Serrano Ham Tapas – A FEAST for your eyes and your tummy!

By Chef Lippe

Serrano ham is one of Spain’s favorite meats. When you walk into any tapas bar, restaurant or little shop you will see the hams hanging from the wall or a wall decorated with the ropes from the ham. I have included the recipe for one tapa and pictures from many others. It has also become a favorite at my Farmers Market stands.

I hope you have fun making and eating these!

Chef Lippe

Ham and Chicken Stuffed Endives

Left over chicken

Serrano Ham

Alioli

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Slice the bottom inch away from the endive, remove the 6 largest leaves and arrange on plate.

Spoon 1 teaspoon of alioli along the bottom of each leaf.

Arrange shredded chicken on alioli and top with Serrano ham

Drizzle with good olive oil and server with tomatoes and fresh bread.

Enjoy the rest of my many uses of Serrano Ham or better yet come and visit our market stand and try a taste!

King Crab meets Mr. Goat a match made in heaven!

By Chef Lippe

Crab meat is one of my favorites and so I combined it with a new favorite Vare (va-RAY) a goat cheese from Asturia Spain.  This is a small Artisan produce cheese where the family only makes about 200 cheese a week.  It is a pasteurized cheese steeped in brine for 12 to 24 hours, then aged for 40 to 50 days. This is when the cheese developes its natural rind richly coated with gray white molds. The cheese is smooth, firm and dense in texture and the flavor is herbaceous and sweet with just enough salt to make it balanced and mellow as a whole.

The combination of the cheese with the crab is quite addictive!

Ingredients:

4 to 8 whole crabs depending on size

1 Vare cheese, grated

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

2 cups cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook crab until done and let cool. About 20 minutes

Harvest meat, saving body cavity.

Make a thin bechamel with butter, flour and hot milk by melting butter, stir in flour and then slowly add hot milk. Once the milk has been added stir in half of the grated cheese. Cook on low about 10 minutes stir entire time.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Once bechamel is done stir in crab meat and pour into cleaned crab bodies.

Cover each with remain cheese and broil until bubbly and brown.

Enjoy

Lemon Curd Cheese Cake

By Chef Lippe

Ingredients:

 Lemon Curd

1 teaspoon lemon zest

½ cup fresh lemon juice

¾ cup sugar

3 eggs

¼ cup soft butter

The Crust

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

¼ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup soft butter

 

The filling

2 ½ cups cream cheese

½ cup sour cream

½ cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Lemon Curd

Mix the lemon juice, the zest, the sugar and the eggs in a medium pot on low heat. Keep stirring with a whisk. Slowly add the butter and keep stirring until the mixture turns creamy. Once the whisk leaves traces on the bottom of the pan remove from the stove and put aside.

 

The Crust

Crush the gram crackers until they are a fine powder. Stir in salt and sugar, mix well. Melt the butter and mix with dry ingredients. Press into bottom of a spring form pan and flatten out with about 1” on the sides. Bake for 10 minutes at 350. Let cool.

The Filling

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl. When well mixed add the eggs one by one beating after each one. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract and mix until you have a smooth cream.

Pour half the filling into crust. Spread out evenly. Now add half the lemon curd mixture. Swirl the curd into the filling with a small knife or chopstick.

Repeat this step with the remaining filling and lemon curd.

Bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes at 350. When taking the cake from the oven the center may still feel soft, it will set while cooling down.

After the cake has cooled 2 to 3 hours refrigerate.

Parmigiano Reggiano Flower Crisps filled with Creamy Goat Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper Pesto

By Chef Lippe

 

Ingredients: 

2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon, plus 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup blanched almonds, slivered or sliced
14 flower cheese crisps
1 – 12 ounce net weight jar of roasted red peppers, drained and patted dry
1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf Italian parsley, plus 14 leaves for decoration
1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (or Parmesan)
salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons basil pesto
4 ounces creamy goat cheese or cream cheese

Supplies Needed:

aluminum foil
baking sheet
3 ¾” flower cookie cutter
mini muffin pan
food processor or blender
disposable pastry bag or zip top bag

Instructions:

Place a small piece of aluminum foil on a baking sheet. Set two garlic cloves on foil. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon oil. Wrap up foil around garlic and place in oven. Turn oven on to 350 degrees. Roast for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Cut off the ends off each garlic clove and squeeze out the roasted garlic. Dispose of the outer paper like peel. Set aside.

Spread almonds on the baking sheet and place in oven to roast until golden brown for 5-7 minutes, stirring them half way through. Keep a close eye on the almonds so they don’t burn. Allow to cool.

