Tag Archives: blue cheese

Blue Cheese Dressing

8 May

In the past few years I’ve taken an appreciation for blue cheese.  This has not always been the case, as I always thought blue cheeses were too salty for my taste.  And on top of that, the blue veins did not appeal to me in the least…

But watching Food Network and being more exposed to “haute cuisine”, I have grown to appreciate more and more blue cheeses.  It all started with a visit to the restaurant Mark’s at the Meliá in Ponce.  There I tasted the most wonderful butter lettuce salad with walnuts and crumbled Point Reyes blue cheese.  It was salty but mild at the same time… delicious.

Now, I regularly have a wedge of Danish blue cheese in my fridge.  I use it in desserts, in white sauces for pasta, to flavor polentas… and the newest addition to my repertoire is in a salad dressing.  Check it out…

BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

2 ounces of blue cheese – I use Danish or gorgonzola cheese crumbles
2 tbs of plain low-fat yogurt
A squirt of lemon juice
About 1 tbs of olive oil

 

  1. Mix all the ingredients with a whisk in a small bowl. 

 

Drizzle over your favorite salad greens…  it’s creamy and salty delicious.  Don’t be discouraged by the grayish color, it’s just the blue veins dispersed in the dressing.


Blue Cheese Dressing

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Blue Cheese Mac with Walnuts

31 May

I am a cheese lover… I guess this has been established and proven by the posts on this blog already.  However, blue cheese is a relatively recent acquired taste for me. I always found it too salty and pungent for my taste.  However, I few years ago I went to a really nice restaurant in Ponce, Mark’s at the Meliá, that featured a Boston lettuce salad with crumbled Maytag blue cheese and vinaigrette.  I was a convert after that dish.

Now I do not shy away from blue cheeses anymore.  I love it in desserts, in salads, and lately, in pastas.  That’s how this Mac & Cheese came about.  Kind of like a grown-up version of a mac and cheese. 

I did this dish the first time improvising at my aunt’s house in Miami.  She wanted macaroni with a white sauce.  So I decided to give it a twist to make it interesting.  She loved it and my cousin, whose daughter is a chef, loved it too.  She had never tasted my cooking and she was nicely impressed.

I hope when you make this, you’ll also impress the ones you love and cook for.

 

 Blue Cheese Mac with Walnuts

BLUE CHEESE MAC WITH WALNUTS

1 tbs sofrito
1 tbs olive oil
½ cup milk
4 oz cream cheese
1 handful of grated Italian-blend cheeses
6 oz of blue cheese – your favorite blue cheese will do here
½ cup of walnuts, toasted
½ package of your favorite whole-grain tubular pasta – penne, macaroni or rigatoni will all do

 

  1. In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Salt the water and add the pasta.  Cook for about 10 minutes, until almost cooked thru.  Try not to cook them too long, so they do not break when you stir the sauce in.
  2. Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan over medium heat add the olive oil and sofrito.  Cook for a few minutes and add the milk.  Let it warm through, but be careful it does not boil.
  3. When the milk has heated up add the cheeses.  I leave the blue cheese for the end.  Stir a few times to make sure all the cheeses melt well.  They melt faster and better if they’ve been out of the fridge for a few minutes.  Not necessarily room temp, but not out of the fridge either.
  4. When the pasta is done, drain it and return to the pot.  Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir to combine.  Add the walnuts.

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Pumpkin Risotto

21 Nov

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year.  It’s special to me because it marks the official start of the Holiday and Xmas season and because I was actually born on a Thanksgiving Day a few years ago. 

To me the rituals of Thanksgiving are most precious – the sharing with family, the cooking and wanting to please your loved ones and the action of giving thanks for all that we have today.  To give thanks without asking anything in return is one of the principles of YOGA and maybe, my connection to Thanksgiving and how much I enjoy this holiday are signs of me possibly practicing yoga before this life.

I always give thanks to the Supreme Being for everything I do have – my life, my family, my health, my ability to see, hear, speak, walk, communicate, my roof, my family, those who love me and those who I love.  But I also give thanks for all those things I do not have…  those things we might think we need in our lives, and the very fact we do not have them might very well be a blessing.  I always thank God for keeping those wishes away from me… because I must learn to appreciate that life is perfect just as it is and that we do not need anything else but the moment we are living.  The present is the only thing we need to continue evolving and growing as spiritual beings in this physical existence.

