Posted on 08/23/2017 3:47:45 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
I like meals made up of lots of different, little things Im a fan of tasting menus, buffet parties, and can make a restaurant meal of appetizers.
An appetizer recipe thats been a party hit for us, is this one for Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts in Chili Sauce:
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/bacon-water-chestnuts-50888.aspx
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I think we originally found the recipe for these little Garlic and Mushroom Tartlets about 15 years ago perhaps from the Sorrento site, or off the bag.
Sorrento seems to have turned into Galbani (?) and I havent seen this garlic-flavored Mozzarella cheese lately. Sargento used to have a similar Mozz/Asiago garlic-flavored blend in their 'Bistro' line, and I'm not finding that on their website, either. But you can probably create the ingredient by adding some roasted or even sauteed garlic to shredded Mozzarella. We usually used the little frozen Phyllo cups to make these:
Roasted Garlic and Mushroom Tartlets
3 T Butter
2 (6oz) Jars of Mushrooms (sliced)
1/2 C Scallions, (sliced)
1 T Sherry (optional)
1/4 C Heavy Cream
1 C Sorrento Roasted Garlic Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
1/4 C Parsley (chopped)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
24 (2inch) Tartlet Shells or Phyllo Cups
1. In a medium skillet, melt butter, cook mushrooms and scallions until tender.
2. Add Sherry and heavy cream, bring to low simmer; stir in cheese, parsley and seasonings, stir until cheese is melted.
3. Remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes and spoon into tartlet shells.
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For a spread to serve with Bruschetta, try this:
Olive Caper Spread
½ C. pitted black Kalamata Olives
3 T. Olive Oil
1 T. drained Capers
1 T. chopped fresh Basil
2 Garlic cloves, minced
Puree the olives with the oil, basil, capers and garlic in a processor. Can be prepared 4 days ahead. Serve at room temp with bread or crackers.
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And, last but best, my very favorite little bite, which I know Ive posted more than once: Olive Cheese Balls:
https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/olive-cheese-balls/1a335df0-4d11-47ac-ad81-a810a626e6d9
-JT
Yum, they look delicious. They actually are a little little bit easier than I had envisioned :-)
I wonder if the cheewy caramels will be too drippy? Guess I'll have to try and find out.
Two big disappointments today. Shopped aisles online (have been using the cart to make my list, print it out and daughter was shopping for me) and somehow I wasn't at any store that showed on top but had my cart full, had pared my order down to 130-ish, $ that is, I went to choose pickup which wanted my zip code for nearest store, I entered it and chose my nearest store which I thought I was at all along and emptied the whole darn cart! And I put a lot of thought and real effort into putting that together, can reconstruct some of it with some printouts I made before I finalized it (finalized means adding and subtracting about 20 things).
And peppers had just been reduced by a bunch and I wanted to nab them B4 they made them 2 for $4 again. How stupid do they think we are?
Then today, the meat market was going to grind me my special hamburger mix. It's 4:55 and no call to come pick it up. Am really disappointed and frustrated because that's what we were going to have for supper. Smashburgers or Fake Shake Shack Burgers.
I've been waiting for years to try a better blend of beef for cooked-at-home burgers, like when you can't char broil them. In the latter case, it doesn't matter so much if you have any mix other than chuck and enough fat so they don't dry out because the char flavor covers a multitude of sins.
Not so stove fried burgers. I am really disappointed. Really really! I have nicely asked that shop about ground beef mix, the kind they used at Ted's when I was a teen (he put in his own beef and ground up the whole cow, probably pulled the steaks) but that meat tasted so darn good, and the edges were lacy and a little browned, thin but not dry. Have been wishing and hoping all these years I could get close to the taste. That butcher a few years ago said just to use his 80/20 ground chuck. I didn't want to argue with him but I HAD been using it; it's fine for meatloaf and other things but not my special project once I found out on the internet what cuts to use.
Once when I was in Parents Without Partners years and years ago, I got "chosen" to make the sloppy joes. I'm a pretty decent cook but those weren't my specialty; I used Manwich.
Well, someone told me how to do it, put it in a turkey roaster and do it in the oven, add the onions, tomato SOUP (really? yes really), for texture I guess, then more tomato stuff. Cooked them fairly slowly. Those were the best sloppy joes I ever had in my life.
Part of the success was that whoever contributed the beef had access to butchered cows and it was the whole cow ground up.
At least we don't have a hurricane coming our way I don't think, shouldn't be so selfish about my burgers and Carmelitas when people have who knows what bearing down on them. And if they do leave, that can be a nasty experience, too.
Well, after unwrapping caramels and then melting them with cream - there won’t be much left for the recipe :-) I’m already looking forward to tasting them, both solid and melted in the cream :-) better get extra, a lot.
