Showing all posts in Starters

In Appetizers, Soups, Starters, Uncategorized

Healthier Cream of Crab Soup

Author KatePosted on

My husband, Bobby, and his family are seafood fiends. They’re the only people I know who have oysters on Thanksgiving and crab cakes with Christmas dinner (not that I’m complaining – I’m definitely a fan of seafood). This of course means that one of Bobby’s absolute, hands-down favorite foods in the world is cream of crab soup. I love it too, but I’ve always been vaguely aware of the fact that it’s made with loads of heavy cream, which on top of being extremely calorie-dense, doesn’t always sit well with my stomach. I was in the grocery store a couple weeks ago, and I came upon a container of local (read: very expensive) crab meat marked half-off, and of course snatched it up immediately. That sort of thing just does not happen very often, and not buying it would’ve been an insult to the unexpectedly generous, crab-meat-providing universe. I didn’t want to risk getting caught in a random, sudden, blizzard on my way out of the store because I rejected such a wonderful gift, after all. I live in Maryland, though, so that might’ve happened anyway.

I was then faced with the decision of how to use my crab meat, since it’s something I cook with fairly infrequently. I started researching cream of crab soup recipes, and was a little discouraged. They’re all basically 80% heavy cream, with some crab meat and sherry (and Old Bay if you love yourself) thrown in. I decided to start with ideas from other lighter soup recipes I’ve made in the past, like my Lighter Broccoli Cheddar Soup, combined with the concept of adding cauliflower, the healthy, low calorie substitute for all things, apparently, and it spiraled from there.

The base of this recipe is onion, butternut squash, cauliflower, and white beans, all simmered together in chicken broth until soft, and then pureed until silky smooth. It basically starts out as baby food. I know. But don’t let that deter you, because I swear on all the half-priced, high-quality crab meat in the land that you don’t taste all the healthy stuff in the final product. To the veggie/bean base, I added seasonings, the crab, and good amount of half & half – because as much as I like the nutritious components here, it wouldn’t be cream of crab soup without some actual cream.

The result is nothing short of astounding. My crab-soup-loving husband agrees heartily. This cream of crab soup has the same smooth texture he’s used to, interrupted only by those wonderful lumps of crab meat. It’s extremely similar in flavor to the full-fat kind, especially if you add the sherry and use a heavy hand with the Old Bay, as I do. I will admit that this is a Maryland kind of cream of crab soup – if Old Bay isn’t your jam, you’ll need to add more in the way of other seasonings, and a decent amount of salt. Honestly, I’m so pleased with the way this recipe turned out that I might even go nuts and buy full-price crab meat so I can make another batch!





Print

Healthier Cream of Crab Soup

Makes approximately 16 cups 

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 Tbsp garlic, minced
  • 5 cups cauliflower florets (about 1/2 a head of cauliflower)
  • 1 cup butternut squash, chopped into cubes
  • 1 15.5oz can white beans (I use cannelini)
  • 5-6 cups chicken broth (just enough to cover the vegetables in the pot
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 tsps celery salt
  • 2 Tbsps Old Bay
  • 1 1/2 cups half & half
  • 1 Tbsp cooking sherry
  • 1 lb lump crabmeat

Instructions

  1. Add onion and olive oil to a large pot and cook on medium heat until onion softens. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute.

    2. Add the cauliflower, butternut squash, beans, and just enough chicken broth to submerge everything. Bring soup to a boil, and then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are fork tender. 

    3. Allow the soup to cool slightly, and then blend until completely smooth. I do it in batches in a Nutri-Bullet.

    4. Return blended soup to the pot, and re-heat it gently over medium heat. Stir in pepper, celery salt, and Old Bay. While the soup is reheating, warm up the half & half on the stove or in the microwave, until it is hot to the touch. 

    5. Gradually stir the heated half & half into the soup. Reduce heat to low, and do not let the soup boil. Stir in the cooking sherry and crab meat – you can microwave the crab for a few seconds just to warm it up before adding it to the soup. 

    6. Serve and enjoy!

    Notes:

    You may find that the amount of Old Bay is too much for you, unless you like it’s flavor as I do – You can add a partial amount of the Old Bay measurement to your soup, and then just add salt as needed from there.

    If you have the time and devotion to very smooth soup, remove the skins from the white beans you use. It makes a world of difference in the texture, as most blenders, even the Nutri-Bullet, have a hard time fully breaking down the skins. 

    This yields a fairly thin soup (compared to a normal cream of crab at least), as I don’t use a roux at the beginning – lots of my family eat gluten free, and removing the roux makes this soup gluten free. If you want a thicker end result that’s still gluten free, dissolve 1 Tbsp of corn starch in 2 Tbsps of water, and add to the soup after you have blended it and returned it to the stove. Bring the soup to a boil and then immediately reduce the heat and proceed with the rest of the recipe as written. 



In Soups, Starters

Lighter Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Author KatePosted on 1 Comment
Lighter Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Happy 2018! I’m so excited to be back at creating content after a very busy holiday season! This recipe is inspired by everyone’s favorite New Year’s Resolution to hate: to start eating better. While I’ve given up on dieting as a concept – I’ve discovered that it makes me profoundly miserable – everyone likes to eat healthier if it’s delicious and painless. This soup is perfect to help you start 2018 off with your resolutions going strong.

