skinned alive

At least I think I'm still alive.

I've never had a semester with such a brutal exam schedule. But, it's over. And I think my GPA made it out relatively unscathed.

I on the other hand am exhausted, brain dead, and ready to sleep for a week. But first, dinner:

I'm very much a fan of finger foods. No cutlery to wash. And since it's the time of year for entertaining (apparently in December, most people get to go to parties, and don't have to do metric shittonnes of calculus) I made an appetizer for dinner.

Fast enough that you can make them long after the guests arrive, easy enough that you can make them long after the first bottle of wine is empty, and tasty enough that you won't have to figure out what to do with the leftovers.

Potato Skins

What you need:

• 4 small baker potatoes
• 1 c grated cheddar
• 3 strips very crispy bacon
• 2 green onions
• 1/2 jalapeno (or a few rings of the pickled ones)

What you gotta do:

We at authorskitchen do not typically advocate cooking anything in the microwave, but there have been times when we've had to. And times when we totally regretted it. But when you're whipping up an appetizer for hungry guests, or brain dead engineering students, baking a potato in the microwave just really doesn't seem that bad.

Just make sure you poke holes in them first.

Mine took about 12 minutes, but I did them in 4 minute increments. 4 minutes seems a reasonable increment.

They will be making steamy noises and will give under pressure if you squeeze them.

Set these aside and let them cool while you chop the onions, crumble the bacon, grate the cheese, and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Once the potatoes are cool enough that you can hold them in your hand without wanting to toss them across the room at someone, roll them around on the counter or baking sheet first though to see which are their flat sides. Cut them in half so that the halves rest on the flat sides.

Remove the potato innards with a small spoon. Leave a bit of an edge and enough on the bottom so that the filling will have something to sit on.

Toss the cheese, bacon, etc. together and then divide it up between the skins. They will seem full, but trust me, they're not. I think about 1.5 times the amount of stuff I put in these, would be ideal.

They only need about 7 minutes to bake.

Bacon, melted cheese, eat with your hands. Perfect.

I imagine most Americans will want to dip these in ranch dressing (srsly guys, what's with the fucking ranch on everything?) but I like a bit of sour cream spiked with some hot sauce.

And there you go, less than 30 minutes and you've got tasty cups filled with bacon and cheese.

What more could anyone want?

Goat Cheese Dip

Last week, Hubby and I went to a nearby tavern for dinner.  They have a goat cheese dip appetizer he really wanted.  I’m not entirely sure he didn’t want to go there because the waitresses wear kilts that barely cover their… assets.  He assured me he isn’t a ‘leg man’, and I assured him that if any of those girls leaned over a table, it wouldn’t be the legs he’d be looking at.  As for the dip, he was definitely right about that.  It was fabulous!  It was simple enough that I figured I could create a similar recipe that would be just as delicious.  Even better, I wouldn’t have to pay 10 bucks for it, I’d be able to control the quality of the ingredients, and no scantily clad girls prancing about. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 8 oz. goat cheese
• ¼ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup green onions
• 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• Marinara sauce
• Slivered almonds

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 350°.  This is super quick to put together.  Throw your goat cheese and sour cream into a mixing bowl. 

Break up the goat cheese, and smoosh them together.  A silicone spatula works perfectly for this job.  When you have a fairly smooth and consistent texture, throw in the green onions, parsley, salt, and pepper. 

Stir again until everything is evenly distributed. 

Scoop the goat cheese mixture into a shallow dish and smooth out the top. 

Onto a sheet pan and into the oven for 25 minutes. 

Pull it out, spoon on ⅓ cup or so of marinara sauce, and put it back in for another 10 minutes. 

This time when you take it out, move the dish off of the sheet pan and set it aside to rest, then sprinkle on a couple tablespoons of slivered almonds.  It’s always best to toast nuts before using them if you can.  It really brings deepens their flavor.  Put them in for maybe 10 minutes.  I say maybe because nuts are very easy to burn.  Pretty much, when you can smell them, they’re done.  They’ll just barely start to change color. 

Now just sprinkle them over the dip. 

Seriously, who needs to go to a restaurant for something that simple to make?  Serve with pita wedges.  You can heat them by just wrapping them in foil and throwing them into the oven with the almonds. 

What restaurant dish would you like to see recreated?