Kara's Crostini

Life is a series of adventures, isn't it?  And, I love the way the pieces and parts of life weave together. 

Way back in 4th grade, I was put into the beta test group of advanced kids.  I was lucky enough to spend the balance of my grade school, junior high school and high school years with a lot of those folks.  Along the way, other grade schools fed into the junior high then other junior highs fed into the high school.  So, along the way I met new friends.  One of those is a fellow named Steve.  Steve and I kept in touch for many years and I got to know his wife, Pam.  Then, life interfered and we lost touch.

Fast forward to 2004 when I met Connie.  I winked at him on match.com.  He responded.  We corresponded then met for dinner at the restaurant of my choice:  Sangiovese.  We got married a couple of years later.

Connie plays bridge.  He was talking to one of his fellow bridge players about this blog.  She said one of her best friends had a blog.  That Skinny Chick can Bake by Lizzy Do.  She introduced us.  Liz was totally delightful.  We started chatting and she told me where she lived.  I commented that some friends I'd lost track of used to live right about there.  Well, what do you know,  Pam and Steve live across the street from Liz and Bill and they're the best of friends.  Small world, isn't it?

We all got together for dinner and had a lovely time.  This past weekend it was time for another adventure.  We were going to go to Bonge's Tavern.  Now, Bonge's is one of those destination restaurants.  It was originally the local bar in a community named Perkinsville.  Many years ago, it was converted to a restaurant.  You get there early and tailgate in the parking lot.  After a long while (like a couple of hours) your party's name is called and you're seated for a fantastic dinner.  We gathered at Liz and Bill's house at 4:30.  Liz was finishing up taking some photos of her blue cheese gougeres.

And, Lambeau was helping. 

Head on over to Liz's blog and you'll be able to make those yummy gougeres yourself. 

Here's the crew:

We piled into Liz and Bill's car and headed north.  Bill and Connie in the front seat.  Steve, Pam and me in the back seat.  And, Liz in steerage - the jumpseat in the WAY back.  She was there with the cooler with my shrimp crostini and Pam's cooler with the wine and the container with the gougeres.  Since they were packed warm and she didn't want them to steam, she took the top off the container.  The aroma of blue cheese wafted through the car.  We probably all looked like a bunch of pups with our noses in the air sniffing.  YUM!  A couple of gougeres were tested on the way north.  They were every bit as good as they smelled.  Finally, we were at Perkinsville.  See the fellow in the left in the photo? 

Well, he came up to the car and said they were full up for the evening.  Bummer.  I asked what time folks had to get there to get in for that evening.  Are you ready for this?  3:00.  That's right, these folks were going to be tailgating for about four to five hours to get in.  Here's what the tailgating looks like:

Brainstorming time.  Where can we go?  Every restaurant we could think of on the way north was booked...  How about Sangiovese?  Perfect!  They could accomodate six on the deck overlooking the river.  Back south we headed.  But, wait!  What about the appetizers.  Well, being the intrepid adventurers we are, we ate them in the car.  That was a bit tricky because I'd packed anticipating a tailgate where I could put them together.  But, thanks to Liz unpacking the cooler for me and Pam holding the dish, we were in business. 

Now, one final thanks - to my lovely daughter-in-law Kara.  This is her recipe.  It's become my go-to for elegant finger food.   The sauce is delicious and an absolutely perfect foil for the toasted bread and the shrimp.  I first posted this recipe back in May of 2010.  But, it's so good I think it bears repeating!

Kara's Crostini

Ingredients:

1/4 c mayonnaise
2 t wing sauce
8 arugula sprigs
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
baguette
shrimp


Directions:

Pulse the mayo, wing sauce, arugula and garlic in a food processor until it's relatively smooth.  Cut the baguette into 3/8" slices.  Lay the slices on a baking sheet and broil for 3 minutes on the first side and two on the second.  To serve, schmear some sauce on a slice of baguette and top it with a shrimp. 

Judy's 50!!!

Judy's husband, Carl, is a super guy.  He carefully planned a surprise party for Judy's 50th.  Then, when a lot of the email addresses didn't work for Girls Night Out, he asked one of the other gals to forward his email.  She did. To everyone.  Including Judy.  Ok, so much for the surprise.  Watching the emails go back and forth was very amusing, actually.  I was just REALLY glad I wasn't the culprit!  Judy and Carl live on Fort Ben in one of the old officer's houses.  Many years ago, Fort Benjamin Harrison was shut down.  The redevelopment has been amazing.  It's been tremendous for the city because there's been a lot of new commerce out there.  The officer's houses are actually huge duplexes.  Judy and Carl have done an amazing job of renovating their house.  Now, the bonus for them is their neighbors.  Fantastic neighbors.  When they have their famous (infamous?) Halloween parties, the whole Girls Night Out crew is invited as are all their neighbors and some other assorted friends. Consequently, I knew that if I volunteered to bring some goodies to Judy's birthday party I'd have a great tasting group.  There were several recipes that I wanted to try out for our big open house in January.  I figured that I'd make a few and eliminate half and we'd have some newbies for our party. The best laid plans of mice and men.  There's only one I'd elminate.  And, I made SEVEN...

