Bruschetta with Fig Jam and Goat Cheese

This version is toasted (I like my toast very dark)

I love bruschetta and I love the endless possibilities for creating these yummy bite-sized appetizers. This version uses the fig jam recipe, goat cheese, a baguette and some olive oil. In fact, I liked this so much that the day after we served this to friends, I had it for dinner too. It’s that good.

Ingredients

• Fig jam
• Goat cheese
• Baguette, sliced diagonally (my slices were about a half inch wide)
• Olive oil

Directions

• Heat the oil in a large skillet on the stove, and sauté the bread to desired doneness or
• Brush each side with olive oil and broil lightly
• Top with some goat cheese and fig jam
• Enjoy!

Fig Jam

I like having some sort of appetizer when we have friends over for dinner. The best kinds are the ones that aren’t too heavy or messy, or require a fork to eat. Last night, I thought that bruschetta with goat cheese with some sort of savory jam would be perfect. This fig jam is what I made—it’s a simple recipe and the only complicated requirement (if you want to call it complicated) is that you puree the jam in a food processor at the end. I guess you could use a blender if that’s what you have on hand, or a Vitamix. But the jam does need to be pureed somehow.

Ingredients

• Six ounces dried figs
• 1 C sugar
• 1 C water
• Juice from one lemon
• ½ t vanilla extract

Directions

• In a saucepan, combine the sugar, water and lemon juice
• Remove the stems from the figs, dice them, place in the saucepan and stir well
• Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about seven or eight minutes, until the liquid thickens slightly
• Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract
• Let cool for about 10 minutes
• Transfer jam to a food processor and puree until smooth
• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to a week
• Enjoy!

Raspberry Almond Tart

I wanted to make a dessert that was less sweet and still full of flavor. This tart delivers all the way and it's easy to make, too.

Ingredients
1/2 C sliced almonds, (skins on)
6 T granulated sugar
1 1/3 C plus 2 T all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 t salt
6 T cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (I use a whole stick)
1 large egg yolk
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 t almond extract
4 1/2 C fresh or frozen (not thawed) raspberries
1 t confectioners' sugar

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400°F. 
• Lightly coat a 9-inch removable-bottom tart pan with butter.
• Combine almonds and sugar in a food processor; pulse until the almonds are finely ground and incorporated with the sugar. Set aside 1/2 C of the mixture.
• Add the 1 1/3 C flour and salt to the remaining sugar mixture and pulse briefly to blend. With the motor running, add butter a few pieces at a time until well incorporated.
• Stir egg yolk, vanilla and almond extracts together in a small bowl until blended. With the motor running, add to the processor and pulse until the mixture begins to clump and form a dough, about 1 minute (the mixture will look like crumbly sand). Set aside 1/3 cup of the mixture for the topping.
• Transfer the remaining dough to the prepared tart pan; spread evenly and press firmly into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. If the dough is sticky, use a piece of waxed paper to press with.
• Add the remaining 2 T flour to the reserved almond mixture; stir to blend. Gently toss raspberries with 2 T of this mixture in a medium bowl until coated. Spread the berries evenly in the tart pan. Sprinkle the remaining almond mixture over the berries. Pinch the reserved dough into small clumps to make crumbs and sprinkle the crumbs on top of the berries.
• Bake the tart for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° and bake until the crust and crumbs are golden brown, about 40—45 minutes more. Let cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. 
• Remove the pan sides; place confectioners’ sugar in a fine sieve and dust the tart just before serving.
• Serve warm or at room temperature and enjoy!

Nutrition
Per serving: 276 calories; 12 g fat (6 g sat, 2 g mono); 48 mg cholesterol; 37 g carbohydrates; 5 g protein; 6 g fiber; 148 mg sodium; 168 mg potassium.

Dragon Noodles

We like spicy dishes and generally add more spice than called for just to get that lovely heat. But in this case, we've hardly changed the amount of spice because it's really tasty as is. We're still playing around with the butter combo. As originally written, this recipe calls only for butter but I thought that was too buttery for the dish (coming from a butter slicker like me, that's saying something). So we've subbed in a tablespoon of canola oil for one tablespoon of butter.

This dish also makes a great lunch; as written we get about six generous servings.

Ingredients

• Two 12 ounce packages Udon noodles
• 7 T butter
• 1 T canola oil
• 1 t crushed red pepper 
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 3 T brown sugar
• 3 T soy sauce
• 3 T  sriracha (rooster sauce)
• Diced fresh cilantro for topping

Directions

1. Cook the noodles according to package directions.
2. While the noodles cook, melt the butter and add the oil to the butter when it’s melted.
3. Add in the pepper flakes and cook briefly.
4. Whisk the beaten eggs into the butter/oil mixture on the stove and basically scramble them until firm and in small pieces. If the eggs are done before the noodles have finished cooking, remove the skillet from the heat.
5. Once the noodles are done, drain and add to the skillet with the eggs.
6. Add the siracha sauce and stir until the noodles are fully coated. If there’s a lot of moisture, cook briefly until the extra moisture evaporates.
7. Place in bowls and sprinkle with the diced cilantro.
8. Enjoy!

