New Years Eve Mezze Board

New Years Eve is often a night full of unfulfilled expectations. The stakes are always set unnecessarily high for a night that really should be like any other. While I used to stress and fret about New Years plans when I was younger, for the last few years I've set expectations aside, and changed my mindset to think of it as just a late night with friends. While no, I don't like to have high expectations in terms of social plans on New Years, I still can't help but want to send the previous year off and ring in the new one on a delicious note!

Like so many holidays that I celebrate, New Years Eve often ends up being a potluck amongst my friends. I always enjoy putting together a beautiful cheese and charcuterie board for potlucks, but this year I had a different idea brewing. If you haven't yet heard, 2018 was the year of the Mezze Board, giving people an opportunity to get a little more creative with their boards, as well as welcoming the chance to offer some healthier choices into the mix. A mezze board is really what you make it, but think of it as a spread that includes veggies, dips, pita bread, pickles, salads, and sometimes even more, inspired by Middleterranean cuisine.

I love mezze boards for so many reasons! The best thing about a mezze board, in my opinion, is that it really allows you to put in whatever amount of time, effort, and money that you feel comfortable with. If you're short on time, you can literally purchase anything and everything you'll need to build a beautiful mezze board right at the grocery store! Because the holidays are such a busy time, I built the board shown in the photos above from pre-made shortcuts from my local Metro grocery store. I picked up my favourite olives from the olive bar, bought packages of hummus and couscous, pre-made falafels ready to heat-and-eat, and quickly cut up some veg. If I find that I have more time on my hands closer to New Years Eve, it's likely I'll make my own hummus and couscous, but will still turn to the pre-made falafels, and olives from the olive bar. I love knowing that I have that flexibility if my schedule should change!

I also love that mezze boards allow you to offer different options for friends who may have dietary restrictions. A number of my friends have become vegetarian recently, and you can always count on a few dairy-free and gluten-free guests in the mix. With a mezze board you can have all sorts of options and variety that can work for pretty much anyone! Play around with different dishes and ingredients that work for you and your friends tastes, but keep in mind that you want variety in textures and colours to keep things interesting.

Mezze Board Ideas:

• Olives
• Taboulé
• Couscous
• Hummus
• Babaganoush 
• Vegetable crudité 
• Tzatziki
• Pita bread
• Falafel balls
• Fresh herbs 
• Marinated vegetables 
• Grilled lemons
• Roasted Chickpeas
• Grape leaves

This post was created in partnership with Metro Ontario.

Listening To:
Lola - The Raincoats

Creamy Polenta with Sautéed Mushrooms & Dark Leafy Greens

It wouldn't be considered a proper start to the new year without the obligatory post-New Years healthy(ish) recipe post! Every year as the holidays wind down and life begrudgingly slips back into reality, I always seem to find myself in a very self reflective mood. I think about the year we just toasted to leaving behind, the mistakes that were made, the leaps of faith that were taken, the accomplishments I can feel proud of, and the year that is just beginning, what I want to gain out of the year, how I can make that happen, and where I want to be at this time next year. There's a lot of writing involved, in more than just my blog, with journal pages covered in my my-brain-is-moving-too-fast-for-my-hand-to-keep-up scribble writing, not to mention torn envelops and paper scraps with thoughts and inspiring words scrawled across them. I write to find the root of my problems, trying to understand why exactly I'm feeling the way I'm feeling, digging to try and reach that moment of epiphany, that "aha!" moment, where it seems to all make sense. 

This is the first year in a long time where I'm not beating myself up over finding those answers, analyzing each and every mistake I have made over the course of the year, and every flaw I must conquer over the coming year. This is the first year where it all just seems to make sense. Although I still don't exactly know where I'm going in terms of my career path, I have found a new sense of trust in both myself and my life, finally seeing with my own eyes the clichéd truth that everything truly happens for a reason. I now trust that as long as I'm true to myself and my values, I'm headed in the right direction. I have come to accept my imperfections, embrace the qualities that make me who I am, and have a newfound confidence in the person that I have become. This New Years isn't about jotting down a list of resolutions, things that I will inevitably neglect and abandon within a few weeks, it's about looking at each day and each action I make as a means to become that person I've always wanted to be, that best version of myself that I can be proud of, that person that I would want to be around. 