Adapted from a recipe in the Washington Post, originally by Ellie Krieger, it’s the lightest broccoli cheddar soup you could make, with all of the flavor and richness of a soup that’s usually heavy on cream and cheese. Cannellini beans are the star of this show, blending together perfectly to substitute for a lot of that heavy cream. I’d never even eaten a cannellini bean before experimenting with this recipe, so I can attest, with no long-harbored love of them, that they really don’t alter the flavor of the soup at all – just the texture and creaminess. Shelled chickpeas work just as well in this recipe, so you could use those instead. My changes to the original recipe are mostly changes to the seasonings. With so much of the fat removed from this recipe, it felt like it needed a good flavor boost, and I’m very happy with how it turned out.

I’ll admit that when I make this soup, I think to myself that it’s so healthy, it won’t matter if I top it with a little extra (read: way too much) cheddar cheese. Cheddar is in the name, after all. Every year, my brother makes a New Year’s resolution to eat a Five Guys burger at least once a month for the whole year, and I’ve found that really inspiring. Imagine making a resolution that you know for sure that you’ll be able to keep – and thoroughly enjoy! So, I’m resolving to have extra cheese on my food whenever I feel I should. I’ll let you know how it goes. My other resolution is to save money, so my husband and I can buy our first house this year, so this recipe is about to become even more of a staple in our home. It’s the least expensive way to make broccoli cheddar soup – especially if you make your own chicken stock, as I do. I guess you could call this double-whammy broccoli cheddar soup, since it’s easy on the wallet and the scale. Are you sold yet? I’m adding more broccoli to my grocery list as I type this.

You can play around with the amount of milk and cheese you add, depending on just how calorie conscious you want to be with it – you already know what I suggest doing. You can also blend it until it’s completely smooth, or opt to leave chunks of broccoli, if you’re into that. Either way it’s a perfect starter or lunch, especially served with some kind of cheesy roll or toasty garlic bread.

I’m well aware that my cheese obsession is out of hand. Don’t send help.

Print

Lighter Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Adapted from Broccoli Cheddar Soup, by Ellie Krieger, as printed in the Washington Post.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 4 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 large head of broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces about 6 cups
  • 1 14.5oz can cannelini beans or chick peas
  • 1 tsp powdered mustard
  • 2 1/2 tsps salt
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/8 tsp ground thyme
  • 1/8 tsp ground sage
  • 3/4 cup 1% milk
  • 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for garnishes

Instructions

  1. Add onion and butter to a large pot and cook over medium heat until onions soften and start to brown.

    2. Add the chicken broth, broccoli and beans. Turn heat up to high and allow the soup to come to a boil. Stir in all seasonings. Reduce heat, cover, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    3. Let the soup cool slightly, and then blend until smooth (I used my NutriBullet, as always) and return to the pot. Stir in the milk and cheese until well combined. Serve immediately and garnish with extra cheese on top.

 





In Snacks, Starters

Cherry Blossom Bites

Author KatePosted on
Cherry Blossom Bites

I live just outside Washington, DC (seriously, it’s a 5 minute drive/Metro ride) – so I have a front row seat to our Cherry Blossom Festival, in March/April, long before cherries hit our grocery stores at reasonable prices. And all the Festival does is make me wish that cherries were in season, because I love them more than just about any other fruit (except raspberries, because they’re the best). Finally, finally, it’s time to celebrate cherries being in season. These Cherry Blossom Bites are an excellent way to use the cherries that are abundant this time of year, especially if you’re like me, and you’ve been buying more than you can reasonably consume on your own.

Cherry Blossom Bites were inspired by a similar hors d’oeurve that was served at the cocktail hour for my wedding last October. They were simple puff pastry, with goat cheese and a sweetened cherry compote on top, and they were lovely. For this recipe, I’ve kept the puff pastry, but I’ve used cream cheese instead of goat cheese.  Cream cheese is less expensive, and more useful to have extra of. You don’t really notice a difference between the two when they’re packed into these little bites. I don’t know exactly what went into the cherries for the version at my wedding, but I used fresh cherries, softened and reduced with a little orange juice, and cloves. If you don’t take anything else away from this post, know that a pot of cherries, orange juice, and cloves heating on the stove smells like absolute happiness.

To add some sweetness and extra crunch, I created a streusel topping using chopped up bits of the leftover puff pastry, combined with sliced almonds and brown sugar. It really takes these bites to the point where they’re a perfect combination of sweet, salty, and tart. They’re a little chewy and plenty crispy, and the overall impact is what I imagine it would be like if you took a really good cheese board and captured all of its best parts in a single bite. I’d dare to say these are actually better than the ones from my wedding.

Figuring out how to bake these was something of an adventure, because I don’t usually put puff pastry into mini muffin pans. Puff pastry needs room to expand, so it doesn’t end up too chewy or over-cooked. After some trial and failure with a silicone mold, I found that the simplest method was also the best: I cut the puff pastry into 1 1/2 inch squares and just pressed them into the mini muffin pans. No cutting circles or trying to squish them in neatly, which is always a bonus in my book.

The rest of the process for making these is fairly quick – the cherries only need to cook for about 15 minutes, and the streusel can be prepared in the meantime. I made my own puff pastry, but you can speed up the process even more by buying it in pre-made sheets. These would be a perfect, unexpected treat to bring to summer parties and barbecues. They’d also make a great quick breakfast or snack that you can whip up ahead and then munch on throughout the week. They taste like dessert, but don’t have very much sugar added at all – it’s only in the topping – so they still fit into a healthy lifestyle. Or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself.




