Oh Lord. Homemade crackers with goat cheese and hot pepper jam.
The Magpie and I invited Russell and Anna over last night. Russell is joining our department at MIT as a post-doc from Oxford University, and Anna is currently our deparment’s Creative Manager. Russell has studied children’s interactions with technology for a number of years now, and it’s exciting to have him with us. Anna has an amazing history as an experimental video artist and youth video producer; I simply adore her – her creative spirit and energy is contagious.
Anna brought beer, an incredible couscous salad, and her boyfriend Mike, who is a visualization scholar/artist/philospher. He is another of the bright minds who works in our group, and it was great to have him as well. I’ll try to get the couscous salad recipe to post on here – it is Anna’s signature dish.
I decided simple yet complex hors d’oeuvres were in order for this crowd. We put out bowls of pistachios and dates, and I made homemade parmesan crackers. We topped this with a pepper coated goat cheese from the Davis Square Farmer’s Market, and Stonewall Kitchen’s Hot Pepper Jelly. I used Ina Garten’s recipe for the crackers – not as easy as I thought because they are very crumbly before freezing.
Parmesan Pepper Crackers (adapted from a recipe by Ina Garten - The Barefoot Contessa)
1 stick butter (Ina calls for unsalted)
3 ounces grated Parmegiano-Reggiano cheese
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
I put the butter on the counter to soften at about 9am; I started making the crackers at about 10:30am. Beat the butter a little bit with your mixer (if you don’t have time to leave out the butter, then you will have to beat it longer until creamy). Add all the remaining ingredients and beat until dough is coming together in a clump.
Ina calls for us to dump the dough on a lightly floured board and roll into a 13-inch long log. This was easier said than done. The dough is fragile, and kept trying to split in half on me. I ultimately ended up with some crackers that weren’t quite as pretty as the ones Ina made.
When you have got a 13″ log (or two 6-7″ logs), wrap the log in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to harden. When you put them in the freezer, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
When the thirty minutes have passed, cut the log crosswise into slices that are somewhere between 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick. I tried to do them closer the 1/4″ so that I could have more. Place the slices on a sheet pan and bake for 22 minutes at 350.
When they have cooled, you could try a range of toppings. I thought pepper jam and fresh goat cheese sounded good, so that’s what we did. Delicious!
