Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Panini with Goat Cheese & Cherry Chutney

I promised there would be talk of the sandwiches we made with our delicious Maple Brined Cherrywood Smoked Turkey. And I can't leave you in suspense any longer.  After all, these little morsels were so stellar that you're going to want to try them out for yourself just as soon as you have some of your own Thanksgiving turkey leftovers on hand.

Before we get to the details of the sandwiches themselves, I'm going to take the opportunity to put in a plug for this cherry chutney recipe, which is quickly becoming one of our all-time favorite condiments.

Though it might not be quite as traditional as your usual cranberry sauce, I'm going to challenge you to consider making up a batch to put right out there on your Thanksgiving table.  It's tart and delicious.  And it goes perfectly with turkey. And stuffing.  It's also delicious spread on one of those dinner rolls you're bound to have left over.

Which brings me to the sandwich at hand.  These little beauties make use of leftover dinner rolls, one of the holiday staples that seem to get thrown out more than re-heated.  So, I like to think that these sandwiches are born of thrift.  They're also super fast to throw together, which makes them the perfect dinner for one of those busy weeknights that become inevitable as the holidays draw closer.

Since the goal here is to make you hungry, let me give you a quick glimpse into the sort of sandwich I'm talking about.  Just imagine a crisp, warm panini-pressed sprouted grain dinner roll spread with a liberal amount of fresh goat cheese, dolloped with cherry chutney and topped with delicious smoked turkey and fresh arugula.  Sweet-tart, tangy, smoky, peppery -- all of these flavors come together in glorious harmony as you bite into this crisp little slider.

Reminiscent of the holidays, but definitely more than just a repeat, these delicious snack-sized sandwiches are sure to please. The best part  is that, since they're small, you can even gobble up more than one.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Eat well. Enjoy family and friends.  We'll lift our glasses to you at our holiday table!

Post-Thanksgiving Panini with Goat Cheese & Cherry Chutney

 
©BURP! Where Food Happens

High End Appetizers: Right from your toaster oven

It's confession time again.  Sometimes it takes me a while to see the usefulness in some types of kitchen equipment.  Take, for instance, the toaster oven.

In years past, I would have railed against the use of a counter-top oven. After all, I can make a pretty awesome pizza right in my regular oven.  And I have a toaster that makes seriously fine toast. And bagels. And English muffins. So, why would I want another gadget to take up valuable counter space?

But, I've recently come around.  The fact is, toaster ovens are actually a great solution for energy-conscious, small-space cooking.  And I'm learning that they can be pretty handy to have around the house.  Having become the lucky owner of a pretty snazzy West Bend 6-slice Convection Toaster Oven, I've started looking for ways to use it to make our lives a little bit easier.  And greener, to boot.  

 So far, we use our toaster oven to:

1. Save energy - a typical toaster oven uses about half the energy of a regular oven. 
2. Keep our kitchen cool on hot days - it doesn't give off nearly as much heat as your oven will.
3. Prevent stress on holidays, or on other days when you could really use a second oven - you can bake a side dish in the toaster oven while the oven is full of turkey and stuffing.
4. Dehydrate fruits, veggies, or herbs - many large ovens only go down to 200°F which can be too high. A counter-top oven goes lower, so it's perfect for sensitive items (be sure to rotate them regularly).
5. Help yeast doughs to rise - since the inside of the toaster oven can be warmed slightly, and is draft free, this is the perfect place to leave that dough.
6. Re-heat left-overs - so much better than a microwave, especially for items that you want to come out crispy.

Even better, I've started using the toaster oven to whip up small batches of snacks.  

Got the urge to melt a bit of cheese on top of those crackers?  Ouila!  The amazing toaster oven gets it done - often in less time than my beloved gas oven.

Company shows up unexpectedly?  Why not toast up a few dozen slices of French bread for impromptu bruschetta?    

Or how about something a bit fancier?   Sure, we can do that.  In fact, here are three seriously simple appetizers we've created using wonton wrappers.  These delicious nibbles would be pretty perfect for your next cocktail party, but they're also easy enough to whip up for a Sunday afternoon snack -- (dare I say?) especially if you have a toaster oven.

First, take your wonton wrappers and nestle them into a mini muffin pan to give them a cupped shape (note, a half-size muffin pan fits best in your toaster oven). Bake them at 350F for about 7-8 minutes, or until they're browned and crisped.  Once they've cooled, you can fill them with any number of great fillings.

We prepped three different types in honor of the West Bend Company's 100th Anniversary Celebration, which is coming up this weekend (more information below):

Pulled pork with candied jalapeno peppers

Goat cheese with dried sour cherries and sliced almonds

Maple ricotta with crumbled bacon and rosemary

Recipe:  Crispy Wonton Appetizers

Speaking of Parties, You're Invited: 

For 100 years, The West Bend Company has developed exceptional small electric cooking appliances from the same west bend in the Milwaukee River as when the company first started back in 1911.  In celebration of their centennial,  they’re throwing quite the party. The shindig takes place this Sunday, September 25th and is completely free and open to the public. Start off your day with a free pancake and Klement’s Sausage brunch, take in a family movie (with free popcorn), and be sure to take some time to check out the “Sale of the Century” featuring West Bend and other Focus Products Group items for up to 50% off retail prices. More information about the West Bend Company's 100th Anniversary Celebration is available on Facebook.

