Pinto Bean Dip - Another addition for your Appetiser Recipe File

Pinto Bean Dip
Here’s a treat to serve with drinks
Corn chips or some crispy vege such as celery, radish  to dip in
Appetizer sorted
We needed to whip an appetizer to take out
Had all the ingredients on the pantry and fridge
So I popped into the Epicurious Site
Found this
When completed
It was tasting a little dull so I made a couple of additions, oil, lime and coriander
Those added extras just lifted the dip and it was just great

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1 x 400 gm can pinto beans, rinsed and drained 
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped red bell pepper 
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, 
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper,
1 tablespoon chopped coriander
Good squeeze of fresh lime juice
Olive oil

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium.
Add onion and cook until softened, 4–5 minutes.
Add beans, garlic, and bell pepper and cook,
stirring, until softened and warmed through, 4–5 minutes.
Stir in chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more.
Pulse bean mixture, vinegar, oregano, 3/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper,
and 1/4 cup water in a food processor,
adding water by the tablespoonful if needed, until smooth.
Add lime juice and chopped coriander
Pour over a slug of olive oil
Whiz again

Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Add this to your Apertizer List - Spinch Puffs

There are still many nights of drinking ahead in this silly season and I like to supply something substantial  to have with your alcohol
 I found these little Spinach Puffs on The Epicurious Website

They may even take over from the Pinwheels. Well!!! Close second

    1 x 750gm package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
    1/2 cup crumbled feta
    1/4 cup minced onion
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    1 teaspoon chopped dill
    1 teaspoon minced garlic
    Grated Zest if 1 lemon
    Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
   
    2 large eggs
    Packet of Frozen sheets Puff Pastry

    Mini muffin Pans 
Defrost spinach
Using your hands, squeeze spinach until dry,
forcing out as much water as possible
(too much water will make for a soggy filling;
you should have about 2/3 cup well-drained spinach). 

Mix spinach and next 6 ingredients in a medium bowl.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
In a small bowl, beat  eggs to blend,
reserving a tablespoon for glazing the pastries
fold into spinach mixture. To bake this little gems
Heat oven to 200 C (conventional temp) 
I start them in a conventional baking oven,  200C this helps the bottoms to keep crisp
But to finish off I turn it over to fan assisted for the last 10 minutes

You will get 9 out of each pastry sheet
Cut the squares

Lightly grease the muffin tins
Lay a square into each little tin

Press down lightly
Put a spoonful into each tin
Fold pastry over

Brush with a little beaten egg

Place in hot oven
after 20 minutes
Change the oven to fan assisted and bake for a further 10 minutes

When golden
Let set in tins for about 5 minutes
Take out and cool on a rack

Ready to eat.
Actually  I served them at room temperature
These are so yummy, they were gone in 5 minutes
You can bake ahead cool and freeze
When you want them
Defrost and into 180C oven for 5-10 minutes to crisp up
Perfect

Best Red Peppers - Stuff them with a Thai Fish Mousse - Perfect Appetizer

It's my Son's birthday today and we are having Family Dinner
I'm on  the "Befores"
Of course, I am making the signature dish of Pizza Flavoured Pinwheels
Click here  to get the recipe
The Grandchildren love them
However we need Grownup Food
So going back I found this post from 2007

I reckon this will make an excellent fish course
So here we go

I remember having a sort of fish mousse stuffed green pepper at Yum Char we loved them...they are delicious.

So why not stuff red pepper halves with the a mixture for Thai Fish Cakes

The fish cakes were from a recipe I had seen Rick Stein prepare.
so I though I would adapt his recipe.
A good one too. It's that Thai fish cake texture you are looking for almost a bit rubbery.

Thai Stuffed Red Peppers

6 red, or orange or yellow peppers or a combo

500 gms meaty white fish cut into chunks
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1 chili chopped
3 tablespoons coriander stalks and all,
2-3 Kaffir lime leaves chopped
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 big teaspoon Thai red curry paste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 egg

Coconut Cream

Put all of the ingredients into the food processor except for cream
Whiz until it forms a paste
Add some cream to thin it out a little (1-2 tablespoons)

Take a spoonful and fry it in a little oil to make a little cake
Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Tasting pretty good

Halve and core peppers
Blanch in boiling water
Cool

Drain on a rack to dry

Drizzle with oil and massage it in

Fill with mixture
Place in an oiled baking tray
Add ½ cup water
Cover with foil and bake about 20 minutes at 200C

You can make these early in the day and refrigerate
Take out at least an hour before serving to bring to room temperature
Cut into half and arrange on a platter and garnish with sliced basil and chopped coriander

I was pleased with this dish.
It’s quite filling so actually 1 quarter each is enough for hand around.

