formal variation on informal theme

I don’t have a picture of this.   We were all going to a MAsT meeting and i wanted to take something good for canapes.  One of my biggest downfalls is my pride in my cookery.  That’s a different discussion.
Das and i had found a recipe for “Bacon roll-ups” which involved white bread, cream cheese, garlic powder and, of all things, bacon.

Sort of went like this:

Cut white bread into squares, smear garlicky cream cheese on them, roll a strip of bacon around, stick toothpick through, bake 10 minutes to crisp bacon.

It sounded good in theory, but we thought to dress it up some.  Here’s what we ideated and i eventually prepared:

1 loaf english toasting bread

2 10 oz packages Dry Coppa

2 cubey things of Chavrie (one herby one, one mild)

capers

cut crusts off bread, cut into 2” squares (like a one-bite appetizer).

mix up chavries and smear a bit onto each square

pinch a bit of coppa over the chavrie, so it sticks.  mine were like little bridges

under each bridge of coppa, place a caper

i tried it with 2-3 capers, but they were too strong.  One each was better.

-mods:

you could use prosciutto.  a pitted olive (kalamata, i’d guess).

*

Berries and Brie

I found a recipe using puff pastry to make something like these, but phyllo is sold in already-baked shells!!  i currently suck at manipulating phyllo, so i was quite relieved to see this.  i am told the key to handling phyllo sheets is a whole lot of butter.   no, more than that.

The recipe from which this was derived involved hot pepper jelly.  I don’t know what that is or what it tastes like, but i like berries, so i came up with this.

30 pre-made phyllo shells

raspberry preserves

raspberries

brie (with rind!)

in each shell spoon a bit of preserves, place a small square of brie, top with berry.   This is a very labor intensive bit of appetizing, even with pre-done shells, but it’s really worth it.   i would’ve added a bit of pepper over all of it if i had thought about it.  pepper really makes berry flavor pop.

bake 5-8 minutes.

serve warm.

i took a bunch of these to a small gathering of lifestyle women, in which there was much good conversation and a whole night was talked away.  we didn’t really eat that many, but there was also pizza and cake and cupcakes.

it occurred to me that i’ve always had the kinky bend, since sexuality meant anything to me, as well as a bottomy, if not totally submissive kind of being to the expression of that sexuality.  I was always with men and women who were older and taller, for instance.

In making tiny appetizers which use both hands to create, i find that i am expressing my desire to serve those i love with the very best i have to offer.  Even when not serving Das directly, i indirectly do him honor by presenting a lovely little dish that wasn’t put together begrudgingly.

I like to say that dishes come out better when you add extra love to them.  Even cheese sandwiches.  (Sometimes mayo=love, you see   )

love, mitda