Shrimp and bacon mac n cheese (bites) oh so yummmmm

Shrimp and bacon mac and cheese (bites)

Shrimp and bacon mac and cheese (bites)

With the upcoming Holidays approaching I decided I would try some new appetizers…We have our family favorites, but I wanted to try a few new things. My boys love mac and cheese … (who doesn’t?) they are young foodies and really expect more than the blue box -- as delish as it is on occasion.  So I stepped it up.  Everything, and I hope you agree, is better with bacon. We are lucky to live where we can inexpensively get good shrimp so hmmm…. How can I make these into a bite size appetizer?  It is phenomenal on its own but not really party friendly.  These tiny bite sized balls are just the tasty fit for a party. Hope you like them as much as we did. Please comment and let me know what you think. Thanks so much, Monica

I have to get better at measuring, and writing it down…I do apologize and will do a much better job from now on.  When I make them again, and I will, I promise to update with measurements but it’s a pinch of this and that and a lot of tasting.

Ingredients

½ lb pepper bacon cut in lardons

Large shallot diced

Clove garlic minced

Splash of dry sherry

Flour

Salt pepper

Milk

½ and ½

Bay leaf

Dried ground mustard

Paprika

Chipotile powder

Shrimp

Montreal steak seasoning

Olive oil

Unsalted butter

Nutmeg

Bread crumbs

Flour

Corn meal

Fontina cheese

Cheddar cheese

Parmesan cheese

A small pasta… whatever you like that is small… I used canneroni –(cooked)

Salt and pepper to taste

parsley

I begin the recipe by browning the bacon lardons in a large sauce pan. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a papertowel. Add the shallots and cook until just softened, add some butter and flour and cook until lightly brown, you are making a simple béchamel sauce.   Add the milk and ½ and ½, stir until the mixture begins to bubble slightly and thicken, reduce heat and continue to cook add a few pinches of ground mustard, a dash of paprika, toss in a bay leaf or two and a bit of chipotle powder, salt and pepper and taste. Add a dash or pinch more until you say YUMMO….but wait we still have to add the cheese and then a touch of nutmeg. Taste adjust seasoning. Toss in the chopped parsley (optional) 

Now for the Shrimp

I season with montreal seasoning, and olive oil and saute or grill until just pink.  Cool and chop

Pour the béchamel sauce over the cooked pasta add the shrimp and the bacon.

Let cool and form into balls.

Set up a breading station.  Flour one bowl, I mix the egg in one bowl and then mix the breadcrumbs and the corn meal in another.

In a deep fryer or in a deep saute pan add the canola oil and heat. You will know it ready when you toss in a bit of bread crumbs and they don’t sink.

Put the pasta balls in flour, then egg then bread crumb mixture and place carefully in the hot oil, cook until golden brown. Be very gentle removing them they fall apart easily when they are piping hot.   They really are little nuggets of yumminess! Perfect with or without a dipping sauce. I reserved some of the béchamel but it really didn’t need it.   Hope you love them…

Farm Stand Picnic Sammie

FarmStand Picnic Sammie

Favorite sub roll sliced in half almost all the way through

jar marinated artichoke hearts

roasted tomatoes (place 1/2'd tomatoes on cookie sheet drizzle with olive oil, salt pepper, gran garlic and dried thyme, place in 350                                           oven till perfectly roasted)

goats cheese

kalamata olives pitted and diced

basil pesto (i made my own, but you could use your favorite jarred brand. I happen to have a lovely herb garden so I tossed some                                                   basil leaves garlic, parmesan cheese toasted walnuts and toasted pinenuts, parm cheese and good fruity                                               olive oil in my food processor with salt and pepper to taste voila....)

I had left over grilled zucchini, mushrooms, red pepper so I used them this time but you can omit it you don't have them

Handful of green

I decided to make this a pannino...but it is great with toasted bread or just the roll as is...I liked how the pannini warmed the goat cheese ...yummolicious!!!!!

I spread the goat cheese on one side of the bread and the pesto on the other, then I placed the diced kalamata olives over both 1/2s.  Then I added the roasted tomatoes to the goat cheese side, and the artichoke to the pesto side. Add the grilled zucchini, mushrooms, pepper evenly over both. Close and place in your pannini press...if you don't have one use a saute pan with a brick wrapped in aluminum foil ... place brick on top and toast on side then flip and toast other side.  When it is toasted remove and add your greens...cut in half and take an enormous bit....Come on...try not to take another bite....This sandwich is also great at room temperature or right out of the fridge....

