Herbed Chickpea Frittata

So while you are still thinking about eggs after Easter, I thought I’d share a recipe for Herbed Chickpea Frittata. What an absolutely perfect Spring dish! It is chock full of a ton of fresh herbs which give it it’s lovely spring-green colour. And I must say, in this house, chickpeas get top billing. We love those little guys! So when I saw a recipe for Herbed Chickpea Frittata, I just knew I had to make it.

I did alter a couple of things from the recipe which inspired me. I did not add any mint into the mixture, having none on hand. And I added feta cheese sprinkled liberally over the top of the frittata. The Mess in the Kitchen blog also recommended serving it with fresh squeezed lemon juice, which I’m sure would be lovely and go along fantastically with the whole Spring feel of the dish. We actually served it up with some Tzatziki sauce, which was also quite tasty.

The dish is very easy to prepare, comes together quickly and tastes wonderfully fresh with all of those chopped herbs. I thinks you can even feel somewhat virtuous about eating something which must be healthy. I mean, just look at all those herbs! If you want to just take it over the top healthy, to make up for all of that Easter candy you’ve been eating, serve it for brunch with a green salad. Healthy and delicious! Try it today!

Herbed Chickpea Frittata

recipe adapted from: Mess in the Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 500 g canned chickpeas
• 2 onions (chopped)
• 4 garlic cloves (chopped)
• 20 g cilantro
• 2o g parsley
• 60 g chives
• 10 g dill
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• two pinches saffron
• 5 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch baking powder
• 8 eggs
• salt (about 1 tsp)
• pepper to taste
• 2 Tablespoons pine nuts, roasted
• 1/2 Cup feta cheese, crumbled
• tzatziki sauce for serving if desired

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Rinse Chickpeas and set aside.

Roast pine nuts until golden and set aside.

Chop all the herbs and put them in a food processor with eggs, onion, garlic and chickpeas.

Pulse until everything is well combined but not totally pureed.

Add the other ingredients and pulse.

Line a 9×13″ baking pan with parchment paper.

Pour the frittata batter into your pan. Sprinkle Feta Cheese evenly over the top.

Place fritatta on a baking sheet and insert it  into the oven. Bake it for about 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Deviled Scotch Eggs

O thou! whatever title suit thee,–

Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie!
Wha in yon cavern, grim an’ sootie,
Clos’d under hatches, 
Spairges about the brunstane cootie
To scaud poor wretches!

*Spairges:to bespatter by flinging/Brunstane cootie:BrimstoneBowl

Robert Burns “Address to the Devil”

That’s Right! Robbie Burns Night is coming up soon. Traditionally, Burns Night celebrations are held near the poet’s birthday, January 25th. It was through a post about a Robbie Burns Night last year that I first learned about Scotch Eggs. Having never encountered one before, I nearly couldn’t go on until I made them. I think I instantly fell in love. Are you kidding me, a hard-boiled egg, enrobed in sausage, rolled in Panko and deep-fried?!! Be still my heart!

So this year I decided to step it up a bit and make Deviled Scotch Eggs. (Hence I thought an excerpt from the Burns poem “Address to the Devil” appropriate – if you haven’t read this poem before, it’s pretty amusing, if you can manage to get past his Scots dialect. I provided some translations.) Basically, I made the Deep Fried Scotch Eggs that I did last year, but then I cut them in half, took out the yolks, deviled them and stuck them back in and sprinkled them with paprika. I wanted to sprinkle them with bacon bits, but I didn’t have any on hand. Oh dear Lord! What has gotten into me? These Deviled Scotch Eggs are awesome.! I will say, if you’re feeling a bit more healthy, Edible Ireland has some awesome Oven Baked Scotch Eggs, you might want to check out. If you’re interested in the history and origins of the Eggs, check out my Scotch Eggs blog from last February. This year I served them along with a salad, fresh fruit, and of course, chips.

I mean I already had the deep-fryer fired up. How could I not throw a few potatoes in? I think I might just feel my arteries clogging as I type. But really folks, sometimes you just need to let go and enjoy some awesomely bad for you comfort food and my Deviled Scotch Eggs are just what you need! (if not what the doctor ordered )

Deviled Scotch Eggs

yield: 12 Deviled Scotch Eggs

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb. bulk sausage-we prefer “hot” but  country-style or herbed would work just fine.
• 6 hard-boiled large eggs-shells removed
• 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
• 2 raw eggs, beaten lightly
• 1 Cup Panko
• Peanut oil for deep-frying

For the Deviling Process:

• 1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Coleman’s English Mustard
• 1/8 Teaspoon salt
• dash of black pepper
• paprika and crumbled bacon to garnish

Directions:

For the Scotch Eggs:

Heat peanut oil in a deep fryer to 365° F.