Print

Cherry Blossom Bites

Ingredients

Puff Pastry

  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup very cold water
  • 1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter (do not soften)

Cherry Blossom Bites

  • 28 fresh cherries, pitted and halved
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp water - divided use
  • 2 Tbsps orange juice
  • 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 1/2 Tbsps brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsps slivered almonds, roughly chopped
  • 1/4 cup chopped puff pastry bits

Instructions

  1. If you are making the puff pastry: Stir together flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter into small pieces and add to the bowl. Pour in water gradually, while stirring the mixture - add just enough water to get everything combined into a rough dough. You don't want the butter creamed into the flour, you want it to stay in chunks - this is what causes the dough to form those beautiful, flaky layers in the oven.

    2. Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface. Form it into a rectangle, and gently roll out until it's about a half inch thick. Fold the bottom third up into the middle, and fold the top third down on top of that. Turn it 90 degrees, add more flour to prevent sticking, and roll it out again. Repeat this process three more times, adding flour as needed. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare the filling. You can also freeze it for about 10 minutes before using, if your filling is already made.

    Note: While making this dough, you need to work quickly, with very cold water and butter, to prevent the butter from melting into the dough. 

    3. Pit the cherries and cut them into halves or quarters - a mix of both is good. Place in a small sauce pan over medium heat with 1/4 cup water, orange juice and cloves. Stir occaisonally, until the cherries have gotten soft and released a lot of juice. Combine 1 Tbsp of water with the cornstarch, and add to the pot of cherries. Continue stirring until the cherry mixture has thickened, and then remove from heat.

    4. Soften cream cheese in the microwave in a small bowl, so that it's soft enough to be piped, but not melted. Transfer to a piping bag. 

    5. Roll the puff pastry out into a sheet, about 1/4 inch think. Cut 1 1/2 inch squares and place them into two un-greased mini muffin tins. Refrigerate the pans while you make the streusel topping - there should be a decent-sized section of puff pastry left over to use for this.

    5. Spread the brown sugar out on a cutting board, and add a 3 inch piece of the puff pastry. Coat it with brown sugar, and then start chopping it into tiny pieces. The brown sugar keeps it from sticking to itself, and becoming impossible to work with. Keep working until you have 1/4 cup of chopped puff pastry. Scoop this into a bowl with the excess brown sugar. Chop slivered almonds into small pieces and add to the mixture. Stir until well combined. 

    6. Assemble the tarts: Pipe about 1/2 tsp of cream cheese into the center of each square of puff pastry. Top with 1 tsp of the cherries, followed by 1/2 tsp of the streusel topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges of the puff pastry turn a golden brown. 


In Salads, Side Dishes, Starters

Sweet Potato Summer Salad: Two Ways

Author KatePosted on 1 Comment
Sweet Potato Summer Salad: Two Ways

I bought a new car a few days ago, because my old one was declared totaled after a fender bender. And on the day I bought my car, my laptop died. 2017 is perhaps not going to be my year after all. In the midst of misfortunes such as these, I turn to food to lift my spirits, because food rarely fails me. While I couldn’t be online blogging, I was able to test some new recipe ideas to dazzle you with. Today’s recipe is unusual in the best way, because it’s not a combination of flavors that you see a lot, but I’m so happy it’s in my life now.

I give you Sweet Potato Summer Salad. No longer will I stand for sweet potatoes being associated only with the holidays. Mixed with the right flavors, they’re perfect for spring and summer. This salad is a mix of roasted sweet potato, strawberries, apples, and spicy toasted pecans, tossed in an orange poppy seed dressing. I’ve adapted the Orange Poppy Seed Dressing recipe from Skinny Ms., reducing the honey to keep the whole dish from being too sweet. This dressing adds a light, zingy touch of citrus to the heartier sweet potatoes, and ties it together with the other fruits. The mix of crisp apple, soft, sweet strawberry, and rich sweet potato, with the crunch of the pecans and poppy seeds, makes this dish a textural dream. I highly recommend throwing it all in a bowl and serving it as is, but if you want to add a little something extra, I have a few ideas for you.

This salad works beautifully as a component in more traditional salads, served over a bed of greens and drizzled with a little more of the dressing. You could add meat or more nuts and seeds to make it more of a meal, but it definitely doesn’t need it. Alternatively, Sweet Potato Summer Salad also makes a fabulous dessert. I stirred little cubes of pound cake in with it, which added the perfect boost of sweetness and made the whole thing feel more decadent. You could take the dessert concept a step further and top yours with whipped cream or ice cream, with an extra drizzle of the dressing to balance the sweetness. Both versions offer a very interesting take on their respective food groups (if you count dessert as a food group, which I do). Will it matter if you omit the poppy seeds? Of course not, but in my opinion they add elegance to the salad and a striking contrast to the colorful fruit. You could also experiment with substituting chia seeds, if that’s what you have on hand.

This dish is complex and delicious, and you can still feel good about eating it. Even as a dessert it’s mostly a serving of fruit, and the dressing is packed with flavor, so you don’t need a lot of it. To be fair, I feel good about eating just about everything except coconut and bleu cheese, but it’s nice to have healthy options when summer is coming. Really fast. In less than a month. I feel like everyone I talk to lately is all “how is it May already?” Sweet Potato Summer Salad is the perfect dish to help usher in the new season, so we can all wonder less about where the year has gone, and wonder more about whether or not there’s enough left for a second helping!

5 from 1 vote
Print

Sweet Potato Summer Salad

Orange Poppy Seed Dressing recipe adapted from Skinny Ms.

