OK, another one of my more odd ball recipes. And I won’t lie to you: it was precipidated by the fact that I had a couple of pear-shaped cookie cutters. I know, rather silly. And then I found this interesting sounding Bourbon Pear Onion Jam from Stonewall Kitchen so these savory linzer cookies were born. They match well with cheese and wine or beer. They might not be for everyone, but they turned out quite nice, so I am pleased.
Ok, this is a bit of a random flavor profile, but run with it, shall we? Last weekend, when I went to Eataly, they had a huge section of Italian jams, mustards and chutneys. I was intrigued, and picked out a savory jam with figs and a little bit of onion and mustard seed. Not, it doesn’t taste mustardy, just savory. Anyway, what to do with said concoction? Well, one thing certainly would have been to eat it along with cheese and crackers, but I thought that I would make my own “crackers” (aka savory cookies) and ended up with rosemary and chili flakes in them. Fantastic! These are definitely an “eat with cheese” (or salami or olives) type of “cookie” but very tasty. Experiment successful? I’d say yes!
While this recipe isn’t necessarily Christmas-y, here I am making it making it as part of a Christmas Gift Basket. Not surprising, most of the things that I give for Christmas (besides The Cookies … capital T, capital C) are food or food related. But this recipe would work just as well in the late summer when zucchini and rosemary are at their peak. While it is sweet, it’s almost border-line savory as well, so might go well with soups and stews as well as eggs and bacon for breakfast.
Not even 5 days past Halloween and I am already focusing on things to make for Thanksgiving. Every year I make a variation on the usually “cranberry sauce” and this year is no different. In that I added Ginger and Red onion and made more of a chutney than a plain sauce. There are cloves and cinnamon in there too, and orange juice, so a whole lot of flavors. It’s lovely though: tart and sweet and savory and complex. The best part about it: you can make it up to three weeks in advance, keep refrigerated in jars (like you would “freezer jam) and it’s lovely and fresh on Thanksgiving Day.
So, I’m pretty famous for my potato salad, but normally I make my Southern German (Bavarian or Swabian variety). Today, I thought I’d try a new and different kind for the BBQ that I am going to: French-style Herb Potato and Egg Salad. A little sweet, a little dill, very herby and turned out really really well, for a recipe that I made up on the fly. The eggs are semi-soft boiled (“7 minute eggs”) so their yolks actually mix well into the dressing, making it very creamy.