Thanks for entering cheesy giveaway part 2!
I used random.org to pick a random winner.
comment #58 belongs to…
You will receive
-Williams-Sonoma Cherry Wood Bread Board with Dip Bowl (in the photo above)
-Dried fruits
-Crystallized Ginger
-Chavrie Coupons – Free Cheese, of course!
-Cooking.com Gift Certificate for $50.00
-Chavrie recipe cards (dips, quick tips and wine suggestions)
Please email me your address! veggiebelly AT gmail DOT com
I was going to make these spring rolls with Asian pears. But I had to use up the million or so apples I have sitting in my kitchen. So I used apples instead. Thats the beauty of this recipe, you can use a lot of different fruits. I recommend apples or pears. You could also make this with phyllo pastry or with spring roll wrappers. But who doesn’t love apples and phyllo and brandy and butterscotch!
Here is a somewhat step by-step post. ‘Somewhat’ because I was too lazy to take pictures of every single step 
Start with the apple filling. Use a tart apple, like granny smith. Core and then cut the apple into sticks about 1/3 inch thick. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of salt to the apples.
Now work on the phyllo spring roll. Place a phyllo sheet on a work surface. Spray baking/olive oil spray or brush melted butter evenly over the phyllo sheet. Place the second phyllo sheet over the first. Spray or brush with butter. Repeat for the remaining sheets. You’ll now have a 4 layer stack of phyllo pastry sheets, one on top of the other.
Cut this stack into 4 rough squares. Start with one square (see picture above). Place 4-5 apple sticks on the phyllo square, slightly off center and towards you. Fold the bottom of the phyllo sheets over the apple.
Press down lightly. Then bring up the left and right ends towards the center.
Keeping the ends tucked in, roll the spring roll away from you. Repeat with all the phyllo squares. Remember to keep all your phyllo sheets, except the one you are working with, covered in a damp cloth to prevent them from drying out. Each phyllo stack will give you 4 spring rolls. Bake spring rolls in the oven till golden.
While the spring rolls are baking, make the brandy butterscotch sauce. The world’s easiest brandy butterscotch sauce! Combine Nestle butterscotch morsels, milk and brandy in a bowl and microwave till the butterscotch morsels melt. Thats it!
Serve spring rolls warm with brandy butterscotch sauce. Vanilla or Caramel icecream will also taste great with this!
for spring rolls
1 large tart apple, like granny smith
1 tbsp brown sugar (the butterscotch sauce that goes with this is quite sweet, so I dont use a lot of sugar in the spring rolls)
1/4 tsp powdered cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of salt
12 sheets of phyllo (you will be making 3 ‘stacks’ of 4 layers each)
baking/olive oil spray or 1/4 cup melted butter
Pre-heat oven to 375 f.
Peel apple if you wish (I didnt). Core and then cut the apple into 1/3 inch thick sticks. Toss apple sticks with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
To make the spring rolls, start with 4 phyllo sheets. Place one sheet on a work surface. Spray or brush butter on top of the phyllo sheet. Place another phyllo sheet on top. Spray or brush butter on this sheet. Repeat this for all 4 sheets. You now have a phyllo stack of 4 phyllo sheets. Cut this into 4 equal pieces (they will roughly be squares). Take one square, place apple sticks on it and fold into a spring roll. See detailed pictures and instructions above. Repeat for all phyllo squares.
Place the spring rolls in a buttered or oiled baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes or till the spring rolls are golden. Serve warm with brandy butterscotch sauce.
Note: You could also use spring roll wrappers instead of phyllo dough. Use 12 spring roll wrappers and leave out the baking spray/melted butter. Fold the spring roll according to the pictures and directions in this post. Dip your finger in water and go around the edges to seal the spring roll wrapper. Make sure all sides are well sealed. Deep fry in oil.
for brandy butterscotch sauce
1/2 cup Nestle butterscotch morsels
1/4 cup milk
3 tbsp brandy
Combine everything and microwave in 30 second increments till the morsels are just about melted. Make sure the sauce doesnt burn or boil over in the microwave. Stir to combine, serve warm. To re-heat sauce, add a little more milk and microwave.
This giveaway has ended. Winner announced here.
I have a great giveaway for your from Chavrie cheese! You can win an amazing fall entertaining set worth $100! All you have to do is comment to enter the giveaway. One randomly picked winner will get a beautiful bread board, $50 cooking.com gift certificate, goat cheese coupons and more!