Ever since I became vegetarian, Thanksgiving has been a challenge in the sense that I was truly attached to the flavors and smells of the traditional omnivore menu.  But in recent years I’ve taken it upon myself to search and create recipes that are in tune with the season, but completely vegetarian and satisfying at the same time.  And when I say in tune with the season, I mean the seasons in the US, because in Puerto Rico, it’s hot and humid on Thanksgiving, just like any other summer day.

This year I decided to try a Pumpkin Risotto.  Something easy, yet delicious that I could make at my grandma’s house.  This year Thanksgiving will be only her, my mom and I, and I don’t want to carry stuff from my home to hers.   I did a test run of  this recipe first and here are the results…  Something you can make any time of the year, but resonates really well in Fall and Winter.  Here’s how I did it…

 pumpkin-risotto

 

PUMPKIN RISOTTO

1 box of Archer Farms’ 4 cheese risotto mix
1 cup pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
½ tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 ounces Fontina cheese, cubed small
1 ounce Blue cheese, I use Danish blue, grated or in crumbles
¼ cup Pecorino Romano, grated
¼ cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

 

  1. First, we need to roast the pumpkin.  Place the cleaned pumpkin on a baking sheet, drizzle the olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper and roast in a 350 F oven for about 20-30 minutes.  I do this in my toaster oven.
  2. When the pumpkin is about to be done, start preparing the risotto mixture according to the directions on the package.   I place 2 ½ cups of water to boil.  When the water starts to boil, mix contents of rice and season packets.  Mix together well and leave uncovered. 
  3. After the pumpkin is done, place in the pumpkin seeds another baking sheet and roast dry for about 10-12 minutes.  Watch them closely so they do not burn.  They’ll change color from green to brownish.
  4. When the rice is halfway done, add the pumpkin pieces, the Fontina cheese and the Blue cheese.  Mix well so the cheese pieces melt well.  If the pumpkin stays in big pieces, kind of crush them against the side of the saucepan.  The idea is for the pumpkin pieces to mix well with the rice sauce and make it kind of orangey.
  5. When the rice is done, about 17-20 minutes, turn off the stove, add the Pecorino Romano cheese and cover.  The sauce will thicken upon standing.  Leave it covered for about 15-20 minutes so the sauce thickens and the temperature lowers so you won’t burn the roof of your mouth and can taste the cheeses and pumpkin.  Do not skip the waiting step, no matter how hungry you might be… I speak from experience, and burning the roof of your mouth is not fun.
  6. When serving, sprinkle some roasted pumpkin seeds on top for a nice look and great crunchy bite.

 

I enjoyed this risotto with my sweet plantains and a side salad.

It’s super easy to make.  It’s great if you’re only cooking for a small group, but if you want to feed more than 2-3 with this, just double the recipe – no problem.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  I hope my mom and grandma like it too.

 

Thanks to you for always touching base with me here at KarmaFree Cooking.  I definitely count you as part of my blessings.

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Blue Cheese Polenta – To celebrate the Top Chef finale

12 Jun

Yesterday was the finale of Top Chef Chicago, from my sunny Island of Puerto Rico. 

I was rooting for either Stephanie or Richard to win.  To me, these were my favorites from the get go. 

                                       

They have both been extremely creative and innovative in their cooking, but what captured me from both was they were always nice, civil, collaborative and very complimentary to all their partners.  Here’s a few examples:

  • I loved the episode where the chefs had to work based on words from the Second City Improv troop and no one wanted to work with Richard because he had just won immunity and how cool he and Dale worked together making the winning dish for that episode. They collaborated well and they complimented each other’s work and ideas…
  • I loved how during Wedding Wars and Restaurant Wars both Stephanie and Richard were teamed together and they collaborated with other team members to ensure no one from their team was going home that week. Nobody was trying to take credit for anyone else’s ideas, no one wanted to steal the show… they just wanted to win for the team’s members’ sake.
  • I believe that in the Wedding Wars episode specifically, Richard won the elimination challenge and without hesitation he said he wanted to give the win to Stephanie. Stephanie then suggested they split the prize of a $2,000 Crate and Barrel gift certificate.
  • I loved during the first part of the finale, when Stephanie assigned sous chefs to everyone that she chose based on which sous chef who would get along with each chef, because she wanted the kitchen to be harmonious.
  • How Richard in last night’s episode asked Stephanie to draw knifes first… another gesture of his gentlemanliness.

