Russian Roulette Jalapeno Poppers

It's finally October. The weather, while still pretty warm, is cooling off gradually, Halloween has taken over the stores, leaves are turning, pumpkins are everywhere. I love this time of year.  Scary movies are a big highlight of this time of year for a lot of people and sometimes that includes me. Right now I'm really into American Horror Story. This season's theme revolves around a bizarre cult and plays on the fear of clowns. The clowns are just incredibly creepy, and not very friendly. Lots of scary things going on in this season!! All the movie channels are featuring the usual suspects- Halloween with Michael Myers, that nasty Jason Vorhees who haunts Camp Crystal Lake in the Friday the 13th movies (funny, too, because we have a Friday the 13th this October!), zombies, vampires and probably a Frankenstein here and there if I look hard enough.

I've been invited to a Halloween party this year so........ I need a costume idea. It's so hard to decide what I'd like to be. I prefer to make my own costumes rather than buy store bought ones, they're always so cheaply made and most women's costumes are borderline hooker wear. Sexy witch. Sexy cat. Sexy bat. Sexy cop. Sexy vampire. Sexy doctor. Sexy nurse. You get the idea. I don't really wanna go that route, and who wants to stand around in high heels and fishnets all night anyway? Not this girl. So I have to dig deep into the imagination and find something fun and cute and fully clothed.

Once October rolls around in Iowa the pumpkin patches, corn mazes, apple orchards and fall festivals are in full swing. Families make the trek out in the country to find the perfect pumpkin for jack-o-lanterns, a nice bushel of Iowa apples, apple cider, Indian corn. It's also the end of gardening season, and end of the farmers market season. Another year has gone by and I did not make it to the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market but that's ok.

My friends continue to share their garden goodies with me, this time a big bag of jalapeno peppers. My love for peppers is well known and my friend Lisa brought a big bag to work for me. Half of them were Mammoth jalapeno peppers, great big peppers with the normal heat level and the rest were a cultivar known as Coolapenos, which look and taste exactly like their hot counterparts but have zero heat. They are just as mild as green bells but still have that distinctive jalapeno flavor. Just to make it fun, I piled them all together to make Russian Roulette poppers- you don't know if you're getting a hot one or a cool one. Fun, right? Another fun twist to the recipe, some of them are wrapped in bacon, and some are not, but they are just as delicious both ways. Seriously delicious.

Unlike the breaded and fried jalapeno poppers, these guys are filled with a mixture of cream cheese, Colby Jack, and just because I had some hanging out in the fridge, a scoop of goat cheese, caramelized minced onion and garlic, and mild pork sausage. The filling is wrapped with a strip of smoky bacon and baked until hot, bubbly and golden brown. These easy poppers are great to make ahead and store in the freezer. They are quick to heat from frozen and make great party snacks, football nibbles or a nibbles for a night of scary movies! They are also super easy to prepare and take to a Halloween party if you happen to go to one. What a great way to use up all those peppers at the end of garden season!

Super Easy Party Poppers

fresh jalapeno peppers*

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese

1/2 medium onion, minced

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 lb mild pork sausage

2 lb bacon

pepper

*This quantity of filling made quite a bunch of poppers. I had a couple pounds of jalapenos to use up. If you make the filling and have extra, freeze it for future batches of poppers.

Prepare the peppers by halving the jalapenos lengthwise. Remove seeds and membrane. Set peppers aside.

Crumble the pork sausage into a small skillet, break up into very small pieces and brown the sausage until cooked through. Drain well and cool. In same skillet heat a small amount, a teaspoon or so, of cooking oil and add the minced onion. Cook over medium heat until softened and just turning golden. Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional two minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese and Colby Jack cheese together. Stir in the cooked onion and garlic, and the sausage. Season with pepper.

Use a spoon or knife to stuff the filling into the halved jalapenos. Cut the bacon slices into halves or thirds, depending on the size of the peppers, and secure with toothpicks.

I left some without bacon and they are just as delicious

Place the peppers on parchment lined baking sheets and transfer to the freezer. Freeze until solid, the place peppers in zip top storage bags and freeze.

To serve, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Place frozen poppers on baking sheet and place in oven. Bake 25-35 minutes until bacon is crispy and filling is bubbly and browned.

These are great to have on hand for all kinds of occasions. Many nights I get home from work and just don't have the energy to cook a whole meal, and if The Chef is at work, it's just me, a small pan of poppers go in the oven for a quick and easy dinner.