Cover counter top with large sheet of waxed paper.

Divide the sausage into six equal portions.

Flatten the sausage into thin circles.

Place an egg in the center of each round. Enclose each egg completely in the sausage.

Dredge the sausage-coated eggs in flour, dip them in the raw egg and then roll them in the Panko until they are entirely coated.

Fry Scotch Eggs two at a time for 10 minutes.

Transfer to paper towels and allow to cool to touch.

To Devil them:

Halve the Scotch Eggs lengthwise and remove the yolks.

Mash the yolks with a fork and then place them in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add the mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper and mix until smooth.

Using a pastry bag or sandwich bag with an end snipped off, pipe the yolk mixture back into the Scotch Eggs.

Garnish with paprika and bacon crumbles.

Enjoy!

Harvest Apple French Toast

I’m happy to say the Fall weather held through the weekend around here! We went for a great hike on Saturday in a local park. The temperature was great (could’ve been a bit cooler…) and the changing leaves were gorgeous. On Sunday morning I decided to make some French Toast with a bit of the Harvest Apple Challah bread that I had made earlier in the week. It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision mind you. I had thought about it shortly after I had my first bite of that fantastic bread. I knew if I didn’t squirrel a couple pieces away for French Toast, there would be none left. So I acted quickly before we gobbled it all up!

Having that secret stash of bread was brilliant, just like this french toast turned out to be! All French toast is pretty great in my opinion, but the Apple Challah bread made this French toast particularly stunning. The recipe below is a basic french toast recipe with a little nutmeg thrown in as well as some “maple sugar”, to give it a nice fall, mapley taste. Maple Sugar is a sugar prepared from the sap of the sugar maple tree. It is sweeter than granulated sugar, so a little goes a long way. I found mine with all the other sugars in my local grocery store. It’s a bit pricey, but I really like it. It would be fine to substitute in granulated sugar and rely on Maple Syrup to provide the maple flavour. To each his own.

So, to sum it up, I guess I’m saying that you really should whip up some of that Harvest Apple Challah bread, if only to have it for the Harvest Apple French Toast. But if your family is anything like mine, you better think ahead and hide some before it’s gone. To let you in on a little secret… I have a bit more stashed away and will be making some Harvest Apple Bread Puddings soon. Stay tuned and in the meantime, enjoy the Harvest Apple French Toast!

Harvest Apple French Toast

yield: 2 pieces of French Toast

Ingredients:

• 2 thick slices of Harvest Apple Challah Bread (for recipe click here)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon maple sugar (or granulated sugar if you prefer)
• 1 Tablespoon butter

Directions:

Place milk, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and maple sugar in bowl. Whisk until well combined. Place Harvest Apple Challah slices in bowl and allow bread to soak up some liquid on one side and then flip bread over.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in frying pan over medium heat. Place soaked bread slices in pan and cook, flipping as necessary, until both sides are golden brown.

Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.

Enjoy!

Harvest Apple Challah

This past weekend really felt like Fall! I can not tell you how thrilled I am!!! That goes double for Gimlet. He pranced the entirety of our walk and I was prancing right along with him! (a sight to see, I assure you) Yeah, we did get a bit of rain, a guess quite a bit of rain, over saturday and sunday. That just didn’t matter to me. The air was crisp and even though it was raining that horrible muggy oppressive air had moved on. As much as I loathe summers in Virginia, (and this one particularly sucked what with the Hades-like heat and humidity, hurricanes and earthquakes and all manner of bad news), I LOVE Fall! I love the nip in the air and the smell of wood fires, I love the colour change in the leaves, I love the holidays (Halloween and Thanksgiving) and I love the food… Think maple syrup, gingerbread, a plethora of pumpkin dishes, chilli, pot pies, stews and maybe best of all fresh apples. That’s right, we are heading into apple season and my favourite fruit is…you guessed it… apples! Yippee…I think it’s finally here! What better way to celebrate than with some yummy Harvest Apple Challah.