Kara's Garlic Shrimp Toasts
Bacon Blue Cheese Dip
Lemon Basil Parmesan Crisps
Wing Eggrolls with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce
Spicy Dough Knots with Onion Dipping Sauce
Caprese Skewers with Pesto
Baked Goat Cheese with Rosemary Cream

Here are some of the comments:

Kara's Garlic Shrimp Toasts - I should've toasted the bread and made the spread a bit spicier.  The shrimp were too limp.  Next time, buy better shrimp.  These are really good when made correctly.  But, as an appetizer for our open house, I think they'd get soggy too quickly.  And, it's never a good idea to have shrimp sitting out...  Keep this one for smaller parties.  This recipe is from my wonderful daughter-in-law, Kara.  Here's the link to my original post on this :  Garlic Shrimp Toasts.

Bacon Blue Cheese Dip - Connie's favorite.  In fact, a lot of folks really liked this one.  LOTS of blue cheese flavor.  Easy to make ahead then heat the evening of the open house.  This one is going on the menu.  This recipe is thanks to Sara at Easy Appetizers.

Lemon Basil Parmesan Crisps - This takes a good bit of work for not many appetizers.  But, one guest said these'd rank right up there with chocolate.  I've got to agree.  But, then I prefer caramel to chocolate...  These will be on the smaller parties list since I need appetizers that I can make en masse without tons of effort per appetizer.  This recipe is also thanks to Sara at Easy Appetizers.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any photos of this recipe.  Here's the direct link to Sara's recipe:  Lemon Basil Parmesan Crisps.

Wing Eggrolls with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce - I'm sad to say these disappeared at the party.  I'd have had the leftovers for breakfast.  And, lunch.  They were that good.  Absolutely my favorite newbie.  I've got to figure out a way to make them in smaller, bite-sized portions for the open house.  Connie finally cut the eggrolls in about 6 pieces each so they'd go further.  This recipe is from Rachel at Our Blissfully Delicious Life.

Spicy Dough Knots with Onion Sauce - This is the one I'm keeping off the list.  Maybe I used the wrong kind of pizza dough.  Or, maybe because we had two hours to make seven appetizers and this was the last one we made.  Whatever.  It was a pain in the tookus to make.  The taste was pretty good.  But, when I looked at the bowls and platters, this was clearly the one that folks liked the least.  The recipe is from one of my favorite bloggers, Sommer at A Spicy Perspective.  Because her recipes are typically spot-on, my guess is it's my error!

Caprese Skewers with Pesto - Easy!  Good!  I have no idea where I saw this idea.  I stored it in the back of my mind.  Then, when we got our bag of cherry tomatoes and I saw the hunk of mozzarella that needed to be used up, it came to the forefront.  These pretty much disappeared as soon as I set them out.  They're very easy to make ahead.  And, I'll make and freeze some pesto with the abundance of basil we have in the yard.  Perfect for the open house.  It'll seem like a little bit of summer in the winter!!  How to make them?  On each skewer you want a small mozzarella ball and a cherry or grape tomato.  Drizzle with pesto.  Here's the link to my friend Monica's fabulous pesto:
  Monica's Pesto.

Baked Goat Cheese with Rosemary Cream - This is a knockoff of an appetizer at one of my favorite restaurants - San Giovese.  Connie and I went there on our first date in 2004.  Since then, we've been back several times and have always had incredible food.  This is absolutely going on the party list.  It's super simple to make and people just swoon over the flavors. 

Rather than have one HUGE post, I'm going to publish the appetizers not covered here in another post(s)- with the exception of the dough knots, which you can get from Sommer's blog - along with a LOT of wonderful ideas!

Garlic Shrimp Crostini

My daughter-in-law, Kara, brought this to Thanksgiving dinner.  It's fabulous and tastes like you fussed when in reality it's super quick to make.  Her recipe calls for buttering the bread then frying it in olive oil.  Since the goat cheese appetizer was so rich, I decided to skip that step.  Loved the results

Garlic Shrimp Crostini

Ingredients:

8 arugula sprigs
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 c mayo
1-2 tsp wing sauce
baguette, sliced very thinly
shrimp, cooked

Directions:
Place the arugula, garlic, mayo and wing sauce in the food processor and blend until it forms a smooth paste. 

Toast the baguette slices on both sides.  Smear some paste on each crostini and top with a shrimp.