Saturday, August 6, 2011

Open Face Dumplings.

Package of potsticker wrappers in hand, I knew I needed to create something.  I wanted it to be simple, filling, and reasonably healthy.  This is what emerged. I aimed for a baked open face potsticker, with a common filling base that could be adjusted for individual preferences.  You can add just about anything to the filling, though it's important to have something that will bind your ingredients together (i.e. cheese, a creamy sauce) and to have ingredients that aren't too soupy, or your final product may be soggy.

Start by spraying a mini-muffin pan with cooking spray and gently pressing one potsticker or wonton wrapper in each cup.

Prepare your filling. Plan for about one to one and a half tablespoons of filling for each wrapper.  If you use wonton wrappers you could use a larger muffin tray and then will need at least twice the filling. When the wrappers are filled, bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them and remove from the oven when the wrappers are obviously baked and very lightly browned.

Four Fillings

Goat Cheese & Plum
  • goat cheese (mine was flavored with honey, from my favorite cheese seller)
  • 1 red plum, thinly sliced, with slices cut into thirds
  • hazelnuts, chopped
  • cinnamon
  • agave nectar

Put about 2 tsp of goat cheese in the bottom of the wrapper.  Sprinkle with cinnamon. Place several plum slices on top of cheese, sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts, and drizzle with agave nectar.

Artichoke & Onion
  • marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
  • green onions, chopped
  • Italian parsley, chopped
  • parmesan cheese, shredded (choose a good quality cheese and shred it yourself for the best flavor)
Mix ingredients together in equal quantities and spoon into wrappers. Because I was making several varieties, I only wanted four of these, with a total filling need of 4 to 6 Tablespoons. Therefore, I mixed 1 heaping T of each ingredient to make this filling.

Artichoke & Onion. And Shrimp.
  • marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
  • green onions, chopped
  • Italian parsley, chopped
  • parmesan cheese, shredded (choose a good quality cheese and shred it yourself for the best flavor)
  • shrimp, cooked, peeled, deveined, and chopped
Notice, this the same base as the last variety, but with shrimp added.  Mix the ingredients in the same ratio as above, but add more shrimp according to your taste.  I added twice as much shrimp as other ingredients because I wanted these to be a bit more filling.

Tapenade.
  • marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
  • green onions, chopped
  • Italian parsley, chopped
  • parmesan cheese, shredded (choose a good quality cheese and shred it yourself for the best flavor)
  • mixed olives in oil, finely chopped
Again, the same artichoke-onion-parm base, this time with olives added.  I bought mixed olives with Italian herbs from the olive bar at my local store, and then chopped and mixed them in.  These I kept in a 1:1 ratio because the olive flavor was strong. You could adjust however you like.

That's it!  Easy to personalize, easy to prepare. My next batch will likely have a cilantro-lemon-goat cheese base...


Thursday, August 4, 2011

Nectarine & Corn Salad.

Back in my own kitchen after too long away. Lots to share in the coming days. For now, here's a simple salad we enjoyed this evening.


1 white nectarine, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
3 T cilantro, chopped
2 ears of corn, cooked and cut from cob
2 tsp lime juice


Toss all ingredients in a bowl. Chill for 15 minutes before serving.  Serves 4 as a side salad.  Simple, fresh, tasty!