Day 91: Easter Sunday: 3 Appetizers & 3 Desserts

For Easter Sunday, I made a few appetizers and desserts.  Here are the recipes:

APPETIZERS
1. Cheese Platter
I apologize that there's no picture!  I put together a quick platter with brie cheese and a port cheese.  I also put out red grapes and some crackers.  This is a simple way to put together an elegant-looking appetizers.  Picking good cheeses really steps up the "class" for this idea.  A port cheese is always a good choice, especially if you know there will be wine served at your event.

2. Sun-dried Tomato Dip
This was a great dip--good with vegetables or crackers.  I served it with carrots and broccoli.

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 jar of sun-dried tomatoes, patted dry
3 scallions, chopped and divided 2 & 1
salt, pepper

Place the cream cheese, yogurt, mayonnaise, tomatoes, about 1 tsp of salt, and 1/2 tsp of pepper in the bowl of a food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Add 2 of the scallions and pulse a few times to incorporate.  Transfer into a serving bowl.  Sprinkle the 3rd chopped scallion on top.

3. Kielbasa Wrapped in Puff Pastry (Glorified "Pigs in a Blanket")
This recipe should originally be lamb sausage, which I thought would be perfect for Easter, but I couldn't find any.  I used kielbasa instead, and it was a huge hit!  As you can see, by the time I remembered to take a picture, they were almost gone!

2 sheets Puff Pastry
1 lb sausage or kielbasa, coiled
Dijon mustard
1 egg for egg wash

Place the sausage on a baking sheet and bake at 400* for 20 minutes.  Pull it out and turn it over and bake for another 5 minutes.  Cool to room temperature.  Unfold the 2 sheets of puff pastry and cut them each in half.  Cut the sausage into 4 equal parts.  Spread Dijon mustard on each section of pastry (about 1 TB or less for each section).  Place the sausage on the pastry sections running lengthwise and roll up.  Place on a baking sheet seam side down.  Brush the tops with the egg wash.  Score each sausage with a knife so there are 6-7 sections.  Bake for another 20-25 minutes.  Then fulling slice each sausage so there are 6-7 slices from each rolled sausage.  Serve immediately.

DESSERTS
1. Coconut Cream Pie
Sometimes you need a little help from the store.  I used a frozen pie crust.  Guilty.  It was definitely a time-saver and sanity-saver, though!

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted (Simply put a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 350* about 5 minutes.)

3 cups half & half
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 9-inch pie shell, baked
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed

In a medium saucepan, combine the half & half, eggs, sugar, flour, and salt and mix well.  Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly.  Then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and 3/4 of the coconut.  Pour the filling into the pie shell and chill until firm, at least 4 hours and up to overnight.  Spread the whipped topping on top and sprinkle on the remaining coconut.

2. Raspberry Tart
(I made this crust!)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
pinch of salt
1 cup raspberry preserves
2 packages (1/2 pints) of raspberries (*The original recipe (Ina Garten) says 1 1/2 pints, 3 packages.  I didn't even use an entire 2 packages, but my pan was the right size and my raspberries were pretty close together--I'm not sure what happened there.)

Preheat the oven to 350*.  Mix the butter and sugar together to just combine.  Add the vanilla.  Add the flour and salt and mix until the dough starts to come together.  Dump the dough onto a floured surface and form into a disk.  Press into a 9 or 10 inch tart pan.  Chill until firm.
Butter one side of aluminum foil to fit into the tart pan.  Place it on the crust, butter side down.  Place some rice or beans on top and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove the foil and rice.  Prick the crust with a fork and bake for 20 minutes more.  (I only baked mine for another 8-10 minutes because it was already darkening, so watch carefully!)  Cool to room temperature.
Spread the crust with the preserves and place the raspberries on top.
This goes great with the pastry cream I made (also an Ina Garten recipe):

3. Pastry Cream

6 egg yolks at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 TB cornstarch
2 cups whole milk
2 TB unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 TB heavy cream
1 tsp brandy

Beat the yolks and sugar until light yellow and falls back into the bowl in a ribbon.  Slowly beat in the cornstarch.  Bring the milk to a boil in a large saucepan and then slowly pour it into the egg mixture and continue mixing on low speed.  Then pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is thick, about 10 minutes.  Bring to a boil and cook on low 2-3 more minutes.  Taste to make sure the cornstarch is cooked.  Remove from heat and stir in the butter, vanilla, cream, and brandy.  (Strain into a bowl--I skipped this step since I didn't have a fine strainer or cheese cloth!)  Place plastic wrap directly on the custard and refrigerate until cold.

