Hey let me share with you some really cool Hor Dourves that are so simple to make. I try to make these for the holidays, or for some special type of gathering. people can use them for weddings, anniversaries–I mean the possibilities are endless. One in particular that has so many variations are the zucchini, yellow squash and cucumber coins with a dollop of flavored cream cheese. I cut these vegetables in 1/2 inch rounds. You can get creative and score the outsides either with a fork or a channel knife–it really doesn’t matter. leaving some skin on is pretty attractive looking. Then what I do is soften some cream cheese, depending on how many I’m making and the amount of variations ill be displaying allows me to be really creative here. What Ill eventually wind up doing is piping the cream cheese out from a pastry bag with a fluted tip in little buttons on top of the vegetable coins. Heres a list of some of the different types that have been made before under the careful eye of Chef Robert.
Vegetable Pinwheels w/ a button of Flavored Cream Cheese
Mix the Cream Cheese: with the following–I typically use a kitchen aid mixing machine witha paddle adjustment
Tomato sauce and dried basil- garnished with a thin sliver of thin sliced Genoa salami or a small sliver of cherry tomato
Ground Smoked Salmon with chopped fresh dill, garnish this with a sliver of smoked salmon and nice piece of salmon
Garlic herb dry seasoning mixed with the cream cheese and garnished with a small sliver of fresh roasted garlic ( roast the garlic in extra virgin olive oil)
Lemon pepper in the cream cheese- garnished with a small sliver of grilled chicken ( i marinate the chicken in a little wishbone vinaigrette with a splash of white wine and lemon) prior to grilling
I take some lobster bisque mix it with the cream cheese, saute some nice lobster tails, in clarified butter, white wine garlic. then I slice the tails into thin medallions put it on top of the vegetable coin and then pipe on some lobster flavored cream cheese
Flavored cream cheese with picante sauce- ill deep fry a tortilla shell- and then cut real fine strips and use a piece as a garnish here.
Mix some apricot jam with the soft cream cheese then garnish each piece with a small sliver of canned apricot halves–or you can use fresh
Heres another one–these go like wild fire–especially if cocktails are being served- Oriental Mini Pork dumplings
I take these wonton skins and stuff them with ground pork that has been lightly seasoned with sesame oil, dry garlic, very fine chopped scallions, very fine chopped shallots, I use a splash of low sodium soy, sometimes a spoon of hoison sauce. Being that these are Hor dourves you want to use the small wonton skins–although if your hungry enough shoot for the large ones–Some people refer to these as pot stickers. after mixing the meat with all the seasoning I’m ready to stuff them. i place the meat in the middle, lightly moisten the the edges with a pinch of water and then bring all sides together and pinch them tight. i kinda looks like a little purse. These are great poached ( or steamed). I like using a slow boiling water with drop of oil. Once you place them in let them sit for a few seconds loosen with a spoon to prevent sticking. Once they float to the top for about two minutes I pull them out with a slotted spoon.These can be served with a dipping sauce of an oriental soy ( pretty much the same ingredients you mixed the meat with ) or my personal preference is getting some sweet chili sauce ( it comes hot too)
Another way to do these little oriental pork dumplings is to fry them in some vegetable oil–golden Brown and floating and their good to go- same type of dipping sauce–make sure you drain them on some paper towels prior to serving–and serve them as quickly as you can. You start making these and I bet you wont be able to stop.
OK one more: Stuffed Baby portebellos with herb goat cheese stuffing
Baby portebellos cleaned and layed out in a baking pan–not too big of a pan –don’t want them rolling around too much. I use stove top stuffing, herb flavored goat cheese. the cheese should not dominate the stuffing. I use the herb flavored stuffing mix with the seasonings it comes with, a little splash of white wine, a slash of lemon, and just enough water to soften the whole mixture- Then you need to let it sit for a few minutes for absorption. Take the stems out of the mushrooms and your ready to start packing the cavity of the mushroom with the stuffing, either by spoon or by hand. Shape it nice and full with a rounded cap of stuffing on each. A little splash of white wine on top and right into the oven at 350 degrees should take about 12-15 minutes or until the cheese is oozing and the top is lightly golden.
Right before service on these mushrooms–whip up a little Hollandaise and spoon just a dab on top of each right at the moment of service
Need a Hollandaise recipe??–you came to the right place– read my previous content
Now a little wine and you’ll be dancing in no time–Enjoy!!!
