BBQed Brie & "Make Your Own Tapas" - FHE Style

How many of you dream about food and new recipes....?
I do!
I dream about food and food presentation.

I know last week I posted that my inspirational Monday's this month would be about "Monkey Breads", but I have to share with you my two nights of dreaming about my "Make Your Own" Tapas platter that I put together for our Family Home Evening this week....

Starting in top left corner and going to the right.... Mustard, honeydew, pineapple, coconut tai beef, pancetta, herbed cheese, salsa, ham, cheddar cheese. Center - BBQed Brie, Bottom row - left to right - pickled veggies, apple slices, baguette, glazed carrots, on the side you will see homemade smoked salmon with cucumber dill sauce and crackers, then in the other tray you will find assorted breads.

BBQed Brie - (taken from show on the cooking network)

1 brie round
2 tablespoon maple syrup
sprinkle of Cayenne Pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
leaves from 2 tyme sprigs
Make small slits in to top of the brie round and sprinkle the next 4 ingredients  on top of the cheese, wrap in tin foil and place on BBQ rack for about 5 minutes. Serve warm with crackers and bread.

 

Smoked Salmon with Cucumber Dill Sauce

• 5 pounds salmon, trout or char
• 1 quart cool water
• 1/2 cup kosher salt (the salt can not iodine in it)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh maple syrup
• 1-2 tablespoon molasses

Smoking is an art, not a Science!

Mix together ingredients and and wait about 10 minutes for salt to dissolve, place your fish in a non-reactive container ( must be plastic or glass), cover and put in the refrigerator for 4 to 24 hours. This curing process eliminates some of the moisture from the inside of the fish while at the same time infusing it with salt, which will help preserve the salmon.
Next take your fish out of the brine and pat it dry. Sit the fillets on  your cooling rack, skin side down for at least 2 hours. I didn't realize the importance of this step until I smoked my first batch without drying and the pellicle was not set and I didn't get a lot of smoke flavor in my fish. The pellicle is the thin, lacquer-like layer on top of the fish that seals it and offers a sticky surface for the smoke to adhere to. Don’t worry, the salt in the brine will protect your fish from spoilage. Once you have your pellicle, you can refrigerate your fish for a few hours and smoke it later if you’d like.
Now you are ready to smoke your fish. Even though this is hot smoking, you still do not want high temperatures. Start with a small fire and work your way up as you go. I start smoking at 140°F for the first 2 hours, then I raise the heat to 160°F for another 2 hours, then finish at 175°F for a final two hours. To keep temperatures mild, always put water in your drip pan to keep the temperature down. If your smoker is very hot, put ice in the tray. It is important to bring the temperature up gradually or you will get that white albumin “bleed” on our fish.

After an hour in the smoker, baste your fish with maple syrup; do this every hour. Once your fish is smoked, let it rest on the cooling rack for an hour before you put it in the fridge. Once refrigerated and wrapped in plastic, smoked fish will keep for 10 days. If you vacuum-seal it, the fish will keep for up to 3 weeks. Or freeze your fish for up to a year.

"TBHD"... Tarte Tatin

We love this quick and easy dessert.... It reminds me of the Dutch-Oven / Skillet Upside Down Apple Pie that my Grandma used to make in the old iron skillet. It is so yummy served with a big scoop of fresh homemade ice cream. I followed the recipe in the heirloom desserts cookbook.

As most of you already know when we bake from someone else's published cookbook, we do not post the actual recipe, we encourage others to buy and enjoy right along we us. But, I would like to add my recipe to the pot to show the similarities in how old traditional recipes are passed down through family generations...

INGREDIENTS

1 stick butter (cut into cubes)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups pre-sliced apples
2 tablespoons apple cider
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ice water

DIRECTIONS 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  

Combine the  1/2 of the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon  and sliced apples in a large bowl. Heat a 10-inch cast iron skillet, dutch-oven or oven-proof pan over medium-high heat and add the apple mixture.  

While the apples are getting hot, make your pie crust by stiring the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a fork or pastry blender, cut in the cold other 1/2 butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together. Gently gather dough particles together into a ball. Roll out dough,  

Once mixture begins to bubble, unroll pie crust over skillet. With a wooden spoon, push down edges of crust into hot apple mixture. Cut steam slit in crust and brush with apple cider and sprinkle with sugar.  

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven, tip upside down on a large serving platter, serve warm with vanilla ice cream. 

Sparkling Mango Lemonade

This is a party style punch... it makes a lot!

For 5 quarts...

1 cup Country Time Pink Lemonade dissolved in 1 Quart of water
1/2 gallon of Mango Tampico punch
2 (2 liters) of Sprite

Mix all together and add ice, chill and serve.

Saltine Toffee

Never made it to my workdesk today, because I have been working on getting finger foods ready for our Young Women / Relief Society Fashion show. We had a great time and our young women done a great job modeling and explaining there modest style clothing. I am so proud of our Young Women and the amazing example they set for the younger generation. 

On the menu tonight was...
Savory Cream Puffs, Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, Sparkling Mango Lemonade and a new dessert that I have been saving on Pinterest called "Saltine Toffee".

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 large Hersey bar

1/4 cup chopped pecans

24 saltine crackers

Place saltines on large baking sheet, lining them up side by side. Melt butter and sugar in small sauce pan, bring it to a boil and pour over saltines, coating all saltines. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until light brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Next melt chocolate and stir in pecans. Add small spoonful to top of cracker and place in fridge until chocolate is set. Serve at room temp.

TWD: "Baking With Julia" - White Chocolate Patty Cake

One of the hardest parts of living here in the canyon and spending time in the pantry is planning ahead when you go to the store and you buy stuff that everyone likes. I bought raspberries for today's recipe last week at the store and one by one they disappeared, so by today, when needed, they have been feasted upon. So.... Strawberries it is today!

We loved this cake, it reminded me a lot of the homemade angel food cake that my great grandma use to make. She used to top it with fresh whipped cream and fresh out of the garden raspberries and then she would drizzle warm white chocolate all over the top.

And of course, no recipe included because we would like to encourage everyone to join us and cook from Dorie's Cookbook... "Baking With Julia", but you can check out the video here.

White Chocolate Pattycake – Julia Child & Marcel Desaulniers

Sourdough "Cinnamon & Sugar" Monkey Bread

It's a new month and my Monday inspiration during July IS and always HAS been my sourdough. So, we decided that this month our Monday's are going to be about "MONKEY BREADS" (sourdough of course...)

Ingredients:
2 cup sourdough starter
2 cup warm milk
6 cups flour, divided
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick butter, melted
4 tablespoons cinnamon


In a large bowl mix together sourdough starter, warm milk and 1 cup of the flour, mix well then add another 2 cups flour, mix well, cover and leave at room temperature to proof at least 2 hours.

Then mix the oil, 1/2 cup brown sugar and eggs into the sourdough mixture, mixing 2 eggs at a time. mix well and let set 15 mins.

Stir in remaining 3 cups flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead 5 to 8 minutes, or until smooth and let rest about 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 24 pieces, then form into balls, let rest while you mix 2 cups brown sugar and cinnamon in small bowl, set aside. Next melt butter in a small bowl and set next to sugar mixture. Dip balls into melted butter and and then roll in sugar cinnamon mixture, place into a lightly greased bundt pan, randomly stacking one on top of each other.

Set in a warm place and let rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours. Bake at 375 for about 30-40 minutes.
Remove from oven and flip pan upside down on serving plate. They are better if eaten warm....