Tag Archives: appetizer

Baked Mozzarella Sticks with Butternut Squash Marinara

String Cheese for G-Strings

The weather’s getting warmer and you want to fill your tummy without working on that muffin top.  If stripper aerobics classes don’t put the sparkle in your crystal heels, you might want to shave off some calories another way.

When I first saw the shockingly seductive pics of baked treats using wonton and eggroll wrappers on Pinterest, I was skeptical.  Could some cooking spray and a quick trip in the oven beget lacy, crunchy appetizer happiness?  I ran the first test on my classic crab rangoon recipe and was literally floored – each light and crispy bite was greaseless and guilt-free.  Plus, my kitchen wasn’t covered with a sheen of oil from manning a deep fryer. Continue reading Baked Mozzarella Sticks with Butternut Squash Marinara

White Bean Bruschetta with Rosemary and Lemon

Your Cans Totally Rock

Let me teach you guys a magic trick.  How’d you like to learn how to take some old cans in your pantry and elevate the contents to heavenly bites of goodness?  This white bean bruschetta is downright dirty in its simplicity – crack open a can of white beans, toss with a fresh vinaigrette of lemon, rosemary and garlic, and slather the deliciousness on toasted crostini. Continue reading White Bean Bruschetta with Rosemary and Lemon

Fried Yucca with Mojo Criollo

Tuber Love

The Colonel never did anything for me growing up – to this day, I am wedded to the addictive blend of herbs and spices that form a layer of lipsmacking goodness around the crisp skinned chickens roasted at the Peruvian joints in Northern Virginia (or for us OGs, two up – two down*)  And I’m lying when I say joints, for there is only one location that has my heart, and that’s El Pollo Rico.  The exterior of the restaurant looks like a nondescript warehouse with bumping fluorescent lighting and a steady clip of customers zipping in and emerging with styrofoam containers and brown paper bags almost translucent from the french fry grease.  Like a speakeasy for chicken, my dad would always run in, broker the deal and grab the bounty, returning with parcels that perfumed the car with the scent of cumin, garlic and majesty.  When we finally got home and tucked into the feast, it was scandalously good – the chicken was served with fat steak fries, and both items would receive a ceremonial dip in a mustard/mayo sauce and then a dollop of fresh minced jalapenos before making it to my greedy mouth.  And if I was lucky (really lucky), they’d still have fried yucca in stock, which we’d bring home in lieu of the fries.  Cracklingly golden on the outside and tender in the center, this was the first preparation I’d ever had for yucca and I was sold for life.  In fact, I loved it so much that I had to find a way to prepare it at home – I couldn’t wait for trips to the right coast to get my yucca fix. Continue reading Fried Yucca with Mojo Criollo

Crostini di Fave (Fava Bean Crostini)

Foodbuzz 24 x 24 | An Ode to Orvieto

This recipe was a part of a special menu for Foodbuzz’s June 2011 food blogger party, 24×24.  Showcasing posts from 24 Foodbuzz Featured Publisher bloggers, the monthly Foodbuzz 24 highlights unique meals occurring around the globe during a 24-hour period.  Read more about my meal along with all of the other recipes at An Ode to Orvieto.

Although I was first truly introduced to them in Italy, the lovely fava bean is wordly in all senses of the word.  Burgeoning natively in Asia and North Africa, and found in gardens just about everywhere else, the fava (or broad bean) serves as a tender, meaty bean that can be transformed into all sorts of loveliness.  I first tucked into them as a part of a simple appetizer in Orvieto, Italy.  We had started going to this restaurant in town that we referred to lovingly as “The Italian Pottery Barn” – aside from the menu outside and the screamingly tasty smells coming from the kitchen, one would think that they were shopping for glassware and rustic furniture over a delicious bite.  This dish, comprised of creamy fava beans slathered over crisp toast and topped with curls of pecorino romano, was the perfect opening to some of the most gorgeous farm-fresh meals I’ve eaten in Orvieto.  I remember the first time I tried these babies, my friend told me that she would never try them because typically people with fava bean allergies tend to die the very first time they tried them. She explained that she didn’t want to take a chance, all the while I nodded my head as I tucked in to the most perfect fava bean puree dressed with fruity, local olive oil. Her loss – more for me.

This recipe is sometimes served rather chunkily, but I first had it as a smooth, almost hummus-like spread.  Some folks make it with a heavy kick of garlic or basil, but the way I had it, the seasonings were mild, allowing the fava beans to shine.  The best thing you can do is get the tastiest olive oil to drizzle, your favorite bread for toast points (I love a good ciabatta) and the most savory, nutty pecorino you can find.  Then, with a minimal amount of cooking, you can relish in the the joy of the fabulous fava bean.

