Jalapeno Poppers

I might get smacked for this, but I always feel like Jalapeno Poppers are a little too greasy, and. . . I don't know.  Just somehow wrong.  I've never been a huge fan.
But this last Super Bowl Sunday (no, we didn't watch any of the Super Bowl), seemed like a fantastic time to try this recipe out.  I had seen it the weekend before and thought, "OMFGthoselookgood."  And you know what?  OMFGtheyAREgood.
I really like that Aarti writes her recipes with a similar voice to me - with lots of editorial.  :)

1 8 oz container of lowfat/light cream cheese, at room temp
1 large Granny Smith apple, diced (cored too, duh)
3 green peppers, roots and tips sliced off and sliced thinly
salt
10 jalapenos
10 slices of bacon, sliced in half
20 toothpicks
** this makes 20 jalapenos with a little bit of the cream cheese mixture left over - oddly enough it is delicious on banana chips (I know, but my boyfriend used to be a stoner and he gets these weird ideas about things I'm cooking and other items in the kitchen for snacking and from time to time I humor him and he frequently finds some new delicious combination that makes me scrunch up my face and say no way), but I imagine on a bagel or toast or crackers or whatever, it's also delightful.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.

In a large bowl, stir the cream cheese until smooth. Add the apples and scallions, plus as much salt as you like.

Slice each jalapeno in half lengthwise, and then scoop out the membranes and seeds.


Using that same spoon, fill each jalapeno half with the cream cheese mixture; fill until just over the rim of the jalapeno. Wrap each pepper with a bacon half and secure with a toothpick.
Line then up on the baking sheet and pop into the oven until bacon has browned on the bottom, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes so you don't burn off the inside of your mouth.  Trust me.

Deviled Eggs

I'm not a huge fan of deviled eggs.  I don't dig cooked yolks see.
This means I don't like my eggs over well.
I toss the little sulfuric sphere out of my hardboiled ovum.
I DETEST egg salad (cooked yolks AND mayo - man, how could you?).
My stepmother makes deviled eggs for most events because most people quite like the things.  At some point during this last year (Easter I believe it was), she had the brilliant idea of adding pickled jalapenos.  Now there's something I can get on board with.  I branched out.  I tried a deviled egg.  And another.  And maybe one more.  Okay two.  But that's really only two full eggs so it's not that bad.

This year for festivus, my darling friend Jennie wanted to use her grandmother's crystal egg plate, but she had no idea how to make deviled eggs.  Enter me.  A quick call to my stepmother, a walk through of a semblance of a recipe (she cooks like I do), and I was on my way.  They weren't quite as good as hers, though nothing I make ever is, but they were a hit, and a decent first go if I do say so myself.

1 dozen eggs, hardboiled and cooled
(put the eggs into cold water and bring to a boil; boil for 17 minutes and immediately remove from water and immerse into an ice bath)
Peel the eggs, and cut in half.  Place the whites on papertowels to absorb any extra moisture and mash the yolks into dust.  A little more.  A little more than that.  There you go, that should be good.
Add to the yolks: 2 tsp of white vinegar (you may want to add more later, but start here), onion powder, garlic powder, salt, white pepper, 1 tbsp of mustard, and mayo to consistency.  It's all about taste here - start small and add more until you get to a spot you (or your boyfriend and his brother) approve of.  I think I might even like to add chopped up pickled jalapenos and sour relish sometime, but that's neither here nor there.
Put the yolk mixture into a plastic bag and cut off the tip (or a pastry bag with a star tip if you'd prefer) and pipe into the egg halves.
Garnish with whatever you like - paprika, pimentos, olives, sprigs of dill, crumbled bacon, and pickled jalapenos all seem like good options.  Stroke of genius: deviled eggs with crispy bacon on top could equal a great egg dish for a brunch party.  Yes.

Take photos before you bring them to the party or they'll all get eaten and you'll have to post with no photo, yet again.

Kill me, kill me now

I'm posting a Sandra Lee inspired recipe. But come on, we've all seen something using similar flavors so can we really give her credit? Plus, I'm not posting it exactly as is; I'm posting it as I'd make it. I still feel a little nauseous, but hey, credit where credit is due, and I was indeed watching her show and thinking, "yum." If you are unfamiliar with Sandra and her work, a quick web search will give you the actual scoop, and then if you scroll down, the mountains and mountains of angry, hateful, vitriolic websites and parodies dedicated to her. It's her own fault, really. Really.
And while I'm here talking about this one; I'll share a recipe that a friend of a friend made for a recent party:
Little crostinis
goat cheese
sliced dried figs
white truffle oil
Top the crostinis with goat cheese, a slice of dried fig and drizzle with truffle oil. Die and go to heaven.

