Recipes: Hibiscus Flowers with Mascarpone - Apricots with Basil Mascarpone and Marcona Almonds - Mushroom and Taleggio Crostini - Crostini with Avocado Puree and Beemster Extra Aged - Herb Cheese Crostini - Chutney Chicken Salad - Goat Cheese, Tarragon, and Pecans with Honey

What a fun and delicious Valentine's Day sampling!

The sample table looked appetizing.  When I first put the food out, customers didn't want to taste.  They just stood and looked at it.   However, that moment did not last long and food quickly disappeared.

 I may be dating myself, but, do you remember Snuffles from Quick Draw McGraw?

Snuffles would wrap himself in hugs, jump into the air, and gently float back down every time he had a treat.  (I so related to that character when I was a kid.  In fact, I still do.)  Well, that was the reaction to Friday's tidbits.  "This looks amazing." "This is delicious."  "This is amazing."  "Wow!"  These were just a few of the comments customers made.  All my food samples were perfect pairings with my sparkling wine and Champagnes.

Chef Fred presenting -
Apricots with Basil Mascarpone and Marcona Almonds (front left),
Wild Hibiscus Flower stuffed with Mascarpone (rear), and
Mushroom and Taleggio Crostini (front right).

Before I get to the first AMAZING recipe (Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup stuffed with Mascarpone) I want to thank Wild Hibiscus for sending me product, allowing me to let customers sample a whole flower.  The stuffed flower was intriguing, inviting, fantastic!

Wild Hibiscus Flowers with Mascarpone

­­­ild Hibiscus Flower with  Mascarponeal)

1 jar Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup

4 oz. Mascarpone

Drain flowers and reserve syrup for another use.  Fill each flower with 1 teaspoon Mascarpone. Place on serving dish.  Serve.

Yields:  11 flowers

These made a lovely presentation and tasted delicious.   Bite size bits of heaven.  Quick and easy to prepare.  I used a piping bag to fill each flower.  If you do not have a piping bag, use a baggie to pipe.   Something different to serve at your next party that everyone will be talking about.

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This next recipe came from Betty (she's responsible for coffee and candy at the store).  Betty told me a customer was telling her about an appetizer she made that everyone always raved about.  She said it had apricots, Mascarpone, Marcona almonds, and some herb.  I took it from there, and prepared ...

Apricots with Basil Mascarpone and Marcona Almonds

8 oz. Mascarpone, room temperature

¼ c. chopped fresh basil

40 dried apricots

40 Marcona almonds

Honey

Mix together Mascarpone and basil.  Spread ¼ to ½  teaspoon Mascarpone mixture on each apricot.  Top with an almond.  Place on a serving dish.  When all apricots are on the serving dish, drizzle with honey.  Serve.

Another easy recipe to prepare.  Delicious!  I did pipe the mascarpone onto each apricot.

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Nicole and I are trying to sample out various cheeses that one may not typically purchase, or are not sure of (ie. last weeks - Myzithra cheese).  This weekend we decided on Taleggio, and I created this last hit recipe of my Valentine tasting ....

Mushroom and Taleggio Crostini

8 oz. sliced baby bella mushrooms

2 shallots, sliced thin

­­­­­­8 oz. Taleggio

Salt and black pepper, to taste

c tsp. dried Italian seasoning

1 pkg. TFM Garlic Parmesan French Rounds

1 Tbl. butter

If baby bella mushrooms are sliced thick, slice them in half horizontally.

Preheat a medium skillet.  Add butter.  When hot add mushrooms, shallot, and oregano.  Cook until mushrooms are lightly browned and liquid is gone from pan.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 400^o.

On a foil lined baking sheet lay out French Rounds.  Top each with mushrooms.  Add a slice of cheese to each.  Place in preheated oven and bake just until cheese is melted, approximately 3 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Yields:  30 crostini

Not as quick to prepare as the two recipes above, but worth the effort of slicing and sautéing.  I served this at room temperature since I do not have the luxury of keeping things hot at my table. If these were fantastic at room temperature, imagine them warm.   Thank you to the Bakery team for putting these in the oven and melting the cheese for me.  

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I now move on to Saturday's sampling and begin with the rave recipe from this day.  Nicole and I decided on Beemster Extra Aged cheese and I found the following recipe on Beemster's website.

The avocado puree was a mixture of
 light and dark vibrant green.

