If it’s possible to improve upon a simple baked round of Brie, then I think I must’ve done it.
Cooking and serving it in a baking dish rather than leaving it whole is nothing groundbreaking. It’s so simple, in fact, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before. I love baked Brie, but sometimes it can get messy. And so I figured, why not stick the whole thing in a baking dish and see what happens?
Well, as you can imagine, love happens. Rich, creamy, sinfully cheesy LOVE.
Guys. I’ve got something super-awesome for you today!
And, it’s super-easy. I even made a video to prove it.
This asparagus tart is what I like to call a “back-pocket” recipe. You won’t ever need a recipe again after you’ve made it once – and after watching it on video, you probably won’t even need a recipe on your first shot!
Yep, you can pull this one out of your back-pocket anytime you need it. And when might that be, exactly? Well, to start – Easter. This would make an outstanding choice as an Easter hors d’oeuvre, because Easter happens to fall in the springtime, when asparagus is at its lovely peak. It would be equally perfect for brunch with the girls, or even a simple lunch with your better half and a bottle of your favorite white on a gorgeous spring day.
This tart is so impressive and pretty, and what’s even better than that? It tastes delicious, too. Did I mention it’s easy to make? This is a triple-double-win, peeps.
Have you ever considered tossing a container of salsa over a mixture of goat cheese, cream cheese, and toasted pine nuts – and then baking it off in the oven until heated through?
If not, I invite you to try it. It’s probably the easiest and quickest appetizer ever to exist, and it’s also super-delicious.
Now, you know I don’t usually condone using store-bought salsa, but here that’s the route I like to go. It makes this dip *that* much easier, and when you’re working with a recipe as simple as this one, it just doesn’t make any sense to complicate things.
You probably don’t need me to tell you how to put together a cheese plate as simple as this one.
A cheese plate doesn’t require a recipe, though you could certainly make your own miniature cheese spreads and salads if you wanted to. For me, I think back to what I learned from Ina long ago: Don’t make everything from scratch when entertaining. If you’re reading this, you probably know that that can be rather difficult for me. For whatever reason, I feel the need to make juices from scratch rather than buying them. I can’t help myself – it’s how I roll. Sometimes I watch Ina buy a pound cake from the market and I think to myself, “I wish I could do that.” Maybe if I had markets as fabulous as Ina has to shop at, I would do things like that. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.
Quick – while peaches are still in season. You’ve got to make this.
As soon as I saw the recipe, I died. Four of my all-time favorite ingredients, all wrapped into one recipe. Not even just the recipe itself, but all in the name of the recipe?
I’m in.
You will be, too. All of my friends were. I even made it super-simple for you by converting the recipe so that you throw everything into your oven all at once, rather than sautéeing a few at a time. A must for entertaining. And probably a must even if it’s just a few of you eating. Heck, even if you’re by yourself… You’re going to want more. Trust me on this.
Can you ever have enough fabulously simple dips and spreads in your repertoire?
In short, the answer is no. And the case becomes even stronger when we’re talking about dips and spreads made with cheese. Or fresh herbs. Preferably, both.
There’s something about the pairing of goat cheese and chives in particular that gets me every time. And it really gets no simpler than this spread. It’s the perfect thing to join you, your favorite bottle of wine, and Friday night.
Chive-Goat Cheese Spread
Adapted from Bon Appétit
Combine goat cheese, cream cheese, minced chives and garlic in medium bowl. Stir with fork until well blended.
Three-ingredient cooking? Yes, please!
This dip is so simple, and so fabulous – I guarantee it will become a go-to staple in your kitchen. Make it anytime you’ve got some extra pesto hanging around. I use Ina Garten’s recipe for pesto, sometimes rather loosely. For this dip, I actually used a mix of arugula and basil in my pesto, which I love – the arugula gives it such a peppery bite. If you’re making the pesto specifically for this dip, you can combine the leftover pesto with a plate of pasta for a simple weeknight meal.