And now for the fun part!  We get to give one of our lucky readers the chance to win a West Bend Convection Toaster Oven of his or her very own!!  

For your chance to win, just leave us a comment letting us know how you'd use this handy dandy toaster oven.

Rules:  All comments must be received by Monday evening, September 26th, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. CST  Winners will be announced on Facebook before the end of the day on Tuesday, September 27th.  Entrants must provide a working email address in their comment or blogger profile to win.  Limited to citizens of the U.S. and Canada. 

Full Disclosure:  Although we were given West Bend Company products free of charge for the purpose of this review and giveaway, all opinions expressed in this review are our own. 

©BURP! Where Food Happens

Daring Cooks May: Goat Cheese Enchiladas with Homemade Red Mole

Wow, how time flies! It's time again for the May edition of the Daring Cooks Challenge.  Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce, was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh. 
 
We thank Barbara and Anna for coming up with an exceedingly DELICIOUS challenge -- but also for allowing us the chance to stretch our culinary muscles a bit.  They gave us lots of freedom with this one, and I'm pleased to say that we really took the opportunity to run with it.  While we didn't make our own tortillas (which would have been great, if we'd had the time), and we didn't make the green chile sauce (since we've already had a lot of practice making our own roasted tomatillo sauce, that would have been akin to cheating), we did manage to come up with our very own recipe for mole -- an accomplishment, I dare say, that we wouldn't have tackled had it not been for the inspiration the challenge provided.

I'll admit that we approached this month's project with a bit of trepidation.  It wasn't so much that we were frightened by the thought of making our own enchilada sauce.  But, we were pretty sure that we wouldn't have the TIME.  Usually we set aside an entire weekend to devote to our DC challenges.  But, this month, we didn't have that luxury.  We'd have to complete the challenge on a weeknight. After work. And I was planning to make homemade mole -- that Mexican sauce infamous for being... well, a bit time consuming.

But, we're not the sort of people who give up easily.  No sirree. So, we decided we were gonna tackle this thing. Inspired by the approach taken by my good friend, Rebecca, over at Cakewalk, we decided to tackle the challenge in parts. We'd divide up the work over multiple evenings. We'd set aside all else to make the challenge happen. And we'd make a grand attempt at taking half-decent photos at 8:00pm.  We'd persist, and that was all there was to it.

Well, we managed.  And we're here to tell about it.
So, sit right down and we'll attempt to serve you up a little bit of mole...

It all started with our mise en place.  I decided to improvise on the ingredient list -- putting everything I knew about mole together in one place.  I collected my ancho chiles, tomatillos, a few cherry tomatoes (not pictured), garlic, sweet onion, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds (pepitas), raisins, and a bit of Ibarra Mexican chocolate.  I also gathered together an arsenal of wonderful spices -- cracked anise seeds, cinnamon, ground cloves, black pepper, Mexican oregano, and smoky chipotle powder.

There were quite a few ingredients. But, that didn't stop us.  We got right to business --  sauteeing and roasting.  I decided to roast the tomatillos and cherry tomatoes to mellow out their acids and give them a slighly smoky flavor.  They would then be pureed with sauteed onions, garlic, and spices, and seared in a hot pan full of oil to bring out the best in their flavors.

Just get a load of that delicious looking chocolate. Mexican chocolate is made from dark, bitter chocolate mixed with sugar, cinnamon, and sometimes nuts. The end result is a "grainy" and less smooth product than the chocolate to which we're accustomed in the States. But, if you ask me, it's just as delicious -- especially for mole.

We cooked the sauce for 30-40 minutes, until all the flavors were blended.   At the end, we tasted for seasonings, and packed the sauce away for another day.  The good thing about that is that it gave the flavors a chance to meld even more in the refrigerator.


The next day, we got to work on the enchilada filling.  We combined fresh soft goat cheese, sauteed onions & garlic, raisins, grilled corn, toasted pine nuts, and plenty of cilantro.

We used my favorite technique for prepping the sprouted corn tortillas for filling.  We sprayed them with a bit of coconut oil and placed them in a hot oven for 4-5 minutes, just until they were pliable.  And then we stacked them on top of one another and started filling the enchiladas.

 

We filled each tortilla with about a 1/4 cup of filling, rolled them in the traditional manner, and laid them in a baking dish side by side.

When all of the enchiladas were prepared, we spooned over a bit of the reheated mole sauce.

After adding a bit of chihuahua cheese, everything was ready to go into the oven.   After about 20 minutes, we were greeted by a pan filled with amazingly fragrant enchiladas.

 You may never have thought to fill an enchilada with goat cheese and corn, but you'd be surprised what a delicious filling it makes -- particularly when paired with the sweet and smoky flavor of the red mole.  We owe this idea to Deborah Madison, who features a version of this dish in her book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.   The first time we tried her recipe, we accomplished it with the help of a bit of mole paste from our local Mexican grocer.  But, this time around, the flavor was even more profound.  The fresh mole -- while turning out quite similar to other moles we've tried -- was definitively more fresh, more vibrant.  The chocolate flavor mingled with the smoky tang of the ancho chiles, and the spices muddled into a wonderfully sweet and spicy serenade of flavor -- the perfect foil for the tangy goat cheese.

Goat Cheese Enchiladas with Homemade Red Mole


©BURP! Where Food Happens