Monthly Archives: December 2010

December 27, 2010 · 9:39 am

Lemon-Garlic Infused Olive Tapenade with Rosemary Baguette Chips

It began with a baguette.  Like all good plans gone awry, this baguette started out with the greatest of expectations.  As it left the market in its crinkly paper bag, it had high hopes for sopping up that last bit of soup, or being dipped in a drizzling of peppery olive oil.  But alas, it was forgotten, neglected, and turned stale.

Three days later, I noticed the baguette looking at me expectantly from the counter.

“Croutons?”  I suggested

“Obvious.”

“Crostini?”

“Yawn.  You can do better than that.”


“Okay, fine.  Bread crumbs?”

“Really, Jennifer?  You left me on the counter for the better part of a week.  I narrowly escaped the trash.”


Alright, alright.  Think, think, think…

“I’ve got it!  We’ll slice off your crust into little sheets.  We’ll toss you in olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and sea salt, and bake until you’re toasted and golden around the edges.”

“And?”

“And?  What do you mean and?!?”

“And…what are people supposed to eat me with?  Hmmmmm?”

This is ridiculous.  I can’t believe I’m talking to a baguette.

“You owe me one.”

“I really can’t wait to eat you.”

“Fabulous.  Now, what are you going to eat me with?”


“Caramelized Onion Dip?”

“That was so three weeks ago.”

“FINE!  Tapenade!  I will eat you with tapenade!!!”

“What kind?”

“A mixed olive tapenade with toasted almonds, capers, and  olive oil infused with lemon zest, garlic, rosemary and thyme.  Will that work for you, YOUR CRUSTINESS?!?”

“I knew you could do it.  And think, I could have been breadcrumbs.”

“Okay, baguette.  Maybe you’re not so bad after-all.”

“You’re really going to miss me.”

“I know.”

“I’m your greatest inspiration.  Your mentor, your confidante…”

“You’re being smug.  I’m going to eat you now.”

Crunch.

 

Lemon-Garlic Infused Olive Tapenade

Serves 6-8 people

Traditionally, tapenade is made by pounding olives, anchovies, and capers into a paste with olive oil.  Straying from tradition, this tapenade starts with  finely chopped, not pounded olives and toasted almonds as a base.  The olives are then tossed with olive oil that has been infused with lemon zest, garlic and herbs, and a few capers are tossed in for good measure.  The uses are endless…serve as an appetizer over goat cheese, make a tapenade vinaigrette to serve with fish or chicken, or spread on a panini.

  • One cup pitted green olives, such as picholine, manzanilla, or cerignola (or pit your own, see note)
  • One cup pitted black olives, such as kalamata or nicoise
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted and finely chopped (see note)
  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary leaves
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and dried
  • kosher salt to taste, if needed

Infuse the olive oil:

Put the olive oil, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and lemon zest in a small saucepan or frying pan, and warm the mixture over moderately low heat for about five minutes (the garlic should appear softened, but not golden.  If it starts to bubble, turn down the heat and remove the pan from the stovetop for a few seconds).  Set the mixture aside until cooled.

Chop, chop:

Pulse the green olives in a food processor until finely chopped and place in a medium bowl.  Pulse the black olives in the food processor and add to the bowl.

Mix it all together:

Add the capers, almonds and olive oil mixture to the medium bowl, and stir well to combine.  Season with kosher salt, if needed.

Rosemary Baguette Chips

Serves 6-8

  • 2 slightly stale baguettes (fresh will work too)
  • 2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
  • 2 large cloves garlic, put through a press, or minced and smashed to a paste with a fork
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • a sprinkling of kosher salt (about 1/4 teaspoon)

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.  Slice the crust off of the baguettes, then cut into chip-sized pieces.  In a large bowl, toss together the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and kosher salt.  Transfer the crusts to 2 baking sheets, and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until crispy and golden around the edges.

Notes:

  • Whole olives usually have a deeper flavor and sturdier texture than pre-pitted ones.  To pit your own (on a tip from Gluten-Free Girl), pound them with a rolling pin or meat mallet.  The pit will come right out.
  • To toast the almonds, heat a medium frying pan over medium high heat, and cook the almonds, tossing and stirring frequently, until they are aromatic, and golden in spots.  Remove from the heat.

9 Comments

Filed under Appetizers, Condiments

Tagged as , , ,

December 16, 2010 · 9:35 pm

Honey-Glazed Pear Breakfast Crisp

“…And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again.  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, ev’rywhere you go…”

I can almost taste it.  Christmas va-ca is almost here.  Just a few obstacles before two well-deserved weeks of relaxation.  The kids at school are excited too–VERY excited.  So excited, in fact, that I just want to take a nap.

I can’t say I completely blame them.  I mean, Santa Claus, gifts, and sugar.  Lots of sugar.  Luckily, the school will be closed until after the new year, and hopefully, students’ high-fructose corn syrup intake will have decreased by then.

Now, I’m daydreaming about my red polka-dot pajama pants.  They’re a symbol of good things to come.  They say, “I’m gonna wake up when I want, and drink my tea when I want, and eat whatever I want for breakfast, and get dressed when I’m good and ready.  So there.”

Normally, I eat breakfast by myself in my work clothes before sunrise, usually consisting of fruit and nuts, or maybe an egg sandwich.  No fun.  On Christmas morning, I will wear my polka dot pajamas.  There is an unwritten rule that when donning fun jammies, one must eat a special breakfast.  Mine will look like a jewel-studded christmas ornament and taste like dessert.  Festive enough, do we think?