Crostini With Avocado Purée and Beemster Extra Aged

2 ripe avocados

1 lemon

1 shallot

½ bunch (2/3 c.) flat-leaf parsley

Sea salt and coarse black pepper, to taste

Beemster Extra Aged, shaved

5 oz. baby arugula

1 pkg. TFM Original French Rounds

Halve the avocados, remove the stones and spoon the flesh into a bowl. Squeeze the lemon and pour the juice into the bowl with the avocado. Use a fork to mash the avocado into a coarse purée. Finely chop the shallot and the parsley leaves and stir into the avocado purée. Season with salt and pepper. 

Arrange a few leaves of arugula on top of each French Round, place the Beemster Extra Aged shavings on top of the arugula, then a spoonful of avocado purée, then some more cheese shavings. Serve.

Yields:  20 rounds.

Time was not on my side Saturday and I had to cut corners with this recipe.  On the TFM French Rounds I placed the shaved Beemster cheese and then  topped it with the avocado puree.  If I had to do this again (and I might) I would layer the arugula, Beemster, and avocado puree on the French round and leave it at that.   I will also say that the avocado was not a puree.  I mashed it and left it small chunks of avocado. 

To shave the Beemster, cut the wide back rind off.  Leave the top rind on so you have something to hold while shaving.  I also used a potato peeler to get nice thin slices. 

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I didn't want to get crazy with the new and different cheese aspect, but I love Farmer Cheese and had to use that in a recipe for sampling.  I prefer Farmer Cheese over Ricotta.  I use it all the time in my homemade ravioli.  Ricotta is too liquid for me and Framer Cheese more dense (yet soft).  Not to mention it has fewer calories.  

Herb Cheese Crostini

1 lb. Farmers Cheese

zest of 1 lemon

2 Tbl. lemon juice

1/3 c. chopped fresh basil

6 Tbl. olive oil*

1 clove garlic, minced (optional)

Roasted Garlic Sea Salt

Assorted raw vegetables

TFM French Rounds

In a medium mixing bowl combine cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, basil, and olive oil.  Place in serving bowl.  Garnish with Roasted Garlic Sea Salt.  Serve with vegetables for dipping or TFM French Rounds.

*Add more olive oil to make a veggie dip. 

I did omit the garlic for my sampling.   

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I'm back to Stonewall Kitchen products.  Yes, they do give me product support, as does Wild Hibiscus, Robert Rothschild, Earth & Vine, and Tamari.  But putting that aside, if I did not like a product, AND my customers did not like it, I would NOT sample it out.  I'm a fan of TFM's Rotisserie Chicken Salad, but same old, same old ... I needed to change it up.  The original recipe is from Stonewall Kitchen's website and I modified it by using Fresh Markets rotisserie chicken salad.  I wanted quick, easy and delicious.  This was definitely it.

Chutney Chicken Salad

1 lb. TFM Rotisserie chicken salad

¼ c. chopped pecans

¼ c. golden raisins

¼ c. dried cranberries

¾ tsp. Coleman’s dry mustard

1 c. Stonewall Kitchen Apple Cranberry Chutney

5 oz. baby spinach

4 oz. Tillamook Kosher Cheddar cheese, sliced

Combine all ingredients, except arugula and cheddar, in a medium mixing bowl.  Mix until thoroughly incorporated.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

On your favorite bread, or wrap, place cheddar cheese and baby spinach.  Top with chicken salad.  Serve.

I served this on white house rolls.  Aren't those so soft and delicious?   

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The last customer favorite, but not least, was the following "recipe" (I put that in quotes as there are no measurements.  A little of this and a little of that.) .  Marshall (deli manager) had a new goat cheese in stock and I was excited.  Plain goat cheese is the perfect blank canvas.  We have a few fruit and nut goat cheeses in stock so I had to go a different route with fresh herbs.  I can't take credit for this, Jenna (previous cheese specialist) prepared this a couple years ago.  So delicious!

Goat Cheese with Tarragon, Pecans and  Honey
1 pkg. La Bonne Vie Rondin goat cheese
1 clam shell fresh tarragon, chopped
1/2 c. pecans, chopped
honey

Mix the desired amount/combination of tarragon and pecans.

Place goat cheese on serving plate.  Top with tarragon-pecan mixture. Making sure to press into the sided of the goat cheese.  Drizzle with honey.  Serve.

Oh, so, yummy!  For additional toppings on plain goat cheese, use Stonewall Kitchen's Roasted Garlic Onion Jam, or Dalmatia Fig Jam.  For a sweeter note, I had Lorene sampling it out with Stonewall Kitchen's Wild Maine Blueberry Jam.

THE END!

See you next weekend.  I'm going to the store tomorrow to plan the sampling menu.