Fig & Prosciutto Crostata
1 pre-made pie crust
4 ounces cream cheese, softened (OR! 2 oz cream, 2 oz goat; OR! add some blue cheese crumbles on top of the fig preserves)
1/2 (10-ounce) jar fig preserves
1 (3-ounce) package prosciutto, cut into 1/2-inch strips
arugula
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place the pie crust onto a baking sheet. Spread the cheese over the crust leaving a 1-inch border. Top with fig preserves (and sprinkle with blue cheese crumbles if using). Fold border over fig spread and top with prosciutto strips.

Lightly beat egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Use a pastry brush to brush edge of crust with egg wash. Bake in oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. Serve topped with arugula (simply dressed with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper) if you dig it (which I do).

This is similar to another party snack I like to make using premade pizza crust (or even pita), smeared with goat cheese and then topped with caramelized onions and shallots with the little arugula salad on top. Yum.

Amuse Bouche Party!

Yes please, I think I will use several of these ideas from Longwood Events. Even if I'm not trying to recreate the recipes, I certainly love the plating. Look out next Iron Chef!
I've seen some of these before - the tomatoes for example, but I love how they cut the tomato in half and made it into like a little burger of caprese almost. So cute! I'd have to add a drizzle of reduced balsamic though. And those desserts, I think they have those at Chili's, but still.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. It seems I get all my recipe from three places, All Recipes, Food Network (and their website), and Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen.
This is no exception. For Thanksgiving, I was in charge of an appetizer. I've done stuffed mushrooms before, and the version printed in Number 95 looked delish. Fine it's been a long time since I've done stuffed mushrooms, but come on, they're mushrooms, with stuffing. I learned some tough lessons though by not following directions exactly. Learn with me people. . . .

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Spinach and Goat Cheese
(the filling can be made in advance and kept in the fridge; just reheat it before stuffing the mushrooms)

10 small portobello mushrooms - Remove stems and chop. Also chop up two of the 10 mushrooms, so you're left with 8 to stuff and about 3 c of chopped mushrooms.
4 tbsp olive oil
salt
2 6 oz bags of baby spinach
bread for bread crumbs - I used some stale sourdough baguette I had around; use whatever you have (although the recipe calls for two slices of white sandwich bread, torn into quarters if you must know; you just want to end up with 1 1/2 c)
1-2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium onions, finely diced (approx 2 cups)
4 medium sized cloves of garlic (squish through a garlic press)
1/2 c dry sherry (I used Dry Sack)
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
4-5 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 c ff half and half (recipe calls for heavy cream)
1 c walnuts, toasted (I used the Diamond walnuts that came already chopped to save myself some work)
2 tsp lemon juice
ground black pepper

And now for the million steps. . . * cracks knuckles before proceeding *
Place spinach and 2 tbsp of water in a microwave safe bowl with a cover and nuke for 3 minutes (I had to do this in two batches, and just divided the water). Spinach should be wilted and half of what it was before. Keep covered for a minute before moving spinach to a colander. Once I had nuked both batches, I let the spinach sit in the colander to drain and cool off while I did the rest. If you're impatient, use the back of a spoon or spatula to smoosh excess liquid out of the spinach. If you're patient and the spinach cools off, you can squeeze it by hand. You really want to get as much liquid out as possible. Roughly chop, smoosh or squeeze again, and set aside.
Pulse bread in food processor until coarsely ground.
Heat 1 tbsp oil (and 1 tbsp of butter if you'd like; I just used some butter flavored Pam to impart a buttery flavor to my oil) over medium high until warm. Add bread crumbs, 1/4 tsp salt and cook, stirring frequently until lightly browned, 5-8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and wipe out skillet with a paper towel.
Add remaining tbsp oil back to pan and head over medium high until smoking. Add mushrooms to pan and let sit without stirring for 2 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally until lightly browned, 4-6 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Add 1 tbsp butter and onions to skillet (I probably could've gotten away with more Pam here, but decided to go for the real deal) along with the onions. Cook 5-6 minutes until onions are light brown. Add garlic and cook til fragrant, only 30 seconds or so. Stir in sherry and cook til almost no liquid remains, just a couple of minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in the mushrooms, spinach, thyme, goat cheese, half and half (or cream), and walnuts. Cook until cheese is melted and veggies are well coated. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

As for the mushrooms, preheat oven to 400; preheat baking sheet on center rake as well. Using a sharp knife, cut a crosshatch of shallow slits (about 1/4 inch deep) onto the top of the mushroom (not the gill side) about 1/2 inch apart.
Brush both sides of caps with remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place mushrooms, gill side up onto preheated baking sheet. Roast until mushies have released some of their juices and have begun to brown around the edges, 10 minutes or so. Flip over and roast for another 10 minutes until juices have evaporated and caps are golden brown. Mine remained soggy and messy the entire time which was unfortunate. Remove mushies and preheat the broiler.