The Office Food Day

Who loves the Office Food Day? Lots of people, apparently, because we sure do have them a lot! It's actually quite fun- it's a great chance to share good food with the people you spend most of your life with, exchange recipes, try some new things, and break up the monotony of another day in the office. Our office has food days for all kinds of reasons, holidays, seasons, new or departing employees. Sometimes we have a theme- like Cinco de Mayo and all Mexican foods, and sometimes we don't. I've tried all kinds of different foods at food days, from ethnic baked goodies to pulled smoked lamb.

I've always been a fan of appetizers for food days. Sometimes I'll drag a crockpot filled with hot apps to the office, and sometimes I go with something cold, even better if it can sit at room temperature for a couple hours. It makes it easier for coworkers to graze throughout the day with small plates of goodies instead of piling everything on a flimsy paper plate at one time. For this food day I went with a cold app that can hold at room temp and actually tastes better that way. I grabbed a couple bakery baguettes to slice and toast and threw together a quick bruschetta topping and a slightly kicky tapenade made with Peppadew peppers- not hot like jalapenos or habaneros, but just a slight kick in the taste buds.

The bruschetta topping is a riff on Caprese salad, with diced fresh Roma tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella pearls- little balls of fresh mozzarella that are so creamy. You always want to use fresh mozzarella in any Caprese dish. The more common blocks of mozzarella for shredding just don't have the right texture for this. I amp it up with some minced garlic and scallion, a little olive oil and Balsamic vinegar for an authentic flavor. Sinful Food's wonderful infused olive oils bring a big flavor impact to these toppings and make the baguette toasts extra delicious!

Get your Sinful Food oils and Signature Seasoning by clicking HERE.

Toasted Garlic Baguette with Two Toppings

Caprese Topping

4 Roma tomatoes

1 cup fresh mozzarella pearls, drained

1 scallion

2 cloves fresh garlic

small handful fresh basil leaves

Sinful Food Signature Seasoning

2 tablespoons Sinful Food basil olive oil

2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

Cut the Roma tomatoes into small dice, discarding the seeds and soft insides. Place in medium bowl.

Cut the mozzarella pearls into quarters, add to tomatoes in bowl. Finely mince the garlic and add to bowl. Cut the scallion in half lengthwise, then chop crosswise. Add to bowl. Cut the basil leaves into chiffonade and add to bowl.

Drizzle the olive oil, and vinegar over. Season with Signature Seasoning. Toss to coat everything, cover and chill.

Peppadew Kalamata Tapenade

1/4 Peppadew peppers, drained

1/4 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and drained

1/4 cup pitted green olives

2 cloves garlic

1 scallion

small handful fresh parsley

juice of one lime

one tablespoon Sinful Food olive oil, garlic, basil or Italian herb

ground black pepper

Finely chop the peppers, olives, garlic and scallions. Place in small bowl.

Remove parsley leaves from stems and chop; add to bowl. Squeeze the lime juice over, drizzle with olive oil, add 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Stir to combine all ingredients. Cover and Chill

Toasted Baguette Slices

2 long French baguettes, sliced about 1/4 inch thick

1/2 cup Sinful Food garlic olive oil

Signature Seasoning

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

 Arrange the bread slices on two large baking sheets. Brush with the olive oil; sprinkle with Signature Seasoning. Bake in oven until toasted and lightly golden. Cool before storing in airtight container.

To serve, arrange the toast slices on a platter. Place the Caprese topping and tapenade in bowls. Allow everyone to top their own bread so the toast stays crunchy.

This is the perfect party snack or appetizer, especially for larger groups.  I have made this recipe many times for wine tastings and holiday parties and catered events. It's always a very popular item on the buffet table and I've shared the recipes with lots of friends. The Caprese topping is great for all kinds of other uses and the tapenade is mandatory when making muffaletta or Italian sandwiches.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." As a Brand Ambassador, the company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift or something of value. Regardless,  I only recommend products or services I believe are of good quality and safe. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."



Guest Chef- Jenny B's Polenta Bites with Mushroom Ragu

Way back when my kids were still young seems like we always had a house full of other peoples' kids. Teenage girls with a flurry of clothes and makeup, teenage guys in the driveway showing off their cars and stereos. Jenny was one of my daughter's ever-present teenage friends that was always at our house, or the girls always at her house, yes always. They were pretty much inseparable. Goofy girls fussing over their hair, changing their outfits a million times, and worrying about those boys and cars. I had no idea this little smidge of a girl I had called Mini Jenny for so many years would become a cooking heavy hitter. 

As is life, the girls grew up, graduated from school and began their careers. I remember Jenny coming to my house as a brand new sales rep for Cutco and introducing me to what would become a huge obsession of mine- kitchen knives. Jenny moved on from selling Cutco, but the knives I acquired have become mainstays in my collection.

