Cheesy Rice Fritters

Gourmet's Cheddar Rice Fritters. Need I say more? These were easily my favorite dish we served on Easter. I simply can't resist fried and cheesy! Who can?

Semi Homemade Stuff

Yup, I feel a little like Semi Homemade Sandra Dee. This meal was assembled from
pre-made Southwestern Eggrolls from Entree Vous that I just fried up and Rice-A-Roni's Mexican rice. I added some homemade guacamole and some homemade cantaloupe tomato salsa. I guess the key with premade foods is to add your own very fresh touches, good veggies or fruit, etc. After frying the egrolls I sprinkled some shredded cheddar on top, stuck them under a hot broiled for about 30 seconds, and topped them with some sour cream. And, hell, everything is good with an extra-limey gin and tonic.

My salsa was as follows:

3 roma tomatoes, seeds and pulp removed, diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 small red pepper, seeds removed, minced
1/4 of a cantaloupe, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
splash of champagne vinegar

Mix together. Let sit for an hour or so if you can before serving.

Antipasto Salad

Some friends had us over for pizza the other night, and just said only to bring something that didn't require a trip to the grocery. So, I cleaned out the fridge for a layered antipasto salad. Below is what I used, and the order I layered it (from bottom up) but just use whatever you have in the fridge that you think tastes good together. This went especially well with pizza.

2 large tomatoes thinly sliced
1 half cucumber, thinly sliced
5 radishes, thinly sliced
1 half bell pepper, cut in strips
1/3 cup Boursin, crumbled
1/4 cup of pepperoni, cut into toothpicks
1/4 cup of calamata tapenade, dolloped around (I was out of olives)
balsamic vinaigrette

New Year's Lamb

I wanted to try something new and exciting for New Year's Eve, so I made my first Leg of Lamb, the Roast Leg of Lamb with Fennel Butter recipe from the Epicurious website. It was fabulous! The only change I made was to use a semi-boneless rather than boneless leg (because that's what I could get at the last minute). I cooked it until it was 130F, and it was a beautiful medium rare. The sauce was extremely tasty and easy to make.

I served it with a slightly boring broccoli cauliflower gratin from Epicurious - it was good, but nothing special. However, with a lot of tasty additions - more salt, cheese, etc, it might make a nice veggie main course.

Also, we started out with some Crab Canapes from the same website, which were good with champagne.

Happy New Year!

My Love

The holidays are rough on all our pocketbooks, but my poor boyfriend also has our anniversary and my birthday in December to manage. For our recent anniversary he put together what is simply my favorite thing to eat - a spread of lovely cheeses and meats, olives, fruit, bread, etc. I could close my eyes and imagine I am in some Provencal country house, but sitting on our old couch with him is almost as good!

The cheese plate included Humboldt Fog, Danish Blue, Triple Creme, Parrana, St. Andre, Smoked Rambol and Sharp cheddar. In the rectangular dish there is a Pate de Campagna, mixed olives, boursin and blueberries. Finally, he served some peppery French sausage, French bread and crackers. Just think of all the combinations you can make!

Thanksgiving Inquiries

A few people have asked me what I am making for Thanksgiving. To be honest, we are doing Thanksgiving at my Mom's and it's pretty difficult to find anything to fit in with all the dishes that are already made. I smiled when I read this comment in a New York Times article last week: "After filling out an application in triplicate and pleading my case before the committee, I received probationary approval for a dish of string beans..."

We have so many dishes on our table, and tinkering with them is just not allowed. Mom and Dad make the turkey, Mom makes stuffing, gravy, cranberry relish and mashed potatoes, along with homemade bread and hot cross buns; Dad makes brussels sprouts; and Grandma makes green beans with ham and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. For dessert, Drew is making an apple pie and a pumpkin pie, and Mom is making creme brulee.

I have lots of thoughts of how we could update some of these dishes, make them lighter, etc., but tradition will not allow it (at this point). So, what else can I fit into this meal, particularly something healthy that can be made ahead so I am not using up kitchen space? I thought about a salad, but, unless it is served ahead of the dinner (which it wouldn't be), I just don't think it fits in.

So, in the end, I have decided to make a couple of snacks for before the dinner. I am going to make this Camembert mushroom dish from Food and Wine. Also, I got ahold of a lot of shrimp, so will probably make some sort of cold shrimp appetizer.

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving, and please send me recipes, comments or pictures of your Thanksgiving.

Update

Yup, ended up making the cheese/mushroom appetizer from Food and Wine. I also made a shrimp salad of shrimp, tarragon, celery, green onion, cayenne, salt, pepper and a tiny bit of mayo. I served them with french bread toasts. Both were a hit, especially the first one - who doesn't love melting, gooey cheese?

Addictive

Last night we had dinner at my parents and I was asked to bring an appetizer. I made one of my favorites - gougeres. They are addictive sort of cheese puffs, usually about the size of ping pong balls. Tonight they were a little bigger but still just as tasty. Usually I use gruyere, but tonight I used a sharp dry manchego. Just delicious.

Here's the recipe:

In a large pot, bring 1 cup water, one stick butter and one teaspoon salt to a boil. Add one cup flour and stir until it all comes together in one mass ( A wooden spoon definitely works best here). Take it off the heat, and transfer the batter to a large bowl. One at a time, beat in four eggs with an electric mixer. Then add 3/4 cup of whatever sharp firm cheese you want (gruyere is the traditional thing to use). Once it is all mixed together, transfer the batter to a plastic sandwich bag. Cut off a corner and pipe out (of course you can use a patry bag here) tablespoon size dollops onto a greased cookie sheet (Silpat works even better, if you have one). Sprinkle another 1/4 cup of cheese on top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are just golden. Golden gougeres.