So as promised on Friday, this weekend turned out to be absolutely glorious. We had some guests over for a late Spring afternoon lunch and later on a dinner. We have a deck out in the back of our house that backs to a creek and a forest. Especially in the Spring and the Fall, some days out there can be particularly stunning.
We were having a late afternoon lunch with a big dinner ahead of us, so I kept things light. Of course, first thing we had to do was break into the minted white sangria that I made up the day before.
And then we started with some grilled mushroom pockets with goat cheese.
| ESTIMATED CALORIC INFO | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | 1 pocket |
| Calories from Protein | 40% |
| Calories from Fat | 10% |
| Calories from Carbs | 50% |
| Total Calories | 175 |
Ingredients…
- pita bread
- mushrooms (any kind, I usually use baby bellas)
- 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp sugar
- goat cheese
Start by making a quick balsamic glaze. Do this by heating up about 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar over medium heat with 2 tsp sugar until the sugar melts and the liquid thickens just a bit.
Cut all the pita bread in half so you have two pockets out of each one.
Slice your mushrooms up into small slivers. Try to keep them as thin slices rather than diced as this way they will better slip into the pita.
Begin assembly – put 2-3 mushroom slices, a few crumbles of goat cheese, and a drizzle of balsamic glaze into each pocket.
| ESTIMATED FOOD MILES | |
|---|---|
| Pita Bread | 50 miles |
| Balsamic Vinegar | 250 miles |
| Mushrooms | 120 miles |
| Goat Cheese | 200 miles |
| Total | 620 miles |
Be careful, they might get a little soggy if you put too much glaze in there. This is one of those recipes where you kind of learn to get a ‘magic touch’ for it. It’s not difficult to do, but it’s a little tricky to do it right.
Throw them over the grill on medium heat for just a couple minutes until the pita crisps up slightly.
If you let it go too long it will get too crisp and fall apart in your hands (again with the ‘magic touch’ aspect). It’s not that hard though.
Let them sit just for a minute or two and then dig in. These are really awesome, a great sweet and savory combination and the balsamic touch is the perfect ending.
They don’t last long.
So I started in on the BLT sandwiches soon after.
I had already cooked the bacon earlier in the morning so it was ready to go. Lately, I get pretty much all my bacon from the Lamb’s Quarter, a farm in MD. This was no exception; I picked the bacon up that very morning from a farmer who had driven it in to the Alexandria market. And when you start with a really great ingredient like that, it makes it a lot harder to go wrong.
In keeping with the goat cheese theme, let’s put a little on our BLT, too. Fresh mozzarella also works great.
| ESTIMATED CALORIC INFO | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | 2 sandwiches |
| Calories from Protein | 10% |
| Calories from Fat | 30% |
| Calories from Carbs | 60% |
| Total Calories | 350 |
Ingredients…
- ciabatta bread
- bacon
- salad greens
- 2 large tomatoes
- goat cheese
This is pretty much just a straight forward BLT but we’ll walk through it anyway.
First thing to do is fry up the bacon on a stove top. Cut bacon slices to about 6″ long and put them in a pan.
Once they’re done frying, put them on a plate with paper towel and let sit for the grease to drain.
The bacon can definitely be done up to a few hours before serving if that fits into your planning better.
| ESTIMATED FOOD MILES | |
|---|---|
| Ciabatta Bread | 25 miles |
| Salad Greens | 200 miles |
| Bacon | 45 miles |
| Tomatoes | 500 miles |
| Goat Cheese | 200 miles |
| Total | 970 miles |
Wash the salad greens while bacon is cooking (unless you did it hours before).
Dry the greens – if you’ve got a salad spinner, well then this is what you bought it for. (I want one).
Slice your bread up into sandwich slices of your preferred shape and thickness. Drizzle some olive oil across them.
Put the bread slices on the grill over a medium heat. Toast for just a minute or two on each side and take them back off the grill.
Slice tomatoes, then slice the slices in half (just try to approximate the size of your bread slices).
Spread some goat cheese on the bread, and assemble your sandwich – greens, bacon, and tomato.
All done. Eat it up!
