Chickpea Poppers

Hiya friends.  This is going to be a quick post because I'm a bit under the weather.  Just last week I was happily remarking to my parents that I hadn't gotten sick all school year.  Karma's a you-know-what.

This week I found myself in a food rut and wanted to make something different for dinner.  Earlier in the week I had cooked up some chickpeas (I used dried) and I started thinking up different ways I could use them.  These chickpea poppers are like healthier chicken nuggets.  They're fun to eat and nutritious to boot.  These were my dinner along with some curried cauliflower.  They'd be great as a party appetizer, too, though!

Chickpea Poppers

Ingredients:


1 cup chickpeas
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup breadcrumbs


Directions:


Preheat oven to 375


Combine all the ingredients in a food processor.  Process until all of the ingredients are mixed together. Make sure to not completely macerate the chickpeas--you want some texture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping halfway through.  Serve with your choice of dipping sauce.


Before I sign off, I want to do a quick little shout-out for my Aunt's blog.  She's doing a 40-day fast for Lent and is blogging about it over at Writing on Faith.  The posts are really interesting and she, of course, is awesome.  Make sure to stop by!

Pesto Palmiers

While making this recipe I realized two valuable things:

1) My life needs more pesto.

2) My life needs more puff pastry dough.

My thighs told me that I was full of poppycock and after a moment of brief resistance, I had to agree. My wallet voiced its agreement, as well.

Puff pastry may not be ideal for daily use but it is pretty much perfect for quick appetizers. If the two met at a bar they would discover after two cranberry vodkas (because what else would puff pastry drink?) that they are totally made for each other.

There is a lot you can do with puff pastry dough. Wrap it around cocktail dogs. Fold it up with some chocolate. You can even make knots out of strips and enjoy it as its saucy self.

For my party I layered it with pesto and parmesan before rolling the ends into the center for some pretty palmiers. I have no idea what palmier means. Up until five minutes before the party, I didn't know how to pronounce it.

French Lesson #1:

palmier = palm-ee-ayy

Is your mind blown like mine? Or are you all gourmands who already knew the pronunciation? Feel free to mock if you are the latter.

Anyhoo, this is the perfect holiday appetizer. According to me.

Pesto Palmiers

Ingredients:

Puff pastry dough, thawed (one sheet)

1/2 cup pesto

1/4 cup parmesan

Directions:

Thaw puff pastry dough either in the refrigerator over night or at room temperature for 2-3 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll out the puff pastry dough. Spread the pesto out using a spatula. Make sure to leave about an inch on all four sides of the dough. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese. Roll both sides into the center. Chill in the refrigerator for an hour.

Slice vertically into 30 slices. Lay flat on the baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until browned.

Source: Cooking Light

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Ever hear this? In my experience, it's true. Tell a guy that you cook and suddenly you're the most interesting person in the room. Tell them you cook bacon; well, you might as well just get those marriage certificates ready.

I honestly don't understand the mystical power that bacon seems to have over guys. Saturday I had my housewarming party and I had an entire menu planned with a variety of foods. I had hummus with veggies and pita chips. Gorgonzola and cherry tomato pizzettes. Chickpea and sundried tomato pizzettes.

Do you know what I ended up whipping another batch of half way through the party? The bacon wrapped asparagus that I decided to make fifteen minutes before the party started. The guys were literally obsessed with these. They finished an entire platter in ten minutes.

Therefore, I think that old adage of how to get to a man's heart needs a little sprucing up.

The way to a man's heart is through bacon.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

Ingredients:

1 package of bacon

1 bunch of asparagus

Salt/Pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Clean the asparagus, and break the stalks.

Next, wrap half a slice of bacon around the asparagus, leaving the tips and bottom visible. Arrange on a baking sheet and sprinkle salt and pepper.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the bacon is cooked and asparagus tender. Serve at room temperature.

Caramelized Onion Tart

I went to a party a few weeks back and was put on appetizer duty. Usually the dessert girl, I had a moment's pause where I thought, what do I make?

I flirted with the idea of some tofu dish, and then decided I didn't want my friends to hate me. Then I thought some dip and veggies, and decided again that I didn't want my friends to hate me. So I hunkered down and spent some time surfing through my usual recipe sites. I found the perfect thing.

Caramelized Onion Tart.

They loved it.

I loved it.

Party = Success!

Caramelized Onion Tart

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

1 medium-large onion

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

2 tbsp white wine

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1 egg yolk

1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough, defrosted in refrigerator

1/4 cup grated parmesan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onions, sugar, salt, pepper, and wine. Saute until the onions are nice and caramelized (brown in color), roughly 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat. Combine the ricotta and egg yolk in a small bowl and mix together.

Put the puff pastry dough on a cookie sheet and fold in the edges about one inch.

Spread the ricotta-egg mixture on the dough, right up to the edges of the fold. Sprinkle on half of the parmesan, adding the onions next. Be sure to spread the onions evenly on the dough. Add the remaining parmesan.

Bake the tart for 25-30 minutes, until the puff pastry is cooked through and the cheese on top has browned. Cut into rectangles or squares once it has cooled. Serve warm.