Stuffed Mushrooms

I love this appetizer! Ryan and I made this as our first course for our Christmas Eve Dinner. It goes great with champagne!

Ingredients:
24 White stuffer mushrooms
1 large bag Spinach
1 medium-size block Gruyere cheese, cut into small, thin pieces
1 Shallot
3 cloves garlic
Bread crumbs
Olive oil
1 tblsp Butter
Stock
Lemon
Chive
Salt and pepper
White wine

1. Clean the mushrooms, removing the stem, and carefully preserving the shape of the cap. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a large saute pan, melt the butter and olive oil together over low heat. Add in shallots and garlic, and cook until translucent and aromatic. Add in a splash of chicken or vegetable stock and white wine, and allow to cook off.

3. Add in the spinach and stir to wilt. Add in salt, pepper, and lemon.

4. Add in cheese and herbs and melt together.

5. Place mushroom caps on baking sheets. Spoon the spinach and cheese mixture into the caps and sprinkle some bread crumbs on top.

6. Bake 10 minutes, allowing the cheese and bread crumbs to brown on top!

Chipotle Chive Cheddar Cheese Dip

1/2 cup greek plain yogurt
1 tblsp mayo
2-3 tblsp sour cream
squirt of lime
1-2 small cloves of garlic
pinch salt
1 cup cheddar chive cheese (cotswold)
1 adobo pepper
1 chipotle pepper
(If dried, heat @ 400 for 5 minutes, remove stems and seeds and soak in hot water)
small drizzle of pepper soaking water

1. Heat the peppers, remove stem and seeds for soaking.
2. Put small chunks of the cheese in food processor and blend.
3. Blend in the yogurt, sour cream, and mayonnaise, and garlic.
4. Slowly add in a small piece of chipotle and adobo pepper. This part needs to be done to taste as the pepper can get quite spicy.
5. Adjust heat with lime, add more sour cream if need be.
6. puree to desired smoothness!!

We served it with diced radish for dipping and it was delish!!

Toasts

You can mix and match your own ingredients, but I always like to start my toasts- my take on bruschetta- with a garlic butter and onion jam. However, there are many ways to make these little open-faced bites, I've made a few suggestions below, but I'm sure you'll come up with your own!!

Crispy french or italian bread, such as a baguette, cut into thin round slices
olive oil or butter of choice (See garlic butter, below)
gruyere cheese (strong and melts really fabulously) (can also use goat, cheddar, etc)
tomato
roasted squash
roast or fresh red pepper
carmelized onion (see next post!)
mushrooms
arugula
slices of apple
parsley
cappicola or other high-quality ham



Combo A: garlic butter, onion jam, tomato, arugula, and gruyere cheese
Combo B: garlic butter, onion jam, apple, arugula, cheddar
Combo C: garlic butter, onion jam, roasted squash, gruyere
Combo D: Garlic butter, cappicola, gruyere

Stack the ingredients on the toast, placing the cheese on top. Heat oven to broil, and cook about 3 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.


Garlic butter: cut 8 cloves of garlic into slivers. Boil for about 10 minutes, and remove from water with slotted spoon. Mash with fork into fine pieces. Combine with a stick of butter at room temperature, add a pinch of sea salt, and return to refrigerator. Smear on everything. Mix in mashed potatoes. Use it to finish off sides of cooked carrots or green beans. Enjoy.