Goat Cheese Chorizo Wine Dip

There is a marvelous tapas restaurant in Chicago ( Cafe Ba Ba Reeba). We always get an order of the baked goat cheese, its a little dish of warm goat cheese in a pool of a creamy tomato sauce, and pitchers of sangria! That dish gave me the inspiration for this dish even though its not really similar at all; that and the fact that I just love warm goat cheese! This dish has great wine flavor with little hunks of tomatoes; the addition of chorizo makes this a hearty dish that could act as a side to simple dinner rather than an appetizer. This really is super; just doesn't photograph that well!


Goat Cheese Chorizo Wine Dip
Put 1 stick of chorizo in a sautee pan on medium low to cook, you're going to see a lot of orange/red grease come out of that stick.

Sautee in a large pan, just until they begin to soften (roughly 5 minutes):
1/2 cup chopped onions 1 cup diced onions
with some fresh ground black pepper


add and simmer until sauce begins to thicken (roughly15 minutes):
1/2 bottle dry red wine (always choose a wine you would drink)
1 can diced tomatoes (I used use fire roasted, but it's not necessary)
2 Tbls balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
sprig of oregano

1 log goat cheese (10.5 ounces)
1 stick of chorizo (as much as the goat cheese)

Pour sauce into a baking dish, it fit perfectly in my ceramic pie plate. Add hunks of goat cheese; pour the grease off the chorizo and add in chunks to the sauce. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is bubbly (roughly 15 minutes). Serve with crostini, fresh bread, crackers or as a side dish.

Smoky Lemony BLT Salad

Another super simple salad, made with real basic ingredients. I was actually making mini BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato) biscuits the other day (Dave had to mix the biscuit dough for me as this was impossible with one hand in a cast! And yes, I actually did think I could accomplish it myself! Thats what happens when you're a perfectionist with high expectations!) This salad was made with all the leftovers from the sandwiches!
What better way is there to make a salad appealing than to add bacon to it!!? You could call it "Fat and Happy Salad."

Lemony BLT Salad

1 head of butter lettuce (this is a small head of lettuce, but do use whatever lettuce you have- Romaine, leaf, arugula)
1 green onion, chopped
1 roma tomato, seeded and chopped
2-4 slices of bacon, chopped (cooked to your liking)
handful of chopped olives (optional)
Parsley to taste (small handful, chopped)
Toss with the smoky lemon dressing and serve with a biscuit or bread on the side.

Smokey lemon dressing:

1/2 cup of mayo
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup buttermilk (if you don't have any buttermilk, just omit and use 1/2 cup of sour cream)
1 TBLS liquid smoke
juice of 1 lemon, plus lemon zest from half
Fresh ground pepper, lots of it (I probably added 2 tablespoons; grind to your liking, but the more the better as it will play off the lemon!)

Mix all ingredients together using a whisk; if you need to thin it out slightly, add a tablespoon at a time of either buttermilk or water.

This should make more than you need for the above ingredients, store any extra on the fridge for future salads or sandwiches.

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp with Mango Green Chili Sauce

cast count down: 2 1/2 weeks

I may be overusing my arm, so need to stop cooking again for a couple of days, This is a dish I made Dave last Valentines Day and apparently never got around to posting. It's a good thing I jotted down some notes back then!

The mango plays so nice with the green chilies, the bacon and the polenta; and if you read this blog often- you know what a fan of polenta I am!. Honestly- wrap anything in bacon and it's gonna be good!

Bacon wrapped shrimp on polenta with mango-green chili sauce.

Start the polenta and the sauce first, then cook the shrimp.

Creamy Polenta, as previously prepared.

Fresh large shrimp, plan at least 4 per person

Wrap each piece in a bacon slice (cut the slice of bacon in half first, and secure with a toothpick if needed)

fry or bake until the bacon is crispy and the shrimp is pink.

Mango Green Chili Sauce

Sautee in olive oil

¼ cup white onions, diced

Add 1 small can of green chilis, chopped, reserve juice

Continue to sautee and add

½ mango, diced

Add reserved green chili juice, 2 tablespoons of lime juice and ½ cup white wine.

Simmer 5 minutes, blend with an immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper.

To plate: place a spoonful of polenta in the middle of a plate or shallow bowl. Add 2 pieces of bacon wrapped shrimp and top with mango sauce and fresh parsley.

Crispy Garbanzo Bean snack

Who doesn't love a crunchy snack? Problem is, unless you're chomping on a raw veggie, most crunchy tasty snacks are bad for you- like potato chips. Enter the roasted garbanzo bean, (also known as the chickpea.)

It's a super simple concept, but does take a while to roast these crunchy morsels so plan accordingly. But it's a healthy, high protein snack that cost less than one dollar. I have since made variations using different seasonings, like chili powder and cumin; so play around with these- you can't really go wrong. And think about other ways to eat these besides a snack, like topping salads and hummus or mixing with granola, nuts and m&m's for a healthy gorp mix.


Crispy, Crunchy Garbanzo Bean Snack

1 can of Garbanzo beans
salt and pepper
Pam

Open the can of beans, rinse and drain. Spread the chickpeas and spray with Pam (or toss with olive oil). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven until crispy; I used 250 degrees and it took a couple of hours.

Caramelized onion bacon tart

I created this for a party recently and it was met with a rave reviews. This is a version of a French recipe for caramelized onion tart. Using frozen phyllo dough makes this pretty simple. It is tough with only one hand because the dough needs to be rolled out, and the onions need to be sliced- but if I can make it with one hand in a cast, you can surely make this with two!

