Sunday Dinner- Garlic Rosemary Pork Roast

This is a quick and easy dinner that you can pop into the oven and have preset to be ready when you get home from a long day!

 

Ingredients

• 4 large garlic cloves, pressed
• 4 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary or 2 teaspoons dried
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 2 1/2-pound boneless pork loin roast, well trimmed
• Fresh rosemary sprigs (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 13 x 9 x 2-inch roasting pan with foil. Mix first 4 ingredients in bowl. Rub garlic mixture all over pork. Place pork, fat side up, in prepared roasting pan. Roast pork 55  minutes. Check internal temperature pork. It should register 155°F. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes.

Pour any juices from roasting pan into small saucepan; set over low heat to keep warm. Cut pork crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Arrange pork slices on platter. Pour pan juices over. Garnish with rosemary sprigs, if desired.

What they say

I wanted to give you a recipe that I am really excited about. I'm excited about it because it is really easy, turns out great, and it's a HUGE hit! They can be made ahead of time, and taste great days later, they are fun, festive, and hip, and you are going to absolutely love them.
Cake pops.

We've all seen them at Starbucks, and when I was doing a tea party last weekend, I thought it would be really fun to have them as a dessert. Now, they are fairly simple to make, but it took me several hours to make 150 of them. This is how easy it is: bake a cake mix of your choice in a 9x13. when its cool, break it into pieces. add frosting. shape into balls. place on a stick. dip stick in chocolate. Pretty easy, right? And let me tell you, they are good!
The original recipe that I found tells you to dip them in candy bark coating, but I'm not a big fan of the flavor of candy melts, so I compromised and added some semi sweet morsels to get a better chocolate flavor, but still take advantage of the firmness that candy melts offer.

The other thing I really like about these is the sky's the limit for creativity. You can top them with nonpareils, drizzles, nuts, whatever! You can make them any color or flavor (strawberry lemonade is next on my list), and they look impressive.
So I will give you a recipe for chocolate (they were AMAZING) and you can change it for your preference.

Cake Pops
makes about 30-35, depending on the size
1 box chocolate cake mix prepared according to package directions, baked in a 9x13
1/2 tub chocolate frosting (or 1/2 cup homemade)
16 oz brown candy melts
8 oz semi sweet morsels
1 package 6" lollipop sticks (we found them at Michaels)
block of Styrofoam, etc that you can place the pops in to dry in an upright position
decorations of your choice (we make some rocky road by adding almond slivers and marshmallow pieces)

As soon as the cake is cook, break it into pieces in a large bowl. Add the frosting and mix until thoroughly combined. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Shape the mixture into uniform balls, making 30 - 35 depending on the size you want the cake pops (I would recommend somewhere between a ping pong ball and a golf ball. They will be bigger once you dip them in chocolate)
Place them on the baking sheet, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

If you have a fondue pot, it works great for this step. If not, make a double boiler-place 2 inches of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and place a glass bowl over the pan with your candy melts and chocolate chips in it. You can also do this in the microwave, although I wouldn't recommend it because the chocolate will cool too quickly, you will have to reheat, and risk ruining the chocolate).
Leave the chocolate for 1 minute, then begin stirring to combine. Once completely melted, dip the lollipop stick into the chocolate, and insert into the flat side of the cake ball (the side that was on the pan). If the room is warm (over 72) you may need to refrigerate again at this step for about 20 minutes.
After you have dipped all the sticks, and chilled if necessary, start with the first lollipop and dip into the chocolate, turning as you do so all sides are covered. Lift out and gently tap on the side of the pan. If you tap too hard you will lose the cake ball into the chocolate. If the cake ball comes off anyway, return the entire pan to the refrigerator and chill for 10 minutes longer.
Add desired toppings, and place cake balls into Styrofoam, or other stand while they cool. Alternatively, you can use cupcake papers and set the cake balls in them and serve that way. (it is probably a bit less stressful, but no less fun)
Allow chocolate to cool for about 20 minutes, and you're all set! These keep great for about a week (I'm sure they won't last that long...)