Jenny's submission to Perkin's Restaurant's contest- Open
Faced Steak Sandwich with Sauteed Spinach, Fried Egg and
Gorgonzola Sauce (photo by Jenny)

Jenny's heritage is Asian. If there is one thing I learned from my Asian friends it's that they are amazing cooks. Every occasion is a feast with tables laden with incredible ethnic dishes from meats to vegetables, noodles, rice and eggrolls. I tasted foods I never knew existed, and learned to overcome my hatred for cilantro as it was a huge part of so many of those Asian dishes. Of course Jenny grew up immersed in this culture and learned a few things along the way. Her style of cooking is eclectic and modern. A lot of fusion in her dishes. Techniques you'd never expect from such a young lady. And....... style. She just has so much style.

Beautiful Pancetta Wrapped Asparagus (photo by Jenny)

Thanks to the internet I have been able to watch Jenny's cooking blossom and grow. Her food always looks flawless. Her plating is inventive and beautiful. She just knows which plate to serve which food on and nothing ever seems mismatched. To top it all off, she has a keen eye with the camera and takes fantastic pictures of her culinary creations.  I have been wanting to do a feature with Jenny for some time but recently when she shared a pic of a fantastic appetizer on Instagram I knew this was the one I wanted to share (and make!!).

That fish is as big as Jenny!

It's no secret I am a sucker for delicious cocktail foods. I love making just a few appetizer type dishes, opening a bottle of wine, and having a nice quiet cocktail party for two. This recipe is perfect for that. It is insanely decadent with the polenta and Parmesan cheese, and those tender wine-braised mushrooms. Jenny used shiitake mushrooms for hers. I like to use a mix, so I used cremini, oyster, chanterelles and shiitakes. The chanterelles were dried and rehydrated before cooking. 

Polenta sounds like a very gourmet food, but it's actually quite simple. It's a fancy word for cornmeal mush. That's it! Super simple and easy. You don't need to splash out tons of cash for a package marked "polenta"- just buy yellow cornmeal. You want to cook it until the grains are soft and tender, so test often. I season with salt and pepper at the end of cooking and I go easy on the salt if I'm using Parmesan cheese, as it's quite salty on its own.

These days you can find Jenny cooking at The Des Moines Golf and Country Club in West Des Moines. 

Polenta Bites with Mushroom Ragu

1 cup yellow cornmeal

4 cups chicken broth

Parmesan cheese

salt 

ground white pepper

cooking spray

8 ounces fresh mushrooms*

1/2 red onion

2 garlic cloves

olive oil

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped

salt and pepper

1/2 cup Marsala wine

1 cup dry red wine

2 tablespoons butter

1 leek

cornstarch

oil for frying

*Jenny uses shiitake mushrooms. You can use whatever mushrooms you like. Shoot for about 2 cups of chopped mushrooms.

Spray a rimmed sheet pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium saucepan bring the chicken broth to boil over medium high heat. Slowly whisk in the polenta, and continue whisking until thickened. Reduce heat to low. Cook until the polenta grains are tender, anywhere from 15 to 40 minutes. Stir every five minutes or so, to prevent sticking. Taste for salt- in case the chicken broth is fairly salty. Season with salt, if needed, and white pepper. Add Parmesan cheese to taste- I'm estimating about half a cup for my liking.

Remove from heat and pour into rimmed baking sheet. Spread out with an offset spatula so it's even in the pan, and about half an inch thick. Set aside and allow to cool at room temperature.

To make the mushroom ragu, clean and trim the mushrooms. Discard the stems of shiitake mushrooms. If using dehydrated mushrooms you will want to soak them in warm water for about 30 minutes to soften. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Chop the mushrooms into small dice. Chop the onion and garlic.

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Add the mushrooms, onions and garlic, and cook over medium heat until the mushrooms are browning and the onion is soft and translucent. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the thyme.

Add the wines to the skillet and allow to cook until reduced and glossy. Stir in the butter. If you need to thicken the sauce, use a small amount of roux or cornstarch slurry.

To make the fried leeks, slice the leek into quarter inch slices. Separate into rings into a bowl and sprinkle a little cornstarch over. In a small pan, heat a small amount of oil and fry the leek rings until browned and crispy. Watch closely- they brown quickly! Remove to a paper towel to drain.

To serve, cut the polenta into bite sized squares, or shapes using canape cutters if you really want fancy. I prefer the clean and contemporary look of the neat squares. Place on a serving platter and top with a bit of the ragu and a couple fried leek rings. Serve immediately. 

