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Here are the tastingspoons players. I’m in the middle (Carolyn). Daughter Sara on the right, and daughter-in-law Karen on the left. I started the blog in 2007, as a way to share recipes with my family. I’m still doing 99% of the blogging and holding out hope that these two lovely and excellent cooks will participate. They both lead very busy lives, so we’ll see.

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BOOK READING (from Carolyn):

Music of Bees, Eileen Garvin. Absolutely charming book about a woman in midlife, lonely, who raises bees, also makes unlikely friends. Heart-warming and very interesting about beekeeping.

A Postcard from Paris, Alex Brown. Really cute story. Dual time line, 1940s and present day about renovating an old apartment in Paris, things discovered.

Time of the Child, Niall Williams. Oh such a good book. Very small village in Ireland, 1960s. A baby is left on the doorstep. The town all whispers and helps. I listened to an interview of the author, which made me like him and his books even more.

Sipsworth, Simon Van Booy. If you like animals you’ll swoon. An old woman who really wants to die finds a tiny mouse in her house and befriends it and finds a reason to live. Utterly charming book.

The Forger’s Spell, Edward Dolnick. True story. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of Johannes Vermeer.

If You Lived Here, You’d be Home by Now, Christopher Ingraham. Could hardly put it down – about a journalist who takes on a challenge to move to small town in Minnesota and write about it. He expects to hate it and the people and place, but he doesn’t. Absolutely wonderful true story.

The River We Remember, William Kent Kreuger. 1950s, Minnesota. A murder and the aftermath. Could hardly put it down. Kreuger has such a vivid imagination and writing style.

How the Lights Gets In, Joyce Maynard. An older woman returns to New Hampshire to help care for her brain-injured son. Siblings and family, lots of angst and resentments.

The Filling Station, Vanessa Miller. Every American should read this book. A novelized retelling of the Tulsa massacre in 1921. Absolutely riveting.

The Story She Left Behind, Patti Callahan Henry. Love this author. Based on a true story. A famous author simply vanishes, leaving her husband and daughter behind. She had invented a mystical language no one could translate. Present day, someone thinks he’s solved the riddle, contacts the family. Really interesting read.

The Girl from Berlin, Ronald Balson. Love anything about Tuscany. An elderly woman is being evicted from a villa there, with odd deed provenance. Two young folks go there to help unravel the mystery. Loved it.

The Island of the Colorblind, Oliver Sacks, M.D. Nonfiction. The dr is intrigued by a remote Pacific island where most of the inhabitants are colorblind. He also unravels a mystery on Guam of people born with a strange neurological problem. Medical mysteries unveiled. Very interesting.

The Bookbinder, Pip Williams. Post 1914 London. Two sisters work at a bookbindery. They’re told to not read the books. One does and one doesn’t. One has visions beyond her narrow world; the other does not. Eventually the one gets into Oxford. Lovely story.

The Paris Express, Emma Donoghue. 1895 on a train to Paris, a disaster happens. You’ll delve into the lives of many people who survived and died in the crash.

A Race to the Bottom of Crazy, Richard Grant. This is about Arizona. Author, wife and child move back to Arizona where they once lived. Part memoir, research, and reporting in a quest to understand what makes Arizona such a confounding and irresistible place.

The Scarlet Thread, Francine Rivers. A woman’s life turned upside down when she discovers the handcrafted quilt and journal of her ancestor Mary Kathryn McMurray, a young woman who was uprooted from her home only to endure harsh frontier conditions on the Oregon Trail.

A Place to Hide, Ronald Balson. 1939 Amsterdam, an ambassador has the ability to save the lives of many Jewish children. Heartwarming.

Homeseeking, Karissa Chen. Two young Chinese teens are deeply in love, but in China. Then their families are separated. Jump to current day and the two meet again in Los Angeles.

North River, Pete Hammill. He always writes such a good story. A doctor works diligently healing people from all walks of life. His wife and daughter left him years before. One day his 3-yr old grandson arrives on his doorstep.

A Very Typical Family, Sierra Godfrey. A very messed-up family. Three adult children are given a home in Santa Cruz, Calif, but only if the siblings meet up and live in the house together. A very untypical scenario but makes for lots of messes.

Three Days in June, Anne Tyler. The usual Anne Tyler grit. Family angst. This wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was entertaining and very short.

Saved, Benjamin Hall. Author is a veteran war reporter. Ukraine, 2022, he nearly loses his life to a Russian strike. Riveting story – he survives, barely.

Grey Wolf, Louise Penny. Another Inspector Gamache mystery in Quebec. She is such an incredible mystery writer.

All the Colors of the Dark, Chris Whitaker. A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each. Could hardly put it down.

Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Winner of 2024 Booker Prize. I don’t usually like those, but I heard the author interviewed and she hooked me. This is not a normal book with a beginning, a story and an end. It’s several chapters of the day in the life of various astronauts at the ISS (Int’l Space Station). All fictional. She’s been praised by several real astronauts for “getting it” about space station everyday life.

The Blue Hour, Paula Hawkins. An island off Scotland. Inaccessible except when the tide is out. Weird goings on. An artist. A present day mystery too.

Iron Lake, William Kent Krueger. A judge is murdered and a boy is missing. Riveting mystery.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home, Carol Ricks Brunt. 1980s. A 14-yr old girl loses her beloved uncle. Yet a new friendship arises, someone she never knew about.

Four Treasures of the Sky, Jenny Zhang. 1880s, a young girl is kidnapped in China and brought to the United States. She survives with many hurdles in the path.

The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, Ken Dornstein. Memoir, 1988. The author’s brother died in the PanAm flight that went down in Lockerbie, Scotland. A decade later he tries to solve “the riddle of his older brother’s life.”