This Challah is very easy to make. I used to be afraid of any recipe that included yeast. But I’m way over that now. The only problem I have with the whole yeast bread preparation is getting the dough to rise in the amount of time indicated in the recipe. We like to keep it fairly chilly in the house, so all of my yeasty baked goods seem to take double the time to proof that the recipes actually call for. Luckily, I’ve figured that out and just plan for it to take longer than indicated. Patience is a virtue I’ve been told. After you let the dough rise until doubled in size, you roll it out into a rectangle. Add half of the apples which you have cored, but not peeled

Cored Honey Crisp Apples

and tossed with cinnamon a sugar.

Cinnamon and sugar coated apples

Fold the dough over the apples once – like you would a letter -

Getting ready to make the first fold

adding more apples and then folding it over again.

Folded apple stuffed dough

Then you cut the apple filled dough the long way, down the center and then across which forms little apple filled dough bits.

Messy!

Yup…this is messy as you can see, but as those apple bits fall out, just toss them into your prepared springform pan. No worries!. Once the pan is filled, you cover and let that dough rise again for about an hour.

In the pan and ready to rise for a second time

I know, that is a lot of rising time. You’d have to get up pretty early in the morning if you wanted to serve this for breakfast. Maybe you should adjust your plans and aim to serve it for afternoon tea.

Apple Challah - Hot out of the oven! YUM!!!

Or serve it for breakfast the next day, it is very tasty reheated ( or cold in the middle of the night for that matter…not that I’d know anything about that…)

Remember that thing I said about patience. Believe me, this bread was worth the wait! I couldn’t believe I had actually made this it was so perfect. Full of red, ripe, cinnamon coated honey crisp apples and drizzled alluringly with honey, (if you should choose to do so… go on, you know you want to!), every bite is a little taste of the long-awaited perfect Fall season.

Harvest Apple Challah

recipe adapted from Janae Monir blog who adapted it from the King Arthur Flour site (I love King Arthur flour! It is the only kind I will use!)

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• ½ cup lukewarm water
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 packet instant yeast
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 4 cups unbleached flour
• 1½ teaspoons kosher salt

For the apples:

• 2 medium-to-large apples, NOT peeled; cored and diced in ¾” chunks
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup granulated sugar

For the glaze:

• heavy whipping cream
• demerara sugar to sprinkle over the top

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or other bowl), mix the water and honey together until honey dissolves.  Sprinkle on the yeast and lightly mix.  Let stand 10-15 minutes until slightly foamy and activated .

Add the rest of the dough ingredients to the yeast mixture and mix with the paddle attachment (or by hand) until the mixture just comes together.  Replace paddle attachment with dough hook and knead the mixture until a cohesive dough forms.  If you’re not using a stand mixer, you can knead it by hand.  The dough should be smooth. Form the dough into a ball in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise about 2 hours, until doubled and puffy.

Toward the end of the rising time, coat a 9- or 10-inch springform pan with cooking spray.  Coat a piece of foil with cooking spray and wrap it around the outside bottom and sides of the pan. So that the juices don’t leak out.

Core and slice the apples into ¾” pieces.  (Do not peel them.)  Toss apples with cinnamon and sugar.  Set aside.

When dough is ready, gently deflate, transfer to a lightly greased surface, and flatten into a rough rectangle, about 8×10″, with the short side facing you.  Place half of the apples down the center of the dough, and fold the left side over the apples, sealing the edges.  Place the rest of the apples on top and to the side of the folded over dough.  Fold the remaining half of the dough over the apples (like folding a letter) and seal the edges.  Now, the messy part: using a knife or bench scraper, cut the dough in half the long way.  Then, cut the dough crosswise eight times, resulting in 16 pieces.  Don’t worry about the pieces being the same size or keeping it neat.

Squeeze the dough pieces into the pan in a single layer.  You don’t have to put them in any sort of pattern or design; place some in sideways or flat or on their sides, and jumble it all up; it doesn’t matter.  Apple chunks will fall out, just put them on top.  Cover lightly with greased plastic wrap and let rise again about 1 hour, until puffy and about 2″ high.  Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 325º.

When ready, brush the heavy cream over the surface of the bread.  Sprinkle demerara sugar (coarse sugar) over the top to give it an extra sweet crunch.  Bake bread about 55 minutes, or until bread reaches an internal temperature of 190º F.  Remove from oven, let sit 5 minutes, then carefully remove from pan.  Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature, preferably drizzled with honey.

Happy Fall!

