Cooking for Friends

Two of my friends were having a small party last night and they are not cooks.  I had some ingredients I needed to use up so I offered to make them some food.  I made a brioche braid with a garlic compound butter and a Greek spanakopita.

I made a tiramisu for dessert. They had a French/Italian/Greek dinner.

 The spanakopita is so easy to make.  I used some of the fresh eggs I bought the other day along with feta, parmesan and fresh dill.

 And mixed it with lots of freshly cooked spinach.

The first sheets of phyllo are layered and brushed with butter.

 The spinach mixture is spread over the top.

 More phyllo layers and then scored and baked.

You can find a step by step here:   http://octoberfarm.blogspot.com/2014/11/spanankopita-greek-spinach-pie.html 

I always serve this with lemon wedges to squeeze over each piece before eating.

 The trick to making the brioche is to roll the dough into three 34 inch pieces.  The trickier part is trying to take a pic as you do this.

 Then you braid it just like you are braiding hair.

 I brushed it with an egg wash and placed flat leaf parsley, pieces of cherry tomatoes and olives around it.

 After the proofing.

And after baking.  It loses a bit of it's beauty as it bakes but it still looks nice and is delicious.