Now by special, I don’t mean time-consuming.  I won’t want to be in the kitchen all morning, not with puppies to spoil and family to enjoy.  I’ll make the granola a day or two ahead of time–slightly sweet and full of toasted pecans and nutty flax, and re-crisp it in the oven before topping with honey-glazed spiced pears and sparkly pomegranate seeds.

So, when the world says, “Bah Humbug”, you can say “Not now…I’m still wearing my polka-dot pajama pants”.

Honey-Glazed Pear Breakfast Crisp

Serves 4-6

The granola can be made up to three days in advance, and re-crisped in a 275˚ oven for 15 minutes.

For the Granola:

  • 2 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking)
  • 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar (packed)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Pears:

  • 4 medium pears (ripe, but not overly soft), peeled, halved, cored, and thinly sliced
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons mild honey, such as clover, to taste (depending on the sweetness of the pears)
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • a pinch of kosher salt
  • seeds from one pomegranate, rinsed and dried

For the granola:

Preheat the oven to 300˚F.  Combine the oats, ground flax, and pecans in a medium bowl and set aside.   Heat a small saucepan over medium heat.  When hot, add the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt.  Stir and cook until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Pour the butter mixture into the medium bowl with the oats.  Stir well, until the oats are coated.

Spread the oat mixture onto a large baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Stir, and then cook for an additional 15-30 minutes, or until golden and crisp (note: the granola will continue to crisp as it cools).

For the Pears:

Heat a large frying pan or saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the pears, and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pears release some of their liquid and the edges begin to take on a transparent appearance.

Push the pears to one side of the pan.  On the empty side of the pan, melt the butter together with the honey and vanilla extract. Toss to coat the pears in the honey mixture.  Sprinkle the cinnamon, cardamom, and salt over the pears and stir to combine.

To Serve:

Scoop some of the granola into small bowls.  Top with the pears.  Sprinkle a little more granola, and pomegranate seeds over the pears.

6 Comments

Filed under Breakfast and Brunch

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

December 3, 2010 · 9:44 pm

Caramelized Onion Dip with Salt and Cracked Pepper Potato Chips

‘Tis the season of ugly sweater parties and open houses, online shopping, and mulled cider.  Weekend nights are hot commodities, and booking up fast.  Where there are holiday parties, there are sure to be appetizers–my favorite things to eat and cook.  I’m not a big fan of the kind of fancy schmancy parties where appetizers must be eaten daintily off of little plates.  I want people to flock around the table, napkins in hand, nibbling, conversing, and laughing between bites.

Campfires, puppies, and dip have one thing in common.  They bring people together.  Just think… Your eyes meet.  The corner of his lip curls into a smile.  You tuck your hair behind your ear.  Your hands brush, halfway between potato chip and dip.  It’s love at first bite.  Who needs mistletoe when you have caramelized onions?

I’ll admit to noshing on chips and dip mixed from little packets on occasion, but that’s another subject.  What I’m talking about here is what store-bought french onion dip secretly wishes it could be–complex, savory, salty and sweet.

Like the Grinch who tried to steal Christmas, the onions start out angry, but really, they’re just lonely.  Once they are given the special treatment (a little butter, some salt, sugar, and some slow attentive stirring), they mellow and sweeten, just like the Grinch’s heart.

Fold them into sour cream, along with fresh thyme, sauteed garlic, and some fresh onions for balance.  Serve with sea salt and cracked pepper potato chips, and you’ll have a dip with enough magnetic power to draw everyone into the smallest room of the house, which is where all the best parties happen anyways.

 

Caramelized Onion Dip

Serves 6-8

  • 2 pounds yellow onions, thinly sliced (reserve 1/3 cup raw onions)
  • 3/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 16 ounces sour cream
  • 1/3 cup thinly sliced onions, chopped (reserved from above)
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • kosher salt, to taste
  • 2 teaspoons fresh chopped thyme leaves

Caramelize the Onions (Process adapted from The Improvisational Cook, by Sally Schneider, and a guide from Real Simple you can find here):

Heat the butter in a large skillet or saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add the onions, sprinkle with salt, and stir.  Cover and cook for about 12 minutes, or until the onions have released their liquid.

Increase the heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the liquid has evaporated and the onions turn a slight golden color.  Sprinkle with sugar, and continue to cook, stirring frequently until the onions are a deep golden brown, 10-25 minutes more. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool, then finely chop.

Saute the Garlic:

Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan over medium high heat.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly until just beginning to turn golden, about 2 minutes.  Remove the garlic from the heat immediately.

Make the Dip:

Stir together the chopped caramelized onions, raw onions, sauteed garlic, thyme, black pepper, worcestershire sauce, nutmeg, sour cream, and kosher salt to taste.  Using an immersion blender, or a food processor, puree about half of the dip.  Stir together once again.  Serve with vegetables or Salt and Cracked Pepper Potato Chips.

Salt and Cracked Pepper Potato Chips

  • 3 medium russet potatoes
  • canola oil for frying (enough to fill a dutch oven or medium saucepan to 2 inches)
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Using a vegetable peeler or mandoline slicer, thinly slice the potatoes, skin and all.

Heat the oil in a dutch oven or medium saucepan until shimmering and hot, but not smoking.  Fry the potatoes in batches until golden around the edges and crispy.  Remove to a paper towel covered plate.  While still hot, sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

19 Comments

Filed under Appetizers

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,