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Queso syrah syrah

Well, if you’re following along, we’ve made it to the end of the year. Good riddance to 2020, and I’m sending it off with one final dip. 

For some small frivolity in this downer of a year, my sweetie and I were bantering about who knows what when I stumbled onto the phrase “queso syrah.” As a regular crossword puzzler, I am shocked I’d not thought of it sooner. 

Queso syrah ingredients.

But as soon as I spoke the phrase, I realized this could just be an adaptation of port wine cheese spread. I found several recipes for port wine cheese, and ultimately decided to mash up the pounded cheddar with port sauce from Amy Thielen with a more typical port wine spread from Rachel Ray.

The port syrup is a very simple addition of brown sugar to port to make a little syrup-y wine. Since I used the less sweet syrah than port, I thought this especially a good addition and added a little more sugar than called for, but your mileage may vary on how sweet you want your cheese spread. 

I also think I overdid it a little on the garlic. Rarely, for me, has doubling the recipe’s amount of garlic gone wrong, but in this case, it tended to overwhelm the gentler flavors of wine and cheese. Still, it tasted good for garlic lovers, so again, YMMV. 

Other than that, I used my small skillet to make the sauce and also to serve the dip rather than rolling it into a ball, like the traditional recipe. So, I got double use and still a nice serving platter (even if it was just me and my sweetie enjoying it). 

Here’s hoping for a better 2021 and thanks for reading!

Pretty and tasty.

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients

  • ½ c. syrah 
  • 1–2 T. brown sugar
  • 2 c. sharp white cheddar, shredded
  • 4 T. butter, softened
  • 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 2 t. Dijon mustard 
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • Pepper
  • Pinch of cayenne, optional
  • ½ c. chopped walnuts, optional
  • 3 T. fresh parsley, chopped, optional
  • Crackers or bread, for serving

Directions

Combine syrah and brown sugar in a small skillet or small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for about 3 minutes, until the mixture slightly thickens and all the sugar has dissolved. Pour into a large bowl and let cool. 

Once the wine syrup is cooled, add in the cheddar, butter, cream cheese, mustard, garlic, and peppers. Stir with a fork or spatula until all ingredients are well combined. 

In a cleaned small skillet, spread the cheese mixture. Press to create an even layer. Add the walnuts and parsley on top, if using. 

Chill for at least an hour, or overnight, for the mixture’s flavors to combine, and enjoy! 

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Ham, apple, and a half-day quiche

The recipe for this ham & apple quiche from Food & Wine warns up front that it takes about 4 hours to come together, so I figure I should offer the same caution in starting this post. Granted, most of that time is passive, and none of it is all that taxing if you’re prepared. But this is not the dinner to start after work. 

This is a good dinner for snow days, holidays, or other days off from work. *wink wink, nudge nudge*

Ham and apple quiche ingredients.

Like with any good pie crust, this one should chill for about an hour in the fridge, and then another half-hour or so once it’s rolled out and put into the skillet. This one also calls for pre-baking the crust. 

Once that’s all done, the next step involves trying desperately to create these beautiful little florets of ham and apple that are kind of a pain but do look quite nice if you can pull it off. (If not, honestly, getting thin slices and then chopping them up small will perhaps work just as well, if not as pretty.) 

Then, finally comes the cheese, and then the egg and half and half mixture.

Oh, and then the baking. While it says to bake for 40 to 50 minutes, I found myself looking at upwards of an hour before the thing set, though I didn’t use the larger tart pan called for but rather my small skillet. The ingredients, with slightly fewer florets, otherwise worked in the differently sized equipment, but perhaps that was the reason for the time difference. 

Either way, I quite enjoyed this one, even with all the work. It had a nice presentation and a better flavor. 

Nom noms.

