Fresh Blackberry and Goat Cheese Dip

My inner hunter/gatherer has come out the past couple of weeks.   The wild Blackberries are ripe and I've been picking them wherever I find them.

 
I picked the first batch on the little lot beside my house, and managed to pick enough to make a blackberry pie, which I, umm, inhaled, over the course of a weekend.   It wasn't one of my better efforts, but it tasted so good, especially since I'd picked the berries. 
I kept my eye out for more on my walks and gee, guess what, there were lots and lots and lots more.  So I picked them every couple of days and started freezing them.  I wasn't able to get a lot at a time, maybe a cup or so, but they add up.  I'm planning on making some blackberry jelly soon. 
And yesterday, I picked even more.  It also happened to be Friday and the night I get together with some ladies.  I wanted to make something with the blackberries that didn't include heating an oven. 
So I looked in the fridge, and found goat cheese.  Just one of those items I stock up on when I get to the big city.   And since I had some lemons out, I wondered how it would taste if I put some blackberries, lemon juice and goat cheese together. The reason for the lemon juice?  It brings out the essential blackberry flavour of the juice. 

 

And it was good.  I made a little test bowl first.  I squished up some of the blackberries, and put them through a sieve to get the juice and then added a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a scant teaspoon of sugar to it.  Cut a little piece of goat cheese off, added a little of the blackberry juice to it, and mixed it up.
When I tasted it, I decided that it was pretty darn good.

So I added the juice to the goat cheese and mixed it together.

Forks work so well with this.   I didn't bother softening the cheese first, but you can if you want.  Goat cheese is pretty crumbly anyway.  

When I was done, I folded some whole blackberries into it, and sprinkled more on top.  I served it with some graham crackers, but at NPA I tried it with some pretzel chips and it was really good with them as well.  
I have some more ideas on what I can do with this idea next.  Maybe pipe it into some phyllo cups and decorate it with a big ol' berry on top or maybe as a filling in a layer cake, or...

So many possibilities.

Recipe:
3 oz. Goat Cheese
2-4 tablespoons Fresh Blackberry Juice (to taste)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons sugar (to taste)
1/2 cup whole Blackberries 

Mix the first four ingredients together til smooth.  You want this to be dip consistency. 
Fold in the most of the blackberries reserving a few for garnish.  
Serve with some graham crackers or pretzel crackers. 

And because I'm freaky scared of snakes and some of the blackberries sat tantalizing me, just out of reach, I finally broke down and bought some Panacea Nikes, cause I had to push my way into the bush a little and I wanted my toes protected, from the snakes.

I'm set to go now.  Anyone know where there are more blackberry bushes?  Just so long as there aren't any yellow flies around, I'm ready when you are.

Crispy Edamame for SRC

I was faced with a dilemma this month for the Secret Recipe Club.

I get together with a group of ladies most Friday nights and like to make something fun for them, because I just like to make something fun to eat.   And then there is the Secret Recipe Club where I am given a blog to explore and make one of the recipes from the blog and blog about it at my assigned time.

So, no problem, right?

Well there was a problem.  I was assigned Join us, pull up a chair and Heather had way too many great sounding recipes that I wanted to try  .

Recipes that would fit perfectly for an NPA get together or one of my Tapas Nights or gee, just ones I wanted to try.

I found this,  Buffalo Chicken Rolls and then there was this one,   Hoisin Glazed Meatballs  which would have been great to try when I made the Asian Style Turkey Meatballs last Tapas Night.

But I decided on Crispy Edamame  because I'm trying to eat a little cleaner, and I love Edamames and since I had some in the freezer, well, it was a natural choice.

And then I couldn't blog about it until today, REVEAL DAY!!!

See my dilemma?  No.   Well, everyone wanted the recipe, and wanted to know when it was going to be posted on my blog, and I had to tell them they had to wait, til today, Monday.  


Crispy Edamame

12 oz bag frozen shelled edamame, thawed
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, I used the powdered stuff in the jar.  I actually added more freshly grated cheese after spreading the peas out on the baking sheet, but it didn't coat as well. 
salt & fresh ground pepper
Opt. Sliced garlic

Preheat oven to 400 deg.   Take Edamame out of freezer and either rinse it to thaw it or let thaw in a colander. 

Once the edamame is thawed, lay them on a paper towel to dry and remove the excess moisture. Once dry, place in a gallon sized Ziploc bag, add in the tablespoon of olive oil.  Shake to coat.
 Then add the 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, shake it again.  

On a parchment paper lined baking sheet, pour the coated Edamame. Spread out in a single layer.

Sprinkle with a little more Parmesan Cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.
 Add the thinly sliced clove of garlic at this point, stir and bake for another 5 minutes.*  
  Allow to cool slightly before enjoying.

 You can see the little bits of garlic on here.   And don't put the garlic in until the last few minutes of baking, otherwise it will get bitter.  As it was there was a slight hint of garlic, nothing over powering.

*I found that I needed to bake them longer. And the next time, I will do the initial bake for about 20 minutes, then add the thinly sliced garlic and bake for an additional 10 minutes or so.  They weren't crispy, but were tasty.  

