HotApp – Page 8 – Rosemary and the Goat

Balsamic Mushroom Panini

I love mushrooms and this little tapas is a winner to go with a glass of wine while you sit in front of your crackling fireplace (or any other time).

One of the things we do every year on the day AFTER Thanksgiving is to have our family “feast”. We have been doing this for almost eight years now. We have another couple and their family come over and with our three kids and two of their spouses, we have a blast cooking.

This is just one of our tapas we did last year.

The mushrooms sauteeing with the butter and olive oil gives off the best aroma.

The baguettes (or bread) gets spread with mascarpone cheese and topped with sliced fontina. Then these get toasted on the panini, pulled apart and topped with the sauteed mushrooms.

This is the menu from our Spanish Tapas Feast last year. The menu has everything listed that we cooked and who was in charge of making the dish.

We have had themes such as “all oysters” (7 ways), sushi, Mexican, Italian (After our trip to Italy, we were inspired to do an Italian theme), we have had French Country and last year we did Spanish Tapas. Everyone is in charge of choosing one (or more) recipes to try. My daughter-in-law, Brooke, puts together the menus so everyone has a copy and we set about making our recipe for the evening.

We had a Spanish flag last year to go with our Spanish Tapas theme and everyone got their picture made with the flag either in their chef’s hat or holding some utensil or food. Someone is hiding behind the flag and that may be me. We had all Spanish wines.

This recipe was out of a panini book I have and if you don’t have a panini grill, then you can just toast the bread on one side and finish this off in the oven. They are delicious and I’m going to try a variation of this using puffed pastry and adding some asparagus as a garnish. Hope you enjoy these as much as we did.

Balsamic Mushroom Panini

Ingredients

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil plus 3 Tbsp.
2-10 oz. pkgs. bella or crimini mushrooms cleaned and cut in quarters
1 c. sliced shitake mushrooms
8 cloves garlic minced and then divided
1 tsp. fresh chopped thyme
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 ciabatta loaf sliced 1/2" thick or other country type bread
1/2 c. mascarpone cheese
8 oz. fontina cheese thinly sliced

Instructions

Preheat panini grill to high heat. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter and add 3 Tbsp. olive oil. Wen hot, add 4 cloves minced garlic and bella and shitake mushrooms. Saute for 3 minutes, then add thyme, pepper, salt and balsamic vinegar and cook for 3 additional minutes or until mushrooms are tender but not soft. Remove from heat and set aside.
Combine remaining minced garlic with remaining olive oil in a small bowl. Brush one side of 8 slices of bread with olive oil/garlic mixture. Spread mascarpone cheese evenly on the inside of 8 slices of bread, then top with 4 slices fontina cheese. Place fontina topped slices oiled side down on panini grill, then top with remaining slices of bread, oiled side up. Close panini grill and cook until golden brown and the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Remove from grill and pull sandwiches apart, leaving cheese on both sides. Lay out on serving dish and top each with mushrooms mixture. Garnish with more fresh thyme. Serve warm.
*Note-- sometimes I use a mixture of 3-4 kinds of mushrooms.

October 16, 2009 By Sherry

Appetizers/ Bread/ ColdApp/ HotApp

Garlic and Oregano Naan

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, my first naan!

The first time I ever heard the word naan I thought of the song “Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye”. I had never tasted naan until Christmas last year. We were in Austin celebrating Christmas and awaiting the birth of our grandson. We did a lot of cooking while there for the week, but one night everyone wanted to go for Indian food.

Our kids have been trying to get us to try Indian food for years and we have always said, “we don’t like curry”. So, being Christmas and all, we gave in and went to the Clay Pit that night. We knew right away upon entering that we were going to like it. The aroma was unbelievable.

We had three kinds of naan that night. I don’t remember what they were or what we dipped in them but they were wonderful. I do remember having a coconut dish for my entree that was really good.

So this week I have decided to make Naan to go along with that, my fabulous White Bean Hummus which I like better than traditional hummus. I’ll be posting that recipe soon.

September 18, 2009 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Parmesan Bacon Wraps

A favorite at parties I have catered

These tiny little pieces of bacon, Parmesan and cracker are to die for. I have been making these for friends, family and catering clients for twenty years now. They are so easy to make. They may take a while in the oven, so that’s why if you want to make plenty and keep them in the freezer for last minute appetizers.

These are good with a glass of wine or even a glass of orange juice for breakfast.

Here’s what you are going to need. Bacon, Parmesan Cheese and Club Crackers. Depending on how many you want I usually calculate things this way. There are 11-12 pieces of bacon in a pound and you cut that into giving you somewhere between 22-24 bacon wraps per pound of bacon.

Start by putting a small amount of Parmesan cheese on top of the cracker. Take 1/2 piece of bacon and wrap it around the cracker enclosing the Parmesan cheese. Line these up on a broiler rack (this will catch the grease that cooks out of the bacon.

I usually bake these at 250° in my two convection ovens. I use all three racks. If you don’t have a convection oven, still use all three racks and bake at 250° for 1 1/2 -2 hours or until crisp and brown. If you only have one broiler rack you can also put a cookie cooling rack inside a sheet pan (with edge). Make sure you use the sheet pan because you don’t want grease spilling over in your oven.

If you are serving these immediately, drain on paper towels and then heap up on serving dish. If you will be eating these later, cool on racks, then put in ziplock bags and freeze. When ready to serve, thaw and heat in 350° for about 10-12 minutes. Drain on paper towels before serving.

These will be a hit.