In classic Danielle-fashion, I seem to be going off topic, but I assure you I have a point! I look at this recent recipe as a sort of metaphor to where I'm at right now.  I wanted to make a healthy dish to kick start the new year, working with ingredients previously foreign to me, forcing me out of my comfort zone. Not exactly "healthy" in most peoples books, my idea of healthy still contains bacon and comforting carbs. As much as I've tried doing the complete 180º, saying I am going to only eat healthy from now on, I know that's just not me and that's not going to stick. I love food way too much, and believe life is way too short to compromise on flavour. Yes, I'm sure you could make this dish quite tasty by omitting the crispy, fatty bacon and creamy, buttery polenta, but really why would you, when it adds so much to the final dish in terms of adding a whole other layer of flavour and textures. That's just not me, and I'm not going to try and force myself in a direction that I know isn't right for me. I'd say that a healthy portion of mushrooms with their high level of Vitamin D (a must in gloomy January!) and dark leafy greens with their alkalinizing effect is a pretty good compromise. I took a chance by trying my hand at polenta for the first time, and, quite frankly, it didn't go so well. My "creamy" polenta was more gummy in consistency, but I wouldn't have understood how to achieve that silky texture if I had not taken a bit of a risk by trying something I had never done before, and really, knew next to nothing about. I showed confidence in my food photography by plating the dish in an old, ugly, scratched up bowl, that no one in their right mind would serve to guests. The final dish was imperfect, flawed, but still very tasty and enjoyable, with complimenting flavours and textures, and full of potential once the tricky technique of creating a silky smooth polenta is achieved. 

Maybe I never did get my point across, and maybe I did stray a little too far off topic. But this new year has me thinking that maybe I should embrace the fact that I feel compelled to share these strange, confusing, and almost entirely self-indulgent musings about myself. Maybe it's obnoxious to some (and for those of you who feel that way, feel free to skip right on to the recipe!) but maybe, just maybe, there's a few of you out there who will connect with what I'm feeling, and find comfort in the fact that there's someone out there who feels exactly like you. 

Note: Cookin' Greens Athletes Mix is a frozen blend of chopped collards, spinach, kale, sweet red pepper, and white beans. You can find it in the frozen health section at your local grocery store.

*If subbing in another dark leafy green for Cookin' Greens Athletes Mix, add 1/4 red pepper, chopped to step #3.

Tip: After failing achieve the creamy polenta I has hoping for, I realized a few things that I did wrong. The first was that I was cooking my polenta on too low of a heat. You want your polenta to be on low heat, but not so low so that the mixture doesn't bubble. Secondly, I was much more concerned about timing my polenta rather than feeling when it was done. Have a rough timeline in your head, but don't rely on that. Turn your polenta down to low (low enough so that it does not bubble) or remove from heat when the polenta begins to pull away from the sides of the saucepan, that's when it is done. 

Serves 2

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:

2 cups milk

1 3/4 cups water

1/4 tsp salt
pinch of black pepper

1 cup polenta 

3 slices bacon, coarsely chopped

olive oil, for frying

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cups cremini mushrooms

1 cup Cookin' Greens Athletes Mix, thawed (may sub with any other frozen dark leafy green*)

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 tbsp fresh thyme

2 tsp grated lemon zest

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 

2 tbsp unsalted butter

generous amount of parmesan cheese, grated, to taste

Directions:

1. Bring milk and water to a boil in a large saucepan. When mixture is boiled, whisk in salt and pepper. While continuing to whisk, slowing pour in the polenta in an even steady stream. Reduce heat to low enough that the polenta mixture bubbles ever so slightly, and whisk constantly for the next 5 minutes straight. After the 5-minutes of constant whisking, continue cooking over low, whisking often until mixture thickens and begins to pull away from the sides of the saucepan. This can take anywhere from 15-25 minutes. At that point keep heated on very low until ready to serve.
2. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat, until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon remove bacon transfer to a paper towel to drain. Pour out bacon fat  leaving 1 tbsp remaining in the skillet. 
3. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to skillet and garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Add the onions and cook until just beginning to soften. Add the mushrooms and sauté until tender and begin to colour. Stir in Cookin' Greens Athletes Mix and cooked bacon. 
4. Stir in the chicken broth, reduce heat to medium-low until slightly reduced. Add the thyme and lemon zest. Turn heat to medium-high and stir in the balsamic vinegar, cooking for 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Whisk butter and parmesan into polenta and divide among plate. Top with mushroom and greens mixture. Serve immediately.

