I made a quiche in Harlem!

I moved (surprise Mom)!
This Alaskan went a little farther East and now lives in Harlem (right down the street from the Tenenbaum house. It's hipster heaven).

With an amazing kitchen and amazing roommates.

Maridee is not a vegan and grates cheese. 

Moving is the worst.
Being in a new place is better.
Cooking in a new kitchen is the best.
(but playing the "where did we unpack that" game kind of sucks).


Ronald (and Hannah's) Fennel Quiche (Ronald apparently works at The Moosewood)

For the crust:
1 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c chilled butter
3 Tbsp ice water

For the filling:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion- diced
1/2 tsp salt
1 c fennel- thinly sliced
1 c grape tomatoes- sliced.
1 c zucchini- diced
1 c yellow squash- diced
1 c mushrooms- sliced
1/4 c fresh basil- minced
1.4 c green onions
1/4 tsp black pepper- ground
4 eggs
1 1/2 c feta
1 c Jarlsberg- grated

Crusty:
- Put the flour, butter and salt in the food processor (buy one, if needed). Mix it until it's a fine course meal. Sprinkle the ice water over the mixture and lightly toss. Collect into ball.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean surface, shape into a disc (get super pissed when this takes 18 tries). Put it into the pie pan and pat out until it looks like it's a crust. Store in the fridge.

Filling:
-Preheat the oven to 375
-heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute the onions and salt until the onions are brown (8-10 mins)
-Throw in the fennel and saute for another 3-5 minutes.
-Add the squash, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes and pepper to skillet. Cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add in the basil and green onions. Set aside.

-In the (clean) food processor, puree the eggs and feta until it's a custard.
-Dump the vegetables in the crust. Dump the custard on top. Put the Jarlsberg on top of that. Be a bad ass and put tomatoes and basil on top. Finish with salt and pepper.

-Bake for about 50 minutes, until melty, golden and amazing.

Harlem Quiche is best paired with:

Ra Ra Riot's new album, Beta Love.
I did it because Spotify told me too.

Gone are the soaring and sad classical instruments of my college obsession. It's been replaced with electronic beats, synthesizers and laser sounds. Win win.
I'm going to guess that many early Ra Ra fans hate this album.
I like to think that they (and I) have aged from young melodrama to a more upbeat, slightly overproduced, optimistic outlook.

White Soul Train

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

I went to Juneau over Thanksgiving!

Some things happened...

Family yoga

Glacier time

Friends 4 EVA!

I also broke tradition and didn't make a pumpkin pie. 

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Candied Walnuts (Hannah's own creation)

Bread Pudding

1 loaf of Raisin Bread from Wild Oven (or another loaf that's not as awesome)- cut into 1 inch cubes, sort of stale. 

1 c heavy cream

1/2 c whole milk

1 15 oz can pumpkin

1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

pinch of ground cloves

2 TBSP bourbon (optional) (but not really)

Candied Walnuts (see below)

-Preheat oven to 350. Put the rack in the middle. 

-Melt butter in an 8 in pan while the oven is preheating. Once it's melted, take out the pan and toss the bread in the butter, take out a handful of cubes.

-Whisk all the rest of the ingredients (except the walnuts). Pour over the bread cubes, sprinkle with the candied walnuts and the left over bread cubes (to make it crunchy)

-Bake until the custard is set, about 25-30 mins.

-Try to convince everyone that it's better than pumpkin pie. 

Candied Walnuts

1/2 c sugar

1 1/2 c raw walnut halves

1/8 tsp sea salt

-Toast the walnuts (350 oven for about 5 mins).

-Put the sugar in a medium sized sauce pan with a thick bottom. Cook the sugar on medium high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until all the sugar has melted and turned an amber color (this will take much longer than you think it should. You didn't mess it up, I promise). 

-Once the sugar is ready, throw in the walnuts and toss until covered. Pour out onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. WORK QUICKLY! Use 2 forks to separate the walnuts from each other, sprinkle with salt and let cool. 

Did I tell you that I saw ANDREW BIRD at Riverside Chapel! 

'Cause I did. 

I also discovered a few blog posts he did for the NYT back in 2008 and fell in love for the 8th time. 

This is the winter of hard pickin', soul wrenchin', vocal cord blastin' bluegrass/blues/country and I have to pay tribute to the song that started it all. 

It all started back in the Allen Marine summers and I haven't gotten sick of it yet. I actually just sang this today to a kid I'm nannying.

Plus, Old Crow Medicine Show, Mumford and Sons (ugh) and Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zero's were all in a film called "Big Easy Express" where they rode the rails between San Francisco and New Orleans, playing concerts along the way. Hipster is now taking us back to the 1890s and I couldn't be more stoked. 

Put A Grill On It

Paradise is in Juneau Alaska. 

