Balsamic Chicory Pine Nut Blue Cheese Tartlets Food

BLUE CHEESE TART

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F Place flour in large bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in water with fork until flour is just moistened. Shape into a ball. Roll out pastry on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle.
• Place into 9 or 10-inch tart pan with removable bottom or pie pan; press firmly on bottom and up sides of pan. Cut away excess pastry; prick all over with fork. Bake for 17 to 22 minutes or until very lightly browned.
• Meanwhile, combine cream cheese and blue cheese in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Continue beating, gradually adding whipping cream, egg and ground pepper until blended. Spread into baked pastry. Sprinkle with roasted red pepper, pine nuts and parsley.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until filling is set. Let stand 20 minutes before serving. Cut into wedges. Cover; store refrigerated.

SAUTEED CALVES LIVER WITH BACON, ONION AND MAYTAG BLUE CHEESE TART

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in medium skillet over medium high heat. Lightly flour liver and place in pan and sear for 5 seconds and flip. Add arugula and garlic and quickly saute Deglaze with balsamic vinegar and serve over onion tart, recipe follows.
• For the Tart: Render diced bacon until crispy. Add butter, onion, rosemary and cook until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Roll out dough and plate filling in middle and top with blue cheese. Fold over edges and bake in a preheated 500 degree oven until golden brown, approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Serve with calves liver.

CHICORY SALAD WITH WALNUTS AND PARMESAN

Steps:

• In a dry skillet, toast the nuts over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, mustard, salt and pepper, to taste.
• In a large bowl, toss the chicory with the dressing. Put onto serving plates and top with walnuts and shaved Parmesan.

BALSAMIC ONION, MUSHROOM & BLUE CHEESE TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Put a pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter.
• Once the butter starts to froth, put the thinly sliced red onions in and turn the heat down to low.
• Cook, stirring often, until the onions have become translucent. This will take about 10 minutes but keep an eye on them.
• Add the sugar and the balsamic vinegar to the onions and cook on low, stirring often for about 10 minutes until the onion mixture is sticky and the liquid thickened up.
• Set the onions aside to cool.
• Melt the remaining butter in another pan and cook the mushrooms for a few minutes until they have just started to change color.
• Set the mushrooms aside to cool.
• Whilst the onions and mushrooms are cooling, layout your pie dough. You want the dough to be about as thick as a pinkie. If your pre-rolled dough is thicker roll it out to the desired thickness.
• Using a round cookie cutter or a glass, cut out 12 rounds of the dough.
• Press each round of dough into a hole of a 12 yield muffin tin. If your pan usually sticks, spray each hole with cooking spray before hand.
• Next, put the egg and sour cream into a bowl with the salt and pepper and beat together.
• Stir through the dried parsley and crumbled blue cheese. Set aside.
• Spoon a bit of the balsamic onions into the base of each tart.
• Top the onions with the mushrooms, trying to cover as much of the surface as possible.
• Spoon the blue cheese mixture over the top of each tart.
• Put tarts in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until the pastry has gone golden and the cheese mixture has set.
• Take out of the oven and allow to cool before serving so the cheese mixture can firm up a little bit.

BLUE CHEESE, WALNUT, AND CHICORY SALAD

Steps:

• Stir or toss walnuts in a dry pan over medium heat until very hot to the touch and toasted, about 5 minutes.
• Mix Dijon mustard, rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and pepper together in a bowl for dressing. Pour in olive oil, about 1 teaspoon at a time, whisking constantly, until thick and coats the back of a spoon. Taste and adjust as necessary.
• Cut radicchio in half; cut out the core using 2 angled cuts. Cut each half in half again and slice across into about 1-inch pieces. Slice root ends off of endive and peel off about 1/3 of the leaves, leaving them whole for presentation. Slice remaining endive into 1/2-inch pieces.
• Transfer all radicchio and endive to a bowl and toss, making sure leaves are separated and evenly distributed. Crumble in about 1/2 of the walnuts and 1/2 of the blue cheese. Pour in dressing and toss with your hands until everything is perfectly coated.
• Place whole endive spears on a serving plate. Pile salad on top and scatter remaining walnuts and blue cheese on top.