Ingredients

Sweet Potato Summer Salad

  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 1/4 cup pecans
  • 1/2 Tbsp honey
  • 1 oz orange juice
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • 1/2 granny smith apple, peeled
  • 8-10 large strawberries

Orange Poppy Seed Dressing

  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 2 Tbsps olive oil
  • 1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel and cube the sweet potato, and place on a baking sheet lined with foil. Drizzle about a tsp of olive oil over top and stir the potatoes around until they're all coated. Sprinkle brown sugar and salt over top. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and stir the potatoes around on the tray, and then bake for an additional 15 minutes. 

    2. Roughly chop the pecans, and spread them on a baking sheet lined with foil. Place in the oven to toast for about 5 minutes - they can go in at the same time as the sweet potatoes. They may need an extra minute or so to get nice and toasty, but be careful not to burn them. Stir together 1/2 Tbsp of honey, 2 oz of orange juice, and the cayenne. Stir toasted pecans into this mixture, and then spread them out on the baking sheet to dry. After the sweet potatoes are done cooking, you can set the tray of pecans in the warm oven, with the door slightly ajar, to help them dry.

    3. Peel and cube the apple, and slice the strawberries into bite-sized chunks. Whisk together the dressing ingredients, until well combined. The poppy seeds will rise to the top, so you'll need to re-whisk it before pouring over the salad. 

    4. Add the potatoes, apple, strawberries, and pecans to a bowl, and toss with about half of the dressing. The other half of the dressing can be drizzled over greens topped with the sweet potato summer salad, or ice cream/pound cake, mixed with the salad. Both versions are delicious!

 


In Snacks, Starters

Sunshine Curry Dip

Author KatePosted on
Sunshine Curry Dip

Chips and dip is my snack of choice when I need something to munch on while I watch TV. It’s impossible to binge watch The Great British Bake Off (or Baking Show – call it what you will) on Netflix without a snack, for obvious reasons. What I’m dipping my chips in changes all the time, depending on what I’m feeling. There are the obvious choices, like guacamole, salsa, queso, sour cream and onion dip – you get the idea. And then there are the dip options that are completely unique and invented by my dad for the sole purpose of being gobbled down with a new episode of your favorite show. I don’t know if he’ll appreciate that I’ve named his creation Sunshine Curry Dip, but I think that’s really the best way to describe it.

This recipe starts with a base of sour cream and Greek yogurt, although I imagine you could use all sour cream or all Greek yogurt, with similar results. It’s got a good amount of curry powder, sriracha, white balsamic vinegar, and a little turmeric. White balsamic vinegar is better for this recipe than a regular balsamic vinegar, because it’s milder, doesn’t overwhelm the other flavors, and doesn’t discolor the other ingredients. You could potentially sub white wine vinegar for the white balsamic, although I will admit I haven’t tested it.

The last ingredient, and also a key component of naming this recipe, is a dash of Spice & Tea Exchange’s Sunshine Spice Blend. There’s not really a substitute for this blend that I’m aware of. It adds an interesting combination of ginger and citrus notes that combine with the curry for a unique flavor twist. The result of all of this is a light, tangy, slightly spicy, curry-infused cream that you will never be able to stop eating. I had to physically remove myself from the bowl in the photos to keep from eating all of it as soon as I was done taking the pictures.

(Not sponsored – My bottle was from Ocean City and not Florida, like the ones I’ve linked to, but they’re the same product).

I take a lot of the photos for this blog in my parent’s kitchen, because my tiny apartment kitchen doesn’t really satisfy my cooking needs. Often I’ll take home some of the food I’ve made for a post for dinner/dessert. My parents wouldn’t let me take any of the remaining Sunshine Curry Dip home, because they wanted it all for themselves. Luckily for them, I know the recipe now.

This dip is a great choice if you just want something a little more unusual, or if you’ve eaten chips and guac for dinner too many days in a row and need a change. It can be made spicier or milder with small adjustments to the proportions of sriracha to yogurt, and it goes well with a variety of dipping implements. My parents like it with Jackson’s Honest Sweet Potato Chips; I prefer tortilla chips or celery. Whatever you’re dipping in it, I assure you that you’ll become just as hopelessly addicted as I am. This is a dip that you can take to all those summer parties coming up, and know that you won’t find another bowl of the same thing already on the table. Unless of course you and all your friends read here, in which case, hello, and thanks for stopping by. Let me know if you need the location for the support group of people who made this dip, ate it all, and are suffering from withdrawal.

Print

Sunshine Curry Dip

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups sour cream 323g
  • 6 Tbsps Greek yogurt 75g
  • 1 1/2 tsp sriracha
  • 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 2 tsps white balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp Sunshine Spice Blend

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients and stir until well mixed. Dip with your favorite chips or veggies!

 

In Side Dishes, Snacks, Starters

Falafel Hummus

Author KatePosted on 9 Comments
Falafel Hummus

I was really hoping I’d invented Falafel Hummus as a concept, which is pretty silly since it seems like everything you can think of has already been done (I like to dream big). A couple Google searches show that this isn’t a completely new concept, but it’s also not all over the place. Well, it should be. I’ve been obsessed with falafel lately. The flavors are so interesting, with the mild, nutty chick peas and the sharp spicy parsley. I have to admit that turning falafel into a dip resulted from my failure to make actual falafel, but I’m not mad at about it even a little. Falafel Hummus is easier to make than falafel, and it has become my new favorite snack.