Worse Care Scenario, T.J. Newman. Oh my. Interesting analysis of what could/might happen if a jet crashed into a nuclear plant. Un-put-downable.

Song of the Lark, Willa Cather. Complicated weave of a story about a young woman in about 1900, who has a gifted voice (singing) and about her journey to success, not without its ups and downs.

Crow Talk, Eileen Garvin. Charming story which takes place at a remote lake in Washington State, about a few people who inhabit it, the friendships made, but also revolving around the rescue of a baby crow.

The Story Collector, Evie Woods. Sweet story about some dark secrets from an area in Ireland, a bit magical, faerie life, but solving a mystery too.

A Sea of Unspoken Things, Adrienne Young. A woman investigates her twin brother’s mysterious death. She goes to a small town in California to figure it out, to figure HIM out.

The King’s Messenger, Susanna Kearsley. 1600s England, King James. About one of his trusted “messengers,” and his relationship with a young woman also of “the court.” Lots of intrigue.

In the Shadow of the Greenbrier, Emily Matchar. Interesting mystery in/around the area of the famous resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

Isola, Allegra Goodman. Hard to describe, survival story on an island in the 1600s.

Save the Date, Allison Raskin. Rom-com, witty, LOL funny. Clever.

The Sirens, Emilia Hart. Numerous time-lines, Australia. Mysteries abound, nightmares, abandoned baby, weird allergies.

Red Clay, Charles Fancher. LOVED this book. Mostly post-Civil War story about the lives of slaves in Alabama during Reconstruction.

Stars in an Italian Sky, Jill Santopolo. Dual time line, 1946 and recent time. Love stories and a mystery.

Battle Mountain, C.J. Box. Another one of Box’s riveting mysteries. Love his descriptions of the land.

Something Beautiful Happened, Yvette Corporon. A memoir of sorts in Greece, tiny island of Erikousa, where the locals hid Jews during WWII. All elusive stories told by the author’s grandmother.

The Jackal’s Mistress, Chris Bohjalian. 1860s Virginia, about a woman who saves the life of a Union soldier. Really good story.

Song of the Magpie, Louise Mayberry. Really interesting story about Australia back in the days when it was mostly a penal colony. Gritty strength of a woman trying to thrive with her farm.

The Boomerang, Robert Bailey. A thriller that will have you gripping the book. About a lot of secrets surrounding the president (fictional novel, remember) and his chief of staff and about cancer. A cure. Such a good story.

Care and Feeding, Laurie Woolever. Really interesting memoir of a woman driven to succeed in the restaurant business. She worked for Mario Batali and then Anthony Bourdain. Gritty stories.

Everything is Tuberculosis, John Green. Maybe not a book for everyone. A real deep dive into the deadly tuberculosis infection, its history. I heard the author interviewed and found the book very interesting.

The Book Lovers Library, Madeline Martin. Fascinating read about Boots’ drug stores’ lending library. And the people who worked in them.

The Arrivals, Meg Mitchell Moore. LOL funny, about a middle-aged couple whose children (and their various family members) return to the family home and the chaos that ensues.

My Life as a Silent Movie, Jesse Lee Kercheval. About grief. A big move to Paris, finding herself a new life with a new set of real blood family.

Escape, Carolyn Jessop. Another memoir about a woman really in bondage in Utah, Mormon plural marriage.

 

Tasting Spoons

My blog's namesake - small, old and some very dented engraved silver plated tea spoons that belonged to my mother-in-law, and I use them to taste my food as I'm cooking.

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Posted in Appetizers, on August 7th, 2013.

sweet_sour_broccoli_stems

This doesn’t look like much – can you even see that they’re sliced broccoli stems? I always quiz guests about what it is – I think one person, in all the years I’ve been making these, has figured out it was broccoli, and only because she carefully examined the outside edges.

This appetizer – really easy and very healthy and low calorie too – has been in my repertoire for decades. It’s not the right kind of appetizer for every dinner party, but it’s refreshing and so very, VERY different. First you have to peel the stems – not hard to do, took me about 2 minutes max. Then I sliced them up – not super-thin, between a 2 and 3/16 of an inch. Eyeball it. The stems soak broccoli_stems_slicedin a vinegar, sugar and salt based marinade overnight (very easy to do) and they become more pliant and flexible, but still crunchy. Just not fibrous at all. After they’re marinated, you drain them and drizzle on a little tiny bit of toasted sesame oil and I decorated the bowl with chopped parsley. I think it would be good with chopped mint. That’s it. See? I told you this one was easy. If you want to make these more uniformly round, just use the peeler more vigorously and remove a bit more of the “bark” of the broccoli stem.

When you serve these, be sure to make it a game – who can guess what this is? When I made these this time people thought rutabaga, turnip, jicama, celery root. Nope, nope, nope, nope! I had to tell them! The recipe came from San Francisco A La Carte. It’s an old cookbook from the Junior League (originally printed in 1979, reprinted in 1991). You can buy $5 copies of the hardbound book. The reprinted paperback is available for a penny plus shipping through the link above, in case you’re interested.

What’s GOOD: how easy it is to make, how low calorie they are, and how tasty the little coins are on a summer evening.
What’s NOT: these may not appeal to everyone – even some people will stop eating it when they find out what it is. But those who like it will rave about it.

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Sweet and Sour Broccoli Stems

Recipe By: Adapted slightly from San Francisco a la Carte, 1979 (Junior League of San Francisco)
Serving Size: 6

1 pound broccoli stems
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons parsley — finely minced – or MINT

1. Peel the broccoli stems and cut into diagonal slices 1/8 to 1/16 inches thick.
2. In a plastic bag combine the vinegar, sugar and salt. Add broccoli stems and toss to coat. Refrigerate overnight, turning the container or bag over a time or two. (Note: I usually just add the sesame oil to the marinade.)
3. Drain marinade and place on plate or in a bowl, drizzle sesame oil over the top, sprinkle with herbs and serve with toothpicks.
Per Serving: 79 Calories; 5g Fat (49.3% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 377mg Sodium.