And did I mention how perfect this is for last-minute entertaining?
{You’re going to need something to go with that sangria}
Pesto + Goat Cheese Spread
From Gourmet
These are some good nuts. Good as in, if these nuts are around, you may not be able to eat dinner.
True story.
I served these with cocktails at a dinner party and no one could even fathom dessert because we were all so stuffed. And everyone blamed the nuts.
I did increase the cayenne because we all know I like it spicy, but either way you go the end result will be a perfect marriage of spicy, sweet, and crunchy. The egg white coating binds everything together, almost like candied nuts. And the greatest part is that if you have the spices on hand and a big jar of nuts laying around, you can whip these bad boys up anytime.
A danger all in itself.
Spicy Cocktail Nuts
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper – this will make for easy cleanup.
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg white and water until frothy. Add the nuts and toss to coat. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, Essence, cayenne, and salt. Add to the nuts and stir to coat evenly. Spread the nuts on the prepared pan and bake until dry, about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir to separate. Let cool on the baking sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Everyone loves shrimp cocktail.
It’s just one of those things.
But when you roast those shrimp, that’s where it’s really at. You know, it’s kind of like tomatoes. Magic.
You can serve them warm, or let them get to room temperature. Serve it all up in a pretty plate like this, with lemon slices on the corners, and I guarantee they’ll be gone before you know it.
It’s the perfect thing to add to a menu when you want a little something extra, but don’t have the time for anything complicated. Shrimp cocktail is indeed a classic, but roasting the dish makes it feel more special. Special, and delicious. Oh – and one more thing. Once you see how easy it is to make cocktail sauce yourself, you’ll never go back to bottled. I like to add a little extra horseradish to mine.
Roasted Shrimp Cocktail
Courtesy of Ina Garten
For the super easy-peasy cocktail sauce:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tails on. Place them on a sheet pan with the olive oil, salt, and pepper and spread them in 1 layer. Roast for 8 to10 minutes, just until pink and firm and cooked through. Set aside to cool.
For the sauce, combine the chili sauce, ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Serve as a dip with the shrimp.
Entertaining doesn’t have to be difficult.
Here is the proof.
I mean, how could your guests not be totally thrilled if you welcomed them with this beautiful antipasti platter? You could serve me this for dinner alone and I’d be happy.
Antipasti is absolutely my favorite thing to enjoy with the people I love. This extra-special arrangement was introduced to me by Meg {Daniel’s wonderful mom}. If you look closely, she made cups from radicchio leaves to hold smaller items like marinated olives, artichokes, and mozzarella.
Here’s a closer look at the cups. It’s such an easy thing to do and it not only looks pretty, but it serves an actual purpose. You could use these to hold so many different things – it would be a great way to present a spread of tuna, chicken, and crab salads, for instance.
First, start with a bed of greens. Cut the end of a head of radicchio, and place a couple of large leaves to form cups on top of the lettuce. Meg gave me a good tip here: always buy extra radicchio, because you want to make sure you have enough nice leaves to make as many cups as you’d like.
Then fill your cups with whatever goodness you’d like. Things that are marinated work great here, because the cups prevent any of the moisture from getting to the lettuce and turning into a soggy mess. It’s beautiful on its own at this point; if you wanted, you could have several platters of antipasti, and you could leave this one alone with just the cups. We chose to put all of our meats, veggies, and cheeses on the same plate.
And this was the final product.
Simply arrange all of your Italian cured meats, cheeses, and veggies however you’d like. The rolling and arranging takes a little bit of time, but it’s so worth it. I also love serving broken chunks of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and a nice bread paired with good olive oil, balsamic, and herbs for dipping. Your options are really limitless – I recommend just going to your local Whole Foods or favorite little specialty shop and picking out what looks good.
Just don’t forget the most important part – good friends {or family} and lots of wine.
Buon appetito!
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