and more chicken

There are some meals that, no matter how many times you make them, they never grow old. Everybody has favorites, but I haven't met a person who isn't impressed with this dish. I discovered it quite a while ago in a magazine, which was demonstrating a technique for sear roasting, a method of cooking that has you sear a piece of meat over high heat, then finish it in the oven. This is the way I cook most often. It is quick, the flash of heat ensures you seal in the juices, preventing the meat from being dry, and you can finish it with any sauce you want. I cook white fish, salmon, beef, and chicken this way quite often. The sauce that was showcased with this recipe is very versatile, and can be adapted to many meats and drastically changed with just a few minute substitutions. It is basically a take on buerre blanc, the French butter sauce.

The original recipe called for white wine, but chicken stock is an acceptable substitution. This is the dinner my sister wants on her birthday, and my husband requests almost every time I am planning meals. It's a hit every time. There is some lemon juice and rosemary in the sauce, which, in my opinion, are perfectly complimentary flavors. The sauce is also great on salmon, and feel free to mix it up a bit for beef-it would be delicious with some dijon and tarragon for a zippy beef dish.

This is also great for company, because you can fry up all the chicken pieces, place them on a baking sheet and finish them in the oven. Everybody's food will be ready at the same time no matter how many you have.

Chicken with Lemon Butter Sauce
Serves 4

4 4-oz chicken breasts (if they are large slice them in  half lengthwise, or pound them into cutlets)
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon minced rosemary
2 Tablespoons minced shallot (about one clove)
1/2 cup chicken stock
juice from 1/2 a lemon
4 Tablespoons butter

Preheat the oven to 450. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a few teaspoons of vegetable oil over high heat. When the oil is shimmering add the chicken pieces and cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or the edges are brown.
Move the cooked chicken pieces to a glass baking dish, laying each piece flat (don't overlap them). Place in the oven for 5-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken cutlets (the temperature should be 165 F.)
Meanwhile, add the rosemary and shallots to the pan and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and continue cooking until the stock is reduced to a few tablespoons. Add the lemon juice and remove from the heat. Add the butter a tablespoon at a time, whisking until it is incorporated. The sauce will begin to look lighter and thicker. Spoon sauce over cooked chicken.

A matter of taste

I think its funny how your tastes change as you age. When I was young I loved mayonnaise, sausage, over-easy eggs, and ham and cheese sandwiches with ungodly amounts of mustard (only the sandwiches had mustard). I liked American cheese slices, hard boiled eggs on my salads, plain tuna, and well-done steak. When I was a little older, I didn't like mayo, sausage, over-easy eggs or very much mustard. Then it changed, and I liked them again. I still don't care for American cheese, hard boiled eggs (unless their deviled), plain tuna or well done steak. A few things, I didn't like as a child and I still don't like today, like cottage cheese. I think its my nemesis. For whatever reason I just can't stand the texture.
Lately, I have been having a renewed affair with sausage. I purchased some Evergood Louisiana style hot links and stashed them in the freezer. They are great fried up and tossed with spaghetti, butter, and parmesan cheese for a quick and easy dinner. I also like them cut up and scrambled with eggs and potatoes for breakfast burritos, or just a skillet-type breakfast.

Another easy dinner, that I had completely forgotten about, is chicken and sausage. You put some mixed chicken parts in a pan with sausage, add some onions, mustard, salt and pepper, and roast for about an hour. You can fix up a side while its in there cooking, and its very flavorful and absolutely delicious. I used Aidells chicken and apple sausage (really flavorful and delicious) and some chicken thighs I had in the freezer. I think this is great with Jasmine rice, or mashed potatoes. Its also nice if you have a big family, or you are having guests, because its so hands-off but you can double it and feed a crowd. The skins get nice and crispy, and so do the sausages. My boys (husband included) couldn't get enough. I will definitely be making this again, soon.