This is such a lovely cocktail party nibble. The wines in the ragu add a savory complexity to the mushrooms' earthiness and the butter brings it all together with such a creamy texture. The polenta- oh my gosh, so so good. So modern. So Italian. Everything here can be made ahead and refrigerated. Just let the polenta return to room temperature and reheat the mushroom ragu a little before assembling.

Happy Hour Small Plates- Rustic Zucchini Tart

In the summer months I'm all about entertaining. I love the idea of a few friends over, drinks on the patio, a selection of appetizer style foods and small plates to share. Savory and sweet, light and lush. Chilled Riesling, cold craft beers, icy cocktails, laughing and enjoying the waning days of summer.

The baker in me also loves baking. Not the best idea in the summer so much, but sometimes late at night when The Chef is at work I will get out the baking supplies and create something new and delicious. I love anything with a European flair. French foods. Rustic Italian foods. Pastry. Cheesecakes. New recipes and old favorites I've made a million times. Like this one- I make galettes (rustic, freeform tarts) all the time. With all the access I have to fruit trees and generous friends, I always have several made ahead and frozen, ready to pop in the oven at the last minute. So as I'm sitting here, surrounded by piles of zucchini, I'm thinking quiche.... but easier, lighter, fresher. 

Pastry-making is one of the more basic cooking skills everyone should master. I learned to make pastry years ago the old way- with a pastry blender. These days the food processor makes it a snap to have homemade flaky pastry in minutes,  but if you dread the pastry part, it is okay to cheat and buy the ready-made kind for this recipe. Make sure you buy the refrigerated rolled pastry and let it sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before using. Don't use the frozen pastry in the tin pans- that will not work with this recipe. If you are up to making your own though, PLEASE, I beg of you, use butter, shortening or lard to make the crust. DO NOT use margarine. You will be most unhappy if you do! I only use very cold butter cut into cubes.

I love this tart for lots of reasons. It uses up zucchini. It's easy to make and doesn't require half the kitchen in ingredients. It's perfect for a small plates dinner, sharing with friends over cocktails. It pairs beautifully with a glass of champagne. It's the perfect picnic food, individually wrap wedges and you're good to go. It goes beautifully with an icy cold Pinot Grigio. It makes a great breakfast the next day with some fresh fruit. It's very quiche-y without having $100 worth of cheese in there (I totally made that word up). It has that rustic look that I love so much- it looks so gourmet when in reality it's almost effortless to make. And most of all, it's delicious!

So let's get started on our Rustic Summer Zucchini Tart.  You will need:

• pastry for one crust
• 1 small  zucchini
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced
• 4 oz goat cheese
• 2-3 tb cream cheese
• salt and pepper
• chopped fresh thyme
• chopped fresh Italian parsley
• a little lemon zest

Make your pastry and set aside, covered.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise, then slice zucchini VERY thinly, set aside. You can use a mandolin if you have one but honestly, I am scared to death of mine. Bad, bad experience. I am in love with my trusty ceramic knife and used that.

Heat a couple TB olive oil in skillet, add onions, cook over medium heat until softened. Add garlic and saute for 2-3 additional minutes. Set aside to cool.

Add the goat cheese and cream cheese to the onion mixture. Using a wooden spoon mix and "smash" everything together until you have a mixture that's spreadable. Add a pinch of salt, a teaspoon or so of lemon zest, a couple nice pinches of fresh thyme and parsley, minced and some freshly ground black pepper. It's much easier to mix together if you bring the cheeses to room temperature. Set aside.

Roll the pastry out into large circle, doesn't have to be perfect. Transfer pastry to large baking sheet that has been sprayed with non stick cooking spray. The easiest way to do this is fold in half, fold in half and move, centering the "point". Next gently spread cheese mixture over, leaving about a 2 inch "rim".  Layer the zucchini slices in overlapping rows to completely cover the cheese. Fold the edge of the tart over, pleating as necessary, to tuck everything in and get that rustic look. Drizzle with additional olive oil and sprinkle lightly with shredded cheese such as mozzarella, if you like. Use just a TOUCH. Don't think pizza here. I really like the shredded parm as opposed to the usual grated stuff, it looks very nice melted and browned on the top but a little bit of mozzarella will do in a pinch.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes until crust is beautifully golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand at least 10-15 minutes before slicing. Sprinkle with more chopped fresh thyme and lemon zest. Can be served warm or at room temperature. Slice in thin wedges for appetizers or larger wedges for lunch servings. A nice mixed baby greens salad with a Dijon vinaigrette is the perfect accompaniment, or a fruit salad- fresh fruit, not the fluffy whipped topping kind. 