Pistachio Covered Grape Stuffed Goat Cheese

This is the perfect appetizer for hot, steamy summer weather or any other time of year for that matter. It’s just that in the summer time, no one wants to be stuck in the kitchen, slaving over a hot stove/oven. I know I definitely do not. So this recipe is just ideal. Pistachio Covered Grape Stuffed Goat Cheese balls are not only incredibly easy to prepare, but are very tasty and refreshing on a sultry summer evening, especially when they are served chilled. The salty crunch of the pistachios goes along wonderfully with the savory/sweet goat cheese and grape pairing. Add a glass of wine (or two…or a bottle… ) and you are set!

Pistachio Covered Grape Stuffed Goat Cheese

recipe from Anja’s Food 4 Thought

Yield: 25 pieces

Ingredients:

• 1 cup goat cheese – I prefer Purple Haze Goat Cheese, but any will do
• 25 big seedless grapes (either green or red)
• 1/2 cup pistachios-crushed

Directions:

In a dry pan, roast the pistachios for 5 minutes or so, shaking the pan regularly to avoid burned spots. Let cool a little. Chop finely and transfer to a shallow bowl.Take about a teaspoon of goat cheese and cover each grape with it. Roll each goat cheese ball in the finely chopped roasted pistachios. Keep in the fridge until serving. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Purple Haze All in My Brain! – Purple Haze Stuffed Strawberries

A few weeks ago, Jay, John and I headed out to Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia to see the live version of the radio show A Prairie Home Companion. We’ve been making this pilgrimage to hear Garrison Keillor’s words of wisdom and reports from his home town, Lake Wobegon for many years now. Wolf Trap is a fabulous indoor/outdoor amphitheatre which seats approximately 4,000 people under cover and another 3,000 folks on picnic blankets on their sloping lawn out under the hopefully starry skies.

We always opt for the uncovered lawn seats, willing to take our chances with good old Mother Nature in exchange for the ability to feast on a fabulous picnic meal and enjoy whatever refreshing beverages (and you are definitely right – these are usually adult type beverages) we choose to bring along. Drinking…in a National Park?!  Unheard of, I assure you! But it happens at Wolf Trap. We always have a great time.

Lea & Jay - Eating yummy snacks

John chillin out

Garrison Keillor has recently announced his retirement which will be taking place tentatively in the Spring of 2013. Oh no! Only one more Prairie Home Companion show after this! At least with our beloved Garrison. He is looking for his replacement now. We are happy for him but very saddened to think our annual ritual will be forever altered. I wanted to make some awesome goodies for this year’s Companion. As I’ve mentioned, Jay loves goat cheese and John shares this sentiment. Since the strawberries have been quite tasty this year, I decided to do fresh strawberries, stuffed with Goat Cheese and drizzled with a Balsamic Vinegar Glaze. And not just any goat cheese, but a favourite of ours, Purple Haze goat cheese from the folks at Cypress Grove Chevre.

This particular goat cheese has lavender and fennel pollen mixed in. It has a wonderful fresh taste, a little sweetness from the lavender and fennel followed with the natural tang of goat cheese. The Balsamic Glaze gives it a wonderful savory, sweet finish. They were just perfect for a summer picnic, but would look appropriately fancy at your next dinner soiree. After just one berry you might find yourself haunted by the following words:

Purple Haze, All in my brain,

Lately things just don’t seem the same..

Purple Haze Stuffed Strawberries

Ingredients:

1 pint fresh Strawberries, washed and hulled

4 oz. Purple Haze Goat Cheese

2 Tablespoons Cream, or milk if you prefer

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

salt and pepper to taste

Balsamic Vinegar glaze *

Directions:

Wash and hull strawberries.

In a small bowl, combine Purple Haze goat cheese, lemon zest and enough cream to make the mixture piping consistency.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place goat cheese mixture in piping bag and fill hollowed out portion of each strawberry. If you don’t have a piping bag, I’m sure you could fill the berries with a spoon.

Drizzle balsamic vinegar glaze over the stuffed strawberries and serve.

Bon Appetite!

*I used a store-bought Balsamic Glaze for these strawberries and waited to drizzle it over them right before they were served. If you don’t have a pre-made Glaze, just take about 1/2 Cup of balsamic vinegar and boil it down until it reduces to a glaze consistency.

