Savory Roasted Garlic and Sage Cannellini Bean Spread

This spread is smooth and rich due to a generous pour of olive oil.  Seasoned with roasted garlic and sage, it's perfect for the winter months. I served it as a Thanksgiving appetizer with a crusty olive bread, but it's fantastic with crackers, or even as a vegetable dip. 

INGREDIENTS

1 Head Garlic

1 15.5 oz Can Cannellini Beans

1/4 Cup Olive Oil, Extra for Drizzling 

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice 

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Scant 1/4 Teaspoon Cracked Pepper

3/4 Teaspoon Dried Sage

TOOLS

Food Processor 

To begin, preheat a toaster oven, or standard oven to 400 degrees.  Place the whole head of garlic in the center of a piece of tin foil and drizzle with a teaspoon of oil.  Close the foil around the garlic to form a a small packet. Bake until  the cloves are soft and can be squished from the papery casing, about 35 to 40 minutes. I made extra roasted garlic which is also delicious on its own.

Rince the cannellini beans in a colander.

Place the rinsed beans into a food processor. Squeeze in the entire head of garlic cloves.  I know that this sounds like a lot, but the roasting transforms the flavor to be far less pungent.  Add the salt, pepper, and dried sage.  If you don't have sage handy, rosemary would work well as a substitute as it shares the same earthy flavor.  Pour in the lemon juice and olive oil, and blend. 

Continue the mixture, pulsing occasionally, for two minutes until the spread is completely smooth without any graininess. Depending on the beans, you may want to add additional olive oil a little at a time for the spread to be completely smooth.  Serve with a drizzle of olive oil. 

Makes 1 1/2 cups

  

Creamy Prosecco Portobellos with Parsley

Try saying that three times fast.

Becuse I am savory obsessed I had this for breakfast. This would work as a perfect side dish for a hearty, but healthy dinner. 

INGREDIENTS 

3 Portabello Mushrooms

1/3 Cup Prosecco 

2 Tablespoons Cream Cheese

1-2 Tablesppons Parsley

Dash of Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper to Taste 

Scant Tablespoon Butter- Optional But Delicious 

METHOD

Trim the stem off the mushrooms, about an inch from the base.  Then clean portabello mushrooms with a damp paper towl removing all residual dirt.  Remember, you don't want to rince because the mushrooms soak up water like a sponge.

Slice the mushroom in half, and then into 1/3 of an inch strips.

Place mushrooms into a seasoned skillet on medium to high heat. No oil needed if it is seasoned and oiled.  If you don't have a skillet, use a buttered or oiled fry pan, but use slightly lower heat. 

Salt the mushros to help remove the water and cook, stirring regularly till the mushrooms no longer give off water and brown, about 8 minutes in the skillet, longer in the pan. 

Turn the heat to medium and add the Prosecco.  Cook until the alcohol has burned off or about when the wine has reduced by half.  If you are using a skillet and adding butter, now is the time.

Turn off the heat, but leave the skillet on the warm burner. Add cream cheese, pepper, and a dash of garlic powder and pepper to taste. Stir until creamcheese melts.  Finish by adding the VERY generous amount of rough chopped parsley. I know 2 Tablespoons is very aggressive, but it adds a hearty earthy flavor. 

Serve immediately.  I could eat the whole thing because I'm mushroom obsessed, but, more reasonable minds would serve as a side dish for two to three. 

As a variation, use red wine for a steak house vibe.  Or, double the wine and creamcheese for extra sauce. The amount in this recipe merely dresses the mushrooms. 

The Figs Are Back In Town

Figs & Creamed Honey Blue Cheese

Every Saturday, I wander through Boston's outdoor market, Haymarket, to get my weeks worth of veggies. I typically avoid the fruits and load up on the basics: celery, potatoes, loads of cucumbers and peppers.  Haymarket is a sea of your standard produce with the occasional jicima or jackfruit, then every so often a seasonal specialty. Today, I stumbled upon a personal favorite. Figs.

As a kid my uncle would bring them up from his home in the south, and I'll be honest, I thought they were terrible. But as an adult I've come to appreciate the beautiful color when you cut them in half, and chew when you bite right in.  

Typically I serve them with goat cheese and a drizzle of honey and cracked pepper. But, today I thought I would try something new. Behold- Figs with Creamed Honey Blue Cheese.

INGREDIENTS

6 oz crumbled blue cheese 

4 tablespoons honey 

4 oz creamcheese 

Salt & Ground Pepper to Taste

1 Pint Figs

DIRECTIONS

Cream bluecheese, creamcheese and honey in a food processor. Pulse at first, then leave on for a steady blend.  Push down the sides using a spatial as necessary. You'll want to blend just until smooth,  likely no more than two minutes. Add salt and ground pepper to taste.

