Smoked Trout, Avocado and Blood Orange Salad with EVOO’s Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon dressing
29 03 2010
At Evoo I served this as a simple appetizer by placing avocado slices and orange segments on Belgian endive spears and drizzling with the dressing. Here is the full version of the salad I had in mind when I created this dressing. This dressing would also be great drizzled on grilled shrimp, fish or scallops or even used as a marinade before grilling. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: avocado, lemons, oranges
Categories : salad
Marinated Goat Cheese with EVOO Tuscan Herb Olive Oil, Garlic, Basil, and Orange Zest
29 03 2010
Marinated Goat Cheese
This cheese is great on crackers as an appetizer. It would be delicious as a topping for a green salad. You could also make a classic French salad with this called a Salade de Chevre Chaud (warm goat cheese salad). Place a slice of the marinated goat cheese on top of a thickly sliced piece of French bread. Place in a hot oven and warm through until the cheese just begins to melt. Remove from the oven and place atop a green salad dressed with a Sherry shallot vinaigrette. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: basil, cheese, garlic, orange
Categories : Appetizer
Endive Spears with Cheese, Pecans, Mango and EVOO Honey Ginger Balsamic Vinegar
29 03 2010Serves 8 as an appetizer
4 heads of Belgian endive, separated into spears and washed
8 oz. whipped cream cheese
½ cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
1 mango, cut into ¼” cubes
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger (optional)
EVOO Honey Ginger Balsamic Vinegar, to taste
In a mixing bowl, blend together the cream cheese, pecans and mango pieces. If you want a stronger ginger taste, add in the optional grated fresh ginger. Spread some of the cheese mixture onto each endive spear. Lay them out decoratively on a platter. Then, drizzle a small amount of the Honey Ginger Balsamic Vinegar on each spear. Serve immediately.
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Tags: cheese, mango, pecans
Categories : Appetizer
Tomato and Basil Bruschetta Topping with EVOO Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar
29 03 2010
Making Tomato and Basil Bruschetta
Serves 6
6 ripe plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp chopped basil
1 – 2 tbsp EVOO Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar
1 – 2 tbsp of one of EVOO’s extra virgin olive oils
2 tsp EVOO Basil oil
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Fresh goat cheese (optional)
Put the chopped tomato and basil in a mixing bowl. Add in the Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar and olive oils. Mix gently. You can adjust the proportions to suit your own taste. Add in sea salt and black pepper to taste. Serve atop toasted crusty bread. An option is to spread a layer of goat cheese on the toasts before placing the Tomato Bruschetta topping on top.
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Tags: tomatoes
Categories : Appetizer, Italian
Fun Demonstrating Olive Oils and Vinegars
29 03 2010
Fabulous Creating at EVOO Marketplace
Yesterday I spent a gorgeous Denver afternoon at EVOO Marketplace in Denver demonstrating their oils and vinegars in some of my recipes. I used their Dark Chocolate balsamic vinegar in my Tomato and Basil Bruschetta topping. I featured their Tuscan Herb Olive oil in a marinated goat cheese dish. I splashed their Honey Ginger balsamic vinegar on an endive spears topped with cream cheese, toasted pecans and fresh mango. Lastly, I made a dressing using the Blood Orange oil, Meyer Lemon oil, Meyer lemon juice, Peach balsamic vinegar, and some orange zest. I drizzled that over endive spears topped with orange segments and avocado.
All the recipes were very well received, and I promised everyone I spoke with that I would put the recipes on my website to share. So please look for those recipes in the next 4 posts to my blog. Thank you to everyone who shared the day with me. It was a pleasure cooking for all of you and talking with such fine foodies.
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Categories : Uncategorized
Baked Polenta with Kabocha Pumpkin, Greens, and Sage
26 03 2010I love making polenta. It is easy and so versatile. If you make a big casserole of polenta, it can be made ahead and serves lots of guests. You really can’t go wrong. I had pumpkin and swiss chard and spinach to use up in my refrigerator so I came up with this dish. You could also use butternut squash and any braising greens you like. I added in a smoked gouda at the end which gave it quite a nice smoky flavor. My husband said it reminded him a little of bacon. Of course, if you want a milder flavor so that you can taste more of the sage, use shredded mozzarella instead. I wanted to feature EVOO’s Sage and Mushroom oil in this dish but I think the smoked cheese was too strong for it. I did roast the pumpkin in that oil and it gave off a great aroma. So I think I can refine this dish by taking out the smoky flavor and accenting more with the sage which goes so beautifully with winter squash. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: chard, pumpkin, spinach, squash
Categories : Italian, Main Dish, Vegetable side dish
Chili Shrimp with Basil
24 03 2010When I used to cater, this was one of my most popular appetizer dishes. This is great for a buffet because it can be done ahead of time. This recipe comes from a series of cookbooks I love on fusion cooking by Teri Sandison and Hugh Carpenter. They are beautifully photographed books with delicious recipes. I have entertained for years using their inspirations. This recipe for chili shrimp comes from their Chopstix cookbook. Many of my friends have asked me for this recipe, so here it is finally. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: shrimp
Categories : Appetizer, Seafood, Thai
Crunchy Nut Cereal
24 03 2010
Sometimes, particularly as the weather begins to get warmer, I go on raw food kicks. This recipe is one of my favorite raw food cereals. This is a very interesting combination of raw nuts and seeds plus raw flakes that are made similar to flax crackers but slightly sweetened. I love this cereal with almond milk and some berries. I doubled this recipe when I made it because it keeps well in an airtight container. Remember you do need some special equipment to make raw food (see my post on Raw Food Essential Equipment.) For this recipe, you will need a dehydrator. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: almonds, flaxseed
Categories : breakfast, Raw
Harvest Applesauce Breakfast Bundt Cake
24 03 2010Serves 12 Easy
It is a cold, snowy morning here in Denver and I am looking for something special to make for breakfast. I remembered this recipe so I dug it out. It looks like the perfect comfort food for today. I love the smell of something baking on a snowy day. So, I am heading off to wake my kids to the smell of a fresh coffee cake in the oven and maybe some hot tea. If this is as good as I remember, I may bake it for my son’s class breakfast tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: apples
Categories : breakfast, desserts, Uncategorized
Cream of Asparagus Soup
20 03 2010
I had two pounds of asparagus sitting in my refrigerator and some homemade vegetable stock, so Voila, Cream of Asparagus soup. Also, I wanted to play with some flavored olive oils I have from EVOO marketplace in Denver to see what kind of hit flavor combinations I could create. Last night we splashed in oils like Persian Lime and Meyers Lemon as finishing touches. We stirred them in and ate right away. The flavors were subtle but distinguishable. We tried a stronger flavor like White Truffle, and found that it made a nice contrasting accent to the asparagus, especially if you like truffles. I was going for a more complimentary and blended flavor with the Persian Lime. So this morning, I whisked in a tablespoon of the Persian Lime oil into about 3 cups of leftover soup. I reheated it and then let it sit for a few hours. I have to say, the Lime flavor was more prevalent and was a wonderful accent to the asparagus. Just letting the soup absorb the flavor of the oil over time made a huge difference. Of course, this soup is fantastic even if you don’t have fancy specialty olive oils. This would make a wonderful starter to an Easter dinner.
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Tags: asparagus, EVOO oil
Categories : Soup
Katherine
vegoutgourmet.com 