Sage Chicken and Sausages
serves 6
2 small onions
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon or deli style mustard
1 Tablespoon dried sage
pepper
salt
1 lemon
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 lbs chicken, cut into 8 pieces
6 sausages (as previously mentioned I think these are great)
2 Tablespoons chopped sage leaves

Combine oil, mustard, dried sage, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, the lemon juice (save the squeezed out rinds) and the Worcestershire. Peel and cut the onion into eighths, and place that, along with the squeezed out lemon rinds and the chicken, skin side up, in a large baking dish and pour over the marinade. Set at room temperature for 45 mins (or, you can put it all in the pan and leave it for a few hours in the fridge or overnight).
Preheat the oven to 425. Add the sausages and sprinkle on the chopped sage leaves, and salt and pepper the chicken. Cook for 1 hour, 15 minutes, turning the sausages over halfway through to color them evenly.

(If your not a big fan of sausages, you could just leave them out. The dish is still delicious.)

This is also absolutely amazing  grilled. You can take it with you to a cookout or camping, and it is a flavorful alternative to hamburgers or ordinary BBQ chicken. Just combine all the ingredients in a Ziploc bag and store in the refrigerator until about 30 minutes before grill time!

Easy Morning

It feels like I haven't blogged in forever! I know it hasn't been that long, but it seems like it, and I am afraid you are going to have to put up with me being a bit wordy. I have so many things I want to write about...new recipes, old recipes, recipes I had forgotten about and recipes I really, really want to share. We have moved, and while we were getting settled into our new place we were without the Internet. So, instead of checking every body's facebook status or watching Netflix, I have been reading cookbooks and writing out recipes. I have a lot of recipes. Since we last talked I made a delicious chocolate cake, perfected my fried rice, made egg rolls, made lasagna for the first time, found all my long-lost recipes and saved them forever in cyberspace, tweaked a potato recipe, re-discovered a chicken recipe, convinced my 5-year old that he likes asparagus (FINALLY), made some amazing muffins...maybe I should stop there. I really wanted to write about this potato recipe, but I think the muffins should come first.
I really like muffins, along with just about any other food item, but I have discovered that a lot of muffin recipes are strange. The muffins are dry, horrible little things that should be given to the children to play with, not eaten with coffee to start a lovely spring day. Or, the recipe turns out ok, but calls for something I can't swap out without compromising the consistency, such as a juice or sour cream. And, I know it probably sounds funny but I usually don't have sour cream. It's not that I don't buy it, its just that it goes really fast. But, if I buy a lot we don't use it...you know how that is.

Anyway, this is another of those common items that I just can't seem to find a stand-by, basic recipe for. Until now. This is another one from the Art and Soul of Baking, a book I highly recommend. I use it weekly, if not more. Sometimes I look through this book and feel like I need to exercise.
There is a great muffin recipe in here, and you can make all sorts of substitutions. The muffins I made the other day were the suggested Lemon Raspberry. A lovely combination, and really just the tip of the iceberg. Lemon Blueberry, Poppy seed, Orange Cranberry, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Peanut Butter....you could make anything! The recipe uses butter, and you zest the lemon and infuse the melted butter with the zest. This allows the flavor to permeate all the batter, and you could get creative with the raspberry. I happened to have some frozen raspberries in my freezer, but I would think you could drop a bit of raspberry or blackberry jam into each muffin cup and swirl it with the batter, or just leave it as a jellied center. Dried cranberries, fresh cranberries, blueberries or any other fruit you like (think: dried apricot, dark chocolate and coconut...hmm...) I don't see why you couldn't mash up a banana or two and add that to the batter with a hand full of chopped walnuts. This is that recipe. Its the only muffin recipe I will ever use. I will make all my modifications on this one. I really love it. There is even a little bit about a streusel topping you can add (can?) so this is definitely a keeper.


Lemon Raspberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

For the muffins:
2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
3/4 stick butter
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 half-pint basket raspberries, or 1 1/4 cups frozen (do not thaw)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 and position an oven rack in the center. Line a muffin tin and lightly spray the top with cooking spray. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to blend thoroughly. Melt the butter in a medium glass dish in the microwave and add the lemon zest. Add the buttermilk and let the mixture sit for 1 or 2 minutes, or until the mixture is tepid. Add the eggs and vanilla, and whisk until well blended.
Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir gently. Mix only until there are no more streaks of flour or pools of liquid and the batter looks fairly smooth. Gently fold in the raspberries.
Divide the batter evenly between prepared muffin cups.

