Champagne Nibbles

It’s been a while since I have been around the blog. In the past couple of months I’ve had colostomy reversal surgery – what I hope is my last surgery of my cancer journey, I’ve gotten married and been on a mini-honeymoon. Whew, I’ve been busy as you can well imagine!

What brought me back today is a very special event. My #letslunch pals are celebrating our two year anniversary of meeting, virtually and sharing recipes for lunch treats. I haven’t posted for our regular meetings in a while but this crew is amazing – they even made a liquid lunch theme for my post surgery – brought me to tears, it did!

So I couldn’t miss today’s celebration of nibbles to pair with champagne – or in my case, Proseco. Not only is two years a milestone but as I indicated, I have a helluva lot to celebrate in my own life. So I chose a recipe that I adapted from my all-time favorite chef; Chef Keller of French Laundry fame. last year for my 50th, my husband (wow, that still sounds weird to me) took me to the French Laundry for the meal of a lifetime and also presented me with its venerable cookbook.

The dish I chose is probably the easiest one in the book but it is perfect with bubbly! It’s a parmesan cup filled with herbed goat cheese. Chef Keller tops it with shaved black truffle but I opted for making my own ‘caviar’ from balsamic vinegar for little pops of brightness that contrast with the creamy rich cheese flavors. It truly is easy so follow along with me.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and have a clean (and empty) cardboard egg carton standing by. Start with about a cup of moist finely grated parmesan and using a ring mold, drop about a tablespoon of cheese into the mold atop a Silpat lined baking sheet.

Something like this:

Bake them for about 8 minutes or until the cheese is melted and just starting to brown. This is the toughest part of the whole endeavor since if you get them two brown, you can’t mold them and if they are not brown enough, they won’t crisp up once they’ve set.

Take them out and let them rest for about 30 seconds or until you can lift them from the sheet – and them gently press them into the egg carton to form a tulip-shaped cup. Let them set and bake another batch.

Remove them to a plate and continue with the remaining parmesan cups. A cup of parm will make a lot of cups! Measurements in this recipe are really extraneous – my favorite kind of dish!

The cheese filling is the easy part – I took about 4 ounces of creamy chevre, mixed it with a tablespoon of mascarpone and 2 tablespoons of plain greek-style yogurt – then minced a couple of tablespoons of fresh parsley and basil from the garden added some fresh coarse cracked pepper, creamed it very well and piped it into the cups. Keller’s recipe called for heavy cream but I like the way the yogurt and mascarpone lighten it while adding some tang.

Now my favorite part – the balsamic caviar – it is easy and fun to make! Place about 3/4 cup olive oil into a small bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Then, in a small vessel (I use my measuring cup) combine 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar with a tablespoon agar-agar and bring to a boil. Immediately after the mixture comes to a boil, pour it into a clean bowl. Then using an eyedropper, drop the vinegar into cold oil.

Fish the ‘pearls” out of the oil with a small slotted spoon or a tea strainer works great for this part. Rinse the pearls in cold water and use them as desired. In this case as a faux caviar for our bubbly appie!

Serve these with some nice bubbly and wow your guests. Seriously, the crispy parmesan, creamy herby goat cheese and bright little bursts of balsamic will blow you away!

So Happy Anniversary my wonderful #letslunch friends – here is to many more virtual lunches and may my cooking always improve and be inspired by your culinary examples! Cheers! <clink>

And please check out the other submissions too :

Cheryl's Cheddar Pecan Crisps: Bubbly Friendly Bits at Tiger in the Kitchen

Caitlin‘s Gruyere Lace Cookies at Caitlin Shetterly

Charissa‘s Bacon, Apple & Swiss Quiche at Zest Bakery

Ellise‘s Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Palmiers at Cowgirl Chef

Emma‘s Cold-Cured Salmon Bites at Dreaming of Pots and Pans

Linda‘s Cheese Straw Crackers at Free Range Cookies

Lisa‘s Salmon Tartare at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Maria‘s Parmesan Toasts at The Bubbly Girl

Rashda‘s Samosa-Shingara Pies at Hot Curries & Cold Beer

Steff‘s Stuffed Figs, Parmesan Crackers & Spicy Cheesy Pecans atThe Kitchen Trials

Eleanor's Summer Snacks at Be a Wok Star