Doctor Who Monday: More of the Shortcakes, Sorbet, and the Great Phyllo Experiment

Should we just rename Doctor Who Monday to Shortcake Monday? We liked them so much last week that we wanted to do them again (except... smaller. With enough whipping cream for everyone.)

Doctor Who night tends to involve a bunch of people and snack food. As such, we've taken to mostly making finger foods, ergo the phyllo pastry.

Broccoli, Mushroom and Cheese in Phyllo

What We Used:

• Phyllo pastry
• 2 cups mushrooms (button works best, but we also had some leftover Portobello)
• 1 and 1/2 cups grated marble cheese
• 1 head broccoli, cut small
• 2 shallots
• melted butter
• marjoram to taste
  

Mince the shallots, slice the mushrooms, grate the cheese and cut the broccoli! Heat some oil in a pan and add the shallots and marjoram. Add the mushrooms once the shallots are cooked for awhile, and when the mushrooms cook down a bit, add the broccoli. Cook until the broccoli is tender but not too soft.

Now it's the hard part.

Layer three sheets of phyllo pastry together and brush them down with butter. Cut into squarish shapes (they don't have to be perfect) and put some of the veggie mix into the middle. Top with cheese and fold them however you'd like. We wanted to do triangles, but we ended up going with a much different shape in the end.

Brush the tops with more butter to keep them from drying out and bake in the oven until they're golden and crispy!

Verdict?

Perfect. The buttery Phyllo added just enough salt to the mushroom/broccoli/shallot mix to make lovely bite sized yummy things.

Lemon Pomegranate Sorbet

What We Used:

• 1 large pomegranate
• 5 lemons
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups water
• a pinch of salt
• a splash of 7-up

I was official in charge of lemons again, since Sam's allergic. I beat up, halved, and squeezed five lemons into a measuring cup. The goal was 1 cup of lemon juice, but I was slightly short so after I strained out the seeds and pulp with cheesecloth, I topped it off with 7-up.

Sam, meanwhile, was removing the seeds from the pomegranate and setting them aside.

In a pot on the stove, we dissolved the sugar in the water and brought the entire mix to a boil on a medium heat (make sure to stir constantly). After boiling it for a few minutes, we removed it from the heat and added the lemon juice, pomegranate seeds, and a pinch of salt. It was brought back to a boil until the pomegranate seeds released their color.

The entire thing was strained again into a pre-chilled metal bowl and then shoved into the freezer. Every once in a while, it was removed and stirred to put air in the mix and get the right texture.

Verdict?

The flavor is fabulous. But sorbet is the perfect place to experiment with mixing fruit flavors. The pomegranate added a beautiful color and sweetness to the sourness of the lemon.

-Sam and Jess