For the streusel:
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons melted butter

Combine in a bowl and sprinkle over muffin batter.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until inserted cake tester comes out clean. Transfer muffin tin to a rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes before lifting the muffins out. Transfer to a rack to finish cooling. Serve warm or hot.

Mancakes

I thought long and hard about what I should blog about today. Actually, I didn't. It came to me immediately. I have been making a lot of pancakes lately, and I wanted to share the recipes. I have made lots and lots of recipes for pancakes, and usually the ones worth repeating have some pretty tedious processes, and usually involve the inclusion of buttermilk. You can make your own buttermilk for recipes, by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to room temperature milk, but it never tastes very good in pancakes.

I got this recipe from the Food Network's website, actually, to be quite honest, it was in my cooking game, "Cook or be cooked" and I read the recipe and decided to try it. (Yes, I have a cooking game for the Wii. Please don't judge me). Anywho...I tried this recipe and loved the way it turned out.
The pancakes are quite fluffy and light, and have great texture and flavor.
Before you read this recipe, I have something to say. I know there are a few separate steps, but these pancakes are worth it. This isn't bisquick, its pancakes. If you desire, you could mix up the dry ingredients the night before, and then add the liquid in the morning, but I urge you to follow the steps. These really are quite good.
I looked up the word 'mancakes'. It can be used to refer to food that men fix that is considered inedible by women. It also refers to cupcakes that are geared toward men, in unassuming flavors like beer and bacon (that would be one flavor, beer and bacon).
Mancakes is also the word my 2-year old uses for pancakes. I'm not really sure why, but it is.

Perfect Pancakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg, cinnamon, or pumpkin pie spice
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons butter, melted
cooking spray

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl Beat eggs in a medium bowl. Whisk in 3/4 cup of the milk and the vanilla.
In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter with the remaining milk, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk into the egg mixture.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir using a whisk until a thick, slightly lumpy batter forms; set aside for 10 minutes.
Heat a skillet over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray and add a sliver of butter to the pan. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan for each pancake. Cook until bubbles break on the surface of the pancakes and the undersides are golden brown, about 2 minutes (this usually takes longer on the first batch). Flip and cook for about a minute more.
If you wish, you can transfer the cooked pancakes to a 200 degree oven to keep warm. I usually just serve them up as quick as they come off.
Also, you can freeze any leftover pancakes, in an airtight container, and reheat by placing the entire frozen pancake in the toaster.

Happy Anniversary

So, this month marks my one year anniversary of having a blog! I know, many of you out there have had blogs for years, but I feel like it is quite an accomplishment. My first blog post was actually on January 19th. I think it took me the whole month just to design my blog. I wasn't really sure what to do.
You know how on anniversaries, you look back at the last year and reflect on things you can do better, etc. Well, I was looking through my posts, and as I was reminiscing, I noticed something.
Not one post about beef. Strange. We eat beef all the time. Not as much as chicken, but we have it at least once a week. I guess it's just because beef isn't that interesting. I usually just make hamburgers, or meatballs, or maybe beef burgundy, broccoli beef or tacos. Nothing too crazy or too interesting. I always make steak for Father's Day, Valentine's Day, and any other time my husband can talk me into it.
I thought it was time to start posting some beef recipes. The first one that came into my mind was beef stroganoff. We all love it around here, and it is an easy recipe that you can make with just a few items you usually have on hand. I have made it with ground beef or small beef stew pieces. It's great either way. We love it with green beans, carrots, broccoli, or garlic bread, and even the boys will eat several bowls of it.

