Music in the Kitchen Disco: Arcade Fire, “Neighborhood #1” (Tunnels)
My love for Arcade Fire began when watching their appearance on the Grammy’s after winning the Album of the Year in 2010. They closed out the show with a most infectious level of energy and excitement revealing perhaps their surprise at winning and absolute glee in doing so. They launched into a second song even though you could tell it wasn’t quite a part of the Grammy show plan. I figured any band willing to let the wall come down between “playing it cool” and showing their joy was worth a listen.

Drink: Apothic White Winemaker’s Blend 2013
I’d call this a sweet Chardonnay. Apothic blends Moscato, Chardonnay and Riesling in this light table wine.

2-3 large sweet potatoes
11 ounces baby spinach (I use Wegman’s Family Size Organic Baby Spinach)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup of scallions
Handful of dill (can substitute whatever herbs you have on hand, what you like)
5 ounces fresh feta cheese, crumbled (I used Organic Odyssey Chunk Feta Cheese in Brine)
1 tbsp of minced garlic (I use Spice World Minced Garlic– my favorite!)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Olive oil to grease pan
Salt, pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375

Grease pan by brushing olive oil lightly on bottom and edges. I like to use stoneware pie pan for this dish. If you don’t have a brush, you can dab a paper towel in olive oil and swish around the pan to coat it with the oil.

Peel the potatoes and slice into rounds approximately 1/8 thick. Layer the potato rounds on the bottom of the pan working your way up to the sides making sure to overlap the edges–be generous, sweet potatoes lose a lot of moisture when baked, so you don’t want to skimp on this step. You should end up with a single layer of sweet potatoes covering the bottom and sides of your pan. Place pan in oven and bake sweet potato “crust” for 15 mins. at 375. Remove from oven and set aside.

Chop spinach, scallions and dill, then set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and ricotta cheese. Crumble feta cheese into the mixture, then add spinach, garlic, zest of lemon, and scallions. Mix it altogether. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour mixture into the sweet potato crust and pop it into the oven. Bake for 40 minutes.

Serve hot from the oven! I like to serve this torta with a simple salad with fresh lemon juice (to use the lemon from earlier in the recipe).