Last year Joey and I were out with a couple of friends having a glass of wine on the sidewalk when the restaurant's product truck pulled up and parked there on the street. One of our friends noticed they had Padrón Peppers and suggested to buy some and try them. Apparently, they were a great price. He said all we had to do is fry them up in a little olive oil, add some sea salt and eat them. Okay, right. Nothing is ever that easy! We bought some anyway because we were curious and can't resist a bargain even if we don't know what we are buying.
We took them home and, guess what? He was right! They are delicious and literally all we had to do is heat up some olive oil, throw them in the hot oil and take them out when they start having small while blisters on them. Then we sprinkled them with a little sea salt and served them with pita bread. YUM! We were hooked! However, there was a problem. We could not find these suckers anywhere! Finally, we found them at the Farmer's Market in the Ferry Building at the Happy Quail Farms Booth. Now we make special trips just to get these! They are only in season through the end of the month, so if you see them snatch them up. You will be hooked, too.
Last Friday I got it in my head that I wanted to have finger foods for dinner. We already had some amazing cheeses we had bought earlier in the week as well as some herring. Having some fresh veggies was easy, but I wanted to try something new. So many times we have had little get-togethers and made some real duds. (Salmon spread quickly comes to mind.) It's always a bit scary to test your new creations on guests so I decided to test something on Joey instead.
I had picked up Half-Baked Gourmet Party Food: Partly Homemade Totally Delicious at a bookstore ages ago and decided I would make something from that. Since I had Italian sausage and I love making things with crescent roll dough this was the perfect recipe. I made it two ways - one with Italian sausage and provolone and the other with prosciutto and mozzarella. The verdict? Both were tasty, but I liked the sausage a bit more and Joey liked the prosciutto. Yay! We were both happy and I felt so Sandra Lee. I would totally make these again. They would be perfect for game night (sports or board) and are really easy. This makes about 40 pieces and, no, we didn't eat all of them. (They do reheat well, though.)
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound Italian sauage
- 1 package (8 ounces) crescent roll dough
- 8 slices provolone cheese
Part 1
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Remove sausage from casings and crumble into skillet.
- Cook for about 15 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink, breaking it up while it cooks.
- Drain well and let cool completely.
- Unroll pastry but do not separate into triangles.
- Pinch the perforations together making four rectangles.
- Sprinkle one fourth of the sausage on each dough rectangle then top each with two slices of cheese.
- Roll up from long edge and place each roll, seam side down on a sheet of wax paper.
- Roll up in the paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Bake the rolls on an ungreased baking sheet for about 18 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
- Cut each into 10 pieces.
Every once in awhile I make something that I am particularly proud of. Something that just turns out so right that I even surprise myself. That was the case when I made this Baked Brie. Not only did it look beautiful, but it was cooked to perfection. That doesn't happen to me all that often. My food usually tastes pretty good, but it rarely is pretty.
Joey and I have not had guests over since Christmas so when we planned afternoon cocktails and game night with Kevin and Karolyn I really wanted to make something special. I knew what our entree would be, Island Pork Tenderloin Salad, since Kevin had seen it on my blog and requested it. What, though, would I make for appetizers? I had made baked brie before with dismal results. Either the cheese came screaming out of the puff pastry or it stubbornly refused to soften. In either case it was a disaster.
Joey kept bring home rounds of brie, which was a sure hint that he wanted me to master this, so after and exhaustive search online I finally found a recipe I thought would work. Oh my goodness! JACKPOT! This is the perfect baked brie recipe. I found it on Food Network and it had five stars out of 45 reviews. The recipe is courtesy of Jill Davie. I have no idea who she is, but bless her! This baked brie turned out perfectly from the flackly crust to the ooey gooey goodness of the brie. The dried cherries, toasted almonds and brown sugar were the perfect filling. I even decorated the darn thing and it looked oh-so fancy. You MUST try this recipe. It is as delicious as it is beautiful.
Ingredients
- 1 (7 to 8-inch) wheel brie cheese
- 1/4 cup dried cherries
- 1/4 cup sliced toasted almonds
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 sheets (12 by 18-inch) puff pastry
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Remove puff pastry from package and thaw on table (at least 1 hour)
- Using a warmed sharp knife, or unflavored dental floss cut the wheel of brie in half horizontally and separate the top half of the wheel from the bottom half.
- Toast almond over medium heat until golden brown.
- Sprinkle the bottom half of the brie with the dried cherries, toasted almonds, and brown sugar.
- Replace the top half of the brie and apply pressure to secure the stuffing.
- Working on a well-floured surface, roll out the puff pastry so that it will fully cover the brie. (Don't roll it out too much, just enough.)
- Place the brie in the middle of the puff pastry and fold the excess pastry around the wheel.
- Put the wheel aside.
- Roll out another piece of puff pastry and cut out a circle the same circumference as the top of the brie. (If the pastry comes in a round box, just use that as a guide.)
- Save the trimmings for decorations.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the egg on top of the brie in the puff pastry and place the circle on top.
- Brush the top of the circle and and sides with egg.
- Cut out decorations using cookie cutters or a small knife and place on top of brie. (I did little leaves and made twists around the circle and a twist cross through the middle.)
- Brush the entire top side of the brie with the egg and place the brie on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the pastry begins to turn golden brown.
- Turn the temperature down to 325° F and bake for another 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let sit about 5 minutes
- Place brie and serving dish and serve with sliced baguette or crackers.
I think the key to this is the higher temperature at first then lowering the temperature. I actually started this way too early so I lowered the temperature to about 250°, opened the oven door to cool it down and then baked it about 30 minutes more. Perfection!