Parmesan Bacon Wraps

Ingredients

1 box of club crackers*
1-2 lbs. bacon cut in half
1 c. finely grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

Cut the bacon in half and sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of parmesan cheese on top of the cracker. Carefully wrap one half piece of bacon around the cracker and cheese and put cheese side up on a broiler tray or a cookie sheet with cooling rack on top. Repeat until you have made as many as you want.
Put the tray in a 250° oven and bake for at least an hour until they are brown and crisp. At this point I normally cool and freeze in bags until ready to serve. When ready to serve, put the bacon wraps on a rimmed cookie sheet and warm in 350 oven for about 5-8 minutes or until hot. I sometimes drain on paper towel if there is still a lot of grease.
Note: I have mades these for over 30 years and the last several years I started noticing that about every other cracker would break when I was trying to wrap the bacon. I wrote Kebler and they told me it was because the crackers are now 0 trans fat. So, if you can buy generic that still has the trans fat, they work a lot better. If not, then be very gentle wrapping them.

July 3, 2009 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Salmon Cakes with Edamame and Wasabi Topping

The Edamame and Wasabi Topping adds just the right kick.

I can’t begin to tell you how great this little appetizer was last night. I have been wanting to try making this for a long time so when buying the Salmon, scallops and shrimp for the kabobs we did, I just bought a little extra salmon. I made my salmon cakes similar to how I make crab cakes. I tried them with Panko bread crumbs and also Italian style bread crumbs. I preferred the Panko.

A couple of years ago I tried this great sushi recipe of Tyler Florence’s and he used this wasabi topping. I poached my salmon in a little chardonnay and water with lime slices but any kind of cooked (leftover) salmon will work fine. I wouldn’t use canned salmon though. I used the wild Alaskan Salmon so it was very red and beautiful. The rest of the dinner was great, will post pictures of that . It was great relaxing by the pool and being able to use our new teak dining set. — Sherry

I forgot to put the pickled ginger on when I first put these together. I went back and added the ginger to the ones we had not already gobbled down. It really makes a difference.

The pickled ginger was really good on these.

Salmon Cakes with Edamame and Wasabi

Ingredients

1 cup cooked salmon crumbled or flaked
1 Tbsp. chopped chives
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp or more panko bread crumbs
1 Tbsp. finely chopped red onion
1 Tbsp. chopped parsley
1 egg beaten
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
Panko bread crumbs for breading
oil for frying
Picked ginger for garnishing
Wasabi Edamame puree for garnishing

Wasabi and Edamame Puree

1/2 lbs. pkg. frozen edamame in pods
1 Tbsp. wasabi paste
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 lemon juiced
3 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. canola oil

Instructions

Mix the salmon and all other ingredients except for the ginger and wasabi puree together in bow. Make small cakes about 1 1/2″. Coat the cakes in the panko bread crumbs. Fry in oil until nice and brown and drain on paper towels. To assemble, put a folded piece of pickled ginger and a dab of the edamame wasabi puree in center. I’m thinking the next time I serve these for a party I’m going to take a cucumber, score it with the tines of a fork, cut in 1/4″ slices and put the little cake on top. Will be easier to eat without crumbling apart. This made about 10 small cakes so you may want to double the recipe. Next time, I may thin down the wasabi topping and drizzle some on the plate.
For Wasabi puree: Put all this in blender or mini processor and blend until you have a smooth paste.

June 13, 2009 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Prosciutto and Gruyere Palmiers

Puffed Pastry, Gruyere, Prosciutto and Sage. What a wonderful combination and just great with a glass of wine.

Here they are with a glass of wine. Can’t wait to sit down, put my feet up have a couple of these with a nice glass of wine and have relax.

I am updating this post since I am made a fresh bach of these heavenly little baked appetizers for an Italian themed shower I’m helping give this weekend. You may want to make extras of these if you are doing them for a party. I like to keep these in my freezer so if my husband is wanting something with his glass of wine, these can be popped in the oven for a special treat. And when I have fresh sage in my garden, I use it, if not I used dry rubbed sage.

June 6, 2009 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Eggplant Caponata

If you love eggplant, you will love this recipe.

I catered a birthday party a couple of years ago and the theme of the party was Old Hollywood. I can’t take the credit for the idea but I really liked working around the theme. You may be able to see the old Hollywood star pictures I copied, matted and put around the food trays. All the guests arrived in long dresses, many had Hepburn hairstyles. The party was a surprise so when they limo pulled up to the red carpet at the front door, all the guest were outside applauding (just like at the Oscar’s). Fun, fun party with lots of champagne and wonderful food. This is one of the dishes I did for the party. The Caponata I served on toasted baguette slices but I have also used this recipe on top of pasta.

Eggplant Caponata

2016-07-25 04:55:27

Spicy mixture of eggplant, tomatoes, onions and olives. Delicious spread on toasted baguettes.

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Ingredients

2 eggplant, large
1 – 28 oz. can tomato, drained and chopped
1 – 6 1/2 oz. can tomato paste
1 teaspoon basil
1 small jar capers
2 tablespoons parsley
3/4 cup black olive, chopped
1 onion, large, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup celery, chopped
toasted bread rounds

Instructions

Peel and cube the eggplant. Saute the celery and onion in small amount of olive oil. Add the eggplant and saute until it starts to cook. Add remaining ingredients except for toasted bread rounds and simmer for 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with toasted bread rounds.This can also be served with pasta.

Rosemary and the Goat https://rosemaryandthegoat.com/

June 6, 2009 By Sherry

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