Posted in Appetizers, on July 20th, 2013.

artichoke_lemon_dip

No mayo in this – but there is cream cheese. You use canned artichokes (not the marinated type), parsley, Parmesan (I used Pecorino), lemon juice and zest, and fresh garlic. Really very VERY easy to make. Delish too.

If you aren’t a reader of Simply Recipes, you should be. Elise Bauer runs the blog, but the recipes come from her as well as several members of her family. I’ve been reading her blog for years and years. I’ve made several of her recipes, and have a bunch saved to my MasterCook to-try file as well. This is one of them, and it’s a real keeper. Not only is this easy – cinchy easy – but it can be made ahead and will keep for a loooong time. With the left overs I’m going to mix some with pasta – maybe I’ll add some chicken, some half and half to thin it out a little bit, perhaps some peas. Zucchini would be a good addition too. You do need to make this dip.

What’s GOOD: the garlicky, zesty taste – you definitely taste the artichokes. And the garlic, I did mention the garlic, didn’t I? I used one large garlic clove – if you’re at all sensitive to that, use a very small clove, or half a one. Really good with relatively plain crackers. I used those heart-shaped water crackers, but Triscuits would also work well, I think.
What’s NOT: nothing at all. It makes a LOT – if you’re only having a few people I’d recommend halving the recipe. But make it you should.

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Artichoke Lemon Dip

Recipe By: Simply Recipes blog
Serving Size: 10

14 ounces artichoke hearts — packed in water, drained, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese — (25 g) packed, grated
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 clove garlic — minced (about 1 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces cream cheese — (225 g) room temperature
3 tablespoons lemon juice — or more

My Notes: This recipe makes a LOT of dip – leftovers could be served atop green vegetables, or tossed with pasta.
1. Put the drained artichoke hearts, parsley, Parmesan, lemon zest, garlic, and salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse a few times until a paste forms. You should still be able to make out bits of parsley and lemon, so don’t over-process it.
2. Place the cream cheese in a medium sized bowl. Add the artichoke parsley mixture and the lemon juice. Stir until well blended. Add more salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste. Garnish with a few fresh leaves of parsley or ribbons of lemon zest.
Per Serving: 111 Calories; 9g Fat (66.1% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 26mg Cholesterol; 196mg Sodium.

Posted in Appetizers, on July 16th, 2013.

bankok_style_guacamole

We all know guacamole, right? Avocado, lemon or lime juice, maybe garlic? Maybe a bit of onion, cilantro and chili powder. Well, this one’s a twist on the regular one – a Thai twist with a Thai chile if you can find one, fresh ginger, fresh mint, and some fish sauce. Yes, fish sauce. It’s wonderful!

Really, I enjoy reading Food52. That website is just a treasure trove of recipes, and I don’t mean ordinary brownies or black bean salad. The contributors really offer some different riffs on standard recipes – like this one. At Food52, this recipe was what they call a “community pick.” That means the cooking community at Food52 (the readers and testers and tasters) picked it as something special. I agree.

It’s guacamole, but as I listed above, with some different ingredients. I couldn’t find any Thai chiles, so had to substitute a serrano instead. I had fresh ginger and garlic (which I smashed rather than grated). I had mint and cilantro. And regular basil, not Thai basil. But even with my minimal substitutions, this dip was just fabulous. We had guests over that night (I made half of a recipe – using just one avocado), and I can tell you that they scraped every last little smidgen of this dip out of the bowl pictured above. A good sign, of course! They raved about it, my hubby raved about it, and I got my fair share also. All delicious.

If you’ve never used fish sauce before, PLEASE don’t bypass this recipe thinking the guacamole is going to taste fishy. It absolutely doesn’t. Fish sauce smells fishy, but it doesn’t taste fishy and it adds a depth to almost anything you use it with. I always have a bottle of it in my pantry and it doesn’t require refrigeration. If at all possible try to buy the one with the picture of the 3 crabs on the label. It’s considered by most sources as the best.

What’s GOOD: just everything about the taste. I love it when someone comes up with a different taste change to a standard we’ve always made. I’ll make this again for sure!

What’s NOT: only a problem if you can’t get all the ingredients – like the herbs, but as you can read, I substituted several other items. This one’s a keeper.

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Bangkokamole

Recipe By: From Food 52 blog 7/12
Serving Size: 10

1 large lime
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 medium shallot
3 medium garlic cloves — peeled
1 1/2 to 2-inch knob ginger
2 large avocados — ripe
Mint (about 10 large leaves)
Thai Basil (or less if substituting regular basil)
About 10 sprigs cilantro
1 whole thai chiles — or serranos

1. Wash lime thoroughly and remove 2 loosely packed teaspoons of zest. Place zest in medium bowl. Juice lime and add 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of lime juice to bowl. Add fish sauce to bowl. Mince shallot and add 2 tablespoons to the bowl. Stir to combine.
2. Using microplane grate the garlic into the bowl (about 1 1/2 teaspoons). Using microplane grate the ginger and add 1 tablespoon to the bowl. Stir to combine.
3. Cut each avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out the flesh and add it to bowl. Use a fork to mash the avocado, then stir to thoroughly blend the ingredients. Taste for salt and acidity. Add a splash more fish sauce or lime juice if needed.
4. Coarsely chop the mint, basil, and cilantro. Measure 2 tablespoons of each by gently scooping it into a measuring spoon (or eyeball it if you’re good at that sort of thing.) Add each to the bowl. Finely mince the thai chile(s) and add 1/2 (or less) to the bowl. Stir to combine. Taste for heat and add more chile if desired.
5. Allow flavors to marry for 20 minutes or longer before serving. Keeps covered and refrigerated for at least 12 hours.
Per Serving: 72 Calories; 6g Fat (72.4% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; trace Cholesterol; 5mg Sodium.