I started with a recipe from Gourmandelle for Healthy Vegan Falafel, formed the mixture into little patties and tried to fry them (the recipe calls for pan-frying instead of deep-frying), only to end up with squishy, soft, non-fried “falafel.” This is probably a case of my oil not being hot enough, but I can’t say for sure. What I can tell you for sure is that the whole time I was standing at the stove frying, I was eating the falafel “batter” that was still in the bowl. And it was delicious. I’m talking the kind of delicious where the flavors are curious and pleasing in a way where you have to keep tasting it to make sure you’re remembering it properly. And every bite is  better than the last.

I ditched the frying and decided to try the recipe again, but this time with a few additions to turn it into a dip.  During this experiment I left out the almond flour, which turned out to be a huge mistake. The almond flour balances the onion and the parsley in this dip to keep them from tasting bitter. I think almond butter would work as well, if not better, but almond flour worked just fine for me. I added some of the liquid from the can of chick peas and some olive oil to thin it to dip consistency. I also tossed in a couple of dates, which give the whole thing a slight undertone of sweetness, adding another dimension and tying all the flavors together.

I ate way too much of it in a single sitting, dipping warm pita and carrots in it and marveling at how something so similar to a million other versions of hummus could taste so different. It has the added bonus of involving zero frying, so this Falafel Hummus is technically healthier and quicker to make as well. Serve it to your vegan and non-vegan friends alike, or just have it for lunch spread inside a pita with some veggies. It’s perfect to share or to devour on your own when you’re experiencing serious falafel cravings or desperate wanderlust, or in my case, both.

 




5 from 1 vote
Print

Falafel Hummus

Recipe adapted from Gourmandelle's Healthy Vegan Falafel 

Ingredients

  • 1 can chick peas (drain but keep the water)
  • 2 Tbsp aquafaba (water from the can of chick peas)
  • 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 carrot, shredded
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, mashed
  • 2 Tbsps almond flour
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 Tbsp tahini
  • 2 dates
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3/4 tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until blended but not completely smooth. The dip is better if it's a little chunky. Salt to taste.

    Serve with warm pita, chips, and veggies.

    Note: I mixed mine in my nutri-bullet because I'm obsessed with it, but it definitely was not the very best tool for the job. I recommend using an actual food processor.


In Snacks, Starters

Spinach and Artichoke Tarte Soleil

Author KatePosted on 1 Comment
Spinach and Artichoke Tarte Soleil

I try really hard to look at the end of daylight savings as the beginning of those long, glorious, sunny summer days. When you’re losing an hour of precious sleep, it’s hard to remember the bright side. I decided that this year I would stop worrying about the sleep aspect, and celebrate the end of daylight savings with the most appropriate dish I could think of: a Tarte Soleil. It’s made of puff pastry, cut and shaped to look like the most beautiful sunburst, with endless possibilities for fillings – just the thing to help cheer up tired people like us.

Puff pastry works well with all sorts of flavors. I filled mine with creamy, slightly tangy and salty spinach and artichoke dip. I was a little worried that the spinach and artichoke dip would run out of the pastry in the oven and make a huge mess, but it held up quite well. I adapted a recipe from Once Upon a Chef, which uses a Mornay sauce in place of cream cheese/mayo. A Mornay sauce is essentially just a white sauce with shredded cheese, and also a term that I was unaware of until I made my spinach and artichoke dip. You learn something new every day (even a day that’s missing an hour).

A Tarte Soleil is a wonderful thing to know how to make. I’ll be the first to admit that while puff pastry with spinach and artichoke dip is undeniably delicious, it’s not exactly boundary-pushing. But formed into an intricately twisty sun-shape, and baked to perfect golden crispiness, the combination is not only classic, it becomes irresistible.

I made my puff pastry from scratch. I think people assume puff pastry is difficult to make, because you do have to be a little careful about the temperature of the dough. I find that it’s actually a fairly quick and easy process, if you focus on what you’re doing. I would encourage everyone to try making their own at some point, but store-bought crust will work just as well for this recipe. I actually meant to buy mine this time (I’ve read Pepperidge Farm makes a great version), forgot to get it, and then was too lazy to run to the store when it was time to get cooking. So I just made it instead. I’m nothing if not a problem solver. The fact that I also create my own problems may have something to do with that.

The key to a good Tarte Soleil is cutting the sections of filled pastry uniformly, and then twisting them evenly. This is always a challenge for me, because I’m not as meticulous as I might choose to be. It’s important to twist each section of pastry about three times, and make sure the twists are evenly spaced along the section. My other advice would be to stop twisting and pop the whole thing in the freezer for a few minutes if you find your puff pastry is getting too soft and warm to work with. This solves a lot of frustration when trying to get those perfect twists.

My Spinach and Artichoke Tarte Soleil is exactly what I’d like to snack on at a party, but your taste could be drastically different from mine. Luckily, the filling possibilities for Tarte Soleil are endless. You could do a different savory option, like this feta tapenade from Smitten Kitchen, or even choose a sweet filling – I’ve seen loads of versions stuffed with Nutella. Whatever direction you go, it’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser. Even if the crowd is mostly you and your family sitting in your kitchen, eating it straight from the oven. But then, that’s the best sort of crowd, isn’t it?




 

Print

Spinach and Artichoke Tarte Soleil

Spinach and Artichoke Dip recipe is adapted from Once Upon a Chef's Baked Spinach and Artichoke Dip. I changed it to make it gluten-free. 

Puff Pastry is a basic puff pastry from All Recipes - I used a different method for making it. 