Laurel's Beef Stroganoff

1 lb egg noodles (I like No Yolks Extra Wide)
1/2 onion, chopped finely
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb button mushrooms, thinly sliced (you can leave them out if you don't like mushrooms)
1 cup beef stock with 4 Tablespoons flour whisked in
2 teaspoons beef bouillon
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper
chopped parsley for garnish

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain noodles and return to pot.
Meanwhile, saute onion with a little bit of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until soft. Add ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about five minutes, then add the mushrooms. Once beef is completely cooked (no pink) add the beef stock and flour. If the mixture thickens too much, add a little more beef stock. Heat almost until boiling, then add the beef bouillon and sour cream.
Season with additional salt and pepper.
Combine sauce and noodles, and add chopped parsley.

Warm Thoughts

I keep notebooks. What I mean is, I write things down; things that I plan to do, things I make, recipes, ideas, short stories and math problems. I make lists and lists and lists. I make lists of what I should do each day, what I am going to make for meals for the next two weeks, what I should buy from the store, what we should have on Thanksgiving and what I am going to buy people for Christmas. If I lost my notebook, I don't know what I would do.
Once, when I was catering a banquet, one of the servers got my book wet. I almost lost it. I started freaking out. Everything is in that book. Notes on food, amounts, time lines, and measurements. I know, I sound a bit obsessive, but we have to have some measure of stability in this ever-changing world, and my stability is my notebook.
So, as I was flipping through my notebook today, I found this recipe for soup. I like soup. Especially on a cool day, or when I don't want to fuss too much with something. I like to just throw everything into a big pot and let it simmer away. It's comforting, it's quick and usually it's easy.
That is the case with this soup. I had a jar of homemade beef and barley soup on hand that I needed to use up, we had already had beef and barley soup a few times (this is what happens when you don't can something properly-you have a limited amount of time to consume 5 quarts of beef and barley soup) anywhoo...
I was tired of the beef and barley soup, so I decided to gussy it up a bit, and make a Mexican soup. I chopped away and threw everything into the pot. It was really good. It's a fairly light dish. It was easy. It was fast.
Did I mention it was really good?
I think chicken and rice soup would be a better base, so that is what I am going to call for in this recipe. This soup is really good. I can't say that enough. I really like it. A little spicy, just the way I like it. As a matter of fact, I think I will have some now...

Fast and Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 32 oz Can condensed chicken and rice soup
+ 1 can water
1 Green bell pepper, chopped
1 Large tomato, chopped
3 Small corn tortillas, cut into strips
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 Tablespoon Mexican hot sauce, like Tapatio
1 Lime, cut into 6 wedges
Additional hot sauce

For garnish (optional, but I would recommend it):
Sour cream
Grated cheddar cheese
Cilantro

Combine soup and water, bell pepper, tomato, corn tortillas, cumin and hot sauce in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Ladle soup into bowls and squeeze one lime wedge over each bowl, and drop in a few extra drops of hot sauce. Add sour cream, cheddar cheese and cilantro if desired.

Serves 4

Thoughts of Pizza

The recipe that I want to tell you all about right now is one of those things that someone just told me how to make.

There is a woman I have known for about twelve years who is a fantastic cook. She has inspired me to make so many different dishes. As a teenager growing up I remember going to her house and there was always food. I decided then and there I wanted to be like her. I have tasted her food over the years and I find myself asking over and over again, "How did you make that?". Hers was the first cheesecake I tried and the recipe I am writing about today I had for the first time at her house.

We start with pizza dough. I will include a recipe for homemade pizza dough, which I like to make and divide in half and freeze one half for later. You then cook up some Italian sausage (I use spicy) add lots of garlic and some spinach. I put mozzarella in it, but my friend doesn't. Sometimes I serve it with marinara for dipping. She uses frozen spinach, but I prefer fresh. Now, when you read about this you will probably think, 'what's the big deal?' It is a big deal. It is absolutely amazing and delicious. There is never a scrap left over. My sister who is not a big veggie person gets excited when I tell her I am going to make it. My sons eat it and my husband gorges himself every time we have it (seriously).
You have to try it.