French onion soup dip sammie

Please leave a comment! ty I have pics...working on it


I make french onion soup...or it's great to use if you had some leftover from a restaurant (as if).

1 baguette 

the onions from the french onion soup (reserve the broth)

Roast Beer

Gruyere Cheese

Thyme mayo  add some freshly chopped thyme to your fav mayo pinch salt and pinch pepper (opional)

Cut the baguette into individual sandwich servings and put gruyere cheese on both sides...place it under the broiler until it is golden and bubbly (like the top of the french onion soup )  Smear with the thyme mayo.  Places sliced roast beef on tip of the mayo and top with the onions. Place the top of the baguette together with the bottom..  Heat up the broth from the soup and place in a small bowl.  And take a bit of the sammie....yum then dip a bite in the soup and even better. I like to alternate some bites I dip some I don't...Both ways are delish and will travel well.....

Thanks for the consideration

Out of this world Tuna Sammie

"Not Your Average Tuna Salad Sammie"

This sammie is out of this world flavorful...my mouth waters every-time I think of it...This mixture can go on any bread you like...I like a whole grain Tuscan bread, thickly sliced and toasted.... The actual tuna salad is also fa-nominal on a salad with a simple lemon vinaigrette. 

Can of tuna drained (This is also amazing if you happen to have leftover tuna steak...just slice it and rough chop it and mix ingredients)

Handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Lemon juiced and zest

Mayo

Kalamata olives pitted and roughly chopped

Tomato slices

Greens of your choice

Bread of your choice (I like thickly sliced Whole Grain Tuscan Slices toasted)

Cheese of your choice (I love Parmesan or Provolone but whatever you like or leave it off...)

Scallions, chopped as garnish (optional)

To assemble mix the mayo and lemon and zest to taste salt and pepper then mix tuna, parsley, olives....(I keep a bit of the mayo aside to smear a bit on the bread) Add the cheese, tomato slices top with salt and pepper, top with lettuce. Add the tuna mixture, top with the scallions place the top bread on and get ready to change your idea of Tuna Salad Sammies! 

Thank you for your consideration,

Bacon Bomb Sammie

I am having issues with  my pics...but I will post one... in the mean time enjoy the recipe and please let me know what you think!!

Great use of the tomatoes you have in abundance...

1 pretzel roll
Applewood-smoked bacon, thickly cut
Avocado
Roasted tomatoes
Lemon juice and zest
Mayonnaise
Cheese of your choice
Romaine lettuce heart, grilled if desired
Fresh basil leaves, torn or roughly chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cover a baking sheet with tinfoil and lay out desired amount of bacon. Place in the oven and cook until crispy. Remove from the baking sheet and place on paper towels. In a small bowl combine mayonnaise, lemon zest and lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat a grill or grill pan. Rub a bit of olive oil on the romaine heart, season with salt and pepper, and grill until grill marks appear. Keep an eye on it so it does not burn! Grill the inside of the pretzel bun to toast it and then immediately top it with the cheese so it melts a bit.

To assemble the sandwich, spread the mayonnaise on the cheese-less side of the bun, add the bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado slices, roasted tomatoes, and sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper to taste, then serve.

Three Squash Lasagna with sausage, proscuitto and herbs

Three Squash Lasagna with sausage

Ok I saw a post on facebook by epicurious I think with a butternut squash lasagna…well I couldn’t just stop there…so I went to the market and this is my version….

Butternut squash

Buttercup squash

Acorn squash

Reserve the seeds from the squash and roast…they are awesome as a garnish…or just to munch

Granulated garlic

Herbs d province

Shallots

Garlic cloves

Salt pepper

Ricotta cheese

Mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese

Jimmy dean sausage log defrosted and broken up

Prosciutto crisped up and crumbled

Thyme

Sage

Rosemary

Bay leaf

Chicken stock

Lasagna noodles (I used no bake and it was perfect)

Ok I used 2 bags of frozen butternut squash because our store was out…on several cookie sheets covered in aluminum foil and olive oil…pour the bags out and drizzle with olive oil salt pepper, granulated garlic, herbs d Provence

 Cut the other squashes in ½ clean out the seeds…(keep the seeds and toast) On the other baking sheets covered the same way season the same way and place in 425degree oven until they are cooked through and soft.. Remove from oven and let cool off

Place prosciutto on cookie sheet and crisp up… place on paper towel and crumble when cool

Place the cooked squash remove from skin, in food processor, pulse and add chicken stock till smooth.