Would make a good first course on a bed of dressed greens
2 quarters each would do.
Garnish with lime quarters
Here's the Birthday Boy when he was small, over 40 years ago
How did we all get to be so old?

 

Joyce's 7 Layer Dip - Perfect for Drinks Party - Gluten Free as well

 
In the early 80’s, ...our friend Joyce Baker, (pictured below, on the right)... note the 80's hair styles... from California, came to stay with us here in Auckland
In those days, New Zealand was a bit behind the eight ball, with current food trends.

We decided to have a party while Joyce was here, (as we did), Tex Mex Food was beginning to
rear it’s head. Up till then, I could make a good chili.
Gilli’s Chili, it got called in fact.
I’ll post it one day, still like it...however, we weren't really together, with some of the real flavours of Mexico.

On this particular visit, Joyce introduced us to the Famous 7 Layer Dip
Joyce was amazed that we didn't have Cilantro here
Of course, that was a language problem
You couldn’t google it then
We finally worked out that Cilantro, in American English,
was, in New Zealand English…Coriander
Plus, I don't think we could get refried beans
So I think we just squashed up some red kidney beans, with some garlic
But now, all of these ingredients are readily available

We were very impressed with this dip and have been making it since

In fact, I selfishly, didn't pass on the recipe, to anyone but our family
Don't know why I did because as it turns out, it came from
a Californian Food magazine and is widely known in the States
So anyone can find it and make it
But we prefer to call it Joyce’s 7 Layer Dip
Very Simple

For the basic recipe of 7 layers
You need
1 tin refried Beans
Guacamole, your favourite recipe
Salsa… Spicy is good. Any good brand
Grated Tasty Cheese
Fresh Tomatoes, finely chopped, seasoned with S & P
Sour Cream flavoured with Taco seasoning
Spring onions and Coriander, chopped  Handful of each
This time, I changed a couple of things,
I made my own Salsa
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes, finely chopped
3 spring onions, finely chopped
1 cob fresh sweet corn, Pop in Microwave for 3 minutes
Slice the kernels off
Add to onions and tomatoes
1 red pepper finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little olive oil
Mix well

I could only buy ready made Guacamole
Not as good as homemade unfortunately
To improve it… I mixed it in with the salsa, which also helped the salsa to stick together
So 2 layers became 1!

In fact the Dip this time, was only 5 layers, but still tasted pretty good
To assemble this particular version

Find a nice flat dish about 4 cms (1 1/2 inch) deep
Cover the bottom with the refried beans

Cover with Salsa

The Grated Cheese

Mix the Sour Cream with 3-4 tablespoons of  La Morena Taco seasoning

Spread the sour cream over the grated cheese
Top with the chopped herbs

Best to make a few hours in advance for the flavours to meld

Serve with Taco Chips
Excellent

Blinis - Another way to serve - Try Prawns

Recently I posted a recipe for Yummy Blinis click here for the recipe
I made a couple of changes
First, defrosted then roasted a bag of Prawns
as below

Just toss the defrosted prawn tails with a slosh of Olive Oil
Some sea salt 
A grind of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Grated zest of a lemon

Into a 200C oven for just 6 mins
Remove from the oven
Squeeze juice of 1 small lemon and mix 
Cool
Take about 8-10 cooked prawns and chop finely 
Make a batch of the blini mixture
add the prawns and 
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Leave to rest in the refrigerator minimum 30 minutes
Then cook and set aside



Meanwhile, prepare some Cream Cheese for the topping
Whip together 1/2 cup cream cheese with a tablespoon of chopped parley
Grind of black pepper
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tbs of a good olive oil
Spread over cooked blinis
Top with a cooked prawn and little bit of chopped parsley