Spicy Italian Sausage Pizza Roll
1/2 recipe pizza dough (recipe follows)
1/2 lb spicy sausage (Jimmy Dean Hot is good)
10 cloves minced garlic
1 bunch of spinach, washed, trimmed and chopped
1 cup grated mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Saute sausage in a pan over medium heat. Add a little olive oil if you need to. Once the sausage is browned and broken into small pieces add the garlic. Cook for about two minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the spinach. Cook for 2 or 3 more minutes, or until the spinach is completely wilted.
Roll out the pizza dough into a square, and spread the sausage mixture evenly around. Sprinkle the grated mozzarella over the sausage. Roll up the dough on the long side, tucking the dough as you roll. Place on a baking stone and put stone on the middle rack of the oven. Cook for 20-30 minutes, or until you can knock on the dough and it is firm. The crust should be brown.

Pizza dough recipe

Little Trees

Asparagus is a funny vegetable. Some people love it, some people hate it. In my opinion, the people who hate it have been exposed to an overcooked, possibly overgrown, bitter-tasting stalk. This is not the asparagus I know. But that has not always been the case.
I was exposed to few vegetables as a child. We had canned green beans and corn, frozen mixed vegetables (a mix that included the loathed Lima bean) and an iceberg salad garnished the table on occasion. I may have met asparagus during those years, but I do not remember the encounter.
As a young adult I began experimenting with different vegetables. I loved the thrill I got when I loaded up those flimsy plastic bags in the produce aisle with beautiful red lettuces, waxy cucumbers, even glossy, deep purple eggplant found its way to my home. I tried many different things, just to try the flavors. Asparagus was one of those. I tried it, and left it. I am sure I overcooked it, and I remember deciding the bitter, earthly flavored vegetable was not for me. I tried it with hollandaise and a creamy white sauce, but I still couldn't get past the stringy stalk and soft tip.
About two years ago, I decided I would try it again. Actually, someone deposited a large sum into my care and I needed to do something with it before it went to waste. I made a cream of asparagus soup that I had just spotted in one of my magazines, and of course, that was a big hit. It tasted nothing of asparagus. I decided I would give it one more go, so I wrapped a few stalks in bacon and roasted them in the oven with some olive oil and salt and pepper. They were still very crunchy, and we actually ate them without too much difficulty. Shortly after, I roasted them again with tomatoes, again, they were consumed quite quickly.
Asparagus now graces our table quite frequently when it is in season. Recently, I have found a new twist I enjoy. I was reading in one of my favorite cooking magazine and they had an appetizer that consisted of thinly shaved asparagus, tossed with olive oil and sprinkled with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, perched atop crostini and ricotta. It looked beautiful, a lovely spring starter that would be different than the usual fare. Sadly, ricotta is not a favorite, especially with my father, so I decided to adapt it a bit. I was entertaining some friends and my family was also coming for dinner, and I wasn't sure about my company's stand on ricotta, so I opted for cream cheese. As I shaved the asparagus, I thought perhaps I should toss it with the olive oil and salt and pepper first, then put it on top of the crostini. As I drizzled in the olive oil, I spied a lemon on the counter. Some sort of synapses occurred in my brain and I zested the lemon and tossed it and a squeeze of juice with the asparagus.

I piled it on a bit of bread to see how it tasted. Wonderful. The tangy lemon was so sassy with the cool cream cheese. The asparagus added just another layer of textures to the mix in its own special way. This appetizer is one that you and your friends will remember. It is surprisingly good. Even those who are not fans of asparagus will be pleasantly surprised. An added bonus: The vinaigrette is great on steamed asparagus, or tossed with pasta, rotisserie chicken and asparagus tips!

Asparagus salad on crostini

1 baguette
6 oz cream cheese
2 lbs. asparagus

Vinaigrette
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper

Slice baguette into 1/2 inch pieces and bake at 350 until crunchy, turning once. Meanwhile, whisk the vinaigrette together in a non reactive bowl. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Wash the asparagus and shave the stalks with a vegetable peeler (reserve the tips for another use). Toss with vinaigrette and set aside. When toasts have cooled, spread them with cream cheese and top with asparagus salad.
Makes about 30.