To make the flower shaped cups:

Turn a mini muffin pan upside down. Use a flower shaped cookie cutter to shape shredded parmigiano reggiano cheese into flowers. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes.

Drape the flowers over the mini muffin cups, as soon as you remove them from oven Allow to cool, then remove them from the muffin pans.

While the flower cups are baking, make the roasted red pepper pesto:

Combine roasted red peppers, roasted garlic, toasted almonds, chopped flat leaf Italian parsley, lemon juice, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in the bowl of a food processor or blender.  Pulse until well blended but not smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
To create your appetizers:

Spoon a heaping teaspoon of creamy goat cheese or cream cheese into the bottom of each flower cup. Press it down into the cup using the back of your spoon. Press one parsley leaf into the cheese in each cup, allowing the leaf to jut out from the side of the cup. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of the roasted red pepper into each cup. Spoon the basil pesto into a disposable pastry bag or zip top bag. Cut off the tip. Pipe a small dot of pesto into the center of each flower cup.

Your appetizers are ready to serve.
A few notes about this recipe:

You can make the roasted red pepper pesto several days ahead of time if you store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Do not refrigerate filled cups as they will get soggy.

These pretty flowers could also be made using roasted yellow peppers which would look lovely on the table at a bridal shower or ladies lunch.

Pasta Roses with Serrano Ham for Valentines Day

By Chef Lippe

Hand Made Roses for all the loves of my life!

The Recipe 

Freshly made pasta in wide rectangles as for lasagne

About 1 cup bechamel sauce (1 ounce flour, 1 ounce butter, 1 cup milk, salt, optional nutmeg ,  1 and a half ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano)

10 ounces Serrano Ham

10 ounces Fontinalla cheese in thinnest possible slices

2 tbsp. butter

optional: ¼ cup Parmigiano Reggiano to sprinkle on top

Directions

To make the Besciamella with Zucchini Puree:

• Trim ends off washed zucchini then chop or slice roughly.
• Bring a small pan of cold water to the boil, salt when the water is boiling and then tip in the zucchini and cook till tender
• Strain out and immediately refresh in very cold water. Drain, place in a deep beaker and whizz till smooth using an immersion blender. Set aside.
• Place the milk to heat in a small sauce pan while in another pan you cook the butter and flour, whisking them together to make the base.
• When the milk comes to the boil take both pans off the heat and pour all the milk at once onto the base, whisking hard with a large whisk to blend the two into a smooth and lump free white sauce. Should lump forms don’t worry, just strain the white sauce through a sieve.
• Season with salt or if you prefer with plenty of freshly grated nutmeg and about ¼ cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

To pre-cook the Pasta:

• Prepare a wide shallow pan into which you place cold milk to come about an inch high.
• Cook just 2 or 3 pasta pieces at a time in salted boiling water to which you have added a little oil, for 2/3 minutes if the pasta is freshly made. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in the pan with the milk to stop the cooking. Then take out, let the milk drip off and place to dry on clean tea towels on your work surface. Turn them over to dry both sides

To fill and assemble the Rosette:

• Prepare a buttered baking dish and pre-heat the oven to 90 °.
• Spread a thin layer of béchamel on the pasta pieces, then sprinkle with grated P-R. cheese and place ham and cheese slices on top
• Roll up each in piece into a cylinder and cut into two or three even sized rolls between 1 inch and 2 inches high.
• Place them close together cut side up in the buttered baking dish continuing the process till it is full – if you have space left use crumpled balls of cooking foil to fill in the space and keep the rolls upright.
• I like to use kitchen scissors to nick the rolls in a few places and pulls out pasta “petals” turning them down a little so they stay “open” during baking.
• Melt 2 tbsp butter and drizzle this over the top of the roses, or to save calories, simply brush the tops with milk using a pastry brush or a couple of rolled up sheets of strong kitchen paper. You can also sprinkle with extra just-grated Reggiano if you like.
• Bake at 90° for about 30 minutes or till the top of the roses is crisp and golden then serve placing vertically or horizontally on individual plates as you prefer.

Variations: Leave the vegetables out altogether for the traditional recipe or use alternative vegetables, in a puree as above or simply placed on top of the ham.  According to what is in season, cooked mushrooms, asparagus, leeks, fennel, artichokes, blanched Swiss Chard leaves all work well..

Parmigiano Reggiano Canapés with Hot Smoked Salmon

By Chef Lippe

There is nothing better than a good cheese crisp, baked cheese, or what ever you choose to call them, you know the cheese that leaks out onto the baking pan when you make a grilled cheese. You can eat them plain, you can mix them with spices or you can even dip them in chocolate. They make a wonderful base for many canapes and tapas.  This one is one of my favorites.