Another cream cheese flavouring, try this one
Using bread and butter pickles
They add a crunch and that sweet and sour
Oooh just special

1/2 cup cream cheese
4-5 slices of bread and butter pickles
about a teaspoon of the juice
Zest of half a lemon
2 tablespoons chopped chives Pinch salt and good rind of freshly ground black pepper
Spread on the blinis and pop a prawn on top
Delicious

Below:
Everything packed up ready to take to Granddaughter Sophia's 18th Birthday

Seems like it was months ago she was this beautiful baby

I also provided some Pinwheels with an Italian Flavour, Tomato, Basil and Pecorino Cheese and 

Little mushroom filled bread cases

We just warmed them up

All perfect with drinks

Flavours of Morocco - Pinwheels - Perfect to have with drinks

Off to a Family dinner. Theme is Moroccan.
I frequently make my Pastry Pinwheels for pre-food drinks
Always very popular and I have developed many different flavours, so why not Moroccan
Here is my little Cooks treat. Yum

 As luck would have it, in my fridge and pantry, I had enough interesting goodies that would deliver what I was wanting
I haven't put quantities, use as much or as little as you like

In this case, I had some Goat Feta, the crumbly kind
But a soft Goats cheese would be best
Actually that is quite expensive, so I usually use Feta

For some other flavour ideas of these yummy pinwheels… click Here

By the way, I used two products from Local Chef’s and I want to mention them, as I find both excellent

   









 Al Browns Orange and Chili Olive Oil

 Simon Gault's Moroccan Seasoning







Ingredients
Sheets of Frozen Puff Pastry
Goats Feta Cheese
Zest of 1 orange
Slosh of Al Brown’s Orange and Chili Olive oil
Black Olives stoned and chopped
Semi dried tomatoes in oil (I used a tablespoon of this oil as well)

Simon Gault’s Moroccan Seasoning
Beaten egg

Lay out the pastry on the bench
Mix together, the Feta, Orange zest, Orange and Chili Olive Oil
Plus  1 tablespoon Moroccan Seasoning
Beat till you can spread it

Cover bottom 2/3 of the pastry sheet
Sprinkle over the olives and the semi dried tomatoes

Brush the beaten egg over the top third of the sheet
Refrigerate the egg in a container, to finish off the pastries

Roll up,
Press down gently

Cover and chill for at least 2 hours, overnight is fine
Heat oven to 200C

Cut into pinwheels and place on baking sheet covered with baking paper
Brush with reserved beaten egg, sprinkle over with some more seasoning
Bake for about 15 minutes, till golden and crisp

Best served just warm or room temperature to get the best flavour
Delicious

And my word, they went very well with
Helen’s Celery Gimlet, which is divine.

Bloody fantastic, even if I do say so, my self

Best Blinis That I Have Made - Topped with Yummy Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon

Our friend Annette had the misfortune to break her leg, so she has ended up in hospital till it is mended. Once a month a group of us have lunch including Annette, we normally choose a cheap and cheerful restaurant and try and find something different each month.
Seeing as Annette is laid up we decided to take lunch to her.

I made some little chicken sandwiches, very yummy but the piece de resistance was these beautiful light Blinis
I know normally Blinis are made with yeast, but here is a recipe, that just uses Baking Powder.
I think the secret is the amount of BP, plus the resting time in the fridge, before cooking. The mixture really starts to  kick in. They are so light and delicious
I found it on The Australian Woman's Weekly website

Ingredients
  1 cup (150g) plain flour
  1 tablespoon caster sugar
  3 teaspoons baking powder
  pinch salt
  2⁄3 cup (180ml) milk
  1 egg
  50g unsalted butter, melted

Topping
100 gms Cream Cheese
2-3 Pickled Gherkins finely chopped
Zest of a lemon 
Sea salt and Black pepper


Smoked Salmon

Method
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
Gradually whisk in combined milk and egg, then half the melted butter. 

Refrigerate mixture for 30 minutes.
It's a living thing

Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
Lightly brush the pan with a little remaining butter.
Drop two teaspoons (10ml) of blini mixture into pan.
Cook for a minute or until browned lightly underneath and bubbles appear on the surface.