Smitten Kitchen's One Pan Farro with Tomatoes

[Picture soon]

A friend introduced me to this Smitten Kitchen recipe – in a very unusual twist for me, I’ve made no changes. But because I find the font on the web site horrible to read and because the directions are sort of scatted around and difficult for me to follow, I’ve posted it here. I served this to my folks on a recent visit and the dish was a complete hit.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup semi-pearled farro
• ½ large white onion
• 2 cloves garlic, put through a press
• 9 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1 ¼ t kosher or coarse sea salt ¼
• About ¼ t red pepper flakes
• 1 T olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• Few basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
• Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions:

1. Place water and farro in a medium saucepan to pre-soak while prepping the rest of the ingredients – add each to the pan as they are prepped
2. Thinly slice the onion so that it’s in quarter moon slices
3. Add the garlic
4. Halve or quarter the tomatoes
5. Add salt, pepper flakes and olive oil
6. Set a timer for 30 minutes
7. Bring uncovered pan (no lid necessary) up to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. 
8. When the timer rings, the farro should be perfectly cooked and the cooking water almost entirely absorbed. If necessary, cook longer till the faro is more tender. 
9. Transfer to a wide serving bowl, scatter with basil and Parmesan and enjoy.

Bean and Chicken Tostados

This dish came about because I had various bits of leftovers in the fridge and wanted to use them up while also having a full-flavored dinner. If you prefer burritos, you could roll your bean mixture up rather than spreading it out on the toasted tortilla as I did. Or you can slide a tortilla into four pieces and toast it; it gets crispy like chips but with far less fat. If you are not pigs the way we are, you can get four servings out of this. Sadly, we are pigs.

Ingredients:

1 can refried beans (I use fat-free spicy refried beans; I’d rather have the fat calories elsewhere)
1 to 2 adobo peppers, finely diced plus some of the sauce from the can
1 cooked boneless, skinless chicken thigh, diced
½ avocado, cut in thin strips
2 to 3 T diced fresh cilantro
Sour cream (I use light sour cream)
Shredded cheddar or jack cheese (or a mix)
Adobo seasoning
Salsa verde
2 to 3 tortillas

Directions:

• Mix the beans and diced chicken in a microwave-safe bowl and heat thoroughly.
• Toast the tortillas in a toaster oven, taking care not to burn them OR place in a sauté pan and cook till crisp. If you are making burritos, omit this step.
• Sprinkle some cheese on the hot tortillas and spread the bean mixture on top.
• Sprinkle the adobo seasoning on the beans.
• Sprinkle some cilantro on the beans.
• Top with sour cream, avocado slices and salsa verde.

A Nameless Appetizer

"What can I bring?" I asked.
"Bring a healthy appetizer to go with the Pinot Noir we'll be sipping as I fix dinner," she said.
"Uh sure thing!"

But I was using up all the food in the fridge because we were leaving on vacation soon and then I had another trip to see family the following week. So I had to make something out of what I had on hand, and what I had on hand wasn't much. Plus she requested that the dish be healthy and also go with red wine. So with those restrictions in mind, this is what I made.

Ingredients:

1/4 C feta cheese crumbles
1/4 C balsamic vinaigrette (I used Paul Newman's Own Lighten Up version)
about 1/2 C each diced cherry tomatoes and sliced mushrooms
Finely sliced red onion, about two or three slices; then cut the slices into smaller pieces
1/3 to 1/2 C cooked pasta (I used my favorite Gemelli)

Directions:

• Cook the pasta according to package directions; drain and allow to cool.
• While the pasta is cooking, prep the vegetables.
• Assemble the vegetables, feta crumbles and dressing in a bowl large enough to hold everything. Toss well.
• Once the pasta is cool, add to the bowl and toss again.

Note: Obviously you could use Parmesan cheese but again, I had to go with what was on hand. This is a basic pasta salad and can be gussied up with whatever you like. If I'd had any, I'd have put artichoke hearts in there too, and also roasted red peppers. But I didn't have any.

Tortellini Salad

I got this recipe from my mother; the original recipe actually calls for goat cheese. However the first time I made it, I didn’t have any on hand, but I did have feta. I think you could use either kind and get good results; I’m just used to using feta. I like the flavor combination.

Ingredients:

1 pound tortellini, cooked, drained and cooled (I use cheese tortellini)
6 sundried tomatoes, diced
6 roasted red peppers, diced
3 T olive oil
5 T balsamic vinegar
1—2 T oil from the sundried tomatoes (optional; I usually add just 1 T for extra flavor)
7 fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 ounces crumbled feta or goat cheese
Parsley to taste

Directions:

• Combine the oils and vinegar and whisk til thoroughly mixed.
• Pour the oil/vinegar mixture over the pasta.
• Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
• Chill before serving.

Corn Salad

We like to eat out, probably a little too much, but when we lived in the South End of Boston we had a lot of great restaurant choices. During the summer of 2011, we went to Tremont 647 several times and I got absolutely hooked on what they call Local Corn and Tomato Salad. Their version uses just sherry vinegar as a dressing, but I didn’t have any at home. So I used a bit of balsamic vinaigrette instead and it worked well too.

Basically you’ll want to have equal parts of the corn, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers; as written, this recipe serves two people.

Ingredients:

2 ears of corn, cooked, cooled and cut off the cob
½ C cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 small or ½ large cucumber, peeled, seeded, quartered and diced
¼ C red onion, coarsely diced
2 T feta cheese, crumbled
1 T light balsamic vinaigrette (I love Paul Newman’s Own Lighten Up Balsamic Vinaigrette)

Directions:

• In a bowl, mix the corn, tomatoes and cucumber together. You want these proportions to be fairly equal so add in more if you need to.
• Mix in the onion and feta cheese.
• Drizzle the vinaigrette over the dressing but be sparing. It’s not the point of the salad.
• Toss and serve.
• Also this worked as left-overs for a couple of days but I wouldn't want it after that. Things just get too soggy.