 

Ingredients

 2 teaspoons crème fraiche

(To make your own get a mail-order a creme fraiche culture from The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, P.O. Box 85, Ashfield, MA 01330, (413) 628-3808 and follow their directions. To make your own that is close to the original see end of blog.

Finely grated zest of one lemon

Fennel seeds, chopped

Grated and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, to serve

1/2 small fennel bulb

1/3 cup hot smoked salmon, flaked

Salt and black pepper

For the Crisps:

1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated (do extra because you will eat half as they come out of the oven)

1 tbsp plain flour (optional)

Directions

How to make Parmigiano Reggiano Canapés with Hot Smoked Salmon

1. Grease and line a large baking sheet with grease proof paper.

2. Mix Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and plain flour, along with a good pinch of black pepper.

3. Spoon teaspoon-sized rounds of this mixture onto the baking sheet and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon. The mixture should give ten crisps, make sure there is plenty of space between each one, as the mixture will spread a little.

4. Place the rounds under a hot grill for 2-3 minutes until the cheese has melted to make a golden brown crisp. Remove each crisp carefully using a pallet knife and leave to cool on greaseproof paper. You can also bake them for 10 minutes at 350.

5. Mix crème fraiche together with lemon zest and season to taste. To assemble, spoon a small amount of lemon crème fraiche on top of each crisp. Then sprinkle with a few fennel seeds, grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and finely chopped fennel, before topping with flakes of hot smoked salmon and black pepper.

6. Finally, garnish with sprigs of fresh fennel and serve.

Crème Fraiche

Ingredients

1 to 2 tablespoons cultured buttermilk

2 cups heavy cream (pasteurized, not ultra pasteurized or sterilized, and with no additives)

Instructions

Combine the buttermilk and cream in a saucepan and heat only to tepid (not more than 85 degrees on an instant reading thermometer). Pour into a clean glass jar. Partially cover and let stand at room temperature (between 65 and 75 degrees) for 8 to 24 hours, or until thickened. Stir and refrigerate at least 24 hours before using. The cream will keep about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Manchego Warm Cheese or Cold Cheese…

By Chef Lippe

I have spent a lot of time traveling around the world and love the way Europeans do farmers markets.  I love the smell and taste of warm cheese. But I was having trouble with my partner who thought ALL things needed to be refrigerated.  Even after doing a little research to back up my claims it took her a while to accept that I might know what I was talking about.  First I shower her an article about never refrigerating mozzarella at Serious Eats on poorly stored mozzarella she read it and said I still think you should keep a milk product in the refrigerator.  So next I found a study done by JAY RUSSELL BISHOP and MARIANNE SMUKOWSKI* at the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin, and if anyone knows about cheese it is someone from Wisconsin! 

Now I had her attention but what REALLY won her over was the following recipe:

Membrillo (Quince Paste) Recipe

INGREDIENTS

4 pounds quince, washed, peeled, cored, roughly chopped

1 vanilla pod, split

2 strips (1/2 inch by 2 inches each) of lemon peel (only the yellow peel, no white pith)

3 Tbsp lemon juice

About 4 cups of granulated sugar, exact amount will be determined during cooking

Directions:

1 Place quince pieces in a large saucepan (6-8 quarts) and cover with water. Add the vanilla pod and lemon peel and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook until the quince pieces are fork tender (30-40 minutes).

2 Strain the water from the quince pieces. Discard the vanilla pod but keep the lemon peel with the quince. Purée the quince pieces in a food processor, blender, or by using a food mill. Measure the quince purée. Whatever amount of quince purée you have, that’s how much sugar you will need. So if you have 4 cups of purée, you’ll need 4 cups of sugar. Return the quince purée to the large pan. Heat to medium-low. Add the sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar has completely dissolved. Add the lemon juice.

3 Continue to cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the quince paste is very thick and has a deep orange pink color.

4 Preheat oven to a low 125°F (52°C). Line a 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper (do not use wax paper, it will melt!). Grease the parchment paper with a thin coating of butter. Pour the cooked quince paste into the parchment paper-lined baking pan. Smooth out the top of the paste so it is even. Place in the oven for about an hour to help it dry. Remove from oven and let cool.

To serve, cut into squares or wedges and present with Manchego cheese. To eat, take a small slice of the membrillo and spread it on top of a slice of the cheese. Store by wrapping in foil or plastic wrap, an keeping in the refrigerator.