Speaking of shopping, your experience sounds frustrating! I don’t really know about the online grocery shopping, but I have had my cart emptied at other online stores. And I’m quite a haggler when it comes to shopping, changing my mind, finding something cheaper, going back and forth on what I should get, trying to get the best shipping for the money spent, ... after all that if the cart empties, I have wasted a lot of time!
Did you ever get your ground beef for tonight? I bet with your figuring out the best combinations, your Smashburgers will be ... smashing! When we moved into our seventies house that had never been updated, paneling everywhere, avocado green, teeny tiny cabinets in the kitchen - we remodeled and put in a stove with a griddle in the middle. I use that much more than I ever thought I would. Hubby saw on the internet how to make Smash Burgers, lots of butter put down then the ground beef and smashed the heck out of it. It turns out wonderfully crunchy and tasty. I never heard of them before.
I hear you on the hurricane. But it’s okay, we are Foodies and that is a big part of our life :-) we used to live in Corpus Christi for a short time. I had two summers that were terrifying, constantly watching the radar and seeing the hurricanes come in the gulf and always look like they were headed straight at us. Before that I only dealt with earthquakes and those were non predictable and quickly over with. Give me those any day! Anyway, the only time a hurricane actually got close was when our house was in escrow when we were going to leave. Hurricane Claudette was set to hit Corpus head-on. At the last minute she veered north, thank goodness. Or we probably would still be stuck there with the house we couldn’t sell. Actually not, that was over a decade ago. My husband was due to be at work that very week, and he had to call and ask if he could be a few days late because a hurricane was going to hit our house. Probably one of the more interesting excuses.
So did you get your special ground beef yet?
The worst thing would be if I like it! Because here it seems to be more expensive than the other brands. And a lot more expensive than the generic brand that I found to be a lot like Hellman’s.
LOL so I haven’t decided if I should try it or not!
I frequently find coupons for Duke’s in the Sunday paper,
but I don’t see the good sales that you get with Hellman’s - which could be due to our location. I’ll keep an eye out, and try it soon.
Yeah I think I’ll have to try it.
Cook's Notes---Good do-ahead; unwhipped mixture can be fridged over a week. Prepare it on Sunday and you can add a little extra something to weeknight desserts. Just whip desired amount to top fruit, cookie, cake or brownie.
Intense-taste, lovely texture; can overpower other flavors so keep that in mind when serving. I waited for the melting sugar to turn slightly darker, but it ended up having a burnt sugar taste - was still okay, but I'd wait til sugar melted--no longer. Mixture separated overnight but whipped up beautifully.
METHOD gently heat/melt 1/2 c br/sugar. Stir gently after it begins to melt; completely melt (becomes slightly darker). Offheat gradually add three quarter cup h/ cream (splatters). Then simmer/stir til caramel almost completely melts. Add second three quarter cup cream; BTB. Strain out unmelted caramel bits. Cover/chill.
FINAL Elec/mixer desired amount to stiff peaks.
We have been VERY happy with Costco’s ground beef. It’s an 85/15 blend ground very fine and makes very juicy burgers either in a pan or on the grill. I use montreal steak seasoning and a splash of soy sauce mixed in the raw meat. It’s a big package but I seal in foodsaver bags.
Thanks!
They were incredibly hot! My Dad ground up some in a blender and you could hold the container at arm's length and the smell would STILL make your eyes water. Just one or two of them would be enough to put the "heat" in a 2 gallon bean soup pot.
The birds would eat them with no problem and I found out later that the heat doesn't affect them. We used to put out hot pepper suet blocks in our bird feeders to keep the squirrels from eating them. They CAN taste the heat and they don't like it.
My daughter found me a beautiful green, red and yellow bell pepper today. Big and shiny. Gonna roast part of them.
I'd have to get out of the kitchen if anybody put those bird chilies in my soup pot. I got some of that stuff made in CA with the chicken on it, sriracha, only it's chili garlic sauce. It is so hot I can only get a tiny bit on a chip, bean chips I think it was my daughter found. It still burns my mouth. And throat. I think you could torture somebody to death with that stuff, think I heard of somebody accidentally eating too much not knowing and dying.
I learned that the yellow, orange and red bell peppers are milder than the green. Plus, look at the bottom of the green bell pepper. If it has four “lobes” it will be sweeter than the ones with only three. Interesting tidbit.
Very interesting, thank you!
What an enchanting, enticing concoction, that yellow stacked stuff. I HAVE to FIND OUT WHAT IT IS AND GET THE RECIPE.
