From the category archives:

Appetizers

California Avocado and Mango Chicken Salad

by Janet on September 30, 2011

IMG_1221My dietitian pals Liz Weiss and Janice Bissex over at the Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen created this delicious recipe for the California Avocado Commission that they demonstrated at the American Dietetic Association’s Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo in San Diego earlier this week.

IMG_1220I was surprised how much I really liked this chicken salad — which they served on top of an endive leaf for a perfect appetizer-sized portion.  You could also use to stuff a pita, roll up in a wrap our add to a bowl of leafy greens.  It was so good that I just had to share (a more detailed update of my trip to the conference is in the works!)

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California Avocado and Mango Chicken Salad

Ingredients

2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint
1  clove garlic, finely minced
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups shredded rotisserie or roasted chicken
2 ripe California avocados, peeled, seeded and cut into ¼-inch dice
1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded and cut into ¼-inch dice
32 endive leaves (from about 4 medium-size heads)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the orange juice, vinegar, basil, mint, garlic, salt, and pepper until combined. In a slow, steady stream, add the oil, whisking constantly, until creamy and emulsified.

2. Add the chicken, avocado, and mango and stir gently to combine. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

3. Divide the mixture evenly between the endive leaves.

Yield:  Makes 8 Servings (about 32 filled endive leaves)

Nutrition Information per Serving (4 filled endive leaves): 170 calories, 9g fat (1.5g saturated, 6g monounsaturated, 1g polyunsaturated), 135mg sodium, 460mg potassium, 12g carbohydrate, 5g fiber, 12g protein, 10% vitamin A, 35% vitamin C

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Here’s Liz Weiss whipping up the dressing for the chicken salad (no mayo in sight) that includes orange juice and white wine vinegar with fresh herbs and garlic.

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Rick Bayless’ Wild Mushroom Queso Fundido

by Janet on January 29, 2011

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It’s not every day that the fabulous celebrity chef Rick Bayless cooks for you.  So I enjoyed every minute of it.  I was fortunate to attend an event that included a private cooking demonstration by Rick, along with a team-building, make-your-own margarita relay race.  Quite fun!  The event was held in an office space-test kitchen area that’s above his restaurants Frontera Grill and Topolobampo.

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Rick made Wild Mushroom Queso Fundido, which I thought would make an ideal appetizer for Super Bowl parties.  You can serve the cheesy dip with warm tortillas to make soft tacos, or simply pass around tortilla chips for dipping.

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I liked his idea of using dried porcini mushrooms, which are just a fraction of the price of fresh wild mushrooms.  Rick also used sun-dried tomatoes in this version instead of fresh tomatoes — which he said he often does in the winter months.  The dried mushrooms and tomatoes were rehydrated and the liquid drained before adding to a saute pan along with the chopped onion and serrano chiles.

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After the vegetables are cooked, beer is added to the mixture and then cheese is sprinkled over the vegetables and stirred until melted.  Rick used Chihuanhua cheese in this version, but you can use any other Mexican melting cheese like quesadilla or substitute Monterey Jack cheese instead.

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Wild Mushroom Queso Fundido

I found this Rick Bayless recipe from Season 6 of Mexico – One Plate at a Time, and noted the changes Rick made to the version he cooked for us.

3/4 ounce (about 1/2 cup) dried porcini (or other wild) mushrooms
Hot green chiles to taste (roughly 1 large jalapeno or 2 serranos, stemmed  [Rick used 2 serranos in his version, stems left intact for the heat]
1 medium white onion
1 large ripe tomato [Rick substituted sun-dried tomatoes]
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons beer, preferably a full-flavored beer like Mexico’s Bohemia
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded, about 2 cups [Rick used Chihuahua cheese]
About a dozen warm corn or flour tortillas [Rick used mini homemade flour tortillas]

1. Rehydrate the mushrooms. Scoop the mushrooms into a small bowl, cover with boiling water, weight with a plate to keep the mushrooms submerged and let rehydrate for 20 minutes.  Drain off the liquid, pressing on the mushrooms to remove all the water.  Chop into 1/4-inch pieces.

2. Prepare the flavorings. Finely chop the chiles (seed them first, if you wish), then chop the onion and tomato into 1/4-inch pieces.  Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chiles, onion, tomato and mushrooms and cook, stirring nearly constantly, until the onion begins to soften and brown, 7 or 8 minutes.  Add the beer and stir until the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is once again dry looking.

3. Finish the queso fundido.  Reduce the heat to medium-low, sprinkle the cheese evenly over the vegetables and stir slowly and constantly until just melted — too long over the heat and the cheese will become tough oil and stringy.  Immediately scoop into a warm serving dish (a small fondue dish with a tea light below is ideal) and serve with warm tortillas for making soft tacos.