A rich tart that makes a super great appetizer or a nice dinner option paired with a simple salad. I made two tarts, the photo is a second one I made in which I used less onions and also added some chorizo and few other random left overs in it- my preference is for the simple bacon and onions one but feel free to try out your own options.

Caramelized Onion Bacon Tart

Makes 2 tarts
Two sheets of phyllo dough, thawed

Chop 6 or so bacon slices into 1 or 2 inch pieces
fry until nearly done (add fresh ground black pepper) (or use prosciutto)
Drain off some of the bacon fat, leaving just enough to sautee the onions

Slice thin and add to bacon pan, sautee for a few minutes, leaving them slightly crisp:
1 large white onion
1/2 small red onion

In a blender (or Cuisinart), mix:
1/2 cup creme fresh
1/2 cup cottage cheese (drain slightly)
2 tbls olive oil
salt and lots of fresh ground black pepper.

You can have the above steps done ahead of time and just assemble before your party for ease.

Roll out your phyllo sheet, use your cookie sheet pan as your guide- so know how wide to make it (length wise it won't be as long or it might get too thin). Take the outside edge and just roll and pinch in about 1/4 inch of dough to form and edge around the tart. Transfer each dough to a seperate sheet pan. Use a fork and poke holes in the base of the dough, to help keep it from bubbling up.

Pour 1/2 of the creme fresh mixture onto each dough. It will seem like it's to runny or too wet for the dough- but trust me, it works. (on my first tart I didn't put enough of this mixture as I wasn't sure if it would all run off- but it sets up as a layer of baked filling, so rich and tastey!)

Top with the onion bacon mixture and bake until the outside crust is brown and puffy. (375 degree for about half an hour.) Serve warm or room temperature.

Mint and Chocolate Dessert Cups

Cast Countdown:
2 1/2 weeks to go

With my fingers and wrist becoming more usable, I'm testing my abilities to cook and bake again. The one downfall still is that I don't have the steadiness in my left hand to make the final presentation picture perfect. But the food is still outstanding!

These little dessert cups are downright amazing. My goal was to make a creamy chocolate ganache-like filling, and pair that with a minty gelato....I was choosing a gelato here because I didn't want a real creamy ice cream. I was going for more of a sherbert quality, so that it would consist of little tiny ice crystals; hoping the minty crystal would pair well with the creamy ganache.

Success! This worked out exactly as I strived for. And it's a super fun mini dessert in these little chocolate cups; but feel free to serve in just a bowl. You can also use chocolate ganache as a sauce, either use while still warm before putting in the fridge to cool, or warm later to a runny consistency and pour over the mint gelato (or whatever) like a sauce. I prefer it the original way as I think more of the baileys and kalua flavor come through- but try it both ways and go with your preference. You may find yourself with a spoon in hand just eating directly out of the bowls....just remember to get a new spoon- nobody likes a double dipper!!

Mint Gelato and Baileys Chocolate Dessert Cups

For the chocolate ganache filling:

warm to just below boiling:
1 cup cream

Pour over:
8 oz semisweet chocolate (chopped up to help the melting process)
Stir until chocolate is al melted.

Add and stir:
1/3 cup baileys
1/4 cup Kalua

Place in the refigerator for about half an hour to chill.

Remove from fridge, using a hand held beater, whip the ganache until light and fluffy. (use immediatleyto maintain texture or cover and place in the fridge.)

Fill chocolate cups with a scoop of the ganache and top with a scoop of the mint gelato.

Mint Gelato

This particular mint gelato is more like a sorbet- wanting this to be less creamy than I typically make, I incorporated more skim milk and less cream (no eggs in a traditional gelato either!) Specifically created to go with the chocolate ganache dessert cups, I think you'll find this delightfully light and refreshing on the palate.

Icy Mint Gelato

Heat to just below boiling, whisk often to be sure the sugar and cornstarch are dissolved:

1 cup cream
1 cup half n half
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbls corn starch

add:
1 cup (packed) mint leaves
muddle in the pan (use a wooden spoon and press or chop down on the leaves to help release the flavors).

Cool and steep overnight, then strain out the leaves (be sure to push all the tasty milk out of the leaves), pour into your ice cream maker and process as normal. You may find this will not get as thick and creamy, but remember, I made this to be more icy. Perfect by itself on a hot sunny day!

Fig Honey glazed Spice Cupcakes

3 more weeks in the cast... but somehow I managed to create these simply delightful cupcakes. I completely love figs, but can't seem to find decent figs for some reason. So I've been using fig jam a lot- it comes into play again here, with some gorgeous sunflower honey that Alina and Aaron sent me as a strange ingredient.

I turned these into cupcakes, but would make a great fall cake too! The streaks of fig jam caramelize and then the glaze soaks into the cake--mmh mmh! It's like a grown up cupcake!


Fig Honey glazed Spice Cupcakes

sift:
2 1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp b powder
1/2 tsp b soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp salt

in Mixer, mix until light and fluffy:
1 1/4 cups sugar
12 tbls butter 1 1/2 sticks) I use unsalted

add one at a time:
3 eggs

mix the sifted flour mix and buttermilk with the sugar/butter; alternating in batches:
3/4 cup plus 2 tbls buttermilk

Add
1/2 cup of fig jam to the mixture; don't overbeat- let the batter have streaks of jam in it.

Fill cupcake molds, or a 9x13 cake or a bunt cake pan (well greased!)

Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean. Check them sooner than you think, as they don't get too dark!

Once out of the oven, warm together (drop in the microwave for 20 seconds or warm on the stove until hot and runny):

3/4 cup fig jam
1/2 cup sunflower honey

Pour over the still hot cupcakes (or cake), this will help the mixture soak into the cakes.
Top with cream cheese frosting if you want.