This is such a wonderful dish to experiment with too- try bumping up the flavor with a quick sprinkle of fresh lemon zest right before serving. Sun dried tomatoes would make a pretty addition too- chopped up and added after baking. A handful of toasted pine nuts, or walnuts. No thyme? Use whatever herb you have on hand- in this case though you really do need to go with fresh. You can add sun dried tomatoes to the softened cheese too, sprinkle on chopped sauteed mushrooms, jalapeno pepper, even seafood like crab or shrimp. Once you get started, your imagination will just go to work and you will create up a storm! Now all you need to do is set the table on the patio or pack that picnic basket.

Happy Hour Small Plates- Peppadew Tapenade

Small plates are hot right now. Lots of trendy nightspots are featuring these tidbits that are perfect for sharing with friends and gives you a chance to taste several different things rather than one big entree. They are also perfect for entertaining, especially this easy-to-fix tapenade, that includes one of my favorite things to make for entertaining- Peppadews!

This is super easy to throw together and keep in the fridge for at least a couple weeks, and the food processor makes quick work of it. So, to make my Pepper Olive Tapenade you will need-

• 1/2 cup Peppadews, packed
• 1 cup black olives- I like to use a mix of common black olives and Kalamatas, use whatever you like
• 1 cup green olives- any kind you like, again I use a mix of different green olives
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tb capers
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• small palmfull fresh parsley (leaves only)
• 1 lemon- juiced and zested
• 3-4 tb olive oil

Combine Peppadews, olives, garlic, herbs, capers and lemon zest in food processor. MAKE SURE that the olives are PITTED. Pulse/process until you have a finely chopped mixture. 

If you have one of these choppers they are perfect for a chunkier
tapenade and you won't accidentally over-process into puree

Scoop into bowl and toss with lemon juice (use an amount based on your taste- sprinkle in a teaspoon and taste it- add more if you like) and olive oil. 

This is the consistency I am looking for, finely minced

Chill well and serve with toasted slices of baguette or crackers, toss with pasta or with pita chips.

All the colors of the peppers, olives, herbs and pop of fresh lemon

A few things here- first of all, if you're not familiar with Peppadews, you need to meet these guys. They are a South African sweet/hot pepper that is bright red and so delicious. If you are lucky enough to have a supermarket with an olive bar, they likely will have Peppadews as well. 

If not, you can find them in the pickle aisle in jars. If you absolutely cannot find them you could use pimiento or roasted red pepper as a substitute but it won't have the same sweet/hot kick. When I shopped to make this recipe, incredibly, the store had NONE- not a single Peppadew. I had to go with sweet pickled cherry peppers but the flavor and texture were very similar. I just removed the stem and seeds and they pretty much were the same with very little difference in flavor. The cherry peppers are a little meatier and I think less "crispy" but they certainly were very similar in the sweet with a hint of heat character.

Olive bars- the bane of my existence! Gateway Market in Des Moines has the best gourmet olive bar anywhere, and I am officially grounded from going there- I can spend my entire grocery budget on those darn things. We have a chain of grocery stores in Iowa called HyVee and they also have nice olive bars and most have Peppadews on the bar. If you can, seek out an olive bar- you can mix and match the olives you want and not have to open a bunch of jars and cans to get 1 cup of olives. They are sold by weight so go crazy and mix it up! 

I chose a varied mix from the bar- Kalamata, big pitted and briney green olives, smaller black olives, and oil-cured red olives. I made sure to get all pitted olives so I wouldn't have to mess with pitting them. I also was careful not to choose any stuffed olives- while they are all delicious, they really wouldn't work with this dish.

Some of the olives I chose were marinated and the mix included chunks of Provolone. Of course I scooped a few of those in the tub- that's for snacking while I'm prepping the rest of the dish!

Soooo delicious. Fresh, herby, lemony and briney. Yum.

So what exactly is tapenade anyway? Well, simply put, it's a relish. It's an ancient French food typically made from olives, capers and olive oil, often flavored with fresh herbs, anchovies or lemon. There are about as many versions of tapenade as there are chefs, ranging from a pate-like spread to a chunkier relish style condiment. I'm looking for somewhere in between- I want to still see bits of the components and be able to pick out the flavors while still enjoying the tapenade as a whole. I also plan on serving it on toasted slices of baguette, similar to bruschetta. Once you've made it I'm sure your imagination will take you in different directions. Stop back and tell us what you're cooking with tapenade!