Pear Crostini

There was a recipe in Plenty for pear crostini and this is inspired by that but a little different. I love pears and cheese, so this is a great mix. It's sweet and a little tart and creamy, it's delicious. Great appetizer. 

Ingredients:

1 pear

1/2 tsp sugar

Black pepper

1/2 tsp lemon zest

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tbsp pecorino

2 slices good bread

Olive oil

1 clove garlic

Soft goat cheese

Cumin grilled cheese for soup

I was inspired by a grilled cheese and soup recipe in Stir by Barbara Lynch and wanted to pair a similar grilled cheese with my chipotle squash soup.  It's a great lunch or light dinner. I also want to make mini ones with shots of soup (inspired by Barbara Lynch) for a party. So crunchy and tasty.

Ingredients:
Bread, very thinly sliced and ideally long so it can sit on top of a bowl of soup
Butter (1 tbsp for 3 sandwiches)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
thin slices of monterey jack cheese
a sprinkle of pecorino romano

Alternative Birthday Cake

I had a surprise 30th birthday party for Jamie last weekend (he was completely surprised and it was really fun). He is not a huge fan of cake and prefers pie, but pie is not really easy cocktail party food. I remembered this post from Cup of Jo and went and got three round cheeses of different sized and made a little birthday cake of cheese. This is good for cheese lovers and cake averse.

Beecher's for Dinner

So I've stopped at Beecher's before for lunch to pick up some of their amazing mac and cheese, but I went for dinner for the first time last week. What a great spot! Down in the basement they have a cute restaurant. The menu is cheese heavy but there are some other things too. It's also happy hour until 7 and they have some great drink and food deals ($7 for mac and cheese, $7 for a cheese plate, and $7 for the nightly special cocktail!). I couldn't resist the mac and cheese, so we got that, a cheese platter, and a beet salad with cheese curds. Yum! The cocktail was a yummy citrus infused vodka with a little sparkling water and I think a tiny bit of simple syrup. It was tasty without being too sweet. Great place to go for dinner or after-work cocktails and snacks.

Burrata

Burrata is mozzarella cheese stuffed with a mixture of more mozzarella and cream. So basically, it's amazing. Any time I see it on a menu I order it. I've picked some up to eat at home from Murray's Cheese but it was around $12. I saw it this week at Trader Joe's for $5! What a deal!


It comes with two balls of Burrata. I drizzled a little olive oil and balsamic with salt and pepper on top and we ate it with crackers. It was gooey and rich and the acid of the balsamic went really well with it. Next time I think I'll make a savory tomato jam. Go to Trader Joe's!

Scalloped Potatoes and Turnips with Horseradish

This is not a light side dish, but boy is it tasty. The addition of turnips lightens it up a bit and adds a slight difference in texture. I accidentally poured the potatoes into too big of a dish, resulting in a really thin scalloped potatoes, but it was great! More crispy crust on everyone's plate. The horseradish is barely noticeable, but it gives the dish a little more complex flavor. I would make this again any time. It's so great.

Serves 6
Ingredients:
3 large Yukon gold potatoes, sliced about 1/8" thick
2 large turnips, sliced about 1/8" thick
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup half and half
5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp kosher salt
a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tsp whole black pepper corns
1 bay leaf
coffee filter
3 teaspoons jarred and drained horseradish (scoop it out of the jar and press it through the tines of a fork to drain it)
1-1/2 cups finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Taureau

Jamie and I went to Taureau last night for some fondue. I had been once before and the damp weather had me craving warm gooey cheese. This is the sister restaurant of my fave La Sirene and is also BYOB. We grabbed a Cotes du Rhone and ordered up the prix fix (for $37 per person, you get a cheese fondue, a meat fondue, and a chocolate fondue). We ordered the Pyrenees cheese fondue which was a mix of Swiss cheese with garlic and white wine and nutmeg. It was amazing. As you can see, we devoured it. The garlic flavor got stronger as we got towards the bottom. Yum! So decadent. It comes with a little salad and some torn up bread pieces. You can also opt for additional sides like veggies or charcuterie. We got some asparagus which was super tasty.

The cheese fondue when we finished it

Jamie not wanting his picture taken while eating the hanger steak

Homemade Ricotta

I found the easiest, fastest way to make homemade ricotta! It might sound daunting, but it's actually super easy and totally worth it. It tastes much creamier and fluffier than store bought ricotta, and it's better for cooking because it doesn't have gums and stabilizers put in. It only lasts a few days in the fridge, but if you have an experience like mine, it'll be gone before you have a chance to pop it in there. (We ate it with wheat thins, salt, and truffle honey with cracked black pepper - amazing appetizer!) The whole process takes about 40 minutes.


Ingredients:
1 qt whole milk
1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp distilled vinegar

Directions:
In a glass bowl, mix together all ingredients. Put in the microwave for 5-10 minutes, checking periodically to see if it has curdled. Once it has curdled (the whey will look yellowish and there will be curds floating), gently pour it into a very fine meshed strainer. Let it sit for about 30 minutes, longer if you'd like a dryer consistency. And that's it! Salt it if you'd like, or use it in desserts.

Vermont goodies

We skied in Stratton today and on the way back to the motel I ran into St. Arnold's and got the most amazing snack! Best après ski ever. A growler of local mountain ale from The Shed Brewery in Stowe, blue corn chips from Madhouse Munchies (from VT too), some spicy, smoky, slightly sweet salsa (Fire in the Mountains' forest fire salsa - you can get it here), and awesome, woodsy, Boggy Meadow Farm fiddlehead tomme. I highly recommend all of these things and may be buying out St. Arnold's - the teeniest store with the most amazing beer selection - on my way home. Certainly I'll stop back tomorrow for more après goodies!






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