Here’s what I did, altering the Food & Wine recipe to fit 9-inch skillet: 

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 stick (½ c.) unsalted butter, cubed
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Ice water, for crust 
  • 8 oz. thinly sliced Black Forest ham, cut into 1 ¼ in. strips
  • 1 medium Granny Smith apple, quartered, cored, and very thinly sliced on a mandoline
  • 1 c. shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
  • 1 ¼ c. half and half
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 t. fresh thyme

Directions

Mix together the flour and a little salt and pepper. Add the cubed butter and mix in using a pastry blender until you have chickpea-sized pieces. Drizzle in ice water until dough comes together. Work until it comes together and pat into a disk. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 45 minutes to an hour. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll out chilled dough into about an 11 in. round. Fit dough into a 9- to 10- in. skillet. Chill rolled out and placed dough for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375 degrees.

Line the pie crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for about 40 minutes, and then remove weights and parchment and bake until golden and crisp, about another 10 minutes. Let cool. 

Place a strip of ham on a work surface. Arrange a row of slightly overlapping apple slices lengthwise on a ham strip; roll up loosely and place in the pie crust, spiral side up, and repeat as appropriate to fill up the pie shell. (I had to use other utensils to keep the florets from unraveling, but if you dear reader find a better way, please let me know!) Sprinkle cheese on top.

Whisk together the half and half, eggs, egg yolk, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour in and around the apple and ham rolls. 

Bake at 375 degrees until the custard is set, about 50 minutes, loosely tenting with foil to prevent the crust from burning. Remove from heat, and let cool for about 15 minutes, and enjoy!

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Shelf-stability a plus for three-ingredient dinner

Well, this was a trying week, after weeks of trying weeks. My 2020 Bingo card did not have my first derecho on it, and it was not a welcome addition.

However, at this point, with no loss of life nor limb, no property destroyed, few groceries lost, and power restored, it’s quite easy for me to feel grateful for this week. Plus, I had so much unexpected free time to binge through my favorite lesbian necromancer fantasy series.

For those still suffering through the fallout from the storm, my thoughts are with you.

This week has also given me a new appreciation for having shelf-stable items in our pantry. Before the pandemic, I wasn’t a survivalist, and I am still not there yet, but I have been thinking more about being adaptable and having on-hand items that will keep. That’s part of what made this week’s recipe of three-ingredient (plus salt, optional) mac & cheese from Serious Eats such a draw.

Mac & cheese ingredients.

It’s quick, it’s easy, and two of the three ingredients will last a very, very long time, and one will merely last a long time and is pretty easily replaced. Just keep some macaroni, or other small pasta, and some evaporated milk on your shelf, and some cheese in your fridge, and you’ll almost always have a dinner that takes just 10 minutes to make.

It is great.

Since I wanted to make it in my 9-inch skillet, I could only use half of the evaporated milk — which is as the recipe called for — but if you really wanted to double it, I’m sure it’d work in a larger skillet or Dutch oven.

The proportions are pretty easy to remember (though it helps to have a scale) as it’s 6 oz. each of the evaporated milk, dry pasta, and cheese, and a pinch of salt, plus some water to cover the pasta. The evaporated milk, for us, came in a 12 oz. can, so doubling would I assume/hope come up with 12 oz. of each, but only the 6 oz. amounts will fit in a 9-inch skillet.

Plus, since I made it twice, I did learn that you can either buy a block of cheddar (or other cheese) or buy pre-shredded cheese, and both work just as well. Though I only played with sharp cheddar, it does say you can use any other cheese that would melt down well.

It’s nothing fancy, obviously, but these days, simple and shelf-stable are so welcome.

So simple. So satisfactory.

Here’s what I did, following the recipe:

Ingredients

  • 6 oz. evaporated milk
  • 6 oz. shredded cheddar
  • 6 oz. dry macaroni pasta
  • Pinch of salt, for boiling, optional
  • Pepper, for serving, optional
  • Water, to cover the pasta

Directions

In a 9- to 10-inch skillet, pour in the dry pasta, and add water to just cover the pasta. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt, if using. Bring to a boil over high heat, and continue to cook on high to medium-high heat, stirring often to prevent sticking, until the water is mostly evaporated and the pasta is al dente, about 6 minutes (another easy to remember number!).

Add the milk and bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer. Add the cheese, and cook until melted, and the sauce has cooked down, another 2 to 3 minutes.

Season with more salt, if desired, and pepper, to taste, and serve immediately and enjoy!