In a large high sided saute pan add olive oil on low heat add diced shallots and garlic and cook until translusent Add the sausage and break it up making scrambled…add rosemary, thyme, sage.  When the sausage is cooked through…taste for seasoning. Adjust…Add the puree squash and add a bay leaf…add more chicken stock to keep it loose as needed.

Butter a lasagna pan…place some of the butternut squash on the bottom…try not to get the sausage in….place a layer or the dry lasagna noodles on the bottom…place ricotta cheese on top and parm cheese and some of the squash mix…top with mozz cheese and repeat…. When all layers are done top last layer with just the squash and mozz cheese and parm….  In the pan with the bit of squash left add some ricotta and milk and make a sauce….

Place pan on a cookie sheet and cook in a 375 oven till it’s golden and bubbly…. 

Let cool before you slice it….

Slice tip with the sauce and crumbles prosciutto… Yummy!!!!

Beef Wellington mini Hors d’oeurves

Beef Wellington mini Hors d’oeurves

I love beef wellington…and was having a cocktail/bookclub party with my friends one night…I really wanted to have some fantastic hors d’oeurves to go with the great wine and cocktails, since it was my first time hosting.  I came up with several unique tasty few bites. This was by far the favorite of everyone... although my lobster mac n cheese croquettes were a close second.

I am going to give you the measurements for the sampler batch I made this can easily be increased to accommodate your guest size.

 2 small filet mignon steaks

Salt pepper

Herbs d Provence

For the Duxelles

Mini button and porcini mushrooms (pulse in food processor)

Shallot (1 large 2 small) pulsed in food processor

4 garlic cloves pulsed in food processor

3 fresh time sprigs

2+ tablespoons of unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Madeira wine

For the assembly of the dish

Puff pastry Thawed…and rolled out on some flour

I used two meats…prosciutto and salami

Fresh thyme leaves.

Dijon Mustard

Egg wash

Ok First off I made this dish in two days. I got the mushroom mixture ready and seared off the filet mignon. Then put it in the fridge for the night.

For the Duxelles

In a saute pan…add the olive oil and the butter let it melt…at the shallots and garlic. Cook till just translusent. Add the mushrooms and the thyme and if need be a bit more butter and olive oil…cook it down add the Madiera wine….taste it….add more wine if needed…then season with salt and pepper…again taste it…if it’s amazing…take of the heat and let it cool completely.

In a cast iron skillet of good heavy bottom pan add some olive oil and butter…Season filet mignon with salt pepper and a bit of herb de provence on both sides…When the pan is hot hot hot add the filet and sear on all sides…do not cook all the way through…you just want to sear the outside the inside should still be rare rare rare….

At this point you can all the meat to cool and put both the duxelles and the steaks in the fridge…If you want to make it all now…you can as well.

Preheat oven to 425

I sliced the filet into 2 bite slices.

Take a slice and wrap it in either prosciutto or the salami I made several of each and just decorated the puff pastry differently to be able to ID them later.

Smear them with Dijon mustard

Roll out the puff pastry and cut them so they are large enough to just fit and wrap  the slice of filet mignon.   Spread each square with the duxelles.  Place the filet slice wrapped in prosciutto and Dijon on the center of the puff pastry and seal by overlapping the sides and pressing the ends closed. 

On a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil and butter Place the individual wellingtons…  Place in oven and cook about a ½ hour…keep an eye on them they are small.

When golden brown remove and place on a cutting board..allow to cool for at least 15 to 20 minutes…I made mine into lollipops for the prosciutto ones and just plated the salami one.  I loved them on their own but I made a bleu cheese dip.

Bleu cheese dip

Half and half

Wedge of bleu cheese

Parm cheese

Parsley

Scirachia

In a sauce pan heat the half and half till it is hot…just before it boils add some bleu cheese and grated parm cheese allow it to thicken on low heat..add salt and pepper to taste remove from heat and add chopped parsley and scirachia to taste .