Posted in Appetizers, on June 12th, 2013.

mango_guacamole

It’s really a no-brainer that guacamole, coming from the tropics, would have an affinity to mango, also a tropical fruit. I was amazed at the flavor in this – you got the regular guacamole taste, but then the sweet unctuous mango hits your palate, and zing! Altogether delicious. Different.

Suddenly I realized I hadn’t posted this recipe from our Cinco de Mayo brunch a few weeks ago. It was a delicious guacamole – and so very unusual because of the mango in it. It had a more mango color than it did the regular green of guacamole. It also had tomatoes, a shallot, a little bit of onion, some minced serrano chile, cilantro and lime juice. Oh, and some dried chipotle chiles. But dried chipotle are sometimes hard to find, so use some chipotle paste instead – just be careful how much you put in it because chipotle in adobo is very VERY hot and could overpower the delicate flavors in this dish. The recipe came from an article in Food and Wine magazine (May, 2013).

Do make this just an hour or so before you want to serve it – even though it has lime juice in it to keep the avocado green, with all the other stuff in it, I think it might get brown if it sat overnight. Alternately, make it up completely EXCEPT for the avocado and add that in at the last minute. That would work too if you needed to make it ahead. In case you don’t have fresh mangoes at your grocery store, Trader Joe’s sells frozen mango chunks. I keep a bag in my freezer at all times.

What’s GOOD: the combination of mango and avocado is terrific. I liked the texture difference in this mixture also – you don’t expect to bite into mango when you dip a guacamole/salsa. Everyone loved it. The chipotle is a smoked chile – that gives it a different, deep flavor profile you don’t usually associate with guacamole, either!
What’s NOT: really nothing at all. It’s worth making.

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Smoked Chile and Mango Guacamole

Recipe By: From Food & Wine magazine, May 2013
Serving Size: 6

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 whole plum tomatoes — cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 whole shallot — finely chopped
2 whole dried chipotle chiles — stems discarded and chiles finely crushed, or use 1/2 tsp or more mashed chipotle in adobo sauce
Kosher salt
2 Hass avocados — halved, pitted and diced
1/2 cup white onion — finely chopped
1 serrano chile — minced
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 mango — cut into 1/4-inch dice (1/2 cup)
1 cup cilantro — lightly packed, finely chopped, plus whole leaves, for garnish
Tortilla chips for serving

NOTES: If you want to make this ahead, prepare and mix everything, but hold out the avocado. Add that in just before serving.
1. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil. Stir in half of the diced plum tomatoes and add the shallot, crushed chipotles and a generous pinch of salt and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the chiles are softened, about 5 minutes. Scrape the mixture into a large bowl and let cool completely.
2. Add the avocados, onion, serrano chile, lime juice and the remaining diced tomato to the bowl and stir gently. Gently fold in the diced mango and the 1 cup of chopped cilantro and season with salt. Garnish the guacamole with cilantro leaves and serve with tortilla chips. Serve within 4 hours.
Per Serving: 166 Calories; 13g Fat (63.6% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 20mg Sodium.

Posted in Appetizers, on May 31st, 2013.

salmon_rillettes

You probably can’t quite tell what’s in this – there is regular cooked salmon and smoked salmon (that’s the darker orange colored pieces), butter, chives, lemon juice and a bunch of other normal pantry stuff. You mix it up and pack it into a terrine and bring it out an hour or so before serving (so the butter softens a little). If salmon is a favorite of yours, you’ll like this.

Every spring we are invited to friends for Kentucky Derby day. Some of the ladies show up in flowy, flowery dresses and big floppy hats. Others are in Hawaiian attire, and yet others in regular casual clothes. I have worn a big floppy hat a time or two, but I’m not much of a hat person – I have fine, soft hair and I get a big whopping “hat hair” look that I truly don’t like. Nothing rescues my hair from that except another shampoo and blow dry! I either wear the hat the whole time, or I don’t take one at all. Usually, we dress casually, and hats don’t much go with that kind of outfit. Everyone is asked to bring an appetizer to share. They usually provide a big tray of wings and lots of mint juleps, which I l-o-v-e. My limit, though, is 2, especially if I’m driving and several hours have elapsed before I get behind the wheel. This year I had 1 1/2 and the 2nd one I asked the bartender to make it light on the bourbon, because I was driving 4 of us home. I think they use Maker’s Mark bourbon. Good stuff. They make up a mixture of the simple syrup with the mint muddled in already, so all the bartender has to do is pour in bourbon, add mint sprigs and a bit of 7-Up. They’re scrumptiously delicious.

Anyway, for my appetizer contribution I wanted something I could make ahead. Everyone wants finger food, so after attending several years, I’ve learned what things this group does/doesn’t like. We ended up coming home with a lot more of this than I’d planned. I thought it was really tasty, but I should have made half a recipe, I suppose. We still have some left over and will need to throw it out in a day or so.

In the photo at left traw_cubed_salmonhere’s the raw (regular) salmon all cut up into small cubes. It was simmered on the range with vermouth and water (and lemon peel), cooled, then I carefully combined it with all the other ingredients. Here below right you can see the other stuff that was added to itrillettes_mixing_up like lemon zest, green onions, chives. Then I added the butter and the smoked salmon. You need to use a light hand with mixing as you’ll destroy the texture of it – you want to be able to see the two types of salmon. I sprinkled a bit more chives on top, although that wasn’t in the recipe.