It's an indescribable place. The purveyor of everything delicious and funky, the keeper of generous scones, beautiful quiches and a home town feel that you can't really get in New York. I've had friends wake up at ungodly hours to be taught how to make pastry dough, just for fun. I've spent hours hanging out, not on the Internet (last time I checked, they don't have wi-fi) and it's the location of the infamous Alaska Folk Fest Bourbon Brunch. 

When I found out that they published a cook book, I mass texted everyone in Juneau, begging them to get the secrets for me. 

My mother loves me the most. 

Side note- never before has a cook book made me homesick. 

Savory Scones ON A GRILL! (adapted from Paradise Cafe and Bakery)

5 c of flour

2/3 c white sugar

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 lb butter, cold and cut into 1" cubes

2 c whole milk

fillings- 

1 c fresh basil- chopped

1 c sundried tomatoes- chopped

1 c Cheddar cheese- grated

1 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp dried italian herbs

dash of cinnamon

more cheese- sliced

-Put everything but the milk in a mixer and blend slowly until the butter is incorporated. (note- I used to do this with 2 butter knives. Get yourself a mixer ASAP). This is the basic recipe, you can use this to make savory or sweet ones. 

- If you are using the whole mix, gently mix in 2 c of milk. Cover your work space with plastic wrap, dump the dough on the plastic wrap and wrap it with more plastic wrap. Pat out to 3/4" thickness. 

-Cut in circles, triangles, ninja's etc... Place on a tray and bake for 12-14 mins. 

Note- This recipe is working with the goal of selling scones to the masses. You'll end up with about 20 scones. That is a first world problem. 

For scone sandwiches or SCONES ON THE GRILL!

put scone and sliced cheese on the grill. Be patient. 

eat it when it's good and melty. 

It tastes kind of like this. 

Notes for next time:

I'll make the scones thicker so I can make scone sandwiches (ON THE GRILL!) and perhaps put mozzarella, basil and a tomato in it. 

My new back up plan is to open a cafe called "Put A Grill On It"

Basic premise- grilling things that aren't meant to be grilled- i.e. baked goods, breakfast things, fruit, bread, tofu, tempeh, eggs, vegetables, desserts... Really anything. It's going to be awesome. 

I spent a Sunday afternoon contemplating time at the remount of EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH, the Robert Wilson and Philip Glass non-linear, 4 1/2 hour opera about Einstein. 

Basically I got my avant garde artist vegetables. 

Sometimes I hear and see things and wish that I did more drugs. 

Einstein falls into that category. 

I'm still a little dazed by it. 

But I've been singing the numbers 1-8 for the past 2 days, so something stuck. 

Repetition, time, stark visual imagery, physically and emotionally disorienting... it's a feat for performers and audience alike. 

It was amazing and terrible at the same time. I cried at one point and I have no idea if it was from an emotional place, or if my eyes were revolting. It was exhausting and awe inspiring. I doubt I'll ever see anything like it again. 

It's only staged once every few decades. Maybe I'll be ready to see it again in 20 years.  

                                

Maybe. 

Pizza Dough, Wine and Body Paint

Make your own pizza parties are a regular occurrence here at KDP (see here).
I came across a new pizza dough recipe that claimed to be "no- knead, no-fuss".
That was kind of a lie.
To be fair, 4 glasses of wine tends to be my "this is too hard" threshold and that was greatly surpassed on this ladies night

No-Knead Pizza Dough from (Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery and pizza spot Co)
Makes six 10"-12" pizzas
Start at least 24 hours early!

7 1/2 c all purpose flour (plus more dough shaping)
4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp active dry yeast

-Whisk flour, salt and yeast in a medium bowl, with a wooden spoon.
-Add 3 cups of water, stir until well incorporated. Gently bring it together and form into a rough ball.
-Transfer to a large, clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature (I use the oven) for 18-24 hours.

-Transfer dough to a floured surface, break apart into 6 even portions. Working with 1 at a time, mold into a ball and set aside. Repeat with the 5 other balls. Let the dough rest, covered with plastic or a damp towel for about an hour.
-Working with 1 ball at a time (and lots of flour, it's really sticky), gently shape into a round 10"-12" disc with hands.
-Put things on the pizza. Be creative.

-If using a pizza stone- place the stone on the oven rack, preheat oven to 500 degrees F. When oven is ready, turn to broil. Place pizza round on the stone. Broil pizza, rotating halfway through, for 5-7 mins, until the bottom of the crust is crisp and the top is blistered.

-If using baking sheet- preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Put the pizza's on the baking sheet, bake for about 10 mins, until bottom is crisp and top is blistered. 

I liked this dough, despite the planning ahead. It's very soft and doughy and had I had more patience, I might have rolled it out to the correct size, shape and thickness. These pizza's ended up being blobs of dough/bread with yummy stuff on top. Which is a first world problem. 