Oatmeal Pancakes

I may have mentioned before that I love oatmeal. I really do. I prefer the steel-cut oats, you know, the “real deal” oatmeal. But I must admit, anything oatmeal will get my attention. So I was very eager to try out these Oatmeal Pancakes that I spotted in the Features section of TasteSpotting. Not only did they have wonderful steel-cut oats in them, but they also have oat flour which I was able to make by myself by simply pulsing rolled oats in my food processor. This gave the pancakes a great texture. Mind you they weren’t those lighter than air pancakes which could conceivably (in my mind anyway…) float right off of your plate if they weren’t weighted down by copious amounts of butter and syrup. These cakes had some body. I think that’s a good thing. (Not that I don’t occasionally like the copious butter and syrup types as well…)

We topped these pancakes with fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and a wee bit of maple syrup. We really didn’t need much on the syrup front because the fruit has been so incredibly tasty this year.

They were delicious! There you have it. A fantastic breakfast that you can argue is actually good for you…it has the oatmeal and the fruit, right?

Oatmeal Pancakes

recipe from TasteSpotting (the blog)

makes about ten 4-5 inch pancakes

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup oat flour (make it yourself by pulsing rolled oats in your food processor)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1¼ cups whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup cooked oatmeal (we used steel-cut oats, but rolled oats are fine)
• fresh fruit of your choice

Directions:

Whisk oat flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk the butter, milk, and eggs together until thoroughly combined. Stir in cooked oatmeal.

Fold butter/milk/eggs mixture into flour mixture with only a few strokes of a large spoon or spatula.

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat until hot (throw a couple of drops of water onto the pan – if they sizzle away, the pan is hot). Melt about ½ tablespoon of butter in the hot pan, swirl to coat, then ladle 2-3 ¼-cup mounds of batter onto the pan.

Cook the pancakes on one side until air bubbles form and edges are dry, about 2 minutes. Turn the pancakes over. Cook the other side of the pancakes about 1-2 minutes, remove from pan.

Wipe pan with a damp paper towel (to pick up the browned pancake bits), and repeat cooking pancakes.

Serve warm, topped with fresh fruit and a tiny drizzle of pure maple syrup.

Scrambled Egg with Goat Cheese & Pancetta Spread on Toast

I figure by now you may have made the Goat Cheese, Pancetta & Chive Stuffed Mushrooms  from my previous post – if you haven’t…get crackin! Here is one of the lovely creations I made with the left-over goat cheese stuffing. For those of you who haven’t seen that particular recipe, I urge you to take a look. It is really delicious. But for right now, the goat cheese stuffing I am referring to is goat cheese, cream cheese, pancetta, shallots, garlic and chives all whipped together. How could you go wrong! I toasted an english muffin, though I must admit, I think a nice thick toasted crusty slice of french bread would have been better. Alas, there was no such bread in the kitchen and by the time I went out and found it, breakfast would have been long over! I smeared a healthy dollop of that delicious goat cheese, pancetta filling over it and then topped it with freshly scrambled eggs. Boy was my husband surprized!  Give this one a whirl!

Scrambled Egg, Goat Cheese & Pancetta Spread on Toast

Ingredients:

• Slice of Bread-anything you have in the house – bagel, french bread, english muffin, etc – toasted
• 2 eggs-scrambled
• Goat Cheese, Pancetta and Chives spread (left over from my previous recipe – Goat Cheese, Pancetta & Chives Stuffed Mushrooms)

Directions:

Toast your bread of choice.

Spread left-over Goat Cheese Stuffing over one side. For those of you who are not interested in mushrooms, I will include the goat cheese stuffing part of that recipe below. However, it will make quite a lot of this stuffing, you may want to half the ingredients.

Scramble the eggs.

Place eggs over top of Goat Cheese Stuffing topped toast.

Enjoy!

Goat Cheese, Pancetta & Chive Spread

recipe an excerpt originally from Spoon with Me

• 1 package (8 0z) cream cheese (leave out of the fridge for 30 minutes to soften)
• 1 log (6 oz) goat cheese (leave out of the fridge for 30 minutes to soften)
• 3 oz thinly sliced pancetta – chopped
• 1/3 cup minced shallots
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small bunch fresh chives, minced (about 1/4 cup)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and goat cheese until combined. Set aside.

Heat a medium frying pan over medium-high heat.  Cook the pancetta until golden (about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side) until golden (the pancetta will crisp up as it cools).  Remove to paper towels.  When cool, crumble the pancetta and set aside.

In the same pan, saute the shallots in the pancetta drippings until softened (about 3 minutes).  Add garlic and cook for another minute.

In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese and goat cheese until combined.  Add the crumbled pancetta, shallots and garlic, chives, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.