It came from Dorie Greenspan’s book, Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours. Dorie is an American, but she and her husband must be Francophiles at heart, as they own an apartment in Paris. She goes back and forth all the time (if you read her blog, you’ll know about her comings and goings). The recipe actually came from David Lebovitz, another American who now lives in Paris all the time. Both are accomplished culinary experts and authors.

You’ve probably heard the term “potted” – this is in relation to food, not liquor or consumption of it! The most common is potted shrimp, and I think I had that the first time I visited England about 40 years ago. As I recall, I was brought a plate with a small, very small ramekin on it and a few water crackers. The ramekin surface looked like congealed butter. Well, it was, but underneath was a shrimp mixture, and you just spread some of it onto the cracker. It was a first course at a restaurant.  The Brits like potted things. So do the French (like duck liver), although in that case it’s called pâté, and it’s almost exclusively meat, usually more in a paste form. Americans have taken to meat pates, and our local grocery stores usually have some kind of offering, often imported from France. There are liver pates, and nut pates too, and my favorite, a rustic pate which usually contains some other cuts of meat, not just liver.

But back to potted food. We here in the U.S. don’t know much about “potted” anything. So anyway, this is potted salmon, through and through. This version contains butter (the most common binder used in potted food), but mayo is found in some.

What’s GOOD: the texture and color for sure. I probably should have put out a little sign telling people what it was. I don’t think this group is very adventurous when it comes to food. I should remember that for next year! I liked the taste of regular salmon and smoked salmon together – it makes a great combo. It also can be made a day ahead.
What’s NOT: really nothing. If you like salmon in its many guises, you’ll like this.

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Salmon Rillettes

Recipe By: Dorie Greenspan, from her book Around My French Table
Serving Size: 8

1 large lemon — multiple uses (see Directions)
1 red jalapeno chile — or use green if red isn’t available, multiple uses (see Directions)
1/2 cup vermouth — or dry white wine
1/2 cup water
5 white peppercorns
5 coriander seeds
1 Turkish bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 whole green onions — green tops and white parts finely chopped separately
8 ounces salmon fillet — skinless, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 cup)
4 ounces smoked salmon — thinly sliced and coarsely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter — room temperature
1/4 teaspoon pink peppercorns — finely cracked
Freshly ground white pepper
1 teaspoon chives — finely minced for garnish [my addition]
Toasted baguette slices — crackers, or toasts

1. Using vegetable peeler, remove one 3-inch-long lemon peel strip from lemon and place in medium saucepan. Finely zest remaining peel from lemon and set aside. Cut 1-inch-long 1/8-inch-wide strip from jalapeño and remove seeds; place jalapeño strip in saucepan with lemon peel strip. Finely chop enough of remaining jalapeño to measure 1 1/2 teaspoons; place in a small bowl and reserve. Add wine, 1/2 cup water, peppercorns, coriander seeds, bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and green onion tops to saucepan with lemon peel strip and jalapeño strip; bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 5 minutes. Add salmon cubes; cover and cook 1 minute.
2. Transfer salmon mixture to strainer set over medium bowl and drain. Transfer poached salmon pieces to another medium bowl; discard liquid and spices. Using fork, lightly mash poached salmon. Add smoked salmon, reserved zest lemon peel, about 1 1/2 teaspoons reserved chopped jalapeño, and 2 tablespoons white parts of green onions and stir to blend. Add butter and mix in with fork until thick spread forms. Stir in 5 teaspoons reserved lemon juice. Stir in cracked pink peppercorns. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Add more lemon juice, salt and pepper as needed. It’s best to have a pronounced lemony flavor. Transfer salmon rillettes to glass jar or bowl. Press piece of plastic wrap directly onto surface of rillettes and chill until firm, at least 2 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled.
3. Serve rillettes with baguette slices, crackers, or toast.
Per Serving: 135 Calories; 8g Fat (58.6% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 34mg Cholesterol; 271mg Sodium.

Posted in Appetizers, on May 29th, 2013.

mayan_pumpkin_seed_dip

Just trust me on this one – pumpkin seeds (aka: pepitas) mixed up with a bunch of other relatively ordinary ingredients (like shallots, citrus juices, zest, cilantro, parsley and olive oil) make a really different, but delicious dip.

I think I mentioned that a group of us had a Cinco de Mayo brunch recently, and this was one of the dips. Oh gosh, was it good. Cherrie sent me home with a little packet of this, which we enjoyed for several days running. When I first tasted it, I actually thought there was meat in it. No. It must be the pumpkin seeds that give it that kind of texture.

The recipe came from a very recent Food and Wine issue. Here’s what it said about it: This super-easy, thick pumpkin seed spread from the Yucatan, called sikil pak, might just be the new guacamole—it seems to be on Mexican menus all over the US. This orange zest-scented version comes from Bandalero in Washington, DC, owned by Top Chef finalist Mike Isabella.

The raw pepitas are toasted in a skillet first. Then you cook down the shallots, jalapeno and garlic for a short time. It’s all mixed up in a food processor with the parsley, cilantro, lime juice, orange zest, a tiny bit of oil and water to give it some fluidity, but not much. To say it’s easy is almost an understatement. It’s REALLY easy. The jalapeno gives it just a little bit of heat and bite, but really not much. It makes about 2 cups of dip – ample for a big gathering. It’s rich tasting – you’ll only want to eat maybe 5-6 of these with a tortilla chip. It also will keep for several days – maybe even a week. So it’s definitely a make-ahead kind of appetizer.