Crostini di Fave (Fava Bean Crostini)

1 loaf of ciabatta, sliced into 1 inch ovals
1 clove of garlic
olive oil

1 lbs. of unshelled fava beans
juice of 1/2 lemon, freshly-squeezed
4 tbs. of white balsamic vinegar
1/2 c. of olive oil
2 cl. of garlic
3 sprigs of parsley, leaves removed and stems discarded (save stems for stock)
4 sprig of mint
1/4 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. of black pepper

pecorino romano

Drizzle the bread slices with olive oil and toast until golden and crisp.  Rub the warm slices with the clove of garlic and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Remove the fava beans from their husks and drop into the water.  Drain and cool under running water.  Remove the beans from their outer white membrane – you’ll have two split bean halves that’ll come out of the husk.  Drop the fava beans, lemon juice, balsamic, olive oil, garlic, parsley, mint, salt and pepper into a food processor and blitz until smooth.

Slather a few tablespoons of the fava bean puree on the toasts and shave pecorino romano over the top.  Drizzle with a good olive oil and serve.

Pao de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Puffs)

I don’t know what it is, but whenever I think of pao de queijo, I think of my mother.  In that she is the first generation on her mother’s side born outside of Brazil, she made a big deal about passing on the culture and heritage of our ancestors down to my sister and I.  For the two of us, culture always related to the kitchen in some way, shape or form, and the true “mother” of heritage came in the Brazilian feast, feijoada completa.  A celebration through and through, feijoada completa meant cherished guests and many, many plates and platters on the table, all marks of a few days of cooking in order to stage all of the dishes.  It was some kind of special, and the meal kicked off with a special treat – pao de queijo.  Translated into English, it literally means “cheese bread,” but make no mistake – these babies are so much more.  Made of tapioca flour and crumbly, salty cheese, they more closely resemble cheese puffs than actual bread.  Eaten fresh from the oven, we noshed happily while waiting for the rest of the feast to come together (usually waiting for the white rice to finish cooking or for dad to put the final touches on the greens).

Interestingly enough, my mom’s a french professor, and over the years my sister and I have become mini-francophiles by association.  My sister even downplays the influences from over the years, cracking jokes in a perfect French accent.  Petite Beurre cookies and homemade madeleines were just as much a part of our kitchen as Brazilian specialties.  In a complete and total cultural blend, our beloved pao de queijo held many of the same characteristics as the classic French cheese puffs, gougère.  The little treats, made of gruyere or comte cheese, were savory, chewy and airy just like their Brazilian cousins.  An apropos association, if I do say so myself.

Because pao de queijo are traditionally made with a cooked dough called a pâté choux, the old school recipe can be a bit daunting.  In fact, we often purchased the frozen variety from specialty markets for quick snacking.  But when my mom turned me on to a blender version, I tried it out with great success and haven’t looked back since.  In fact, the hardest part of the recipe is tracking down the tapioca flour, which is barely a challenge in that not only Whole Foods, but most regular grocery stores carry the stuff under the Bob’s Red Mill brand.  I’ve had the most success with making the batter and baking these guys pretty much right when I have the craving to snack away.  I’ve also had excellent success with a 24 mini-cup muffin tin – it allows a mess of pao de queijo to be baked all at once for aggressive snacking.  And, as you know, aggressive snacking is what we were all born to do.

Recipe for

Pao de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Puffs)

Ingredients
1 egg
1 1/3 c. of tapioca flour
2/3 c. of whole milk
1/3 c. of olive oil
6 oz. of queso fresco, crumbled
1 tsp. of salt
1/8 tsp. of white pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°.  In a blender, add the egg, milk, olive oil, salt, queso fresco and white pepper.  Put the tapioca flour on top and blend on low until mostly mixed.  Scrape down the flour on the sides of the blender and blitz again on low.  Pour batter into greased muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes or until puffy and golden.  Serve immediately.

Pulled Boar Panini with Miner’s Lettuce and Lemon Aioli

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that a dish with a fancy name and a fancier presentation can also be soul-satisfying comfort food.  This seemingly hoity-toity recipe is, at its most base form, an open-faced pulled pork sandwich.  The ingredients married together create a taste profile that is wholly sumptuous and ever so necessary.  I fell in love after first bite and promised myself that I’d make this one on repeat and revel in the glory as much as possible.