If you made the filling in advance, now is the time to reheat it. It doesn't have to be piping hot, but it should certainly be warm. Fill caps, top with bread crumbs and broil for a few minutes. Do NOT walk away from the oven at this point! Just hang out and watch to make sure you don't burn the tops. Serve immediately.

Again, be sure to get the small ones if you're doing this as an appetizer; if you get the big ones you'll end up with a big delicious flaccid mess. Look for the ones that are 4 inches across or so. If you use the large ones, these will still work as a knife and fork vegetarian meal, but not so much as an app. They're awesome so I highly recommend you make them.

Prosciutto wrapped asparagus

That reminds me. Prosciutto wrapped asparagus. Another stupid easy dish, but people request that I make it at potlucks, so there you have it.

Clean and snap (you know that trick, right? If you believe the folks at America's Test Kitchen - that's totally unnecessary and a waste of plenty of good asparagus - they'll tell you just to cut an inch or so off the ends. The controversy rages on.) a bunch of asparagus or two, depending on how big a batch you're making.
Get enough prosciutto for each asparagus spear. You can use one large piece two spears (just tear it in half) but that's just wrong. More bacon!
I put my clean asparagus in a shallow baking dish and toss with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic powder. I let it marinate in there for a little while as I do something else. Drink some wine, wash a dish, stare out the window, make whatever else I'm making to bring to the party. . . whatever.
Then I wrap a piece (or a half, if you must) of prosciutto around the asparagus - kind of like a barber pole; starting at one end and wrapping diagonally to the other.
I put these on a baking sheet and chuck into a 450 degree oven until the prosciutto looks brown and crispy and delicious, and Bob's your uncle.

Be prepared to fight off the hordes.

Arancini

Zombies don't just eat brains you know. In fact, if they had the choice, I'm quite sure they'd also go for deep fried eyeballs. Q thinks so too and give that the dead eat people parts, and the living love anything deep fried, he's asked that I make arancini for his upcoming Zombie-que. BYOF (Bring Your Own Flesh) to this three corpse meal and all that good cheesy stuff. Speaking of cheese - arancini! I love these things; in fact I had my stepmother slave away making them for my 29 1/2th birthday party.
You can make these with any kind of risotto you like; here is one option from All Recipes.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon olive oil 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 cup uncooked Arborio rice 1/2 cup dry white wine 2 1/2 cups boiling chicken stock 1/2 cup frozen green peas 2 ounces finely chopped ham salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese 1 egg, beaten 1 egg 1 tablespoon milk 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into 3/4 inch cubes 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup dry bread crumbs 1 cup vegetable oil for deep frying

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook, stirring until onion is soft but not browned. Pour in the rice, and cook stirring for 2 minutes, then stir in the wine, and continue cooking and stirring until the liquid has evaporated. Add hot chicken stock to the rice 1/3 cup at a time, stirring and cooking until the liquid has evaporated before adding more.
2.	When the chicken stock has all been added, and the liquid has evaporated, stir in the peas and ham. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat, and stir in the Parmesan cheese. Transfer the risotto to a bowl, and allow to cool slightly.
3.	Stir the beaten egg into the risotto. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining egg and milk with a fork. For each ball, roll 2 tablespoons of the risotto into a ball. Press a piece of the mozzarella cheese into the center, and roll to enclose. Coat lightly with flour, dip into the milk mixture, then roll in bread crumbs to coat.
4.	Heat oil for frying in a deep-fryer or large deep saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Fry the balls in small batches until evenly golden, turning as needed. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm in a low oven while the rest are frying.

Now, so far I've made the risotto. I made it last night and put it in the fridge to make the balls today. We'll see how that goes. . . I thought I should probably form the balls last night, and then freeze or refrigerate them, but there just wasn't any room. Besides, this dish was created as a way to use leftover risotto, I see no reason why I can't refrigerate the whole batch as leftovers and make the dish the next day. We shall see. I'm having visions of a cold, crumbly mess, which would not be good.

UPDATE!
No cold crumbly mess in sight. This means you can even forgo the egg mixed into the risotto (which I did) and it'll still hold up just fine. I fried these bad boys up - golf ball to racquetball sized and they flew off the plate. The deep fried testicles (olives) not so much.
This is an ooey gooey mess, so be prepared for it, or watch Alton Brown and let him learn ya some battering tips. Start watching around 9:10 for the part I'm talking about.