Goat Cheese, Pancetta & Chive Stuffed Mushrooms

I made this delicious appetizer for a little gathering a while ago now. I kid you not when I say folks haven’t stopped asking for the recipe – sorry I’m just getting around to posting it now. It was a huge hit! My husband, who has previously professed his dislike for mushrooms, was even enticed to try them. This was mostly due to his stronger love of goat cheese. He was an instant fan and is now reconsidering his relationship with mushrooms. Really…this recipe is that yummy. The combination of the creamy goat cheese, whipped up with the savory garlic and shallots, crispy, salty pancetta with the satisfying crunch of the panko topping in unforgettable.

Crispy Pancetta & Shallot/Garlic Mix

The recipe actually makes a good amount of this filling (enough for 60 mushrooms!), so you will likely have some left over, no matter how generous you are in stuffing the mushrooms. You will be very happy about these leftovers the morning after you whip these up. You can just reach in the fridge, grab that filling out and spread it over a freshly toasted crust of bread or a bagel. Have mercy! It is also great as a sandwich spread. You can prepare this filling two days prior to making your mushrooms – that is if you can resist gobbling it all up before you need it – and store it in the refrigerator. I found this recipe on one of my absolute favourite blogs, Spoon with Me. As I have mentioned before, make sure you take a look at her site. She has the most amazing photographs! And with this recipe, she explains a great way to wash mushrooms. Mushrooms will absorb a lot of water, so you don’t want to leave them soaking in it for too long. She recommends placing some salt in your hand, wetting the mushroom and then rubbing it in the salt. With this technique you manage to not only clean the mushroom, but also season it as well. So, what are you waiting for? Make this appetizer for your next gathering. Folks won’t stop talking about it!

Little tasty Gem!

Goat Cheese, Pancetta & Chive Stuffed Mushrooms

Recipe from Spoon With Me

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb to 2 lb crimini or Baby Bella Mushrooms
• 1 package (8 0z) cream cheese (leave out of the fridge for 30 minutes to soften)
• 1 log (6 oz) goat cheese (leave out of the fridge for 30 minutes to soften)
• 3 oz thinly sliced pancetta (I found this already chopped at Harris Teeter. You can substitute in regular bacon)
• 1/3 cup minced shallots
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small bunch fresh chives, minced (about 1/4 cup) and extra for garnishing (if desired)
• 1 cup panko (japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400˚F

Wash and season the Mushrooms by taking each wet mushroom, pouring some salt in your hand and rubbing it in the salt. This removes the dirt and also seasons the mushrooms. Rinse and dry the mushrooms, then remove to a large rimmed baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and goat cheese until combined. Set aside.

Heat a medium frying pan over medium-high heat.  Cook the pancetta until golden (about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side) until golden (the pancetta will crisp up as it cools).  Remove to paper towels.  When cool, crumble the pancetta and set aside.

In the same pan, saute the shallots in the pancetta drippings until softened (about 3 minutes).  Add garlic and cook for another minute.

In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese and goat cheese until combined.  Add the crumbled pancetta, shallots and garlic, chives, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.

Place panko in a small dish. Using a spoon, generously  fill each mushroom cap.  Dip the top of each mushroom in the panko, and then put back on the baking sheet.  Lightly spray the mushroom tops with olive or canola oil.

Bake the mushrooms in a 400˚ oven for 12-18 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

Rum Raisin Banana Bread

Oh Dear! It’s happened again! I’ve let two bananas go past their prime! What to do? I think a nice loaf of Rum Raisin Banana Bread is called for here! This banana bread is wonderfully moist. The rum soaked raisins provide a fantastic complementary flavour to each banana infused bite. One might begin to think I’m not as inattentive to the state of my bananas as I’m making out. Perhaps I’m doing this on purpose…..Hmmm…..I should probably think it over while enjoying a butter slathered slice of that bread!

Rum Raisin Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Raisins

1/3 Cup Dark Rum

1/2 Cup butter, melted

1 Cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup Sour Cream

1/2 Cup Pecans, chopped

2 Bananas, sliced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (175° C). Grease a 9×5 bread pan.

Place raisins and rum in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let raisins sit and plump in rum mixture for about 1 hour.

Combine the four, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until mixed well. Slowly add the flour mixture and stir until batter is smooth.

Gently fold in the sour cream, bananas, pecans and rum raisin mixture.

Spread batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake at 350°F for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.