But first, here is a quick and easy goat cheese salad for you. Crisp romaine, soft goat cheese with bits of dried fruit and crystallized ginger, fresh pomegranate seeds…all served with some oil and vinegar on the side. Simple to make, but tastes so gourmet! I love the crystallized ginger with the goat cheese and could eat that all by itself 
You may want to see my post on how to open a pomegranate without making a mess
Breaded Goat Cheese Salad with Dried Fruit and Pomegranate Recipe
serves 1 as an entree
4 tbsp bread crumbs, I used italian herb and garlic flavored bread crumbs
3 heaping tbsp goat cheese
1/2 tbsp chopped dried fruit, I used dried apricots and crystallized ginger
3 large romaine leaves, torn into pieces
2 tbsp fresh pomegranate seeds
Salt and pepper
Olive oil and red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar to serve on the side as dressing.
Place the bread crumbs in a small skillet and toast on low heat till bread crumbs are lightly browned. Turn off heat. Mix goat cheese (make sure its cold) with chopped dried fruit. Take 1 heaping tbsp of the goat cheese mixture. Using your fingers form the goat cheese into a ball and then flatten it into a disc. Gently press the goat cheese disc into the toasted bread crumbs. Make sure all sides are coated. Repeat with the remaining goat cheese and bread crumbs. You should have 3 breaded goat cheese discs.
Place the torn romaine lettuce in a plate. Arrange the goat cheese discs on top. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds, salt and pepper. Serve oil and vinegar on the side for dressing the salad.
-Williams-Sonoma Cherry Wood Bread Board with Dip Bowl (in the photo above)
-Dried fruits
-Crystallized Ginger
-Chavrie Coupons – Free Cheese, of course!
-Cooking.com Gift Certificate for $50.00
-Chavrie recipe cards (dips, quick tips and wine suggestions)
How to enter
-leave a comment here
To increase your chances of winning, also do one or more of the following. You will be counted as many times!
-blog about this giveaway on your blog and link to this post
-use the ‘share’ button below to share this post with friends
-tweet about this giveaway
US residents only please!
Contest ends Thursday, Oct 29th 11.30pm EST
One random winner will be announced on the 30th!
We spent the evening by the fireplace, cozying up, watching the rain, and listening to old songs. Dinner was by the fire place too - a silky pumpkin and cashew soup, scented with fennel and coriander and finished with a little fresh orange juice. This was a filling, warming, comforting meal; perfect for a dreary fall day.
The soup is topped with a gremolata. Now traditional Italian gremolata has parsley, garlic and lemon zest – all minced and mixed together. I changed it up a little to match the soup. The soup has curry flavors, ginger and a touch of orange juice in it. To complement the soup, my gremolata has cilantro, ginger and orange zest. Just put a spoon of gremolata on top of the soup before serving. It really perks up the flavors.
A note on what pumpkin to use for this soup: Pie pumpkin is the best. Pie pumpkins are smaller and rounder than carving/halloween pumpkins. You could also use butternut squash instead of pumpkin.
You can easily veganize this recipe if you wish. Just cut out the milk and use more vegetable stock. The cashew nuts will ensure the soup is creamy even without the milk.
See the pepitas in the picture below? I toasted up the seeds from the pumpkin and served it as another topping for the soup. You could skip the pepitas if you wish and serve the soup with just the gremolata and some good crusty bread for dunking.
Pre-heat oven to 400 F. Cut the pumpkin in half. Scoop out the seeds and fibers. (Discard the fibrous insides, but you could save the pumpkin seeds to toast – about 45 minutes in a 300 F oven). Sprinkle a little salt in the cavities of the pumpkin. Drizzle about 1 tsp of olive oil into the cavities. Place the cut pumpkin halves, cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or till the pumpkin flesh is soft.
While the pumpkin in roasting, roughly chop the onion and mince ginger. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a deep pan. Add fennel seeds. When they start sizzling, add onion and ginger. Saute on medium heat till onion is translucent. Then add cumin or coriander powder, turmeric and paprika or cayenne. Cook on medium for about 2 munites.
When the pumpkin is done, scoop the flesh using a spoon (hold the hot pumpkin with oven mitts or let it cool before handling). Discard the pumpkin skin. Place the pumpkin flesh in the pan with the onion and spices. Pour in sugar, milk, water or stock and cashews and let the soup simmer for about 3 minutes. Then pour into a blender and blend into a smooth puree. Stir in orange juice and mix well. Serve with cilantro gremolata.
Cilantro Orange Ginger Gremolata Recipe
4 tbsp cilantro finely minced
1/4 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp orange zest
Salt
Mince cilantro and ginger very finely. Mix minced cilantro, ginger, orange zest and salt together.
S has put in some new features and embellishments in our backyard. We now have a bird house, bird bath and a little stone bench.
S also did a fun little thing in our backyard – tree faces! The grandfather trees (the grand old ones) now have faces!
Just look at that tree…all he needed was a face to make him perfect. And I love this tree face. Makes the tree look so dignified. A contemplative, learned, meditative face. Henceforth, he is the philosopher tree.
He has a handsome profile too. He pouts, but thats ok.
Just look at that nose…his nose has character.
Tree faces are easy to install. See how the nose and eyes are hanging from nails? That’s it! Just put nails on the tree and hang facial features!
