Basil cups with Goat Cheese, Lemon and Pine Nuts

 

BASIL CUPS WITH GOAT CHEESE

We have a group of women here in Southern Arizona that get together the third Wednesday of each month for wine and hot and cold appetizers.  We bring our own wine glass and a bottle of wine or an app to local businesses that host the party or one of the women who volunteers their home for that month.  Most of the events happen in Tubac Arizona where I live and anywhere from 25 to 75 women show up.  It is called Women Who Wine and it has been going strong and growing larger all the time for about 5 years or so.  I always bring an appetizer and each month I try to bring something different.  I have fresh basil growing in my garden and a grape tomato plant as well and decided to use what I had on hand to do something special and beautiful.

• Basil cups with Goat Cheese and Pine nuts
• 30 or so medium sized basil leaves  (have more on hand in case you have extra of the filling)
• 8 cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes diced or regular tomatoes - seeds removed and diced
• 6 to eight cherry or grape tomatoes for garnish - whole
• 4 oz. room temperatiure soft goat cheese
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream or crème fraiche
• Zest of small lemon – reserving some for garnish
• 1/8 teaspoon lemon juice
• ¼ cup or more of toasted pine nuts
• Generous drizzle of thick balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil for drizzle
• Salt and pepper

1. In a bowl – mix together room temperature goat cheese and cream or crème fraiche, lemon zest and lemon juice and s&p to taste. 
2. Pipe or spoon mixture into basil leaves and arrange on a plate with a large cluster of basil and whole tomatoes in the middle or off center
3. Loosely sprinkle chopped tomato and pine nuts all over the plate – sprinkle with lemon zest.
4. I use a plastic ketchup dispenser bottle with a pointed top and small opening to drizzle the balsamic vinegar because of the decorative effect on the plate.  I hold it over the platter and just gently drizzle a stream of the balsamic over the plate in a back and forth motion.  (See photo).   I do the same for the olive oil - use sparingly.

Turkey Enchiladas

 

         Turkey Leftovers

I was looking for a way to use my leftover Turkey from Thanksgiving in a more original way than the typical sandwich or Turkey Tetrazzini.   I thought of pasta with a cream sauce and parmigiana but when I opened my cheese drawer I realized I had a nice big package of flour tortilla's in there that needed to be used before they spoiled in a week or so.  We are lucky here in the southwest that our tortillas are often locally made by hand and are thinner and more flavorful than those on the east coast in commercial supermarkets but they will do just fine as well.  I made enchiladas with a sauce I would have used for the pasta and it was totally divine!  

Ingredients 

6 bacon strips – cooked and set aside – pan cleaned out for veggies

1/2 cup diced red or yellow bell pepper

3 diced roma tomatoes

1/2 cup diced onion

10 ounces thinly sliced cooked turkey, shredded

1 cup grated Swiss cheese

Cheese sauce – recipe follows

1/4 teaspoon pepper

6-8 Flour tortillas

Toppings –

A little over ½ cup shredded Swiss – or at least enough to lightly cover casserole.

2 cups shredded lettuce

2 diced roma tomatoes

Cheese Sauce:

5 tablespoons Unsalted butter
2 tablespoons  Crème Fraiche (diluted) or cream

½ cup heavy cream or more
1/2 Parmesan
1 /2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1 Pinch of pepper

Directions for Sauce:

Melt butter – add cream and crème Fraiche and stir – add in cheese. It needs to be somewhat thickened and you need to taste to make sure it is not too salty from the Parmesan.  Add more cream or cheese to desired consistency.  It should coat the spoon nicely when dipping the spoon in the sauce.  

Directions for The Turkey Casserole:

1. Sauté the yellow or red pepper and onion until soft – about 10 min.
2. Add the tomatoes – let cool to room temp or just slightly warm.
3. Mix together the turkey, Swiss cheese, onion/pepper/tomato mixture.
4. Pour all the sauce over the enchiladas.  Make sure all but the ends are wet – yet most of the sauce will pool under the enchiladas. 
5. Cover with foil or cover and bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and ends are slightly crispy. Garnish with lettuce and tomatoes. 

NOTE:  If you plan on leftovers - I recommend doing a flour and butter roux and then adding the cheese and cream.  The above dish does not reheat well.   A butter, cream and cheese sauce separates with re-heating the next day.