cooking

Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup: Curry Cheese Log

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This is a great recipe for creating something different than your usual cheese log; a spicy, layered, deep taste that has a lot of facets.  It’d probably go well with the right wine – like a Syrah.

I’m also considering cutting it with a little butter/butter substitute, olive oil, or something else to make it into a spread.  Its also a bit hard to coat the roll in stage 9, so I wonder if there might be a better way to do it.

8 oz cream cheese
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (may need a bit more)
1 Tbsp dried Basil

  1. Put cream cheese in a microwaveable bowl.
  2. Sprinkle curry powder over cream cheese.
  3. Cover cream cheese and curry powder with blue cheese.
  4. Microwave the bowl with the cheese and curry in 15-second increments until soft enough to blend.
  5. Mix the cheese and curry thoroughly with a no-stick spoon or spatula until finely blended – it’ll take on a pale yellow or orange color.  You might need to microwave it occasionally.
  6. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator.  Keep there for 2 hours at least in order to set.
  7. Mix pecans and basil, spread out on foil.
  8. Roll the cheese and curry mix into a log about an inch thick.
  9. Roll the cheese log in the mixture of pecans and basil until well coated.  You might need to do a bit of work to patch “holes”
  10. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.  Serve on top of crackers or toast.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Recipe: Vegetarian Cassoulet

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Cassoulet is a classic french dish of beans, spices, and meats baked slowly.  It’s a real source of pride in France.  The best way I can find to describe it is somewhere between baked beans, chili, and a casserole.

  • 2 Tablespoon Olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp chopped garlic (about 4 cloves)
  • 2 Parsnips peeled, diced.
  • 1 sweet potato, peeled, diced
  • 1 medium onion, diced.
  • About 2 cups water.
  • 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp ground mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried marjoram
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 3 cups cooked white beans (about 2 14 oz cans)
  • Parsley or scallions to garnish, optional

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. In a shallow pan, sautee parsnips, sweet potato, onion, and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes.
  3. Mix mustard, vinegar, and a little water into a paste.
  4. Take casserole pan, and add 1 cup of water, mustard mix and spices, blend thoroughly.
  5. Add vegetables and beans to mixture in casserole pan.  Stir thoroughly to mix.
  6. Add remaining water until the mix is just barely covered.
  7. Cover pan in foil.
  8. Bake for 45 minutes.
  9. Uncover pan, bake for 15 minutes.
  10. Stir before serving.  Add parsley or scallions when serving if you wish.

How does it look?  Actually very appealing.

And the result?

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Potato and Garlic Soup

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A little variant of a recipe I got out of a Mediterranean cookbook.

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large onion, sliced thin
  • 2 Tbsp crushed garlic (about 4 cloves)
  • 1 large potato, sliced thin
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 14 oz can chopped tomatoes, drained (about 1 1/2 cups tomatoes)
  • 1 tap dried basil
  • 3 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
  • salt and pepper to taste

1) Put onions, garlic, potatoes, paprika and oil into pot.  Sautee until the onions begin to soften.  Don’t overheat.
3) Add tomatoes, basil, vegetable stock.   Simmer for 20-30 minutes until potatoes are very soft.
4) With a spatula or large spoon, break potatoes up, thickening the broth.
5) Serve with salt and paper.

The result?

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