Appetizer: Trio of Crostini Toppings

For our appetizer made crostini with three toppings: pesto, tapenade and white bean dip. 

Chunky White Bean Dip
ingredients

• One 15 1/2-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• One 15-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• One 8-ounce container plain fat-free yogurt
• 1 tomato, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 
  
• directions
• Place half the chickpeas and half the cannelloni beans in the bowl of a food processor along with garlic and yogurt. Puree until smooth. Add remaining beans, and pulse until coarsely chopped.
• 
  
• Transfer mixture to a bowl; stir in tomato, cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and lemon juice. 

Changes: In the figure I'd reduce the lemon juice to 1-2 tablespoons and add it immediately before serving, a whole lemon's juice was a lot! I'd also add some fresh thyme (1-2 teaspoons). 

Original recipe here. 

Tapenade 

ingredients 

1/2 lb mixed pitted olives

2 anchovy fillets, rinsed

1 clove garlic (I used 4)

2-3 fresh basil leaves

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 

directions 

Thoroughly rinse the olives in cool water. Place all ingredients in the bowl of food processor. Process to combine, stopping to scrape down sides of the bowl, until the mixture becomes a course paste (1-2 minuets). Transfer to bowl and serve. 

Original recipe here.

Basil Pesto

I make this pesto every 4-6 weeks, and keep it in a mason jar in the fridge. We use it on pasta, stir it into tomato soup, thin it with EVOO and use it as salad dressing. It's a staple in our house. The awesome thing about this recipe is that you can change the proportions as much as you want to fit your taste. 

ingredients

2.5 cups fresh basil leaves

3 tablespoons pine nuts

5 cloves fresh garlic (the fresher the better!)

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese (you can leave this out all together for a healthier/vegan version)

1/4 cup olive oil 

1 t kosher salt

directions

Place all ingredients in the bowl of food processor. Process to combine, stopping to scrape down sides of the bowl, until the mixture reaches desired consistency (1-2 minuets). I've also made a more course version of this with a mortar and pestle and served it with poached eggs and polenta.

March 2014: Spanish Tapas!

March's theme was bread Spanish Tapas. 

Our courses broke down like this: 
Appetizer #1: Morgan & Keegan 
Appetizer #2: John & Kara
Main Dish #1: Ana & Jardon
Main Dish #2: Amanda & Julian 
Dessert: John & Kayce
Drink: Stacey & Scott

Salted Caramel Popcorn Sundaes!

So, dessert is kind of my favorite thing ever, and I get very excited when it's my turn to make it for dinner party :) For this dish, I took one of our favorite restaurant desserts (the Cracker Jack sundae from Lapellah) and put my own little twist on it. I love popcorn and have really been into salted caramel corn lately, so this sundae seemed like a winner to me! There are three different parts to this sundae - the blondie, the ice cream, and the caramel corn - and each of the recipes are below:




Salted Caramel Blondies


1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salted caramel sauce (homemade or store-bought)


Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 glass baking dish.


Cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla then salt and flour. Spread into greased pan. Drop dollops of caramel onto batter and swirl together.
Bake 25-30 minutes, or until middle is set. Cool completely and cut into bars (16 small or 12 large).




Salted Caramel Corn


1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels
1 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp. sea salt


Preheat oven to 300. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone mat or spray with cooking spray. Pop popcorn kernels in an air popper and place in a large bowl. In a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a low boil and cook for 4 minutes without stirring. Pour over popcorn and stir to coat. Spread popcorn onto baking sheet and sprinkle with 1/2-1 tsp. sea salt (depending on taste preference). Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Allow to cool on sheet then break into pieces.




Popcorn Ice Cream
(adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home)


2 cups heavy cream
8 cups plain popped popcorn
2 cups milk
4 tsp. cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbs. corn syrup
1/4 tsp. salt


In a saucepan, combine cream and popcorn (it will seem like a lot of popcorn, but it will cook down into the cream). Bring to a low boil, cover, remove from heat, and let sit for 1 hour. Strain the popcorn cream through a fine mesh strainer, pressing to remove as much liquid as possible. The strained mixture should measure to be about a cup; if it is less than that, add cream to make one cup.


In a separate bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup of the milk with the cornstarch.


In a saucepan, combine popcorn cream, remaining 1 3/4 cup milk, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Heat to a low boil and quickly whisk in the cornstarch-milk mixture. Bring back to a boil and whisk until thickened, 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Pour mixture into a gallon zip top bag and place the bag in an ice bath. Chill until completely cooled. Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and process until thick (this took about 30-40 minutes in my machine). Scoop ice cream into a freezer-safe container and freeze!

Root Beer Carrots

Ingredients

• 1 12 ounce bottle  root beer

• 1/3 cup light brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

• 2 pounds ready-peeled baby carrots

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

Directions

1. In a large skillet, bring 1/2 cup water, the root beer, sugar, cinnamon, cumin, cloves and salt to a boil. Add the carrots, return to a boil, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Uncover and boil until tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the thyme. Using a slotted spoon, place the carrots in a bowl.

Beer Candied Bacon

Beer-Candied Bacon 1 lb thick-cut, high quality bacon 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp beer (I used Dogfish Head’s Chicory Stout) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine brown sugar and beer in a small bowl, whisking well to form a thin syrup. Set aside. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place a wire cooling rack on top. Place the pieces of bacon on top of the rack, overlapping if necessary. Place in oven and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and brush one side of the bacon with the beer syrup. Flip, and coat the other side with the syrup as well. Return to oven and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and repeat process another time or two more, until bacon is crispy and browned, and you’ve used all the glaze. Cool on wire rack for at least 1 hour before serving.

Dark Silk & Fire Chocolate Mole Sauce from FONDA NYC

The Brewers Salad from McMenamins

The Brewers Salad from McMenamins is one of my all-time favorites and used to be available at several of their pubs and restaurants. It's becoming more and more scarce, so when we drew salad for Restaurant Imitation month I knew exactly what we were going to do. The tangy onions and buttery blue cheese with the crunchy roasted hazelnuts are the best combination.
We used Marie's for dressing, which was delicious, but next time I'm going to make the raspberry vinaigrette and this is the one I wanted to try. 

Brewers Salad
Field Greens
crumbled blue cheese
roasted hazelnuts
pickled red onions (recipe below)
raspberry vinaigrette dressing  

Pickled Red Onions
ingredients: 
1 lb red onion (I used one large onion)
1.5 C white vinegar 
1/2 C white sugar 
1/2 cinnamon stick 
1 bay leaf 
5 cloves
1 star anise
dash of red pepper flakes 

directions: 
1. Blanch red onion in a saucepan of boiling water for 2 minuets. Drain in colander. 
2. While water is heating in step 1, in a seperate saucepan combine the vinegar, sugar and spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. 
3. Add blanched onions to vinegar. Simmer 1 minute. 
4. Transfer to a glass jar. Allow to stand until cooled. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Link to the original recipe here.  

February: Restaurant Imitation

The theme for February was restaurant imitation. We had a few folks that couldn't make it, though we still managed to have a ton of food. 

The dishes broke down like this: 

Appetizer #1: Laura & Rodney

Appetizer #2: John (& Kayce)

Side Dish: Amanda & Julian 

Main Dish: Ruth & Dave

Salad: Morgan & Keegan  

Dessert: Stacey & Scott

Drink: Kara & John