Browsing Tag

appetizers

Appetizers/Starters, Dinner, Lunch, Soups

Mushroom Medley Soup with Mini Potato Gnocchi

My dad used to make next-level soups. They were amazing. Number one by far was his New England Seafood Chowder, but second was his Mushroom Soup. Of course, first, he would forage the mushrooms, then spend hours painstakingly cleaning them, and then came the soup making. For a few weeks some summers, he would make and sell this Mushroom Soup (either Chanterelle or Porcini or both) at a farmer’s market and people would come watch him make it. He would sell out in under an hour.

This Mushroom Medley Soup pays homage to that soup. This is likely one of the best savory things that I have made all year (ok, ok, it’s only January 3rd…. let’s count last year as well). This is the most flavorful, hearty, homey and delicious thing to come out of my kitchen in a whole. And given the arctic temperatures outside, today was the perfect day to make it.

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Appetizers/Starters, Breakfast/Brunch, Savory Snacks

Chanterelle + Caramelized Onion Breakfast Tarts

Here a bit using the of bounty from my weekend in Maine: Chanterelle and Caramelized Onion Breakfast Tarts with the chanterelles that I foraged in the woods myself. Let me start with this disclaimer: If you do not know your wild mushrooms, please don’t go foraging; just buy them in the shops. Even if you know your mushrooms, please be exceptionally careful. I have been “mushroom hunting” since I was a toddler with my family … it’s a German thing.

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Appetizers/Starters, Breads, Savory Snacks, Sides

Green Olive and Rosemary Focaccia

I haven’t been showing a lot of my sourdough bread baking lately, but here is a (green!) bread that I made this week: Green Olive and Rosemary Focaccia. I think that Alice (Alice in Wondoughland) was a little tired, because it didn’t rise nearly as much as I had hoped, but it still tasted delicious. I am a huge fan of olives though generally prefer black over green. These were bright and briney and with a little extra olive oil, the bread was great.

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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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