Sausage & Mushroom Canape

I know a lot of you are going to be put in the host or hostess position over the next couple of weeks, so I thought I'd include a little canape or hors d'oeuvre that should go over well with a crowd!

The sweet and savory combination of maple syrup and mustard is a combination I love.  Add in some umami flavor of some mushrooms, and you've got yourself a powerhouse of flavor in a small little bite!

Ingredients:

20-25 cocktail wieners/sausages 
3 tablespoons whole grain dijon mustard
1/2 cup maple syrup
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cayenne pepper
10 button/cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheese (I used Emmentaler Swiss because that's what I had)

1 french baguette, cut into 1/4 inch slices
melted butter, for brushing
salt, to taste

You can prepare your little crostinis first.  If you're going to do a bunch at a time, I'd suggest doing them in the oven.  If you've got plenty of time, then you can absolutely do them in a skillet over the stove.  For time's sake, we're going to bake these babies in the oven.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place a trivet or wire rack on a baking sheet and evenly arrange bread slices on rack.  Brush each bread slice with melted butter and sprinkle with a little bit of salt.

Bake crostinis until they are golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Raise oven temperature to 375 F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, combine the mustard, maple syrup, and paprika.  Toss the sausages in the mixture until evenly coated.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Arrange the sausages on the parchment paper and bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until the sausages are golden brown and the glaze is caramelized.

Heat a medium saute pan under medium high heat and melt 2 tablespoons of butter.  Add mushroom slices and cook until softened and caramelized.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

To put together, place about 1/2 teaspoon of the mushrooms on each crostini.  Top with cocktail sausage and garnish with shredded cheese.

If you make this ahead, you can put the product together and then reheat in a 375 F oven to melt the cheese and make product warm throughout.

This is definitely a different way to present familiar ingredients.  I recently made my family dinner for my mother's birthday and these were gone in a flash!  So tasty!

What do you serve as an appetizer for holiday gatherings?

Hope you guys have a great rest of the week and Happy Holidays!!

Shrimp Naan Pizzas

 Happy Monday guys!  How was everyone's weekend?!

We got a TON of work done, let me tell you.  I practically rearranged our bedroom this weekend, and I'm still not complete.  I got a couple of things to spice up the room (some artwork, flowers, etc.), so it looks like an actual bedroom, instead of a bare prison cell.  Will definitely have to post some before/after pictures tomorrow.

We're also preparing for some garden work!  We went to Lowe's (which was a madhouse!), and Andy did some mulching and yard work.  I'm planting my seeds indoors this week, and tilling up the rest of my garden bed outside, so hopefully everything will be ready for the end of this week or next.  It's so exciting having a garden!  And the spring weather is absolutely amazing too - although it's raining a tad today.

Oh, and yeah, I'm on VACATION!  It's amazing, and kind of sad having to still go to class this week, but at least that's only 2 hours out of the day for 3 days.  I can live with that.

So on to today's recipe.  Last week's naan was a big hit with you guys and I'm glad!  And the whole reason I made the naan, was so that I could make these pizzas, from the same blog (Food For My Family) that I got the naan recipe from.  If you haven't checked out Food For My Family, I highly suggest you do!  It's full of awesome goodies, definitely kid friendly too!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Food For My Family's recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 pieces of naan bread
about 12 pieces of rock shrimp, cleaned
1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese, grated
1/2 cup parmesan, grated
1 teaspoon dried parsley

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a small bowl, combine olive oil and garlic.  Mix well and let sit for about 10 minutes, in order to let the flavors infuse in the oil.

Lay out naan on a baking sheet and spread about a tablespoon of the olive oil mixture on each piece.  Top each piece of naan with about 6-7 rock shrimps.  Sprinkle about 1/4 cup each of pecorino romano and parmesan on each piece, as well.  Divide the dried parsley among the two pieces of naan, also.

Bake pizzas for about 10 minutes, or until shrimp is cooked through and cheese is melted.  Let sit for about 5 minutes, to cool, and then slice into pieces.

This is a perfect appetizer for dinner parties, or if you don't want to share, you can easily eat the whole thing for a light lunch - which is what I did.  Yes, I'm selfish.  And I'm proud. =)  But I'm sharing with you... so now we're even, right?

Enjoy your Monday guys!  I know I'll be doing some homework (which I should have done this weekend!) and some more cleaning/gardening!