Talking of facial features…heres a particularly ugly face S chose for this tree. Just look at him in all his scruffiness. A far cry from the philosopher tree.
He needs to get his eyebrows done…BAD. A nose job wouldn’t hurt either.
Just look at those bulbous eyes and horsey teeth! What an unkempt, goofy looking fella. Henceforth, he is the scruffy tree.
I love my philosopher tree..
Where to buy tree faces – any garden store or home improvement store like home depot should have them. S got our tree people from the local garden center.
Ever made a bloody mess opening a pomegranate? Or do you buy pre-seeded, over priced pomegranates at the grocery store because you dont want to deal with opening a fresh one? If you’ve answered ‘yes’, this post is for you! A completely mess free way to open those lovely, fresh pomegranates that are in season now…
Fill a large bowl with water. Using a sharp knife, make two deep slits on top of the pomegranate in the shape of a ‘x’. Do this on a cutting board for more support. Place the pomegranate in the bowl of water.
Put your thumbs where you made the ‘x’ shaped slit, and pry open the pomegranate. Do this underwater so that the red juices don’t splash on you. You should be able to pull the fruit apart in wedges. If the pomegranate is difficult to pull apart, make the slit on top deeper and longer.
Pull the pomegranate wedges apart into manageable pieces. Gently remove the white membrane, while keeping the fruit under water. Then use your fingers to gently remove the red seeds. The seeds will sink to the bottom and the membrane and skin will float to the top.
Skim the top of the water to remove all floating white membrane and skin. Then pour out the water, reserving the pomegranate seeds. Pour a little more cold water over the seeds and pour out once again to make sure all the white membrane is gone. Gently pat dry the pomegranate seeds. Serve immediately or store covered in the fridge.
I had a really stressful week. When I was talking about it to my friend K, she suggested two things. Go over to her place for dinner. Or make something decadent and post it on my blog. (Notice how both involve food?!). I went with option two. What can be more stress busting than cooking (and then making S clean up)? What can make a girl happier than a luscious raspberry mouse tart with dark chocolate ganache hidden inside?! And what can make me forget my worries that reading your comments Stress be gone!
You can whip up this dessert rather quickly because there is no baking involved. The only time consuming step is chilling the tartlets for atleast 3 hours so that the filling sets.
I used store bought graham cracker mini tarts. You can use whatever pie crust you like. An oreo crust will be great too.
The filling is raspberry jello powder or agar agar, mixed with a quick raspberry jam (recipe below), cream cheese and cream.
Whip everything together. Pour a little chocolate ganache at the bottom of the pie/tart. Then pour the raspberry mousse in and let it set.
You cant see the chocolate layer, but once you cut into the tartlet, there is a nice little chocolate surprise waiting for you.
Regular mousse involves eggs. But this recipe is eggless. You still get a wonderful, creamy yet light mousse from the addition of fruit pectin and jello powder or agar agar.
6 mini graham cracker pie crust or any pie/tart shell of your choice. If the crust you are using needs baking, pre-bake it according to package directions
for quick chocolate ganache
2 oz dark chocolate bar
1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream
for raspberry mousse
6 oz fresh raspberries
1 1/2 tbsp fruit pectin powder
3/4 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 tbsp raspberry jello powder or agar-agar
1 1/2 tbsp boiling water
3 tbsp cream cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
Start with the raspberry jam. In a medium pan, heat the raspberries, pectin, sugar and salt on medium heat. Cook till the mixture is bubbling and slightly thickened. About 4 minutes. Then press the raspberries through a strainer, discard the pulp and seeds and reserve the liquid jam. Let the jam cool.
Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric beater, place the boiling water and jello or agar agar and mix till dissolved. Then add the cooled jam and cream cheese. Mix with a fork till well incorporated. Pour in cream. Using the beater, whip/beat the mixture on high till thick.
For the chocolate ganache, place the dark chocolate and cream in a pan and cook on low heat just untill the chocolate melts. Be careful not to burn the chocolate
Divide the chocolate ganache evenly among the pie crusts. Let it cool about 5 minutes. Then pour the raspberry mousse mixture into the pie crusts, over the chocolate ganache. Refridgerate atleast 3 hours to allow the mousse to set. Serve chilled, garnished with fresh raspberries and chocolate shavings.
NOTE (added Oct 13 ’09): the raspberry filling was very slightly runny for me. (You can see that in the picture of the cut open tart above). You may want to use more jello or agar (3 tbsp jello/agar + 3 tbsp boiling water) to help the filling set better.
Thankyou all for entering the cheesy giveaway. We put everyone’s name in a bowl (those of you who blogged or tweeted about this giveaway were counted twice/thrice). S picked 3 names from the bowl. S always picks my giveaway winners…read this post to find out why.
Stay tuned for cheesy giveaway part 2 coming soon!