They are plain ol’ nice people… and I believe that your intention and feelings are transferred into what you’re cooking and therefore experienced by those who eat your food.  I am very happy that in the final in Puerto Rico, the first female Top Chef was crowned – Stephanie…    

And to Richard… I am confident that in great Top Chef and American Idol fashion, he’ll get as much exposure and experience as much success as Stephanie.   Look at Sam and Marcel from Season 2 and at Casey from Season 3.  I will stay tuned to see what he’ll do next.  I may have to travel to Atlanta soon to try his cooking… maybe some not-so-perplexed tofu in green curry that please… does not taste like beef.  If you saw the show you know what I am referring to.

Well…  after all that, I wanted  to watch the show while eating some food worthy of the Top Chef finale show…  I debated if I was going to do something Puerto Rican or something more gourmet… I think I landed somewhere in between the two.  I made Blue Cheese Polenta with Roasted Mushrooms and a Tomato Salad.  I am telling you, this Blue Cheese polenta is a knock-out and super simple and quick to make. 

My initial inspiration was drawn from a recent post from my dear friend Kathleen at Kathleen’s Vegetarian Kitchen.   I saw it and then yesterday, I improvised from what I remembered. 

 

 

BLUE CHEESE POLENTA

1 ¼ cup of half-and-half
3 tbs quick cooking polenta – I used Colavita brand that cooks in 5 minutes
2 tbs grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp Ground Pepper
2 oz of Danish blue cheese – of the blue cheese of your choice
A few Marcona almonds to garnish – or any other toasted almond will also work
  1. In a medium saucepan, bring the half-and-half to almost a boil.  Season it with salt and pepper while you’re waiting for the temperature to rise.  Be careful not to over-salt, because you’ll later on add Parmesan and Blue cheese which are both salty.
  2. Whisk in the polenta and continue to whisk until the polenta starts to thicken.   When it starts to thicken, add the Parmesan cheese.
  3. Remove from heat and add the blue cheese.  Stir to combine so the cheese melts in the polenta.
  4. Serve and add the almonds as garnish.

 

I am telling you… this polenta ROCKS!!!!!   It’s super creamy and super tasty.  I had polenta before and I was not a great fan.  Now I am willing to make this for company.  I see a dinner party in my future…

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Roasted Pears – A Deux

7 Mar

I am on a pear thing…  it started because I wanted to do a pear butter, which I have not gotten around to do.   But I learned to make last year these poached pears and I decided to take the pear desserts a few steps further. 

This recipe is even simpler than the Poached Pears I posted recently…  less ingredients always scream easier to me.  The basic recipe for these roasted pears was given to me by Diane Carlson, as part of the Conscious Gourmet retreat I attended.  I decided to try some embellishments of my own and they ended up being really good combinations…  check them out.  I love the first photo – my pear had a belly button – sooooo cute!!

 roasted-pears.jpg         pear-w-blue-cheese-2-comp.jpg

 Let’s start with roasting the pears…

ROASTED PEARS

2 Bartlett pears – ripe but firm
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 1/2 tbs maple syrup
  1. Pre-heat oven to 450F. 
  2. Peel and cut the pears in half, vertically.  Core them using a melon baller – it’s the best tool for this.
  3. Place pears cut side down on a glass casserole dish and drizzle the maple syrup and lemon juice.  I rub the pears a bit trying them to be coated all over with the syrup/lemon juice liquid.
  4. Roast in oven for about 45 minutes.  I noticed that if pears are nicely ripen, the time can be cut to 25-30 minutes.  Just roast them until they’re cooked but still have their shape.

I think 1/2 to 1 whole pear per person is a fine portion - so feel free to double, triple or cuadruple this recipe as you need.

Now we play with the accompaniments…

ROASTED PEARS with ALMOND PRALINE

roasted-pears.jpg

  1. Serve the roasted pears with the sauce the maple syrup created in the baking dish. 
  2. Sprinkle Almond Praline around it. 
  3. Note: the almond praline does not need to look this dark… I walked away from the kitchen and had to live with the consequences.

ROASTED PEARS with BLUE CHEESE and HAZELNUT PRALINE

 pear-w-blue-cheese-comp.jpg

  1.  Serve the roasted pears cut side up and in the indentation place some crumbled mild blue cheese.  I used this cheese…
  2. p1030090.jpg
  3. Drizzle some of the sauce created by the maple syrup and sprinkle some Hazelnut Praline on the side.

This version also is screaming to be served for company… it tasted as if I was eating in a restaurant.  Scrumptious…  Need proof??

all-gone.jpg

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