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

Puff Pastry

  • 5 cups bread flour
  • 2 1/2 tsps salt
  • 2 cups very cold water
  • 2 cups cold unsalted butter (do not soften)

Spinach and Artichoke Dip Filling

  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 4 Tbsps butter, divided use
  • 1/2 tsp corn starch
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 5 oz frozen spinach
  • 9 oz frozen artichoke hearts, chopped
  • 1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  • 1/3 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp dried thyme

Tarte Soleil

  • flour for rolling
  • 1 egg

Instructions

  1. Make puff pastry, if you are doing it from scratch. Stir together flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter into small pieces and add to the bowl. Pour in water gradually, while stirring the mixture - add just enough water to get everything combined into a rough dough. You don't want the butter creamed into the flour, you want it to stay in chunks - this is what causes the dough to form those beautiful, flaky layers in the oven.

    2. Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface. Form it into a rectangle, and gently roll out until it's about a half inch thick. Fold the bottom third up into the middle, and fold the top third down on top of that. Turn it 90 degrees, add more flour to prevent sticking, and roll it out again. Repeat this process three more times, adding flour as needed. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare the filling. You can also freeze it for about 10 minutes before using, if your filling is already made.

    Note: While making this dough, you need to work quickly, with very cold water and butter, to prevent the butter from melting into the dough. 

    3. Make the spinach and artichoke dip. Start with the Mornay sauce. Stir together 3 Tbsps butter and sour cream in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir together cream and corn starch in a small bowl and add to the pan. Let the sauce come to a boil, stirring constantly. When it reaches a boil, turn off the heat and gradually stir in the shredded cheese, until sauce is smooth. It should be fairly thick. 

    4. In a skillet, cook onion over medium heat in the remaining 1 Tbsp of butter until it starts to become translucent. Add spinach, garlic, artichokes, thyme, and salt. Let cook for roughly five minutes, stirring occasionally, until the artichokes start to soften. Pour cheese sauce over the vegetables and stir until well combined.

    5. Prepare your Tarte Soleil. Take half of your puff pastry (leave the other half in the fridge)  and roll out into a 12 inch round on a floured surface. Take a round plate slightly smaller in diameter than your baking tray (I used a pizza tray) and place it upside down on the dough. Trace around it with a knife to form a perfect circle for the base of your Tarte. Place the circle on your baking tray (lined with parchment paper).

    6. Top with a generous layer of filling, leaving about a half inch bare around the outer edge of the circle. You may have some extra filling - don't feel like you need to use all of it, you just want a nice thick, even layer - no gobs. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you work with the rest of the puff pastry.

    6. Roll the second half of your pastry dough into a 12 inch round and cut a perfect circle as you did with the first layer. Place this layer on top of the first layer with the filling, so that the filling is sandwiched between the two layers. Place a small bowl or glass in the center of the the dough. This will mark the center of your Tarte, the section that doesn't get cut and twisted. 

    7. Cut away from the glass with a knife, slicing the dough into quarter sections. Cut each quarter section in half, and each of those sections in half again, until you have 16 total sections. You can choose to go a step further, cutting each section in half one more time, to end with 32 total sections coming from the center circle. It mostly depends on how many servings you want to make/how much work you want to do. Be careful not to cut through the parchment paper. 

    8. Twist each section 3-4 times, twisting all of the sections in the same direction. Don't just hold the end of a section and twist, because the dough won't automatically twist the way you want it to. The best way to do this is to try to twist each section once near the center circle, once in the middle of the section, and once closer to the end, so they're evenly spaced. 

    9. When all of the sections are twisted, you should have a beautiful sunburst. Beat egg in a small bowl and brush over the pastry. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool before moving to a serving tray, to prevent Tarte from tearing. 


In Side Dishes, Snacks, Starters

Salsa Bruschetta

Author KatePosted on
Salsa Bruschetta

This recipe is one of my favorite creations thus far. It happened sort of by accident, ending up in a much different place than it started. The original inspiration was the concept of Pan a la Catalana, and then I started researching recipes, and went a completely different way. I was in the kitchen with my tomatoes and garlic and my baguette, and suddenly I was just adding things to a bowl and tasting and adding some more. I seem to do that a lot lately, which makes me both very excited about what I could create, and very concerned that I’m missing a lot of interesting things that might result from me ever following a recipe properly. But, what would be the fun in that?

The Salsa Bruschetta that has resulted from my impatience and possible over-confidence in the kitchen is fresh, bursting with flavor, and a perfect addition to your favorite tapas recipes – I served it alongside my Baked Patatas Bravas. I used tomato and onion as a base, and added garlic and a bit of balsamic vinaigrette, along with basil, lemon, brown sugar, and olive oil. It’s got a lot of the flavor that you would find in Pan a la Catalana, and in traditional bruschetta, with some sweetness and citrus that really lift the onion and the garlic to make them a little brighter. The lemon and onion are what really take this bruschetta recipe into salsa territory, because there isn’t a lot of  salsa-esque heat. I added a pinch of cayenne, but I didn’t want that to overshadow the freshness of the tomatoes and the lemon. If you’re in the mood for something a bit spicier, I’d recommend adding chopped jalapeno to this recipe.

There’s one more element to this particular version of Bruschetta: After I sliced my baguette, I topped the slices with a light drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of Monterey Jack cheese. Next time I may experiment with mozzarella for a caprese-inspired version, but the Monterey Jack worked extraordinarily well with the Salsa Brushetta. It’s the right amount of salty and creamy to pair with the tangy, slightly sweet flavor of the bruschetta. Cheese isn’t typically a part of bruschetta, possibly because that can take it to pizza-bread territory very quickly. I assure you that very little about this Salsa Bruschetta reminds me of pizza. The flavors are much lighter, yet richer and more complex than something you’d find on a pizza. (Unless it’s a very good, very unusual pizza, of course)!