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Celebrating Lebanese Cuisine

by Janet on December 29, 2009

I was thrilled to see the feature on Lebanese food in the New York Times travel section this Sunday.  I hope you’ll check it out here, along with a slide show of the Beirut restaurants profiled in the article by Seth Sherwood.

My husband is Lebanese and I’ve grown to love the cuisine — even more since I’ve traveled there and experienced the fabulous food first-hand.  Here’s a creamy bowl of hummus we enjoyed last summer in Lebanon…img_2073

I loved Seth’s description of his experience with hummus in a restaurant in Beirut.

“First up:  hummus.  Call it sacrilege, but I have never been excited by this humdrum dip.  But the others insisted, in a flurry of English and French (both of which are widely spoken in Beirut, although Lebanon’s official language is Arabic). Hummus is the best barometer of a Lebanese restaurant’s quality, Ranya explained.  Following her lead I took a corner of warm bread, rolled it into a cone (a nifty trick for scooping up dips) and tasted.  It was excellent: lush, mouth-filling, creamy and flavorful — like an earthy milkshake.”

The article also included a perfect description of tabbouleh.

Such moments are blissfully common in Lebanon, where even the most bland produce or unlikely meats undergo culinary hocus-pocus and emerge, Cinderella-like, as belles of the ball.  Parsley, elsewhere found more often as a throw-away garnish, becomes the basis of that zesty, lemony, tomato-filled, bulgur-sewn refresher known as tabbouleh. The zesty tabbouleh, everyone showed me, should be eaten not with a fork, but wrapped in a lettuce leaf.

So true.  Here’s the tabbouleh with romaine leaves we enjoyed in a restaurant in the mountains of Lebanon.
IMG_2155And here’s a visual culinary tour of my own trip to Lebanon…

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Hot Tomatoes and Goat Cheese Recipe

by Janet on September 5, 2009

On this Labor  Day weekend I am remembering the amazing Sheila Lukins, who recently passed away. Take a look at this wonderful tribute in the New York Times, in case you missed it.  Sheila was always one of my favorite food writers, and my tattered, dog-eared copy of the original Silver Palate17552074 Cookbook is certainly proof of that. My latest go-to recipe for parties is from her book Celebrate! (Workman, 2003). I adapted a recipe in a chapter entitled “Celebrate a Ripe Tomato” and it’s become my signature appetizer (or by default, it’s always requested when I’m hosting a party).  This weekend we’re off to a Labor Day cookout and this is what I’m bringing.

So in memory of Sheila Lukins, I wanted to pass along this fabulous recipe.  I don’t follow it exactly. It calls for a mint salad to serve on the side, but instead I top the tomatoes and goat cheese with slivers of fresh basil when they’re out of the oven.  I slice a French baguette and toast , then instruct guests to spread with the roasted garlic, then top with the softened tomato and goat cheese (crostini-style). I also toss in more cloves of garlic so there’s plenty to spread on the toasted bread.  The garlic becomes soft and caramelized, with a sweet, mild taste.  (I cut corners by buying the fresh, peeled garlic and I’ll often roast separately so I can monitor the garlic more closely, then I add at the end with the cheese; you want it soft and caramelized, but watch so it doesn’t burn.) The dish is a fun, interactive appetizer and it’s a beautiful celebration of summer with the tomatoes still left on the vine.

128654896771688821_400_0_0_0_false_color-emptyHere’s the recipe as it appears in the book:

HOT TOMATOES!

How many ways can you combine tomatoes and cheese and still come up with something special?  That’s probably an unanswerable question, but I’m always glad to run across a new marriage of these favorite ingredients.  This recipe is inspired by a real conversation-stopper at the restaurant St. John in London.  Garlic, mint, cheese, olive oil and roasted tomatoes join forces here in a powerhouse dish.

12 cloves garlic
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ripe tomatoes, sill connected on the vine
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 crottins de chevre (goat cheese rounds)
2 cups fresh mint leaves
Juice of 2 lemons
12 to 16 slices peasant bread, toasted

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Place the garlic cloves on a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over them.  Close the foil, forming a sealed packet and place it in a small ovenproof dish.  Bake to soften slightly, 10 minutes.  Remove the packet from the oven and set it aside.  Raise the oven temperature to 400 F.
3. Carefully arrange the tomatoes (still on the vine) in an oven-to-table baking dish.  Season them generously with salt and pepper.  Arrange the garlic cloves around the tomatoes.  Drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, and bake until the tomatoes are softened and runny, 25 minutes.
4. Arrange the crottins around the tomatoes, and return the dish to the oven.  Bake until the cheese softens, another 5 minutes.  Watch carefully — you don’t want them to melt.
5. Meanwhile, coarsely tear the mint leaves and place them in a bowl.  Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and the lemon juice.
6. To serve, pass the dish of tomatoes and cheese.  Everybody helps themselves to a tomato and a cheese and plenty of the sauce.  Spread the cheese and tomato on the toasts and pass the mint salad to scoop on top or eat on the side.

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