Cheesy outdoors spring picnic #1

Cheesy outdoors spring picnic #1

I have not written anything for a long time since I had a lot of work and Spring has also started here therefore I tried to spend as much time out in the nature as possible.

I really had to abandon my kitchen for a while but the  thought of creating cheesy recipes for sunny outdoors events inspired me a lot.  You know you don’t always have to create something totally mind-blowing if you would like to both enjoy good weather and your favourite ingredients . 🙂

So what I figured out for a perfect picnic is…. ok, I have several ideas so lets make a series of outdoors indulgence and let  ourselves be as greedy as possible on cold beer and tasty cheese….yummmm

The 1st recipe to be shared is a Stout beer  bread based grilled cheese with fresh rucola salad.

If you only wish to have the salad or the grilled cheese on its own, its totally fine of course, but the 2 dishes together would make a match made in heaven for a Sunday eat-out with your friends or family.

So here you are… the magnificent grilled cheese and the salad….:)

STEP #1 – Preaparation of stout beer bread:

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups  of rye flour ( 350 gramms)
• ‘/4 cup milk ( 0, 5 dl )
• 1 tablespoons cane sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 package yeast
• 1 cup Stout or Porter beer ( I used Guinness)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1  tablespoon honey
• 1 egg

Preparation:

1. Put the yeast to the slightly warm milk for 4-5 minutes  ( my grandma always said it should be just as warm as your hand)  to ferment it a little bit.

2. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl till thoroughly mixed.

3. Get a small sauce pan and warm the beer on the stove, then add the butter and the honey until they are melt together ( Warning! don’t let it boil)

4. Crack the egg in with the dry ingredients, then  pour in the warmed beer/butter/honey mixture and stir till you get a mixed, slightly sticky dough

5. After you mix everything together, let the dough raise for 30- 40  mins. To help the raising cover  the bowl with a kitchen towel and put some blankets on it or put next to a heater.

6. After 30 mins of rising flour knead the dough for an additional 2-3 minutes , add extra flour if needed but its not necessary.

7. Put some butter to the bread pan to grease it and place the dough in the pan. Let it raise for an addititional 20-25 minutes back under the blankets.

8. Preheat the owen to 375 Farenheits and bake the bread for 30-35 minutes till the top is golden brown. You can also check with  a needle if the dough is ready inside. As the rye flour itself  is darker than plain flour it might get tricky if you are only checking the color changes of the crust.

STEP #2. – Stout bread Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of the freshlybaked stour beer bread
• ‘ tablespoon butter
• ruccola
• 4 slices of Old Amsterdam Gouda Cheese

Preparation:

1 . Heat 1 tablespoon  butter in a cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-low heat.

2.  Put some butter, ruccola and the Old Amsterdam cheese together as a sandwich

3.Press the sandwich slightly and place it in the skillet. Cook until golden on the bottom, 3 minutes.

4.Flip, adding more butter to the pan if needed, and cook until the other side is golden and the cheese melts, 3 minutes.

STEP #3 – Fresh ruccola salad:

Ingredients:

• 1 box of ruccola ( approx. 250  gramms)
• 1 box of blueberries ( 100 gramms)
• 2 pears ( the type does not matter, its delicious with all )

Dressing :

• juice of a half lemon
• 2 tablespoons of  honey
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil ( extra virgin)

Prearation:

Well there is not much to say. Mix the ingredients of the salad. Mix the ingredients of the dressing and pour it on the salad.  … Ready to be served 🙂

 

 

And here  you go, the perfect picninc menu to be enjoyed with a bottle of stout beer  and ones you’d like to share it with.

Have a nice sunny Sunday and let me know it the recipes worked for you as well ….:)

 

 

Source:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Awesome-Beer-Bread-with-Yeast/?ALLSTEPS

 

A romantic cheese date with yourself

In the last couple of weeks I could not stop eating pear and blue cheese and I was trying to find some new alternatives for their usage after having Pear and Blue cheese pie, Pear and blue cheese salad and blue cheese dip with crispy pear ( I will share it later). Anyway, after realising that although the previous recipes were all delicious I still needed to create a full dish that could serve as a perfect dinner. Easy, cheesy and filling so I started searching for the perfect combination and I guess I could find it. 🙂

The recipe requires quite a few ingredients since I made a new combination on 2 recipes I had found online, but it is ready in 50-70 minutes and its a real indulgence itself. So if you would like to give yourself or your other half a an easy but mouth-watering surprise, than here you are…

 

Chicken with Dijoni mustard and Pear, Walnut ,Blue cheese bake

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 pears, unpeeled, halved, and cored
• 1 Tbsp (15 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
• 0,5 Tbsp (7-8 ml) Dijon mustard
• 0,5 Tbsp (7-8 ml) pure maple syrup or honey ( I used acacia honey)
• 0,5 Tbsp (7-8 ml) fresh squeezed lemon juice
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup ( 5 dkg ) walnut
• 1/2 cup (10 dkg) crumbled blue cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200 Celisus (approx. 390 Farenheit)

Lightly oil a baking dish.  Combine olive oil, Dijon mustard, maple syrup/ honey, and lemon juice in small bowl and whisk to blend. Place chicken breasts to baking pan, brush Dijon mixture over chicken breasts and sprinkle with a little salt and fresh pepper. Bake for 20 more minutes until juices run clear when chicken is pierced. Remove chicken to a heated platte
r and cover to keep warm.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 Celsius (approx. 375 F). Arrange the pears, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and thyme. Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Spoon 2 teaspoons of crumbled cheese in the center of each pear half, return the pears to the oven and roast until they are tender and gold and the cheese is soft, about 8-10 more minutes. Also, put the walnuts on the baking sheet next to the pears and toast them in the oven until golden brown and fragrant, about 3-5 minutes. When the pears are cooked, put 2 of them on a serving plate and add 3 fairly thick slices of the chicken breast,  sprinkle the toasted walnuts and the tle cumbled cheese leftover  over the top. Serve hot.

If you would like to make this cheese date even more engaging you’ better add some booze to it;)

My personal recommendation would be a glass of Fuller’s London Black Cab stout or Pyromani from Roth Beer. Of course if you’d choose a more traditional combination and more of a wine person the best match would be a glass of Tokaji or Rajnai Riesling from the Frittmann winery.

Enjoy!;)
Did you like it? Please share your experience or any ides how the recipe could be improved.