Walnut crusted goat cheese log with rosemary honey

 

A couple of friends recently graduated into a special category: People for whom I will make recipes I haven't tried before. Generally I stick to things I've at least made once when it comes to non-household members, aside from a few old friends and family members. But I was pretty sure I could be fairly safe with this one, and it meant I didn't have to go to the store to get anything to take to a small gathering of friends.

Walnut-crusted goat cheese with rosemary honey
Adapted from Rachael Ray magazine, Sept. 2016

Ingredients
½ cup honey
¼ cup 3-inch long rosemary sprigs, plus more leaves for garnish
½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted and cooled
1 (10.5-ounce) log goat cheese
Crackers for serving

Method
Bring honey and rosemary sprigs to a simmer over medium heat in a small saucepan. Simmer about 3 minutes until honey is infused with rosemary. Remove from heat and let cool and steep further. Remove rosemary springs, and scrape honey from them. Discard sprigs, which will no longer be bright green and not good for garnish – although they make pretty good stir sticks for tea at that point. (Make ahead tip: At this point you can cover the infused honey and let it sit at room temperature a few hours before using.)

Spread walnuts in a dish big enough to fit the goat cheese log and with sides high enough to keep walnuts corralled. Roll the cheese in the nuts, pressing to adhere. (Make ahead tip: At this point, you can cover the dish and store the cheese in the refrigerator until ready to use.) Transfer to a serving platter; one with at least curved sides is good to keep the honey in place as it warms up. Pour honey over the goat cheese and garnish with rosemary leaves. Serve with crackers and a utensil that lets you cut and spread the cheese.

Rating: This was really, really nice, and it got nicer the longer it sat, flavor-wise, so don’t be afraid to set this dish out first if you’re deploying an array at a party. It looks reasonably fancy with almost no effort, and it’s the kind of thing you might well have ingredients for on hand already. Definitely goes in the keeper pile.

Follow-up note: I made this again recently using pecans instead of walnuts and it worked just fine. I used two of the shorter goat cheese logs pushed together since that was what was available with in walking distance and it worked fine since the nuts cover any seam. I opted for the maple bourbon goat cheese that time and it was quite nice.

Spinach feta dip with dill

 

Super fast, tasty, versatile and made with ingredients I'm likely to have on hand. What's not to like?

Spinach feta dip with dill

From EatingWell. They specified reduced-fat versions of the dairy products, naturally.

Ingredients

2 cups chopped fresh spinach

¾ cup crumbled feta

½ cup sour cream

½ cup fresh dill sprigs

2 ounces cream cheese

1 garlic clove, grated

½ teaspoon ground pepper

Method

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Rating: This worked fine as a dip for veggies and later as a sandwich spread. The feta and dill combo gives it a nice tang. It helps fill that "green" quotient in any array of dips without having shreds of spinach to get stuck in teeth. I'd definitely consider making it again, particularly when there's an impromptu gathering.

Baked buttered crackers

These are great crackers for our current lives, when we're pantry-challenged. They make a fine all-in-one appetizer; no need for cheese or dip to make these palatable. And it's a way to perk up a slightly old pack of crackers.

Somehow I had escaped the phenomenon of hot buttered crackers all my life, although apparently they are ubiquitous. I ran across a reference to them in Mary Laura Philpott's "I Miss You When I Blink," which I recommend almost as much as the crackers. These are not highfalutin, but not everything has to be. They'd be fine snuck into any appetizer buffet.

 

Hot buttered crackers

Adapted from Southern Living. They used 4 tablespoons butter and 9 ounces of oyster crackers, which I'm sure would be cute as well.

Ingredients

5 tablespoons melted butter

2 tablespoons dry ranch salad dressing mix

1½ teaspoons dried dill

1½ teaspoons lemon pepper seasoning

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ tablespoon onion powder

1 (11-ounce) container saltines (the minis work great and are super cute)

Method

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Whisk together melted butter, dressing mix, dill, lemon pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

Put crackers in a large bowl. Drizzle in butter mixture, stirring in as you go. Stir to coat evenly. Distribute crackers on baking sheet or sheets; you’ll probably need two sheets if they’re 13-by-9s or you can get by with one half-sheet pan. You want to be able to spread them out so they aren’t stacked.

Bake for 10 minutes. Flip crackers over and bake for another 10 minutes until golden. You can cool these and store at room temperature, if any of them last that long.

Rating: Pretty much crack in cracker form. Super great hot from the oven, but perfectly fine at room temperature, and they'll keep stored at room temperature for a week, if you can avoid scarfing them all.

My googling for hot buttered crackers also yielded this recipe, which looked worth a try.

 

Baked seasoned crackers

Adapted from Half Baked Harvest blog

Ingredients

2 sleeves Ritz crackers from a 13.7-ounce package

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon seasoned salt (I used Penzeys)

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon cayenne powder

Method

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, melt butter and add Worcestershire sauce, pepper, seasoned salt, garlic and onion powders and cayenne. Toss to coat evenly. Spread on baking sheet. (I could fit this all on one large baking sheet, but you’d likely need two sheets if you either don’t have a half sheet or don’t have an oven big enough for one.)

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, flipping over once half way through. Crackers will be browned, but not crisp at this point. Resist the natural inclination to try to eat them while they’re warm. They really aren’t nearly as good until they’ve dried and are crisp again.

Rating: These were described as tasting like Chex Mix. They do not taste like any Chex Mix I have ever tasted, but once they’ve dried, they are indeed tasty. But then again, so are Ritz crackers anyway. They don’t really need as much help as saltines.

Parmesan rosemary madeleines

These fall into my favorite category of appetizer: Supremely tasty, reasonably elegant but super fast to make. These come together in a snap and use ingredients I tend to have on hand.

I made these for one of the last get-togethers with friends before that became ill-advised. And then I made them again for us as comfort food in lockdown. If you have to shelter in place, it's great to own a rosemary plant or two.

Parmesan-rosemary madeleines

From Lemons & Anchovies, by blogger Jean, maker of many tasty-looking recipes

Ingredients

⅓ cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup plain yogurt (Greek works too)

¼ grated Parmesan cheese (or Gruyere)

1 tablespoon minced rosemary leaves

Method

Preheat oven to 425. Grease madeleine tin. (This makes 12 regular size madeleines or 24 mini madeleines if you have one of those cut little tins that Jean does. They're just adorable and bite-size.)

In food processor, combine flour, baking powder, salt, egg and yogurt. Blend well. Add cheese and rosemary and process just to combine. Spoon by small spoonfuls into madeleine tin, about ⅔ full.

Bake about 10 to 12 minutes (slightly less if you’re using the mini tins) until firm and golden. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Rating: These are totally snarfable. They’re unbelievably good warm from the oven and perfectly tasty at room temperature. They don’t keep particularly well, but why would you?