What’s GOOD: the flavors – the pumpkin seeds give it a meaty texture, almost, and everything else just provides little jolts of other flavors too. Very worth making.
What’s NOT: nothing whatsoever!

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Mayan Pumpkin-Seed Dip

Recipe By: Food & Wine, May 2013
Serving Size: 8

5 ounces pumpkin seeds, raw — aka: pepitas, about 1 cup
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup shallots — finely chopped
1 large jalapeno chile pepper — seeded and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves — minced
Kosher salt
1/4 cup parsley — lightly packed
1/4 cup cilantro — lightly packed
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon orange zest — finely grated
Tortilla chips (for serving)

NOTES: This super-easy, thick pumpkin seed spread from the Yucatan, called sikil pak, might just be the new guacamole.  This orange zest-scented version comes from Bandalero in Washington, DC, owned by Top Chef finalist Mike Isabella.
1.  In a large skillet, toast the pumpkin seeds over moderate heat, tossing occasionally, until lightly golden, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a food processor.
2.  In the skillet, heat the canola oil until shimmering.  Add the shallots, jalapeño, garlic and a generous pinch of salt and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Transfer the mixture to the food processor and let cool.
3.  Add the parsley, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, orange zest and 1/4 cup of water to the food processor and puree until nearly smooth.  Season with salt.  Transfer the sikil pak to a bowl and serve with tortilla chips.  MAKE AHEAD: The dip can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.  Bring to room temperature before serving.  [I think it will keep longer than 3 days, FYI.]
Per Serving: 59 Calories; 14g Fat (75.3% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 7mg Sodium.

Posted in Appetizers, on April 19th, 2013.

salmon_pate

A quick and easy dip or spread made with canned salmon, some cream cheese (light would be okay), a little butter to help smooth it, lemon juice, Kalamata olives and a bit of anchovies to give it some flavor depth. Serve with baguette slices or crackers.

The basis for this recipe came from The Wednesday Chef blog, way back in 2008. Luisa made this, but hers was with tuna. Now, I have canned tuna, but it’s really expensive stuff that I have shipped a couple of times a year from Washington, young tuna that don’t contain so much mercury, and I just didn’t feel like using my pricey can of tuna on this in case I didn’t like it. I needn’t have worried – I loved it, and I’d guess the tuna version would be just as tasty as the salmon one. I have 6-ounce cans of salmon too – from the same purveyor – but I don’t seem to use the canned salmon very often, so for this I decided to try the salmon.

This pate – or tapenade – that’s what Luisa recipe called it – named so probably because it has olives in it, and tapenades DO contain mostly olives. This concoction isn’t olive-centric – it’s salmon and cream cheese centric, but with all these other added flavors that do everything to enhance the salmon. Things like lemon juice, the anchovies, lemon juice, pepper and the butter. There is a short discussion on Luisa’s blog about leaving out the butter – the original recipe (click on the blog link above if you’d like to make Luisa’s version) called for more butter, more anchovies, more olives too (and the recipe didn’t specify Kalamata, just “black olives,” but I just couldn’t quite see a ripe black olive doing a thing for this mixture). I keep pitted Kalamata olives in my refrigerator at all times. And I buy a little bitty jar of anchovies once or twice a year – I buy the most expensive one I can find at my local Italian deli – and use a few, then refrigerate it. It keeps nigh on forever as long as it’s covered in olive oil. I thought the butter was needed, but I didn’t use as much as the original called for.

Everything except the chives is whizzed up in the food processor until it’s super-smooth, then spooned into ramekins, or some kind of serving bowls. The recipe makes about 3 ramekins worth. The recipe indicates you can use it right away, but I think the flavor is better once it chills overnight. Besides, it’s something you can make the day before a dinner party if that’s what you’re making it for. This recipe makes quite a bit, and it’s rather difficult to make half a recipe, what with salmon or tuna cans at about 6 ounces. IF you have some leftover tuna or salmon, by all means make a half a recipe!

When I made it we were having dinner guests, so I toasted a baguette slices for it, but this would be just dandy with crackers, or toast for that matter. It’s probably fine with celery sticks too. Sprinkle chopped chives on top if you have them – don’t go buy chives just to put on it – some minced parsley would be fine. Even some fresh dill would work too.

What’s GOOD: I loved the stuff – but it does have a definite fishy taste – a good kind of fishy taste if you get my drift. The anchovies add depth of flavor and you really can’t taste them. I used ample lemon juice which was really good in it. It’s also EASY!
What’s NOT: nothing whatsoever. I’d definitely make this again.

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Salmon Tapenade

Recipe By: Adapted from a recipe at Wednesday Chef, 2008
Serving Size: 8

2 tablespoons anchovies — [buy the best quality you can afford]
6 ounces canned salmon — drained
7 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice — (use more to taste)
2 teaspoons lemon zest
9 Kalamata olives — pitted, halved
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons fresh chives — saving some for garnish

1. Combine all but the chive garnish in the bowl of a food processor. Process until mixture is smooth. Taste for seasonings.
2. Spoon the mixture into 1-2 small serving bowls, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour or overnight. Garnish with more finely minced chives before serving with toasted baguette slices or crackers.
Per Serving: 162 Calories; 14g Fat (78.9% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 50mg Cholesterol; 394mg Sodium.

Posted in Appetizers, on December 22nd, 2012.

brie_en_croute

Baking Brie in a pastry crust is anything but new – except that this one is made with dried cherries and pecans (or you can use hazelnuts if you like them) and honey. It’s quite easy to make, everything considered, and after baking, it needs to sit out for about 30-40 minutes before you cut into it, so you can bake it before your party and have it come out of the oven half an hour before people arrive.

