New Year's Delights
With the gift-giving holidays in full force and New Year's right around the corner, it's time to think of a new recipe to dazzle your guests. Here's a chef with a simple, yet sophisticated, recipe that takes less than 30 minutes. Recipes follow story.
Barbara Walker is doing what she loves to do -- planning party menus for her clients. "It's really fun to find out what their likes and dislikes are and their preferences, and then you get creative," she tells Ivanhoe.
Walker's a personal chef at Front Door Foods. Today she's working on a New Year's appetizer ... Belgian endive leaves with a piped sundried tomato mousse, garnished with finely diced kalamata olives.
To make them, start with cream cheese. Next comes fresh basil. Walker uses two knives when she dices.
"If you have two knives, you can do a double chop and it makes it go really fast," she says.
Add the basil and chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the cream cheese, along with garlic salt and mix.
Next, get your endive leaves ready. According to Walker, they are like lettuce with just a very subtle cabbage flavor.
Instead of a pastry bag to pipe the mousse into the leaves, Walker prefers a zip-top bag. She snips a hole in the corner. The last step is garnishing with chopped olives.
"Special occasions are just wonderful. I like making something really nice," she says -- a simple and elegant recipe to ring in the New Year.
Recipes by Barbara Walker:
Belgian Endive with Sundried Tomato Mousse
Shrimp and Goat Cheese Phyllo Cups
Zippy Cheese Crostini
Samosas
