Pizza Puffs

Hello again, readers! It is still December 12 and I'm going to hit you with a recipe that I made for Nate and I last week but first I must fill you in on some less-than-cheerful news: this past Sunday, I woke up to find Raleigh under a thick blanket of fluffy white snow. It was beautiful, but as you're about to find out, I may never want to see snow again for a very long time.

While bundled up on the couch reading a book I noticed a large water spot beginning to form on the living room ceiling. Upon investigation, this water spot was the least of our worries because there was a large leak in our second bedroom/Nate's office/cat room that was saturating the carpet and quickly on track to ruin all our belongings. We moved all our stuff out of the path of destruction, which was lucky because less than 5 hours later our ceiling fell. Our spare bedroom is currently under construction and my mood is definitely not very Christmas-y. Truthfully I want to just cover my head with a blanket and sleep until everything's fixed. I haven't really been cooking, sleeping or thinking of anything other than the chaos of my home-life.

 

So let me take you back to last week, before my home was turned upside down, and give you the recipe for Pizza Puffs: my take on a Chicagoland classic.

Pizza Puff

Less-than-golden Pizza Puffs

1/3 box of phyllo dough sheets, thawed and cut into 8X10 inch sheets (you'll use 4 sheets per puff)
4 Tbsp salted butter, melted
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 Tbsp tomato paste
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
8-10 meatless meatballs, thawed and cut in half
2 C mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 C parmesan cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a sheet pan with foil. Set aside until use.

In a saucepan, saute onions in olive oil over medium heat until translucent. Add in the garlic and cook until fragrant. Spoon in the tomato paste and dump in the can of fire-roasted tomatoes (liquid and all). Stir to combine and let the mixture come to a boil. Season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Lower the heat and cover until you're ready to assemble.

Thaw the meatless balls and cut in half. Set aside.

Layering 3 sheets, butter the outer inch around each sheet using a basting brush. Spoon 1/2 C of sauce in the center of the square and smooth out as much as possible. Try not to overfill! Remember phyllo sheets are extremely delicate and will rip easily.

Top the sauce with 3 slices of halved meatlessball.

Sprinkle with 1/2 C of mozzarella cheese.

Fold the bottom half of the phyllo dough up toward the top. The goal is to have the top of the bottom portion of the dough in the center of the filling (super confusing I know, think fold "hamburger" style from when you were in elementary school). Brush the exposed dough with butter and repeat the fold with the top portion of the phyllo dough, again meeting the top in the middle of the filling. Brush with more butter.

Fold the sides in toward the middle of the filling to complete your pizza puff. Wrap this entire package in another sheet of phyllo dough, repeating the folding and buttering like before.

Place your newly formed puffs fold-side-down on your prepared baking sheet and top with *gasp* even more melted butter. This dish is equal parts decadent and comfort food.

Sprinkle the top of the puff with 1/4 C of shredded parmesan cheese.

Repeat with all remaining ingredients until you have 6 perfectly portioned Pizza Puffs (try saying that 5 times fast).

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until flaky and browned. You can tell from my picture we were not as patient and therefore our puffs did not achieve golden brown nirvana, still tasted delicious though! And please be careful as these little pockets will most likely have a temperature akin to the surface of the sun - remember, patience is a virtue!

Here's hoping my living situation quickly improves and I can get back to my holiday sprit-filled self in no time, for I fear I'm becoming a Scrooge.

Lindley Park Filling Station

Good morning, readers! Happy December 12 (that's a thing, right?) and welcome to my blog! December is rolling right along and I have a number of things to fill you in on so let's get crackin'!

The last weekend of November our dear friends Seth and Abbey began their 9-years-in-the-making life as a married couple! Nate and I were fortunate enough to attend the happy union. The wedding was held in Stokesdale, North Carolina and everyone was staying in nearby Greensboro. We left on Friday afternoon with our sights set on delicious food and wedding bliss.

Because it's me, I was not going to go to a new place and just eat anywhere, I wanted to plan! After some Googling, I discovered the Lindley Park Filling Station. This neighborhood eatery located at 2201 Walker Avenue, Greensboro, NC 27403 really packs a punch with their food and drink specials! We arrived just around 6:30 PM on Friday night and were the last people to be seated before the wait-time stretched into the 30-40 minute range.

 

 

Lindley Park Filling Station

Décor:  This space is narrow. We walked into the door and I had to take a double take to make sure we weren't entering through a side-entrance. You are immediately face-to-face with a 15-seat mirror-backed bar and surrounded by a few high-top and low-top tables. Handwritten specials boards hang on the walls. The restaurant also features a fenced-in outdoor seating area, however it was in the 30s and sitting outside was not very enticing.

Food appearance: food is served in metal trays lined with wax paper. Napkins are paper, utensils are silver and nothing looks fancy, but boy-oh-boy does it taste good.

Food taste: We began our culinary adventure with Fried Pickle Chips but these were no run-of-the-mill pickle chips, instead of being battered in a beer batter these were battered in cornmeal. I will say they had a great flavor and texture, but the cornmeal batter (similar to a fried green tomato batter) didn't adhere itself to the juicy pickle slices, thus leaving the diner with some lukewarm batter-less pickle chips. The Roasted Chili-Dill Aioli the chips were served alongside was a revelation! Perfect dip-able consistency, a little heat from the chili and a whole lot of cool from the dill. The sauce created the perfect bite if you were lucky enough to get a still-battered pickle chip.

Fried Pickle Chips with Chili-Dill Aioli

After much deliberation (really their whole menu sounded phenomenal), I settled on The Mayflower Sandwich. This hot sandwich has a great meatiness from a portabella mushroom cap, topped with provolone cheese, red peppers, basil aioli, sprouts and served on a pillowy potato roll. Everything about this sandwich was heaven. The flavors were so well balanced and the textures were interesting and complex. Basically, this sandwich was great and you need to order it now. I ordered a side of tater tots with ranch dressing because there's no better dynamic duo than potato and ranch. Come at me, I'll wait.

The Mayflower with Tater Tots

Nate ordered a burger of some variety. He can fill you in on those details.

After we had eaten our entrees and were wondering what our next move should be, we decided we absolutely had to get one of their desserts. We settled on their Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake, because peanut butter and chocolate is possibly the only rival to potato and ranch. The chocolate cake was moist and decadent and the peanut butter buttercream was fluffy and sweet. My only suggestion for this cake would be maybe add some mini chocolate chips between the layers of butter cream for a different texture.

Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Service: things are a little jarring here, I won't lie to you. We walked in, looked around like lost puppies for a few minutes and then were told to take a seat at the bar by one of the bartenders. We never had a specific server per se and in the chaos of the constant flow of people in the door we were occasionally overlooked for beverage refills and condiments but I never felt ignored or neglected.

Cleanliness: due to the high demand, tables were quickly cleaned and reset. The restrooms were clean and orderly.

I would absolutely recommend a trip to Lindley Park Filling Station if you're ever in the area! The food is good, the beer is cold and the desserts are decadent!

We spent the rest of the weekend celebrating Seth and Abbey and recovering from the celebrations.