I use wild boar shoulder for this recipe, and thought the cut can take some time to braise until tender, I speed up the process with a trip to the pressure cooker.  If you can’t get boar, simply substitute pork shoulder – the taste won’t be nearly as rich, but you’ll still be able to get down.  Once the meat is shredded and cooled a bit, it rejoins the party on a raft of ciabatta, sharp provolone and a zesty homemade lemon aioli.  Miner’s lettuce serves as an interesting counterpoint for the unctuous boar and salty cheese – it’s texture alone, similar to spinach, adds the fresh finesse that makes this one a stunner.  Although this dish is an appetizer, just know that if you serve this dish first, chances are very good that people will fill up on these suckers with reckless abandon without a thought of saving room for anything else.  They are just. that. good.

Recipe for

Pulled Boar Panini with Miner’s Lettuce and Lemon Aioli

Ingredients
1 lb. wild boar shoulder, cut into 2-3 large chunks
4 c. of chicken stock
1 fennel bulb, quartered
1 onion, quartered
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of fennel pollen

2 cl. of garlic, minced
1 egg
zest of one lemon
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp. of dijon mustard
1/2 c. of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

4 oz. of miner’s lettuce, stems removed
1 1/2 c. of sharp provolone cheese, shredded
1 loaf of ciabatta

Begin by preparing the wild boar.  Add the boar, fennel, onion, stock, fennel pollen and bay leaves to a pressure cooker.  Bring to high pressure and then allow to cook for 30 minutes.  Let the pressure subside naturally and remove boar from cooking liquid.  Shred with two forks and set aside.

Now make the aioli.  Add the egg, lemon, zest and mustard to a blender.  Blitz on high and slowly stream in the olive oil.  Turn off blender and taste for salt and pepper.  The aioli should be pretty loose and not as thick as a traditional mayonnaise, so thin with additional olive oil if necessary.  Set aside.

Halve the ciabatta lengthwise and spread with some of the aioli, saving a few tablespoons for drizzling.  Top with the shredded boar and add the provolone to the top.  Bake in the oven on 400° until the cheese has melted.  Remove the two ciabatta loaves to a cutting board and cut into 8 pieces for each loaf.  Sprinkle miner’s lettuce liberally over the top of the panini and drizzle with additional aioli.  Serve while still standing, eating it right from the kitchen and not stopping to take it to the table.

Post-Thanksgiving Stuffed Mushrooms

Thanksgiving leftovers go from absolute wonder to total boredom as the days pass after turkey day.  By day three, you’re still hiding under mounds of potatoes and gravy, but so over the leftover sandwich.  You don’t want to waste, but you’d like a taste profile different from the original meal.  While mashed potatoes are easy to repurpose (shepard’s pie, pierogies, croquettes), stuffing gets old.  But yet, with a little bit of ingenuity, you can make a glorious appetizer out of the remnants of the holiday.

These mushrooms are stuffed with a combination of ground beef, spinach and cheese to make a mini-meatball as a baked, one-bite delicacy.  Feel free to chuck in leftover vegetables (roasted red peppers or caramelized onions work well) or different greens (kale or swiss chard) to make the same deliciousness with whatever solid ingredients you have on hand.  You’ll be most pleased with the increased fridge space and the dying of the rumble in your tummy, not to mention the end of turkey malaise.

Recipe for

Post-Thanksgiving Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients
1/2 lb. of ground beef
1 c. of leftover stuffing
1/4 c. of spinach leaves, defrosted and squeezed of liquid
1 lb. of mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed.
1/2 c. of parmasean
1 tsp. of fennel seeds
1 c. of mozzarella cheese

Wipe the mushrooms clean and remove the stems.  If you’d like, chop the stems and add to the filling that you’ll mix in a bit.  Line a cookie sheet with foil and grease with olive oil or melted butter.  Place the mushroom caps on the cookie sheet and preheat the oven to 375°.

In a standing mixer (or with your hands in a mixing bowl), blend the ground beef, stuffing, mushroom stems, spinach, parmasean and fennel.  Fill the mushrooms with a few tablespoons of filling, using a spoon to smooth the mounds into round balls.  Sprinkle with parmasean cheese and bake in the oven for 25 – 30 minutes, until the mushrooms are golden on top and cooked through.  Serve with toothpicks.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Like a true daughter of the Eastern shore, I love me some blue crab.  I once read an article that broke me into a fury as strong as the east coast-west coast hip hop beef.  Apparently Tupac thinks dungeoness crab is far better than Biggie’s favorite blue crabs, and that those little hard-shelled beauties from the Chesapeake Bay (and increasingly from the Gulf and around Texas) are too hard to crack and overrated.  To which I say, Tupac, that’s bollocks.  Come over for these crab-stuffed mushrooms anytime and I will change your mind.  And yes, I just offered the deceased crab stuffed mushrooms.

