Showing posts with label appetizer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label appetizer. Show all posts
Saturday, February 14, 2015
A Simple and Elegant Thanksgiving Appetizer Creamy Chicken and Cranberry Puff Pastry Bites
One of my favorite holiday secrets is puff pastry…I always have a package in my freezer. It saves a ton of time in the kitchen, and the results are always perfect: golden brown and crispy! These little bites take about 15 minutes to assemble and bake for 15 minutes, so you can have them plated and ready to feed a hungry crowd in about 30 minutes! These are simple, but elegant appetizers…and the cranberry sets the mood for the upcoming meal! I made two minor additions to the original recipe: I sprinkled the puff pastry squares with dried chives and parsley, and I sprinkled some chopped California walnuts on top for extra crunch and flavor. Let me show you just how simple they are to whip up.
Creamy Chicken and Cranberry Puff Pastry Bites
adapted from Spread a Little Joy
Step 1: Preheat oven to 400. Spread half a package of puff pastry dough on a large cookie sheet covered with parchment paper or a Silpat. Cut the puff pastry into 12 squares. Sprinkle each square with dried chives and parsley.
Step 2: Add a dollop of whipped Philadelphia Cream Cheese to each square -- about 1.5 tsp. Top with shredded rotisserie chicken breast and whole-berry cranberry sauce. Finally, sprinkle some chopped California walnuts on top of each pastry.
Step 3: As you can see above, some of the juice from the cranberry sauce leaked onto the puff pastry. Drain it as well as possible, but dont worry if it drains like some of mine did...itll still bake up nice and golden. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the puff pastry is golden. Turn the pan around halfway through the baking time to ensure even browning. The cream cheese is lava-hot when the pan comes out of the oven, so make sure to let the bites cool for a few minutes before serving.
This is my kind of appetizer: simple to make, great presentation, and lots of flavor. A few simple ingredients combine to make a perfect little bite: warm cream cheese sweet-tart cranberries, and toasted walnuts combine really nicely with the roasted chicken. The puff pastry cooks up golden and crispy, making a great base. I loved this flavor combo, and the squares look so pretty on the plate. If you like brie en croute, this will be right up your alley! I hope that appetizer makes an appearance on your Thanksgiving menu next week...let me know if you try it!
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Cheese Plate 101 Creating a Perfect Appetizer for Two!
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| Nothing beats a well-composed cheese, fruit & nut plate for easy entertaining or a light summer appetizer for two! |
I had always assumed that assembling a cheese plate was arbitrary. There are no hard-and-fast rules per se, but it turns out that there is a general method that most cheese experts recommend following. The key word when making your cheese plate is variety! Make sure to provide a range of textures and flavors on your plate. Many experts recommend choosing among the following categories of cheese: aged, soft, firm, semi-soft, and blue. The recommended number of categories is 3-6, depending on the number of people you’re serving. Since I made a plate for Michael and I to share, the cheese plate I’m sharing today is composed of the following three categories:
Soft: creamy, tangy goat cheese
Semi-soft: fresh mozzarella bocconcini sprinkled with sea salt and cracked pepper
Hard: salty, firm Spanish manchego
Other popular methods of composing a cheese plate/display include picking one kind of milk (cow, sheep, or goat)...or even a specific country/region...to feature. Once the cheese is on the platter, it’s time to pick your accompaniments. I included pistachios, dried apricots, thin baguette rounds, and a really nice raspberry-chipotle sauce. Simply arrange everything nicely on a platter (for 1-2 people), or cutting board (for larger groups). Make sure to take the cheese out of the fridge about an hour before serving so it can come to room temperature. That will ensure the flavors of the cheeses are able to reach their full potential.
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| This cheese plate has a little bit of everything! Clockwise, from the top: goat cheese, pistachios, manchego, baguette slices, fresh mozzarella sprinkled with sea salt & cracked pepper, and dried apricots. In the middle is a raspberry-chipotle spread. |
The cheeses I featured on my plate are some of my favorites! The creamy, slightly tangy goat cheese was amazing spread on slices of bread and topped with the sweet-spicy raspberry-chipotle sauce, and the manchego paired exceptionally well with nuts and dried fruit. The fresh mozzarella was perfect enjoyed on its own with the salt & pepper enhancing its mild flavor. For most people, cheese begs to be paired with wine. I chose a rich, fruity cabernet sauvignon to serve with this cheese plate. It stood up nicely to the manchego, but it didn’t overwhelm the milder mozzarella or goat cheese.
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| Each person can serve themselves a bit of each item from the platter onto individual serving plates. Dont forget the wine! |
There’s few nicer ways to kick off the weekend than to pour a glass of wine, put on some nice relaxing jazz -- I especially love Miles Davis and Pat Metheney -- and enjoy a flavorful cheese plate! You can find the Fischer & Wiesers Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce featured on my plate at a fantastic online specialty food store: the Marketplace at Foodspring. It was a really nice choice -- smoky, sweet, tart, and spicy all at once. The flavor of the sauce complimented was especially nice with the tangy goat cheese. Now that you have seen the basics of Cheese Plate 101, I hope you’ll experiment with the formula to create a masterpiece of your own!!
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