These were so good scooped up in a Lentil chip and eaten out of hand.   Someone else had brought the Lentil chips, so we tried them together, and I would do that again.   And best of all, this is a healthy recipe. 

Heather cited this as the source: Allrecipes

An InLinkz Link-up

Burger Bar Bash planning tips, part two.

I was re-reading my Burger Bar Bash post and realized, that while I gave you a good overview of how to do it, that a timeline might also be in order.

I think I've said, OK, I know I've said that I do it all, I'm by way of being a one man band or something like that in the kitchen.

Not a complete control freak, but close.

So, when I do one of these Burger Bars, I make lists.
Guest list, gotta know how many you're feeding, it really sucks to run out of burgers.  At least I think it would, I've never done it yet.

I check what I have in the fridge and pantry first.  I usually have more than enough ketchup, yellow mustard and mayonnaise on hand anyway, but don't always have brown mustard or BBQ sauce.   And then there are the people who like Miracle Whip on their burgers, and I usually have that on hand as well.   I like it on various things as well so...

If I don't have dill pickles in the fridge, I will have them in the pantry.  I buy them when they go on sale, cause I like to save money.  And I do like to give a choice to people, so I'll put out some Bread and Butter Pickles as well.    I've even put out some pickled beets for those who have a taste for it. (Aussies and Kiwi's take note).


A grocery list, now that you know how many people are coming and just what you need to buy.  And if you can do this far enough ahead, you can take advantage of sales on a lot of it, and just stock up.  In other words, spread out the spending over a couple of weeks or even months.  Let's face it, condiments can last a long time in the pantry.

The day before, or even that day, buy your meat and make the patties.  Fresh is best on this. 

For the meat, 15 lbs. of hamburger meat will get you 40 hamburger patties.  12 pounds of meat, 32 patties.   6 lbs gets you 16 patties.

See, I did the math for you. 
  
 I like to do a 50/50 ratio of ground chuck and ground round.  Ground Chuck can get real greasy all by itself and ground round can be too dry, I like them mixed together.  And, please, please, please don't smoosh it all together.  You can break up the meat, gently, and layer it together in a large bowl and then form the patties, with a light hand.   I don't season the meat, but that's your call.  If I have the time and fridge space, I like making the patties early on the day, and then I place them on cookie sheets in single layers.   If I'm working with a lot of meat, I divide it up into 3 or 4 batches, keeping the rest of the ground meat in the fridge.  Don't let ground meat get warm, it likes the colder temperatures.  And you're less like to give someone food poisoning.

If I can, I like to buy my buns fresh, the day of the party.  Mainly cause I just hate stale buns. But the day before is OK.   I used to order them from a local grocery store, when I lived closer to one that carried the kind of buns I like.
Now...
Do a timeline list, personally I need one, because I can then gauge what needs to be done next and how long it takes.   I apportion a certain amount of time for each action.   Give myself an hour to form the meat patties for example, how long does it take to cut the tomatoes for the burgers.

For example; I'm planning on starting the BBQ at 5 pm and I don't want to be running around trying to figure out what to do next.  So I write it down.  

Starting at 8 am
8:  Cook Bacon for Burgers put in an oven safe container and refrigerate
9 : Prep and Saute Mushrooms
9:30  :Cut the cheese and arrange on platter.  
10 : Prep and Saute Onions 
11:  Make meat patties, refrigerate
12 noon  cut fresh onions, refrigerate
1:  shred lettuce/ cut tomatoes
2 : set up tables, get chairs together  Figure out what serving dishes you're using, set them out.
3:  Shower and Nap  This is very important, give yourself time to take a breath, lay down for a minute, meditate, shower, dress and get your makeup on.
4:  Set up plates, cutlery and napkins
4:30 :  set out the ice, if you have an ice chest, I like to give my guests a place to stash the drinks they brought.  I also like to put out lots of bottled water and some soda.  But that is up to you.
4:45 : Set out condiments 
5:00 :  Greet guests
if you are grilling right at 5 pm bring out the burger toppings as your guests are arriving.  Enlist their help if you like.  If you have a spot on the BBQ grill for the bacon, onions and mushrooms to warm up, get them out and set that up.  Or just warm them in the oven.

Clockwise from the pretzel bun, lettuce, tomato, pastrami, grilled onions, mushrooms, dill pickle and sliced Vidalia onion.  

Then relax, enjoy your guests, grill the burgers and most important of all, have fun. 

Cucumber Salsa

You ever find a food that you love so much you look for recipes that you can use it in?  Or that you can use as a substitute for other things?

That's Creme Fraiche for me.   I can eat it by the spoonful, straight out of the container, but I usually restrain myself.

It's so good on baked potatoes, used in Deviled Eggs, I've pretty much substituted it for sour cream and greek yoghurt in almost everything I cook. 

And it's not that bad for you either.  It's got protein and calcium and doesn't really have a lot of fat, cause the flavour packs a punch.  So a little goes a long way.

