Ladies Who Lunch

Maybe those southern belles were onto something...lunch with the ladies...bridge games...gossip...giggles and above all a hat and gloves. Very demure! We are posting a light lunch recipe...perfect for having some girlfriends over. 

Pictured are some of the ingredients we used for this demo.

We are making lettuce/herb bundles, Thyme-Lemon Vinaigrette, Pesto/Mascarpone Cigars and Toasted Camembert Cheese for our luncheon. 

Thyme-Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest from the rind (careful not to get into the white part of the skin--bitter)

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste--it won't take much

Combine ingredients in a mason jar, place the lid on tightly and shake away. Now your done with the dressing-set it aside 

Phyllo Dough aka Filo Dough

We used these "pesto/mascarpone cigars" as a garnish for our salad. You could make a cigar bar if you used this recipe for a party. Would be fun! We love fun food!

Ingredients:


6 ounces mascarpone cream or cream cheese room temperature very important for the spreadability factor when you make the cigars. 
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1 green onion or scallion
1/8 cup pre-made pesto (you can get this at most markets)
1 box phyllo dough, you will find this in the frozen section of your market-thaw in the fridge overnight. Do not attempt to use phyllo dough frozen...it will crack. 
1 stick melted butter

In the work bowl of a food processor, add all the above ingredients. Pulse until this mixture is blended, but still a little bit chunky. See below. Set aside until your phyllo dough is prepped. Don't refrigerate unless you are doing the next step another day. In that case make sure the pesto/cream mixture is at room temperature. 

The funky picture below is an illustration of how we made the phyllo dough cigar bar holder. The shape was made by rolling aluminum foil into cylinders to create forms. Just remember to gently remove the foil right after it comes out of the oven and it is still malleable for removal. We scattered grated Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper over the surface. 

There are some rules for using phyllo dough. It dries out very quickly, but once you have lightly covered the surface with melted butter or olive oil, it becomes pliable. You must keep the unused dough covered and protected from air or it will dry out and crack. Caution if the damp towel you have covering the unused dough is too wet, it will act as glue and stick all the sheets together...it will become unusable. 

To begin, remove unwrap and unroll the thawed phyllo dough. You will remove 1 sheet of dough at a time and work very quickly. Remember cover the unused dough. Have 1 stick of melted butter and a pastry brush ready to go. 

Make sure your work surface is large enough to lay 1 sheet of filo dough out flat at a time. Gently lift 1 piece off the top of the dough. Cover the remainder with the ever so lightly dampened towel. Place the first sheet down on your work surface~lightly brush 1/2 of the surface with melted butter (go easy with the butter/it just takes a dab) and fold in half. Spread more melted butter on the newly folded surface. Using a spatula, quickly and lightly spread some of the pesto/cream mixture all over the surface. Cut the pesto covered sheet in 1/2  and roll each piece into a cigar. Brush each cigar with a little butter and cut into 1/2 again. Each sheet of phyllo dough will make 4 cigars. Repeat. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes on a Silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet. If the cigars are not brown yet, return cigars to the oven for a few more minutes. They should be lightly golden brown.

Just before serving lunch, remove the wrapper from the room temperature Camembert cheese and return it to the bottom of the wooden box it came in. Score the top with a sharp knife as in the photo above to make 8 sections. Add 1 clove (not head) of crushed garlic to 1/4 cup olive oil. Brush the top of the cheese with this mixture and then top the cheese with black pepper and salt. (you can do this part ahead of time and just have it ready to go) Place under the broiler of your oven. Leave the door cracked and don't leave it's side--that would be a disaster waiting to happen. In a few minutes the cheese will be browned and bubbly. Place the cheese in the center of your composed salad bundles and serve right away. 

