Kitchen Conundrum

Cardamom Goat Cheese Phyllo Triangles with Spiced Maple Yogurt Sauce

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Cardamon Cheese TrianglesHere’s one from the archives that would make a great addition to your Thanksgiving dinner appetizer menu. These sweet, spicy and delightfully delicious bites are the epitome of Fall and Winter. While they are baking, your home will fill with the warming scent of cardamom.  They are really easy to make and you might want to make a double or triple batch depending on how many guests you have.

 

Cardamom Goat Cheese Phyllo Triangles with Spiced Maple Yogurt Sauce
 
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Cardamom Goat Cheese Phyllo Triangles with a Spiced Maple Yogurt Sauce Makes 12 Triangles
Author:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
Filling:
  • 6 oz. goat cheese, softened
  • 1 tbs. honey
  • 1 ½  tsp. ground cardamom
  • 6 Sheets of phyllo dough
  • ½ stick butter, melted
Sauce:
  • 1 cup Greek yogurt, vanilla flavored
  • 1 tbs. maple syrup
  • 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
  • 3 slices of bacon (or Morningstar Farms Breakfast Strips*)
Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a small bowl, combine the goat cheese, the honey and the cardamom until well blended. Set aside.
  3. Arrange the bacon in a frying pan and cook until crispy. Crumble or cut into bits. Set aside.
  4. Brush each sheet of phyllo dough with the melted butter and layer together. Brush the top layer with butter and cut the phyllo into three strips and again into four squares.  Add a dollop of the cream cheese mixture onto the phyllo square and fold into triangles pinching the edges to seal shut.  Brush each finished triangle with butter.
  5. Place triangles onto a baking sheet and bake for 15- 20 minutes until golden brown.  Cool on a baking rack.
  6. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, maple syrup and the pumpkin pie spice.
  7. To serve, spread a spoonful of the yogurt sauce on the bottom of a plate, arrange the phyllo triangles and sprinkle with the crumbled bacon.
  8. * For those who refrain from Pork.

Potato Crisp, Roasted Vegetable, and Herbed Goat Cheese Napoleon Recipe

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20130514-IMG_8284Next weekend I am attending Eat, Write, Retreat in Philadelphia. It’s the first conference this year that I am attending and I cannot be more excited. Attendees were invited to enter the Amazing Apps Culinary Challenge where they would be shipped a surprise ingredient to create a healthy appetizer. As an extra special bonus, entrants were also sent several OXO tools to aid in the creation of our dishes. My secret ingredient was a variety of potatoes from the The United States Potato Board (USPB).   OXO also sent along a 3-in-1 Adjustable Potato Ricer and three of their graters- a Zester, Medium and Coarse graters. I am such a geek for new kitchen tools and I absolutely love OXO for their high quality, durable products, not to mention their Good Grips, which makes them so comfortable to use!

Most people think of potatoes as they do rice, a relatively boring side dish, a starch that often needs to be complimented by another vegetable. But in reality, potatoes are incredibly versatile and can stand alone on a plate. They are also very healthy, at just 110 calories for a medium sized potato and packed with vitamin C. Did you know, if eaten with the skin on, a potato has more potassium than a banana? Well, it does- one of the fun facts I learned from reading the materials that were sent along with the potatoes. Also, potatoes are completely FAT-FREE! That fact alone should make them even more appealing for adding them to your diet. They already are one of my most favorite foods.

Because they are so versatile, it took me a long time to narrow it down to just one idea for this challenge. In the end, I combined many of my favorite flavors to make one incredible stack of potato goodness, a Potato Crisp, Roasted Vegetable, and Herbed Goat Cheese Napoleon.

Potato Crisp, Roasted Vegetable, and Herbed Goat Cheese Napoleon Recipe
 
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Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
For the Crisps:
  • 4 Medium Potatoes
  • 2 Egg Whites
  • 4 Tbs. Butter
  • 2 Tbs. Heavy Cream
  • 2 Tbs Chives, chopped
  • 3 Tbs Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
For the Filling:
  • 2 Red Peppers, Roasted over an open flame and peeled
  • 2 Medium Zucchini, thinly sliced and dry grilled
  • 1 cup Goat Cheese (Pre- Made Herbed or Create your own; Garlic, Chives, Onions, Thyme, Rosemary etc.)
For the Topping:
  • 1 Medium Onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 Tbs. Flour
  • 2 Tbs. Vegetable Oil
  • Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar to Drizzle
Method
  1. Peel and chop potatoes. Boil until soft. Pass the potatoes through the OXO 3-in 1 Adjustable Potato Ricer into a large bowl.
  2. Add butter, egg whites, heavy cream and chives. Fold in until smooth but gently so as not to create a gummy mixture.
  3. Using the OXO Medium Grater, grate Parmesan cheese directly into the potato mixture. Fold in without over working the potatoes.
  4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  5. Create a template out of a thin piece of cardboard (part of a pizza box lid works great!) by cutting a 3"x 3"square from the middle. Place the template on a silicone baking mat. With a spatula, spread an even layer of potato over the template. Remove the template and there will be a square of mashed potato on your mat. Repeat until you have 20 squares.
  6. Bake the squares for 8-10 minutes, being careful that they do not get too brown.
  7. Remove from oven and cool.
  8. Prepare the fried onions by dredging the onion slices lightly in the flour and then frying in the vegetable oil over medium heat until brown and crisp. Drain on paper towels and set aside until ready to use.
Assemble the Napoleon:
  1. On a plate, lay down one crisp, add a layer of herbed goat cheese, followed by another crisp. Add a layer of red peppers followed by another crisp. Add a layer of herbed goat cheese followed by a crisp. Add the zucchini layer and a crisp. Top with the fried onions.
  2. Drizzle with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar and serve to many "oohs and ah's" from your guests.

 

See how it’s done-

Method

1. Peel and chop potatoes. Boil until soft.  Pass the potatoes through the OXO 3-in 1 Adjustable Potato Ricer into a large bowl.

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2. Add butter, egg whites, heavy cream and chives. Fold in until smooth but gently so as not to create a gummy mixture.

3. Using the OXO Medium Grater, grate Parmesan cheese directly into the potato mixture. Fold in without over working the potatoes.

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4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

5. Create a template out of a thin piece of cardboard (part of a pizza box lid works great!) by cutting a 3″x 3″square from the middle. Place the template on a silicone baking mat. With a spatula, spread an even layer of potato over the template. Remove the template and there will be a square of mashed potato on your mat. Repeat until you have 20 squares.

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6. Bake the squares for 8-10 minutes, being careful that they do not get too brown.

7. Remove from oven and cool.

8. Prepare the fried onions by dredging the onion slices lightly in the flour and then frying in the vegetable oil over medium heat until brown and crisp. Drain on paper towels and set aside until ready to use.

Assemble the Napoleon:

On a plate, lay down one crisp, add a layer of herbed goat cheese, followed by another crisp. Add a layer of red peppers followed by another crisp. Add a layer of herbed goat cheese followed by a crisp. Add the zucchini layer and a crisp. Top with the fried onions.

Drizzle with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar and serve to many “oohs and ah’s” from your guests.

Serves 4.

 

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Disclosure: As an Eat Write Retreat registrant, I received samples from The U.S. Potato Board and a variety of OXO tools to help create this recipe.  With this post I am eligible to win prizes in the Amazing Apps Culinary Challenge. All thoughts and opinions are my own with a big shout out ‘Thank You’ to OXO for the awesome tools!