Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Toasts

9th August, 2010 - Posted by Emily - Comments

Here’s my attempt to catch up on my blog! We are all settled in Colorado and are hoping for some visitors sometime soon. I promise to cook for you if you come visit!

We went to the Boulder Farmers’ Market on Saturday and picked up some various things, including a baguette, strawberries, the best tortilla chips ever, some corn, and a yellow watermelon.

I used the baguette from the farmers’ market to make these toasts, inspired by a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.

Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Toasts

Baguette, sliced 1-inch thick on the diagonal
Goat cheese
Roasted bell peppers (make your own, or from a jar)
Caramelized onions (see below for instructions)
Basil
Balsamic vinegar

For the caramelized onions:
Slice one onion thinly.  Melt one tablespoon of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are very soft and brown.

To assemble:
Drizzle the baguette slices with a little olive oil. Toast in the oven at 350 degrees until golden brown. Spread with goat cheese. Top with caramelized onions and then the roasted peppers. Garnish with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of basil. Season with salt and pepper.

Mexican Fondue

28th April, 2010 - Posted by Emily - Comments

I’ve been MIA lately. John started a new job and he travels a lot now, so I don’t have anyone to cook for. I did cook my dear friend Kelly dinner for her birthday, and I’m hosting my parents for dinner on Friday, so hopefully I’ll get some new posts up soon!

I made this fondue a while back when our friends Nate and Laura hosted a fondue party and I needed to bring something other than the traditional cheese or chocolate fondue. You can serve this in tortillas or with tortilla chips. Here’s a link to the recipe from Martha Stewart (her recipes never let you down!), and I’ll include the steps below.

Take a big block of monterey jack cheese. I love Fancy brand cheese.

Whenever I get the cheese grater out, here comes my buddy Olive to clean up anything that happens to fall on the floor!

Grate all the cheese and reserve for later. It’s a good arm workout to grate a pound of cheese.

Next, preheat your oven to broil. Place two poblano peppers on a sheet pan on the top rack. Broil them, turning approximately every 5 minutes until each side is blackened. Remove them from the oven and place them in a ziploc bag and seal. When cool, remove them from the plastic bag and peel off the blackened skin. Remove the ribs, seeds, and stem and dice.

Dice a red bell pepper.

Remove the chorizo from it’s casing and saute over medium heat. When it’s almost cooked through, and the red pepper.

Add the cheese and diced poblano peppers, stir to mix all together. Serve warm in tortillas.