This recipe is incredibly simple, but can be pricey if you are making it outside the Chesapeake Bay area.  I lessen the blow by substituting half of the lump crab with claw meat – this briny, dark colored meat is far cheaper and works well as a mushroom filling.  If that’s still too expensive, employ a blend of a half pound of diced raw shrimp and roasted red peppers sautéed with an extra cup of panko, a few tablespoons of butter and enough chicken stock to moisten the stuffing.  Regardless of the seafood, the mixture is lightened by lemon zest and parsley, and has a dose of cayenne for kick.  Make a batch of these for loved ones, and I am sure that your street cred will go through the roof.  Homie? Homie.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

1 shallot, minced
4 tbs. of butter
8 oz. lump crab meat
8 oz. of crab claw meat
1 egg
1/2 tbs. of dijon mustard
2 tbs. of mayo
pinch of cayenne
1/4 tsp. of white pepper
1 tbs. of fresh thyme
2 tbs. of fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp of old bay, plus more for sprinkling
1 lemon
1/2 c. of panko, plus more for sprinkling
1 lb. of cremini or white button mushrooms

Wipe the mushrooms clean and remove the stems.  If you’d like, chop the stems and sauté with the shallots in the next step or save for another use (like a marinara sauce or a mushroom risotto).  Line a cookie sheet with foil and grease with olive oil or butter.  Place the mushroom caps on the cookie sheet and preheat the oven to 375°.

Sauté the shallots in a small skillet with the butter until translucent.  Let cool to room temperature and then pour into a mixing bowl.  Blend carefully with the egg, mustard, mayo, cayenne, white pepper, thyme, parsley, old bay and the zest of 1 lemon.  Pick over the crab for any extra shells and gently fold into the stuffing mixture.  Fold in the panko.  Fill each mushroom with a few tablespoons of filling.  Sprinkle with panko and old bay on top.  Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden.  Cut the lemon into wedges and squeeze over the mushrooms before serving.  Eat and then bust a rhyme.

Fresh Tomato Salsa

There’s something to be a said for a good recipe passed on from trusted cook to trusted cook.  Finding one of these gems is truly like finding a hidden treasure – the question is whether you’ll share once you do.  Given that I’m not at all proprietary, and I love the fact that these posts get you guys cooking, eating and sharing in turn, how could I not pass it on!

This one comes from my grandmother, Vo, who was given this recipe by a friend, who in turn received it from her grandmother – the same recipe that she used back in Mexico.  Something as seemingly pedestrian as salsa becomes a celebration of the sweetness of ripe tomatoes and the piquant flavor of jalapeno.  I was surprised to learn that there’s nary the lime or bit of oil in this one – just veggies and goodness. Continue reading Fresh Tomato Salsa

Ricotta, Prosciutto and Fig Crostini

This one is so simple, it hardly really qualifies as a recipe.  The result, however, is no less than spectacular – the perfect amalgamation of sweet and salty, with a pleasing crunch from the toasted bread.  I first tried this combination at NYC restaurant Nizza, sister restaurant of Simon Oden baby, Marseille.  Maybe it was that I was dining with two friends that also studied in Orvieto with me, but it harkened back to those days where a simple lunch of prosciutto, pecorino, bread, honey and wine became a revelation.  The ingredients so fresh and earthy, you felt like you were tasting a bit of heaven.  Though this recipe is certainly humble in terms of preparation, it’s a reminder that it doesn’t take much to secure bliss in a bite or two.

Ricotta, Prosciutto and Fig Crostini

1/2 c. of whole milk ricotta
black pepper
pinch of white pepper
kosher salt
olive oil
a couple of slices of prosciutto
fig jam (found in nice grocery stores or online)
slices of ciabatta (9-12)

Preheat the oven to 400°.  Line the slices of ciabatta on a cookie sheet and brush with olive oil on both sides.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper.  Bake until golden and toasty, about 10-12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

In a small bowl, mix the ricotta, a pinch each of white and black pepper, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of olive oil.  Stir well to combine.  Set aside.

Once your ciabatta has cooled, spread with a small amount of fig jam.  Spread a few tablespoons of ricotta on top to cover.  Gently place a bit of prosciutto on top, tearing each slice into smaller pieces if necessary.  Crack a bit of fresh pepper on top and drizzle with a bit of additional olive oil (use a good, fruity one for drizzling).  Serve.