed-paratha.html

Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Wednesday, February 10, 2016