Cut figs lengthwise and spread generously with whipped bluecheese. Serve with cracked pepper enjoy any remaining creamed cheese mixture with crackers... Or fingers, it's that good.

Truffled Egg Pizza With Cherry Tomatoes and Arugula

  

I love brunch for innumerable reasons. There are the eggs, the company, the fancy breakfast cocktails, did I mention the eggs? I know plenty of people swear by Belgian waffles with whipped cream, but I am firmly in the savory breakfast camp. This pizza has the traditional egg and bread combination that you look for at brunch, made even richer with truffle oil, but still bright and fresh with the addition of produce.  The sauce is a quick cheesy béchamel, but can easily be substituted with a spread of ricotta and scattering of shredded and grated cheese if you would rather not dirty the extra dishes.

 

INGREDIENTS

Prepared Pizza Dough (If you make your own, you are a better person than I am)

Corn Meal (for dusting)

1 Cup Milk

1 Tablespoon Butter

1 Tablespoon Flour

1/2 Cup Ricotta

1/2 Cup Shredded Provolone

1/8 Teaspoon Ground Pepper

1/8 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

1 Teaspoon Truffle Oil for Sauce, Then  To Taste

 

Six Large Eggs

2 Cups Baby Arugula

3/4 Cup Golden Cherry Tomatoes

1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan

1/4 Cup Shredded Ricotta Salata

Four Large Basil Leaves

 

Preheat over to 450 degrees with the pizza stone inside.  You want the pizza stone to warm up with the oven to get piping hot making for a crispy crust. 

 

While the oven preheats, prepare your toppings.

 

First, the sauce.  You will need two saucepans to make the béchamel that is the base for the white sauce. Place the milk in one pan and warm on medium heat.  In the other pan, melt the tablespoon of butter over medium heat, and add the tablespoon of flour.  Combine the flour and butter and continue to heat over low/medium heat allowing it to brown for at least three minutes.
 

Once it's achieved a hay color, slowly add the warm milk stirring consistently, or even using a whisk to remove lumps.  Once the milk is fully combined, continue to heat the mixture for another five minutes for it to thicken.  Keep stirring as it heats to keep a smooth consistency and to avoid burning. A traditional béchamel includes nutmeg, but, omit it from this recipe since we are going down the truffle route.
 

 

Once the béchamel is thickened, add the ricotta cheese and shredded provolone cheese.
 

Stir this until smooth.  Add the ground pepper to taste, about 1/8 of a teaspoon. Add about 1/8 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.  Finally, add a teaspoon of truffle oil. Combine and set aside.
 

 

The tomatoes should be cut length wise across the widest distance. The basil should be chiffonade  (cut into long thin strips).  The easiest way to prepare basil in this way is by rolling the leaf onto itself across the width into a long thin tube.    The roll should then be sliced into thin pieces that will unroll to long thin strips.  This technique will make for a more uniform width in the basil.

 

 

When the oven is hot and the pizza stone is preheated,  dust the stone generously with corn meal, then and place the stretched dough onto the stone. If you don't have a stone, you can use a cookie sheet dusted with the corn meal. The dough should be poked with a fork so it does not bubble up. My favorite place to buy pizza dough is from a local pizza shop.  I make almost everything from scratch, but pizza dough I buy loud and proud. 

 

Spread the white sauce across the dough. You should spread it all the way to the edges of the crust so it is flavored even where the eggs don't extend.   I used the entire amount of the sauce because I had a very large crust, but, use your judgment.  Dot the pizza with the tomatoes, sliced side up. You want them slice up so some of the water will cook out without making the pizza soggy.  Finally, crack eggs over the pizza, I used six large eggs, distributed evenly. 

 

Place the pizza in the oven and bake until at least the whites are set, and yolks are to desired doneness.  The total cooking time will be from 10 to 15 minutes depending on your preference.  Ten minutes will give you set white and runny yolks, 15 minutes the yolks will be opaque.  I recommend closer to 10 for a runny delicious mess. Of course, if you cook the pizza less, you won't get as much of the crisp. If you know you want a runny egg, consider pre-baking the crust for 2 to 3 minutes before topping. 

 

Once the eggs have reached their desired doneness, remove the pizza from the oven and move to your serving board. Here you should slice into squares and scatter with ricotta salata and grated parmesan.  You'll notice I didn't salt anything along the way, this is because the ricotta salata and the Parmesan provide all the salt you'll need. Next, drizzle with truffle oil.  I used approximately a tablespoon worth of truffle oil, but more or less to your taste preference. The final step is to scatter with basil and arugula and serve.