A few days ago I mentioned that I had a cooking class at my home. There are any number of recipes on my blog from classes with Tarla (just do a search for Tarla and they’ll all come up). Here’s another one – an easy one and very, very festive. Perfect for the holidays. Make this at home up to the point of baking, and take it to someone else’s home and bake it there. It’s just that it MUST sit for 30-40 minutes – if you cut into it sooner the cheese will just ooze out completely. You don’t want that! So just plan ahead.

brie_en_croute_wholeThe puff pastry you buy ready made (I wouldn’t wish anyone to try to make the stuff – much, much too labor intensive). The Brie you buy in a round and cut off the top crust, then place it on top of the puff pastry. The dried cherries, nuts and honey are mixed together and spread on top of the Brie. Then you fold the edges up over the Brie, brush it with an egg wash, then prick it in a few places to allow the steam to escape, and bake for about 20 minutes. Cool on a rack for the requisite 30-40 minutes, then move to a platter and serve with crackers. If you want, serve this with small plates. Lots of folks won’t want crackers with this – Tarla served it with some – but I preferred just having the Brie and the crust alone. Your choice, of course! You’ll want to eat it up right away – once you cut into it, it cools very fast and it’s not so delicious once it’s at room temp. The best thing would be to cut little wedges and serve them to people right then and there.

What’s good: how easy it is to make – as long as you have all the ingredients – puff pastry thawed, the right size 8-ounce round Brie (our Costco carries them), the dried cherries and nuts. I’m assuming you have honey and an egg for the wash. It’s a very pretty presentation. I love Brie, so it was a no-brainer that I’d like it. The honey adds a different touch. That I liked. Next time I’ll make it with hazelnuts.
What’s not: nothing really – this stuff is good, albeit high in fat & calories!

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Brie en Croute with Dried Cherries, Pecans and Honey

Recipe By: Tarla Fallgatter, cooking instructor and caterer
Serving Size: 8

8 ounces puff pastry (one sheet)
8 ounces Brie — round wheel, top rind removed
2 tablespoons dried cherries
1/4 cup pecans — (or hazelnuts) toasted, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons honey
1 medium egg — beaten with 1 T. water
Crackers to serve along side (if desired)

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Cover the cherries with very hot tap water and let sit for 2 minutes. Drain and dry cherries on paper towels.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry to a 14-inch square. Place Brie (with the top rind removed) on top of pastry.
3. In a small bowl mix together the cherries, nuts and honey. Scoop out on top of the Brie.
4. Gently gather the opposite coners of the puff pastry on top of the Brie and make a little “package,” gently pressing the pastry together at the seams.
5. Brush the top with the egg glaze, then poke a few slits in the top with a sharp knife (to allow steam to escape).
6. Bake Brie for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry crust is a golden brown. Remove from oven and remove Brie to a rack.
7. Allow Brie to sit for 30-40 minutes before cutting into it. If you cut it earlier the cheese will melt out of the crust. Serve immediately with crackers, if desired.
Per Serving: 306 Calories; 22g Fat (62.7% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 20g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 55mg Cholesterol; 258mg Sodium.

Posted in Appetizers, on November 14th, 2012.

sweet_vidalia_onion_dip_closeup

Really, this could be any kind of sweet onion, but Vidalias were the first out there in the race for sweet onions which didn’t happen until about the 1980’s. You can use Maui, Walla Walla, or the more rare Noonday onions from Texas. My friend Joan generously gives me a few of those latter ones each spring and she and I both like to find new ways to use them – Joan, here you go! Anyway – it’s just sweet onions you need. The onions are caramelized to bring out that ultra-sweet flavor, then combined with Greek yogurt (no sour cream here). VERY easy to make.

Did you know that Vidalia onions were first grown in the 1930’s? That was news to me until I read about the different varietals in sweet onions at Wikipedia. In case you’ve forgotten what’s sweet_onion_dip_spatuladifferent about them, it’s that they have a low sulfur content (that’s the stuff that makes our eyes burn) and they contain a lot more water. Hence they don’t keep very long, as you probably have discovered if you’ve left them in your pantry for any length of time.  I don’t keep any in my pantry at all unless I have a specific (read immediate) use for them. Actually I wrote up a post about a caramelized onion dip 3 years ago which uses regular onions. It’s similar . . . but different. It also uses yogurt and it has sour cream in it too. This one surely is healthier (all yogurt). And this one has thyme in it – one of my most favorite herbs. You can see the sprigs of variegated thyme in the photo at top. I prefer the pungency of regular thyme, but the variegated looks pretty in the dip, don’t you think?

vidalia_onion_dip_plateWhat was nice about this one was how quickly the onions caramelized. The recipe, which came from Sunset Magazine, didn’t specifically say to caramelize the onions – to the dark, golden brown state that you might expect, but once those suckers began to brown (in a fairly hot nonstick skillet) I had to stand there stirring often – very often – to keep them from burning. So my dip may be even more caramelized than the recipe intended. I liked it that way.

So, you brown the onions (chopped up in fine dice) in some olive oil, then I added the fresh thyme to help bloom the oils in the herb. It cooled, then the mixture got added to yogurt. The recipe called for low-fat Greek yogurt – I used full fat, but you sure could try it with either low-fat or fat-free Fage – it probably would be fine! Season with salt, pepper, and I added some dried thyme that I scrunched between my palms to open up the flavors of the dried stuff. Make it a day ahead so the flavors have ample time to permeate throughout the yogurt. If you serve it immediately it will taste like you have just mixed up yogurt and onions.