Usually.

 I saw a recipe for Cucumber Salsa awhile back and the dressing called for Sour Cream.

Yeah right, I thought.   I'll see your Sour Cream, and raise you some Creme Fraiche.

And I was right.    WOW!  I'm even more in love than before. 

I brought this to my weekly Friday gathering.  And those people who could eat cucumber and cilantro liked it, as did I.  Well, actually I think I loved it.  And I will make it again.  Just one warning though, if you dress it too early, you will end up with a fair amount of liquid, but you can just drain that off if you like.  I served this with pita chips, but I think it would go well with just about anything.

Recipe- adjust to your own tastes

2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced very fine
1-2 Roma Tomatoes, diced very fine
1/2 red onion, diced/minced
1/4 cup chopped Parsley
1/4 cup chopped Cilantro
1- 2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1-2 Jalapeno's  seeded and diced finely

Dressing
1/2 cup Creme Fraiche
1-2 tsp. Lemon Juice
1-2 tsp Lime Juice
1/4-1/2 tsp. Cumin

Mix the fresh veggies together and give them a quick grind of sea salt, let them sit for awhile and get acquainted.

 I had to take this shot, after chopping, mincing and peeling.  They just looked so purty.

 Fresh Parsley, straight out of my garden, how cool is this?

  And when you go to chop it up, roll it up into a tight bundle and then cut across it, making a chiffonade, then just cross cut it.  Makes it a lot easier to chop.

  Everyone into the bowl now.  

  Toss the veggies together.

Mix dressing ingredients together and let that sit in the fridge for a little.


Just before serving, pour dressing over the cucumbers and mix together, serve with crackers or pita bread or tortilla chips.

I think I would make this again, but next time, just wouldn't add quite so much dressing, and I would definitely add more jalapeno's and cumin. 

I wonder how this would taste on a sub?  hmmm, I think I'm getting ideas.

Smørrebrød (Danish Open Face Sandwiches)

I'm so excited.   I'm going to be visiting with family in a few weeks and one thing I'm going to be looking forward to, apart from just getting to visit with them, is hopefully having a Smorgasbord.

Which means having Smørrebrød along with other fun foods from my childhood.

So I thought I'd share a few fun facts about Smørrebrød.  And pictures of some of my past lunches. They wouldn't be my current lunch, cause I've already eaten.   

Eating properly prepared Smørrebrød is like eating works of art.  Or at least that's what you're shooting for when you make Smørrebrød. 

Literally, it means butter (Smørre) and bread (brød) .  And you then 'pyntet' or deck it out with some pålæg (toppings) and eat them, with a knife and fork.  Only the most crass people pick up a sandwich and eat it with their fingers.

I mean, the manners of some people!

Just kidding, I've been known to pick up a lovely piece of Smørrebrød and eaten it out of hand in the past.  But, I have to say, it just doesn't feel right when I do that.   I grew up eating my sandwiches with a knife and fork.  That was just the way it was.

In Denmark you can go to school to learn how to make proper Smørrebrød, but most people make it in their own home.  It is lunch after all.

One factor though, is to make it pretty.   I've seen sandwiches that are works of art, so beautifully constructed that you are scared to cut into them, but we do it anyway.

To start with you need a good base, and in Denmark that's Rye Bread.  That wonderful, dense, sometimes seedy bread with a wonderful sourish tang to it.
 
I still had a few slices of the Rye Bread I made, which made up the base for following sandwich.  And you need a good base, you do, really, . 

I had made some Agurk Salat the other day, and then promptly ate most of it.  But not before I put some on a sandwich.  I had a leftover pork chop, and thought that the Agurk Salat and the pork chop needed to get acquainted.

So I introduced them.

They got along great, until I ate them.

Slice the leftover Pork Chop into very thin slices, on the diagonal.   Try not to get any fingers in the way.
Then spread a very thin layer of butter onto the rye bread.

  Next up is some mayonnaise.   Just a little bit, and on one slice I put some iceberg lettuce.   Although a nice butter or leaf lettuce would have been better.

  Layer the pork, over the entire slice of bread.  Technically, you don't want to see any of the bread peeking out.

 Then add some lovely Agurk Salat to the top.

Take several pictures, as you admire your lunch.

And when you can't stand it anymore, eat it.  And it was very good.

 So good in fact, I broke out that little tin of Pate I'd been saving, along with some Pickled Beets and the rest of the Agurk Salat.

And I had another awesome lunch, leverpostej med syltede rødbeder og agurk salat.  
Translated, it means Pork Pate with pickled beets and cucumber salad.    YUM!!!   

 Again, butter the bread, although I forgot to take a picture of that.  I showed you how to do it earlier in this post.


Then spread a nice layer of Pate on the bread. 
 And last but not least, add some Agurk Salat to the
top.

  Or some Pickled Beets...

 

 Feel free to wield your knife and fork at this point.


I know I did.

  Sorry, but gotta go and finish my lunch now.  


And if you want to read more about Smørrebrød, check it out on Wikipedia Smørrebrød