These are definitely best served fresh, when the cheese is still gooey and melted. They do keep in the fridge fairly well overnight, and I have it on good authority that husbands named Bobby find that leftover Salsa Bruschetta makes an excellent afternoon snack. Whether you’re snacking or having your Salsa Bruschetta as part of a meal – perhaps as an interesting starter – this recipe is one you’ll make again and again. It’s very quick to make, and as uncomplicated as something that looks this elegant can get. No one will believe that you knocked the whole thing together in 20 minutes. But they won’t have much time to worry about that, as they’ll be worried about getting another bite before it all disappears.




Print

Salsa Bruschetta

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 medium tomatoes
  • 1/4 small/medium white onion
  • 1 french baguette
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 Tbsp olive oil + more for drizzling
  • 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 3/4 tsp brown sugar
  • 3/4 tsp dried basil
  • 1 dash cracked black pepper
  • 1 1/2 tsps lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 dash cayenne
  • 1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack

Instructions

  1. Dice tomatoes and mince garlic, stir together. Chop onions in a smaller dice than the tomatoes and add to the bowl. 

    2. Slice baguette into thin slices, about 1/4 of an inch thick. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with foil. Drizzle olive oil lightly over each. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 4 minutes. You want the bread crisp on the edges, but still a little soft.

    3. Add remaining ingredients to the salsa mixture, except the cheese. Stir until well combined. Salt to taste - add more cayenne for a spicier salsa. 

    4. When baguette slices are done, remove from oven, top each with a little less than 1/2 Tbsp of Monterey Jack, and return to the oven for 2 minutes, or until cheese is melted. 

    5. Top each baguette with the salsa mixture. Try not to eat the whole batch by yourself. 



In Side Dishes, Snacks, Starters

Baked Patatas Bravas

Author KatePosted on
Baked Patatas Bravas

I think it’s only appropriate to begin this post by saying that I’ve never been to Spain. If you’d like to take me there, I can be packed and ready in an hour, but until then, my experience with authentic Spanish tapas will remain limited. That said, I have plenty of experience with tapas restaurants in the states – they’re possibly my favorite kind of restaurant. Sitting down with friends to experience not just a dish or two, but instead a wide variety, is how all meals would be served in my ideal world.

One of the best and simplest tapas out there is Patatas Bravas. How could anyone not get excited about golden brown potatoes that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, drizzled with a spicy tomato sauce and a creamy garlic aioli? There are a million recipes out there for Patatas Bravas – my intention was to replicate the ones I like best. All the tapas restaurants in my area seem to serve an almost identical version, so hopefully I’ve done it justice!

The spicy tomato sauce is actually very similar to my Tomato Basil Bisque recipe, with a few key flavor alterations. The aioli is a fairly standard lemon garlic aioli. Patatas Bravas are typically fried potatoes, but I chose to bake mine to make them slightly healthier, and for general ease. Deep frying at home is quite a process, compared to throwing a tray in the oven.

Baked fries/chunks of potato are a little difficult to get perfectly crispy in the oven, but the technique I used cooked them just the way I wanted. You start by putting your chopped potatoes in a pot of cold water and bringing it to a boil. Once the pot reaches a boil, you remove your potatoes from the heat, toss them in a couple tablespoons of olive oil and flour, and bake them on a tray at very high heat in the oven. I haven’t tried this method for fries but you better believe I intend to. This technique could also be something that experienced chefs have known about for years, and here I am just discovering it. The more I learn about cooking, the more I find that I will never know enough about cooking.

I served my Patatas Bravas with a cheese board, some salsa bruschetta (a recipe that I will be posting here soon!), and of course some sangria. Can’t forget the sangria. Bobby (my husband) and I basically gobbled it down, sitting on the floor of our apartment (we do have furniture – we’re just weird). I prefer to imagine that we sat on a balcony in Spain, in the warm glow of the last of the day’s sunlight, glasses of cold, fizzy, white sangria in hand, reaching for another helping of everything. Food can transport me the same way a good book does – or maybe I’m just delusional? You be the judge. I’ll be busy eating Patatas Bravas on my “balcony.”

 




Print

Baked Patatas Bravas

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Potatas

  • 3 russet potatoes
  • 2 Tbsps olive oil
  • 2 Tbsps white flour

Spicy Tomato Sauce

  • 1/4 medium yellow onion
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup diced canned tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1/8 tsp cumin
  • 1/8 tsp chili powder
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne
  • 1/8 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/8 tsp dried thyme

Lemon Garlic Aioli

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/16 tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Peel and dice potatoes into bite-sized chunks. Place in a pot with enough cold water to submerge them completely. Cook over high heat, just until the water reaches a boil. Drain, keeping the potatoes in the same pot. Add olive oil and flour to the potatoes and shake the pot until they're well coated - this is much easier than stirring to get them evenly coated. 

    2. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Spread potatoes on the tray in a single layer, and cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven after 15 minutes, and flip the potatoes to ensure they brown on all sides. When they're golden brown and the outsides are all crispy, they're done. 

    3. While the potatoes cook, make your sauces. For the aioli, add all five ingredients to a small bowl and stir until well combined. For the tomato sauce, chop onion and add to a small pot with 1 Tbsp of butter. Let cook until the onion is soft and starting to become transparent. 

