Salmon-Tuna Twists

When guests over for lunch I am usually not creative and end up serving deli sandwiches or tuna fish.  For some reason I just don't want to be bothered with preparing a meal in the middle of the day.  But when I invited my parents over a few weeks ago I decided to not slack off and actually make something for them (though, admittedly, I did serve them prepared leftovers as a side to this meal).

I recently rediscovered The Kosher Palette, so I looked there to find something simple but delicious to make.  I came across a recipe that intrigued me:  Salmon-Tuna Twists.  It uses canned fish and while my go to sushi order usually includes salmon rolls and tuna rolls, I never thought to combine the fishes in one dish, especially not combining them in canned form, which I use separately ALL. THE. TIME.  After looking over their recipe I decided to experiment with it a little bit.  For starters, they only used 3oz of each fish, but the cans are 6oz and what was I going to do with the half cans left?!  I played with the other ingredients and added an idea or two of my own and am very happy with the results.

The best part is, these can either be large enough to be a main dish, or they can be served as part of a meal (such as brunch or as an appetizer) in smaller form.  When I hosted my in-laws for brunch a week after making this for my own parents I made these again slightly smaller and again it went over very well.

Salmon-Tuna Twists (adapted from The Kosher Palette)

Ingredients
6oz can of tuna in water, drained
6oz can of salmon, drained
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tbsp white horseradish, drained
1 tsp paprika
1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed

Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In medium mixing bowl, combine tuna and salmon.  Chop with fork until large chunks are all broken down.
- Add mayonnaise, onion garlic, lemon juice, horseradish, and paprika.  Stir until well combined.
- On lightly floured surface, roll pastry sheet.  Cut to desired size (for larger twists, cut each sheet into quarters, for smaller twists cut into eighths).
- Spoon salmon-tuna mixture into center of each square.  fold two diagonal corners into center and press together.
- Place twists on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes (the larger twists will need longer than smaller twists).

Pumpkin-shaped Cheddar Cheese Ball

Instead of having a boring tray of cheese and crackers out for our party, I wanted to do something different.  Food Network Magazine had this recipe which was shaped like a pumpkin.  How unique but easy to do?!  But that recipe made nacho-flavored cheese, which didn't fit in with the rest of the dishes I had planned, so I set out to find a cheese ball recipe that better suited my menu.  I came across this one from Cooks.com, which seemed simple enough.  Of course, I have no idea what "cheddar cheese food" means.  My guess is that they meant Veleveeta which if you look on the Kraft web site it was originally advertized as a "Cheese Food".  I decided to nix the Velveeta, and went with regular sharp cheddar.

The trick for this is to have it at room temperature.  I left it on the counter for a few hours until it was malleable.  Then threw everything in my standing mixer and set it to 4 and let it beat away and mix everything together.  The original recipe called for 2tsp of garlic salt, but if I ever make this again I'm only using 1tsp, as I found it a bit too garlicky.

To make it look like a pumpkin, you cut out the stem of a green pepper, make a little notch in the top of the ball and press the pepper top into it.

Cheddar Cheese Ball (slightly adapted from Cooks.com)

Ingredients
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese (at room temperature)
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 tsp. garlic salt 
A couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce 
Nuts, chopped

Directions

- Mix real well until all blended

- Put into small mixing bowl that has been lined with Saran Wrap and chill overnight

- While in wrap, form into a ball

- Before serving, roll in nuts

- Serve with crackers of your choice

Tapenade

My food processor - something I never saw in person until I registered for one.  Once I started using it, I don't know how I ever went without one!  For my first blog post, I'm going to share one of the simplest recipes I have; tapenade.  This recipe came from our good friend Yvonne.  She would always have this out when we came over.  We would go to her home and I would essentially plant myself in front of the dish and constantly take spoonfuls of this yummy app.  When she sent me the recipe I had no idea something that delicious was so easy to make!

***Key Note - Make sure that there are no pits in the olives.  Even ones that say they are pitted may have the stray pit in there.  The food processor won't be happy when it hits that pit!  We found at least 4 pits in our "pitted" olives.
 

Tapenade

Ingredients

Three 8-ounce jars of kalamata olives (without pits)

3/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
2 or 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions

- Mix it all in a food processor!