Browsing Tag

appetizers

Appetizers/Starters, Dinner, Lunch, Sides

Venison and Mushroom Medley Hand Pies

As I have mentioned before, I am a big fan of “wild game” whether it be venison, boar, elk, etc. This recipe takes my Vension Ragout, adds a whole lot more mushrooms to make it very thick, and then fill into delicious, buttery puff pastry. totally decadent. Very earthy, savory, comfort food.

Hand pies freeze well! Wrap in foil, then pop each one in a ziplock baggie. To reheat bake in the tin foil for 12-12 minutes, then unwrap and bake an additional 5 minutes without the foil to crisp up. Great for a lunch or dinner with a salad.

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Appetizers/Starters, Savory Snacks, Sweet Snacks

Fried Goat Cheese Balls with Drizzled Honey

I was a little apprehensive about making these. I love goat cheese and fried cheese in general is a good thing, but somehow I was both intrigued and nervous about these. Turns out, that nervousness was unfounded because OMG are these delicious. They are tart and salty, crunchy and silky and the honey really puts them over the top. Do not skip the freezing step otherwise the goat cheese will be too soft and will melt while you are frying. Also, really only make as many as you think that you will need because they aren’t as good when they cool to room temperature and you definitely don’t want to microwave to reheat, unless you like cleaning goat cheese from the inside of your microwave. Just saying.

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Appetizers/Starters, Savory Snacks

2024 Superbowl Snacks

Again, as with so many events and holidays, for me, it’s all about the food, and so, even though for other people, the Superbowl might be about the actual game, or this year about Taylor Swift, I made some snack for this evening — here you go for your 2024 lineup; recipes after the jump:

Clockwise from top left…
St. Louis-style Toasted Ravioli
Bacony Poutine-ish Potato Skins
Nandos-inspired Peri Peri Wings
Baked BBQ Ranch Pulled Pork Taquitos

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Appetizers/Starters, Dinner, Lunch, Savory Snacks, Sides

Mongolian Buuz (Dumplings)
for Tsagaan Sar (Lunar New Year)

Happy Lunar New Year! It’s called Tsagaan Sar in Mongolia, and I this grandiose plan to make these dumplings called Buuz. Sometimes I can be overly ambitious, but somehow I sort of got these done.

These Buuz (Mongolian Dumplings) are traditionally made of yak or mutton meat. Enter my first dilemma: yak is impossible to find in greater Boston (no kidding, right?) and mutton too — or I had to buy a frozen 4 pound block and then what was I going to do with the rest of the mutton? Lamb would have been the obvious choice, but I don’t eat veal or lamb. Goat meat from the halal butcher right around the corner? I went with bison instead because I know what bison tastes like, I like it, and I could buy a 1/2 pound without having leftovers. Dilemma number 2 is that I actually am not great at making any dumplings, but I was bound-and-determined not to let the year of the dragon get me on the first day, so I managed to make a dozen, even if some of them are a little misshapen.

Final tidbit of trivia? Buuz are evidently served with ketchup. Yup, ketchup. Because ketchup is a delicacy in Mongolia. Or something. Although I guess that I could see if being a hard thing to get in Ulaanbaatar. Again, this seemed a bit strange to me, so I mixed together my usual dumpling dipping sauce. That wasn’t in the steamer basket when I steamed the buuz; I just put it there for presentation.

So, Happy New Year! May you have a prosperous, happy and healthy year.

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Appetizers/Starters, Lunch, Savory Snacks, Sides

Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs

Switching gears, it’s week two of my little “Ingredient game” to keep us motivated during the blah months and up this week as ingredient two is “Eggs”. Pretty broad topic and I promise not to just make breakfast food. Starting off, I made Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs for lunch today. Just the right amount of ranch (though I’ve heard people say that you can never have enough) and bacon crumbles. Easy to make. Easy to double the recipe for a crowd or a party. Just plain easy.

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