Composed salad bundles were made from alternating a handful of red leaf and green leaf baby lettuces into a posy of sorts with a sprig or two of herb garnish such as parsley, dill, etc. Each bundle was tied with a long strand pulled apart from a green onion top. Tie loosely, you won't need to tie a knot. We did this ahead of time and placed them all on a tray covered with damp paper towel and plastic wrap to keep them fresh in the fridge. Assemble everything just before serving and drop the cheese right in the middle. 

Have fun with this...remember it's all in the planning and details. These are not difficult recipes with the exception of getting the hang of how to use phyllo dough. Now who do you want to have over?

The inspiration for this segment came from viewing cook your dream. Though we have posted recipes before using this cooking method for cheeses such as feta, we were reminded of just how fun it is to serve cheese this way.

Rainy Weather ~ Easy Dinner

Another rainy weekend in Southern California. Didn't we just spend last weekend digging out the weeds? Our poor garden  ~ a new crop of weeds has been birthed just during this last week of rainy days. After attacking the new upstarts today...who wants to cook or go out ??? We're pooped out! It is the perfect weather for Cheesy Fondue. We have been making this recipe for scores of years now in one form or another. The original, which we have veered from was given to us by a friend. You can make this in 2 whole sourdough boules or individual sourdough rolls such as the Pioneer brand. 

Yes, weeds were trying to hide amongst the herbs!

Determination was called for...we are taking back our plot...weed free!

Here are the ingredients for family style fondue.

This recipe makes enough to serve 8-10. Cut the amounts in 1/2 or freeze half for later use, if your family is smaller.

2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded

1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), cut into cubes

1-8 ounce (1 cup) can tomato sauce (not paste)

3 heaping tablespoons finely minced sweet onion

3 heaping tablespoons finely minced red bell pepper

dash cayenne pepper

(2-3 pieces of crispy bacon, crumbled would be a nice addition-we did not do this in today's recipe)

2 14-ounce Sourdough boule (we bought ours at Trader Joe's), slice off the top, and hollow out the bottom by running a knife around the bottom edge being careful not to cut through the bread. (You can see by our pictures how it works) Carefully remove the insides and cut into cubes to use to dip into the fondue when ready to serve. (You should have a bread bowl with a top when you are done)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Use a lower heat if your oven tends to burn easily. In a large saucepan over medium high heat, add the butter. When the butter is melted, add the onion and bell pepper. Cook until the bell pepper and onion are soft, but not brown. Add the tomato sauce and stir to combine with onion and bell peppers. Remove from heat and add the cheeses. Stir/mixture will still be chunky...it will not  become creamy until it is baked. Fill the boules with the cheesy mixture and replace their lids. Place on a foil lined baking sheet and bake approximately 15-20 minutes. Lift the lids a little to peek under and make sure the cheeses are melted. At that point, we like to remove the lids and turn the broiler on--broil until the cheese begins to bubble and brown a bit. Remove from oven, replace the lids and serve. 

**Suggestions~ This is how we completed our presentation today....we took a baking sheet...drizzled olive oil over the surface. Cracked sea salt, black pepper and garlic powder over the oil. Then we halved some red, yellow, and blue baby potatoes (enough for 2-3 per person)...popped them in the microwave for 5 minutes...removed them...rolled them in the oil/seasoning mixture on the baking sheet then placed them cut sides down into the hot oven. We also roasted the remainder of our sweet onion cut into chunks right along with the potatoes. Right next to the potatoes, we place our foil covered boules of fondue. The potatoes roasted for about 15 minutes and then we added some thin asparagus tips...we rolled them in the same olive oil mixture and continued the cooking process for another 8 minutes. Meanwhile we julienned some red bell pepper, grabbed a handful of baby heirloom tomatoes, and diced some chunks of leftover tri-tip beef, and began composing our serving platter. We removed the roasted vegetables and then popped the boules back under the broiler as mentioned above. You can see by the picture below that we served everything on one big platter. It is a lot of fun to eat this type of communal meal...it elicits conversation-everyone participates. It's a good thing!

Cleanup after a meal like this is pretty easy!