    4. Mince 1 clove of garlic and add it to the pot, with the tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and chicken broth. Let it come to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. After lowering the heat, add the remaining ingredients, and stir frequently.

    5. Remove sauce from heat and pour into a blender (I used my NutriBullet, as always). Blend until smooth. 

    6. Remove potatoes from the oven, pour into your serving dish and drizzle with both sauces. Enjoy!


In Mains, Snacks, Starters

Pulled Pork and Cranberry Flatbread

Author KatePosted on
Pulled Pork and Cranberry Flatbread

I was roaming the internet, looking for inspiration, when I came across this cranberry and goat cheese flatbread. It clearly has made the rounds on Pinterest, and for good reason – it’s quite pretty. Having posted a flatbread recipe recently, I figured this would be a great time to try out some interesting new toppings. Although to be fair, you could put just about anything on flatbread and I’d try it. Not to turn this post into an ode to flatbread or anything.

I love the goat cheese and cranberry combination, but I wanted to give the dish another dimension, and make it more filling. With the tart, yet sweet cranberry sauce already in mind, I knew spicy, smoky pulled pork would be the perfect addition. The cranberry sauce is reminiscent of a barbecue sauce on the pulled pork, but with a different, fruitier flavor profile. The goat cheese is a perfect element to mellow some of the spice from the pork, and keep the tang of the cranberry sauce from being overwhelming.

Cranberry sauce seems to get attention only around the holidays, and I think that’s kind of a tragedy. It’s delicious with so many other things besides turkey and stuffing. That said, finding fresh or even frozen cranberries after January 1st is like trying to find truly good gluten-free pizza crust: may exist, but hard to locate. My cranberry sauce calls for part dried cranberries and part canned whole cranberry sauce, so it can (and should!) be made between the months of January and October. My recipe for this is adapted from a Food Network version.

The pulled pork in this recipe is done in the slow cooker, with a rub from Kevin and Amanda. Their recipe has a lot more to it, brining, and cooking in the oven, etc., but I just took the rub, coated my pork, tossed it in the slow cooker with a little water, and let it go, and it’s some of the best pulled pork I’ve ever eaten. Every bite is extremely flavorful and a little spicy, without being overpowering. The goat cheese I used is “La Bonne Vie Garlic and Herb Goat Cheese”- I just got it from my local grocery store, but you could honestly use any decent herb goat cheese. Trader Joe’s has a great, inexpensive one.

Since I’ve essentially given you a rundown of how wonderful all the components of this dish are on their own, you can imagine how I reacted when I tried them together. There was a lot of swooning, and uncivilized devouring, and general elation.




Print

Pulled Pork and Cranberry Flatbread

Pulled pork recipe is adapted from Kevin and Amanda's Perfect Pulled Pork.  

Cranberry sauce recipe is adapted from Gourmet Magazine's Savory Dried Cranberry Sauce - Recipe found through foodnetwork.com

Servings 3 flatbreads

Ingredients

Pulled Pork

  • 1 4-8 lb pork shoulder
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 Tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 Tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 Tbsp onion powder
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 Tbsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp ground black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp paprika
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar

Cranberry Sauce

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 3/4 cup chicken broth
  • 1 tsp balsamic vingar
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries (I used Craisins)
  • 1/2 cup canned whole cranberry sauce
  • 1/8 tsp rosemary
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp tarragon

Other Ingredients

  • 3 large flatbreads
  • 8-12 oz herb goat cheese (2-3 small logs), depending on how much you like goat cheese - I used 12oz.
  • 2 Tbsp fresh thyme or parsley (optional)

Instructions

  1. Slow cook the pork: mix together all dry ingredients to create a rub. Roughly chop yellow onion, and place in slow cooker with the 1/2 cup of water. 

    2. Pat pork shoulder dry with paper towel, and coat generously with the dry rub on all sides. Massage it into the meat with your hands to make sure it really sticks. 

    3. Place pork in the slow cooker, on top of the onions. Cover and let cook on high 4-6 hours, or on low 8-10 hours, until pork is falling off the bone and tender. Remove bone from the pot, and shred the meat with two forks. 

    Note: this pulled pork recipe yields much more pork than you'll need to use for your flatbreads. Extra meat can be frozen to use later.

    4. If you're making your flatbread, do it when the pork is about an hour and a half from being done. You can easily use pre-made flatbread if you prefer. You can find my flatbread recipe linked in the post above.  Instead of splitting the dough into eight pieces like I typically do, I split it into three, to make larger flatbreads. The method for cooking them is the same. 

    5. When your pork is about a half hour from done, make the cranberry sauce. Stir together brown sugar and cornstarch in a small sauce pan. Add white wine and chicken broth and set over low heat. Stir until well combined. Add vinegar, dried cranberries and canned cranberry sauce, rosemary, tarragon, and cinnamon. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sauce should be quite thick. Remove from heat. Sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least a week. 

    6: Assemble Pulled Pork and Cranberry Flatbreads: spread each flatbread with a generous amount of goat cheese, saving 2-4 oz aside. Top with a layer of pulled pork- you can add as much or as little as you like here. Drizzle with cranberry sauce (again, quantities are up to you).  I used all of my sauce between three flatbreads. Top with small crumbles of the remaining goat cheese. Bake flatbreads in the oven at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes, until the cheese gets soft and the flatbreads are warm and a just little crispy on the bottoms. Garnish with fresh thyme or parsley.