Listening To:

Odd Future - Oldie

Powered by mp3skull.com

Wild Mushroom Baked Brie

The holidays: a time for love, giving, family...and...repetition. I'm not quite sure how many years it's been going on for, but for as long as I can remember my family has been serving up the exact same meal at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. For years I loved that tradition, knowing that I only had a few months to wait before I could enjoy that same delicious meal again, but as more and more years have passed, and at a much more alarming pace, both myself and some other family members have grown a little tired with our staple holiday meal. The first time my sister and I suggested switching up our holiday meal, we were returned with either a grimace or a confused deer-in-headlights expression. No one was the slightest bit interested in shaking up the familiar meal. I understood where everyone was coming from, seeing as the meal...actually, make that feast is so damn delicious, but at the same time, I felt it would be more special if we had it less frequently. Another year of the same meal passed and we began to see family members taking our side one at a time. Slowly people began switching up their signature dish (our meal is always a pot luck so that everyone is contributing), either making a variation on their old standby, or sticking to their same theme of either vegetable, starch, protein, salad, dessert etc. but turn it into a completely new dish. By slowly introducing new flavours and menu items, both the family members that were itching for something new and the ones who loved the old meal would walk away with a full belly and a smiling face.

For about three years now, I have been on appetizer duty for our Christmas dinner, a role that I absolutely love to take on! Despite the incredible wide range of delicious appetizer options there are, especially for the holidays, I always crave a good baked brie come Christmas time. Baked brie can be as easy as wrapping a wheel of brie in tin foil and popping it in the oven, but I enjoy playing with different flavours, both savory and sweet, when it comes to my homemade baked brie. In the past I've made everything from caramelized onion brie, cranberry brie, pecan brie, the list goes on, so that no matter if I am making baked brie again, I can still surprise people by turning it into something new and interesting. This year I wanted to use an ingredient I have never cooked with before, dried mushrooms. When it comes to wild mushrooms, many people choose dried as opposed to fresh for the wonderful convenience and concentrated mushroom flavour, so I was curious to finally give them a try myself and see how the flavour measured up. Using a bag of mixed wild mushrooms including shiitake, oyster, and porcini, as well as some caramelized onions, fresh thyme, and balsamic vinegar, I made an insanely quick and easy brie topper and had my yummy appetizer ready to go into the oven before I knew it. Because there is so much cooking and baking being done last minute on Christmas, I made my brie and wild mushroom topper ahead of time so that 20 minutes before our guests arrived all I had to do was simply pop my little brie baker in the oven! Bubbling, oozing, and perfectly melted through, the creamy brie arrived at the table hugging the mushroom mixture layered on top, a dangerously tempting sight! There's no question that I have a tendency to toot my own horn when I'm really happy with how a dish turned out, but there was simply no need to when I served my Wild Mushroom Baked Brie, because the brie baker, which was empty within a matter of minutes, spoke for itself. Easy, convenient, attractive, and incredibly delicious, my Wild Mushroom Brie may have to make another appearance at our next Christmas dinner...or is Easter too soon?

Tip: Make your wild mushroom mixture brie topper ahead of time to save time before your guests arrive. Simply top your brie and bake 20 minutes before guests arrive.

Ingredients:

1/2 medium-large onion, sliced

2 tbsp butter

1 small package dried mixed wild mushrooms (equalling about 1/2 cup dried)

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

salt and pepper

1 wheel of brie, about 5 inches in diameter

Directions:

1. Rehydrate the dried mushrooms following the package instructions, or place dried mushrooms in a bowl and add just enough boiling water to cover the mushrooms, let soak for about 20 minutes or until mushrooms have softened.