What’s good: the healthy part foremost, and it was a less rich appetizer than, say, cheese and crackers. I made this for a dinner party where I served my Easy Cassoulet (a fairly heavy entrée), so I wanted a lighter nibble beforehand. It had lots of oniony flavor, which is what I was looking for. I served it with sangak bread, actually, not the crackers I used in the photo above. The recipe indicated serving it with potato chips (like with Lipton’s dip) but that didn’t appeal to me at all.
What’s not: merely that it’s not going to taste like Lipton’s dip – just don’t even think of comparing the two, okay?

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Sweet Onion and Thyme Dip

Recipe By: Adapted from a Sunset magazine recipe, 2010
Serving Size: 8
Notes: Make ahead up to 4 days, chilled.

2 cups sweet onion — finely chopped Maui or other sweet type, about 12 ounces
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh thyme — chopped plus thyme sprigs for garnish
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt, full-fat — or use low-fat
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1. Cook onion in oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat, stirring often, until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Watch carefully that it doesn’t burn.
2. Add chopped fresh thyme, salt, and pepper and cook another minute. Let cool.
3. Stir in yogurt and dried thyme that you’ve crushed between your palms. Stir well, taste for seasonings then transfer to a bowl. Chill at least 30 minutes (it’s even better the next day). Garnish with thyme sprigs and serve with potato chips or toasted pita chips.
Per Serving: 96 Calories; 7g Fat (64.7% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 18mg Cholesterol; 199mg Sodium.

Posted in Appetizers, on November 2nd, 2012.

goat_cheese_pear_marmalade_cracker

You may have read before – brown food is hard to photograph. So I put this on a bright green plate, then added the white goat cheese as contrast. How’d I do?  This is a fabulous make-ahead appetizer. It’s worth the effort to make it – do try it. And by the way, those are not Ritz crackers – they’re Trader Joe’s version of them. They’re quite good!

I almost forgot to post this recipe – it was from a cooking class a couple of months ago. I was doing some background admin stuff on my blog  and ran across it – then realized I hadn’t written a story about it or shared the recipe. Every few months I have to transfer all the images from the posts to a CD for long-term safekeeping. So, I go through each image folder (I put all the photos into folders by recipe title, then they go onto a vaguely chronological ordered CD) and delete the extra photos that I chose not to use – wrong angle, bad light, parsley isn’t perky, shadows wrong, too far away – pear_marmalade_cookingyou know, those kinds of things. I had a photo of this from the class, but it was terrible. All brown everywhere. So I needed to make it in order to take a better picture! First I had to buy all the ingredients (didn’t have the pears or five spice powder). Then I had to wait 3 days for the Bartlett pears to ripen. Finally, then, got it made! I didn’t need an appetizer, but I decided to make this now, knowing I’ll be needing some for holiday entertaining. Here at right are the ingredients before I started cooking them. Just chopped,  raw pears, water, orange zest and juice, ginger I whizzed up in the food processor, five spice powder, brown sugar and cinnamon sticks. Oh, and vanilla.

What’s great about this appetizer is that you can make the marmalade several weeks ahead. With all the sugar in the pear mixture, it should keep for awhile. My thought was to make it for sometime over Thanksgiving weekend. I made a double batch, so actually I will freeze half for using in December. The mixture doesn’t have enough sugar that it’s truly a “marmalade” by jam-making standards. So it won’t keep for months on the shelf in the refrigerator. Use this within a week, and freeze what you haven’t eaten. Just don’t invite the same people over more than once! On second thought, I think you’ll like this enough you won’t pear_marmalade_cookedbe concerned to serve this twice, even if it was the same group of friends. Or family.

There’s a photo of the finished marmalade – I left the cinnamon sticks in the picture just for more brown-on-brown contrast. The pears have a lovely, warming bite from the fresh ginger in it. The orange zest and juice add some nice sweet notes. Then it’s also got vanilla, cinnamon (stick) and five-spice powder. The five-spice gives it a real interesting depth. It’s kind of elusive – you might not know what it is unless someone told you. Makes it different. Really different. The pear marmalade needs something to cut the richness (although there’s not a bit of butter or fat in it – I mean the intense flavors), so the goat cheese is the perfect choice.  With a bit of the left overs, I paired it with grilled pork chops. It was lover-ly.

What I liked: the sweet, the bite from the ginger. Loved the Chinese five-spice powder in it. It’s a sweet appetizer – just know that. With some goat cheese to spread on a cracker and the marmalade piled on top? Yummy. This would also make a delightful hostess gift if you’re into making these kinds of things to give to friends. If you wanted to make it complete, give the hostess a log of goat cheese and a tube of crackers.
What I didn’t like: absolutely nothing. It’s a keeper.

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Goat Cheese with Asian Pear Marmalade

Recipe By: Tarla Fallgatter, caterer and cooking instructor
Serving Size: 8
Notes: I used a mixture of half Asian pears and half Bartlett (something Tarla said was an option).

MARMALADE:
1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 cup water grated zest of one orange
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/2 cup brown sugar — packed
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 whole cinnamon stick
4 whole Asian pears — peeled, cored, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
ASSEMBLY:
11 ounces goat cheese — log type
1 tablespoon Italian parsley — garnish
plain crackers

1. In a medium saucepan, combine all the marmalade ingredients together. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 3 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until soft and mushy.
2. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick. Let cool to room temperature. Place the log of goat cheese on a platter and spoon some of the marmalade on top. Garnish with Italian parsley and surround with crackers. If you’d like a more sticky hold-together mixture, remove all the pears and drain through a colander, reserving all the fluid. Return the fluid to the pan and reduce it until it’s almost syrupy. Also, I removed about a third of the pears and mashed them, then put them back in. That way there will be some mushy pulp and some pieces.
Per Serving: 243 Calories; 14g Fat (51.1% calories from fat); 12g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 41mg Cholesterol; 140mg Sodium.

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