4. Croissant Bread Pudding

3 whole eggs
8 egg yolks
5 cups half & half
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsps vanilla
6 large croissants (or 10 small)
1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350*.  Whisk together the eggs, yolks, half & half, sugar, and vanilla.  Slice each croissant in half horizontally.  Place all the bottom halves in a large casserole dish.  Sprinkle the raisins on tops and cover with the croissant tops (brown side up).  Pour the custard over the croissants and gently press down.  Place in a large pan with 1 inch of hot water.  Cover with tented aluminum foil so it doesn't touch the pudding.  Cut a few holes in the foil to let steam escape.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake 40-45 minutes more until the custard is set.  Cool slightly before serving.

Day 14: Chipotle Chili, Beer-Battered Onion Rings, Homemade Guacamole, Knock-You-Naked Brownies

There are so many game-day dips, dinners, and designs that are so much better than my humble spread!  Thanks to social media and pinterest, people everywhere tonight are putting together guacamole dips in the shape of a football field, snacks laid out like stadiums, and cakes in the shapes of footballs.  Maybe it's because the Pats aren't in the superbowl this year and I'm not a Bruno Mars fan, or maybe I'm just too partied-out thanks to a very crazy pre and post holiday season, but there's not much going on over here for the big game tonight.  In fact, I'm quite certain I'd much rather start watching season 8 of Dexter than the superbowl, but we did invite a few people over, and I'd been asked numerous times what I'm making for the game, so in the spirit of the game, here we are!  The good thing about making a "traditional" dish at the "traditional" time is that all the ingredients are on sale at the grocery store!  Avocados were at an awesome price, chili ingredients were all marked down, and of course tortilla chips were a steal.  Here's what we're serving at the Dattolo house tonight:

Chipotle Chili
2.5 lbs boneless stew meat (cut into chunks)

1/3 cup masa harina (or cornmeal or flour)
1 TB cumin
1/4 tsp salt
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 lg onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 TB canned chipotle chiles, chopped, plus 1 TB of the adobo sauce
3 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes w/ green chiles
14.5 oz beef broth
1 TB brown sugar
*Garnish: cheese, sour cream, avocado
Toss the meat with the cornmeal, cumin, and salt.  Place in slow-cooker.  Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on high for about 2-2.5 hours.  Serve with sour cream, cheese, and sliced avocado.  Serve with cornbread.  For skillet cornbread recipe, see Day 7.

Beer-Battered Onion Rings
Slice an onion into thick rings.  Soak in buttermilk with hot sauce, salt, pepper, and some thyme and refrigerate for a few hours.  When ready to fry, heat vegetable oil in a large pot on the stove.  For the batter, combine 1 cup of flour with 12 oz medium-bodied beer.  Mix to rid of any lumps.  To test that the oil is ready, you can drop a little batter into the oil.  If the batter sizzles and rises right to the top, the oil is hot enough.  Dip the onions into the batter to coat, and then in the oil until golden brown.  Remove from oil and place on a paper toweled-plate.

Onion Ring Dip

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
juice of 1/2 - 1 lime
hot sauce (to taste)
salt, pepper (to taste)
chipotle chili powder (1 tsp or to taste)
Mix well and refrigerate.

Homemade Guacamole
4 avocadoes
1/2 jalapeno, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
juice of 1/2 - 1 lime
hot sauce, to taste
salt, pepper, to taste
chipotle chili powder, to taste
Mix ingredients in the bowl of a food processor.  Blend until desired consistency.  *Be liberal with the salt!  Avocados are very mild, so the salt will really help to bring out the flavor.

Knock-You-Naked Brownies (recipe courtesy of one of my biggest culinary inspirations, Ree Drummond)
German chocolate cake mix
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/3 cup evaporated milk, plus 1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 pkg chewy caramel candies
1/2 cup (or more) chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350*.  Over a double-boiler, melt the caramels with 1/2 cup evaporated milk.  While the caramel melts, combine the cake mix, butter, pecans, and 1/3 cup evaporated milk.  The dough will be thick!  Press half of the dough into a greased 8 x 8 baking pan.  Bake for 8-10 minutes to set.  Remove from the oven and let cool about 1 minute.  Pour the melted caramel over the dough, and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.  Press the remaining dough into the shape of a rectangle on a cutting board, then carefully place on top of the chocolate chips.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool and refrigerate to set.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Enjoy!

Happy Superbowl Sunday and may the best team win! :)