Well, my persistence paid off and I finally teased it out of the website of the author of a new book to be released in October. The embedded photo is the cover photo of the book. And I happened to be a great fan of the author from cooking pages.
I NEVER would have guessed in a million years what it is and what that green stuff on top is.
i simply HAVE to make it. And buy the right stuff to make it with! Oh my! I will share where I found the recipe if anybody is interested. It turns out that I had heard of it before but I never saw such a delicious-looking version of it and was never before tempted to make it.
Incidentally, I revisited the Spanish Bar cake. The best recipe I found for it that is. I didn't have any ground allspice. And aisles online, yes I had to find and put everything back in my cart so I can order for pickup tomorrow if they do that on weekends. So I will grind my own from the whole ones. At least it will smell nice while I'm doing it.
The only problem I have left to solve is finding the energy to make the cake and getting some snowy white buttercream frosting I can run the tines of a just-right fork all down the bar lengthwise because it wouldn't be authentic or taste right without those simple fork embellishments. I don't like all Crisco frosting, like part butter, part Crisco but it might not be white enough. I do have some artificial butter flavor but I don't think I like it. I don't have any clear vanilla either but I don't think 1 tsp of regular should matter.
And my mother's version of 7-minute frosting is gorgeous and yummy but not right for the cake.
Spinach Artichoke Dip (my recipe anyway:)
2 - 8 oz tubs of chive/onion cream cheese
About 3/4 cup each of finely diced canned artichokes (the plain ones...not marinated) & thawed chopped spinach.
Important to note: squeeze dry both the spinach and artichokes...I usually use a clean towel.
Slowly melt the cream cheese, add the spin/art,about 1/4 cup of grated parm, then add enough cream to get it to the consistency that you like (usually a couple of TBS). I also add 1/2 tsp garlic powder & usually some cayenne or chili powder for a little heat. Once everything comes together, put in oven safe dish & top with a pizza blend cheese (mozzarella/asiago type). Bake at 400-450 until cheese is melted & bubbly. I serve it with tortilla chips, celery sticks or little toasts.
The only thing is I would like to use the entire pkg of frozen spinach and the entire can of artichoke hearts, don't know why I couldn't with 16 oz of cream cheese.
I looked at my can of Reese's artichoke hearts and it looks like they aren't marinated, says artichokes, water, something, citric acid. I think the citric stuff is to avoid discoloration and would not give it a tang. I look up lots of stuff on amazon, Walmart and my local aisles online.
The kind that are marinated say so on the can it looks like anyway.
I will try that next time, have some interesting cheeses to grate for the top and will use a pinch or two of cayenne. I might sneak some bell pepper in it though. Red if I have some left. And maybe real garlic minced.
Thanks again. Time to think about bed.
Yes..put as much of the artichoke & spinach in as you like! Reese is the brand of artichoke that I use, too.
Just FYI, I have many times put a dish of this down in front of guys watching a football game...they devour it. Wouldn’t think so, but they do:)
Also, if you want to give it SW flair, use plain cream cheese & picante sauce to thin it out.
POTATOES ANNA
Potatoes · 1/2 cup grated aged Pecorino Romano · tb potato starch or cornstarch · 1/2 tsp fine sea or table salt, · 1/2 tsp finely ground black pepper, or more if coarsely ground · 3 tb unsalted butter, melted, or olive oil · 2 pounds Yukon Gold, peeled, mandolined 1/8" thick
Salad · 8 cups loosely packed arugula · tb olive oil · 2 tsp white wine vinegar
PREP Combine cheese, potato starch or cornstarch, s/p. Taste a pinch; you want a strong salty-peppery kick. Pour tb butter or oil into 9" cast-iron or ovenproof skillet; swirl it up sides.
Arrange single layer potatoes in overlapping concentric circles in bottom. Drizzle w/ tsp butter or oil; sprinkle with 2 tb cheese/pepper mixture. Do this three-four times to use up potatoes. Drizzle rest melted butter over top.
BAKE cover skillet tightly using piece of sprayed foil. Bake 375 deg 35 min; potatoes will be almost tender. Press firmly on foil to compact a bit. Remove/reserve foil; bake 375 deg 25-30 min more, til lightly brown. Press again w/ foil, remove to broiler briefly til golden-brown.
FINAL While potatoes bake, toss arugula, olive oil and vinegar, keep dressing very light. Let potatoes rest in skillet a few minutes then run knife around edges to loosen. Gently tip skillet over sink to drain excess butter or oil. Invert onto a plate, then flip right side up. Cut into wedges.
SERVE topped w/ dressed greens, sprinkle of cheese-pepper mixture.
Please post the Spanish Bar cake and frosting recipe! My grandmother always had one for tea.
I never had one but I’d like to make one
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