2. In the meantime, heat butter in a medium skillet at medium heat. When butter is hot, add the onions and stir. Place a lid over the onions in the skillet to allow them to steam, stir occasionally. Continue to cook onions in the lid, stirring occasionally, until they are softened and beginning to colour.

3. Strain out the soaked dried mushrooms (you may reserve the soaking liquid for a soup, stew, or sauce!), and squeeze them to remove any remaining water. Roughly chop the mushrooms and stir them into the softened onions on the stove. Cook for about 3 minutes.

4. Turn up heat to medium-high and add the balsamic vinegar, stirring to combine. Continue cooking until mushrooms are almost dry. Turn off the heat and stir in thyme. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Using a serrated knife, cut off the top rind of the brie wheel and place inside a brie baker (or on a large piece of tin foil). Mound the wild mushroom mixture on top of the brie and close the lid of the baker (if using tin foil, wrap the foil around the brie and mushrooms securely). Bake in a 350º oven for about 20 minutes. Serve immediately with fresh baguette and crackers.

Listening To:

TV on the Radio - Ambulance

Powered by mp3skull.com

Brie in Puff Pastry with Port Glazed Caramelized Onions

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Years Eve and have already made 2010 their best year yet! For New Years Eve this year, a friend of mine had a low key gathering with great people, food, drinks, and games. I have done both the bar and club thing in years past, and have realized that the best New Years parties tend to be the more low key ones. I would much rather go to someone's house and hang out with a few great people than go to an overcrowded club filled with sweaty, drunk strangers, bad music, and no coat check and end up stranded, unable to get a cab...yes, I am recalling a past experience. So my friends small house party was just perfect!

I wanted to contribute to the party by bringing party horns, sparklers, glow stick straws, and, of course, food! I enjoyed my Baked Caramelized Onion Brie in Puff Pastry from Christmas so much that I decided to make it again. Because I had just made it a week earlier, I wanted to make it slightly different. A few months ago I tried the best caramelized onions I have ever eaten at a restaurant. What made the onions so special was that they were cooked with port wine. I just had to duplicate that! Although the difference in flavour was subtle, it made all the difference to me! The subtle flavour of port added a whole new dimension to the dish! I also used a smaller wheel of brie, which allowed me to have leftover scraps of puff pastry. Nothing goes to waste in my house, so I cut out a star shape using a cookie cutter out of the leftover pastry, as well as lines to create a sort of shooting star look. Using an egg wash, I attached the shooting star to the top of my wrapped brie, and TA DA! I now had the most festive looking brie I've ever seen!
Tip: Make the onions a day ahead to save on time. Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use.

Ingredients:

1 sheet of thawed puff pastry

1 wheel of brie (5 - 8 inches in diameter)

1 - 1 1/2 onions, chopped or sliced

about 1 tbsp port wine

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp butter

1 egg, beaten (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil and butter in a medium skillet over medium low heat. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until they have reached a brown colour. Add the port and scrape any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan using a wooden spoon. Continue cooking until the liquid has dissolved and the onions have darkened further and have become sweet and sticky. Reduce heat if burning. You want the onions to cook slowly. The entire cooking process should take about 30-40 minutes.

2. Lay out the thawed puff pastry on your work surface and flour lightly. Using a rolling pin, stretch out the pastry so that it is large enough to fully wrap the wheel of brie.

3. Using a large knife, cut the wheel of brie in half, lengthwise. Spoon the cooked onions onto one of the exposed (not the white rind) halves of brie. Place the other half on top. The onions should be in the middle of the two exposed halves.

4. Wrap the brie wheel in the puff pastry, lightly pressing the edges together. Cut off any extra pastry scraps and, using a cookie cutter, cut shapes out of the scraps. Place the wrapped brie on a baking sheet, seam side down. You may brush your pastry with the beaten egg at this point for a shiny finish. Add the pastry shapes on top of the wheel and brush with more egg wash. The egg wash adds a shiny finish and acts as a glue for the pastry shapes.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned in a 350º oven. Serve hot out of the oven with fresh bread and crackers.