Janelle Maiocco

Hi.

Welcome to my blog. I live in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle on an Urban Farm (w/ five laying hens and a huge garden). I am a trained chef (w/ a certificate in food preservation), taught at a cooking school & like to share 'kitchen hacks' - culinary tips that save time, money & maximize flavor. If that isn't enough, I also run a food+tech startup called Barn2Door.com - a platform to help everyone easily find & buy food directly from farmers, fishers & ranchers (from CSA's to urban farm eggs to 1/2 a grass-fed cow).

12 Days of Christmas: 12 Easy Appetizers

12 Days of Christmas: 12 Easy Appetizers

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The 12 APPS of CHRISTMAS

I recently held a class on appetizers; my challenge was to come up with easy to assemble appetizers that maximize flavor while minimizing time. I probably could have presented half a dozen, but what with the spirit of Christmas I couldn't help myself: 12 appetizers for the '12 Days of Christmas.' (Just click on links to find recipes). Next, I organized them according to need: 4 make ahead appetizers, 4 easy to assemble appetizers and 4 last minute apps. I hope you just laughed and rubbed your hands together. I know I did:

MAKE AHEAD (not hard---just a bit of forethought and/or oven time)

  • Crostini with goat cheese, roasted peppers - make crostini in advance, spread with goat cheese and top with peppers. I marinated the peppers in this dip. You can char and peel your own peppers OR buy them in a jar. (Can sub mozzarella).
  • Roasted garlic, cambazola, artisan bread - roast garlic for 60 - 90 minutes; put on plate with wedge of cambazola cheese and slices of focaccia. Drizzle garlic heads with olive oil.
garlic
garlic
  • Pinwheels (recipe follows) - prosciutto + Gruyere = happy. Make in advance, chill. Then slice and bake when ready.
  • Endive apple blue cheese bites - make the apple/celery salad, place spoon on each endive leaf. Can be made earlier same day and refrigerated.

EASY ASSEMBLY (a little of this, a little of that)

  • Sausage bites plus mustard - splurge on good sausage (I picked artisan German sausage), and grill/cook. Store in fridge. When ready: slice into 3/4 inch segments, stand them upright with toothpicks and serve with small bowl of good mustard (I chose a walla walla sweet onion and garlic mustard). Can be served room temp/cold.
  • Brie with apricots, pecans and cranberries - so easy. Find some dried fruit (craisins, dried apricots or cherries, blueberries) and spiced nuts (I buy chili pepitas and make chipolte pecans or sugared walnuts). Roughly chop nuts/fruit, place on top of brie and warm for 10 minutes in 350 degree oven. Serve warm with crackers. Looks great on cake plate!
baked brie with apricots
baked brie with apricots
  • Focaccia & olive oil balsamic dipping sauce - Quickly assemble olive oil dip. Slice focaccia. Pick cool platter and serve.
  • Crostini---the long way---with olive tapenade - forget the petite slicing of a large baguette and make one large, horizontal slice. Drizzle with olive oil, grind on some S&P and bake for 10 minutes or until edges start to crisp. Remove from oven and while still warm, rub face of bread with raw garlic. A large baguette will require 4-5 cloves of garlic for a good rub. Slice into wedges and serve with olive tapenade. You can buy your favorite olive tapenade, OR make your own by blending a jar of drained kalamata olives with some of this dip.

LAST MINUTE (ideally from stuff you have on hand)

  • Pesto, goat cheese, pine nuts - your 2 year old can put this together. Take a log of goat cheese, smoosh onto plate, top with pesto---store bought or homemade---and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.
  • Goat cheese Christmas log - (you can actually make this ahead, too). All I did was chop up toasted pistachios and dried cranberries. Roll the goat cheese log in this smattering of green and red and call it Christmas. I often tuck this cheerful yule log on top of rosemary sprigs.
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  • Cheese, artisan jam and specialty crackers - Open jar, unwrap cheese and dump crackers. As easy as that. I make my own preserves, but you can buy fantastic jams too! Ideas:red pepper jelly with goat cheese, brandied fig jam with blue cheese, peach salsa with Manchego, Parmesan with Chianti jelly).
  • Truffle popcorn. Need I say more?
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pinwheels
pinwheels

Prosciutto and Gruyere Pinwheels Makes about 40 hors d'oeuvres.

3/4 cup grated Gruyère (or Fontina, Parmesan, etc.) 1 heaping T fresh sage leaves, finely chopped OR 1-2 T dried herbs, a combination of any: oregano, sage, marjoram, thyme) 2 puff pastry sheets (one box) thawed and slightly rolled out 1 large egg, beaten lightly 3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto

In a bowl combine Gruyère/cheese and sage/herbs. On a lightly floured surface roll out pastry. Brush all edges of dough with beaten egg. Arrange 1 layer of prosciutto (yes the full slices) evenly on top of pastry, avoiding egg-brushed edge; top with Gruyère mixture. Starting with the long side, roll pastries into a log and wrap in wax paper/saran wrap. Chill seams down until firm, an hour and up to 3 days. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut logs crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick pinwheels and arrange on baking sheets; bake 15 minutes or until they start to brown. Plate and serve warm.

urban farm & house remodel (update dec 2011; Part 1)

urban farm & house remodel (update dec 2011; Part 1)

holiday cheer: product shout-outs plus TWO giveaways!!

holiday cheer: product shout-outs plus TWO giveaways!!