Turn, cook for another  minute, or until blinis are cooked.

Repeat with remaining butter and blini mixture.

I made my blinis a little bigger so they took longer than that to cook
See how fluffy and light they are

Meanwhile just blend together all of the topping ingredients
When they are cool
Top with Cream Cheese mix
and Some Smoked Salmon 

If you don't have any smoked, just fionely chop a tomato and add to the cream cheese mix
Equally as good

So after I wrote this blog, decided I needed a cure for Cabin Fever
Popped into my local with my Kindle and had a nice chilled Glass of wine

 Perfect

Christmas Appetisers - Feed The Drinkers - When Only White Bread will do

It's that wonderful time of the year again Christmas and it is usually full of good cheer
It is really important that you feed the drinkers
The best soaker upper, is of course...White bread
Of course offer lovely crisp vege and dips, also I do have some gluten free appetisers in another blog
Click here to view.

You can serve a cheese board with cherries, for those who are not eating bread, but for the majority,

How about these Little Chicken and Pistachio Sandwiches, and some Mushroom filled Patty Cases

I have stolen the Sandwich filling from my good friends Mary and Catherine
Probably a little different from theirs, but any way you do it,
Guaranteed Tasty!

So first buy some white sandwich sliced bread
Butter well

Filling
1 medium chicken breast poached and finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped pistachio nuts
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
2 tablespoons finely chopped gherkins
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Mix together well

Place filling on one slice of the bread
Cover with another buttered slice
flatten with your hand and cut off the crusts
Cut into triangles
Pop on a little plate
Sprinkle with a little chopped parsley

So for the Mushroom Savouries
I found these in one of my Cajun Cooking Bibles

Terry Thompson’s “Cajun-Creole Cooking”.
I have just checked out Amazon.com and you can buy Terry’s book from them.
It is a great addition to your Cookbook Library

First make the Patty Cases.
These are the best ones I have ever made.
You must use the (as we call it) "plastic" white sandwich bread.
You know that soft white bread that the food police say “DON’T EAT”…

I have to say when one has a hangover, a little sandwich made from this bread, maybe bacon and mashed egg, is just the ticket.

So cut the crusts off and roll the bread both ways

Butter the bread 
Cut out shapes with a pastry cutter.

I used these mini muffin tins. I got 2 rounds per slice of bread.

Butter the muffin tins and carefully press the bread rounds in.
Buttered side down
Bake 200C for 10 minutes. You can keep them in an airtight container for a few days or they will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.

 Mushroom Filling.
¼ cup unsalted butter
4 green onions chopped
2 tablespoons minced parsley
2 tablespoons minced chives
250 gm mushrooms finely chopped
3 tablespoons flour
¾ cup cream
¼ teaspoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme finely chopped
¼ teaspoon cayenne
1 ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt
1 tablespoons lemon juice
24 baked Patty Shells
Grated Parmesan Cheese.
2 tablespoons butter at room temperature

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat
Add green onions parsley and chives

Cook until wilted about 3 minutes
Add mushrooms
Cook 10 minutes, or until liquid evaporates.
Sprinkle flour over mixture, stir till blended
Cook 2 minutes stirring it will be dry be careful it doesn’t stick to pan.
Stir in cream, thyme cayenne freshly ground black pepper, salt and lemon juice.
Reduce heat to low cook 5 minutes or until thickened.

Preheat over to 175C
Place patty pans on baking tray and fill with cooled mixture.
Top with a little Parmesan cheese and ¼ teaspoon butter
To add to the Christmas Theme, 
I topped them with a little slice of tomato and a little touch parsley

Bake about 10 minutes until mixture is bubbling

 I made the Mushroom Savouries for a drinks party yesterday and they were gone in minutes
BUT There is more
There was a lot of buttered scraps of bread left over and being a good Waste Not Want Not girl
I decided to make these into crisps to have with our pre-dinner wine
I sprinkled them with Dukkah which I had leftover from some yummy cheese balls I made last week
Then finely grated some Pecorino over the top

Bake at 190C for about 10 minutes, check after 8 to make sure they don't burn

On the left the breadcases about to be frozen for use next week
On the right the crisps
They all disappeared in one sitting
Very pleased with those