The Best Part

For this party, we had:

Peanut Sauce, Pesto, Tomato Sauce and Olive Oil

Onions, Black Olives, Green Olives, Mushrooms, Basil, Oregano, Sprouts, Carrots, Cilantro, Peanuts, Tomatoes, Sundried Tomatoes, Artichoke Hearts and Spinach

Mozzarella, Parmesan and Feta

Dessert Pizza- fruit and goat cheese

And about 10 bottles of wine (hence the progressively bad photos, the overcrowded kitchen and the pizza triangles). 

Note: pizza toppings also make excellent hungover omelets for the next morning. 

I have vague memories of listening to Vertical Horizon and playing 10 fingers, neither of which are terribly blog worthy (sorry VH, you bring up too many awkward and emo flashbacks to 14 year old me). 

So I'm currently listening to Goyte's 2011 album, "Making Mirrors" 

I kind of love it, it's widely ranged and versatile. I go into the album expecting atmospheric, emotional easy listening, but am constantly side swiped by the 80s pop ballads. The album takes you on a journey and isn't 45 minutes of the same sound, which I find refreshing every once in a while. 

This is great. especially when you compare it to the following, from the same album:

Let's be honest here, sometimes the best break up songs don't send one running for the hammock, a PBR and Vic Chesnutt, Bon Iver and co. Sometimes you have to dance it out a little. 

Plus, I'm a little jealous of whoever had to do the body paint for the video. 

How to Be Succesful at Your Office (Without Really Trying)

Hey y’all.

Today’s the day that Mags gets all semi-homemade in this bish.

Everyone who works in an office knows the quickest way to your co-workers' hearts is by providing an eating opportunity. If it’s your birthday, it’s your lucky day. Everyone will appreciate you more because they know you are the underlying reason behind their 3:00 piece of carrot cake.

But what if you’re the one responsible for the cake? This is a ridiculously easy recipe for when you forgot to bake something the night before and you’re getting sick of Costco apple pie. (Note: this is impossible.) It’s hard to describe what is so great about this cake (it's definitely not its given name, that's for sure); it’s easy, gooey, and amazingly tasty (especially under some vanilla ice cream.)

I was too slow to get a picture of the finished product.

This is all you need.

Dump Cake (from one of my favorite co-workers, Michelle.)

1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick butter (1/2 cup) (melted)
1 21oz can cherry pie filling
1 21oz can crushed pineapple
chopped walnuts (as many as you want)

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Spray the bottom of a 9”x13” glass baking pan. Pour in cherry pie filling and pineapple and mix until evenly distributed in the pan. Sprinkle cake mix over the fruit and, well, poke it with a plastic spoon until just a little bit of the fruit starts to show through the powder. This shouldn’t be completely combined, there will still be a lot of dry powder on the top of the cake. Drizzle the butter evenly over the top and sprinkle with the chopped walnuts.

Michelle demonstrates the poking procedure.

Bake 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and bubbly.

Let cool for a few minutes or you will suffer a molten-cherry related incident.

Serve with ice cream, trust me.

TUNES:

I’m probably a little late to the table but, YOU GUYS. Listen to this!

Cookie Butter

Yeah, I know. Two posts from Mags in the same month. Try to keep your pants on.

I was re-reading my soup post, and I realized I forgot to include the amazing dessert I made afterwards because I was feeling sorry for myself.

While scrolling through ye olde FoodGawker, I noticed that all the bloggers were losing their shit over something called Biscoff spread. Now, I live in Alaska. I gave up hope long ago of being able to find new, trendy ingredients in our local Fred Meyer; it just doesn’t happen. So, IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when I walked into my neighborhood grocery store and right there, next to the Nutella, was a little glass jar of Biscoff.

YOU GUYS, Biscoff spread is peanut butter except instead of peanuts they use CRUSHED UP COOKIES. I shit you not. It is now possible to spread cookies on your morning English muffin.


I decided to make cake. 

Biscoff Mug Cake

4 Tbs self-rising flour (if you don’t have self-rising flour, you can use regular flour and ¼ tsp baking powder)

3 Tbs sugar

1 egg

3 Tbs Bischoff spread

3 Tbs milk

3 Tbs oil

1 tsp vanilla

Put all of the ingredients in a mug and stir until combined. I used a fork.

Microwave for 2 ½ to 3 minutes. This is the hard part. After two minutes, risk the brain cancer and keep an eye on it. You might have to stop and start it a couple times towards the end so it doesn’t overflow.  You can tell when it’s done if it looks like cake when you take a forkful of it. (The surface may still look shiny, but the rest of it is done.)

Let it cool, or you will destroy your mouth.

So tasty I forgot to take a picture of it.

 Then cue up last week’s “Downton Abbey” and dig in! 

Tunes:

You now have my permission to lose your pants. I know I did.

Blogsgiving Part 1- Toasty, Bourbon-y nuts.

Everyone wants Thanksgiving recipes now... right?

Last year I cooked and controlled the entire Thanksgiving dinner for 8.
It was amazing and crazy stressful.
This year, we went to an Orphan Potluck style.
Only requirements were to bring food and wine.
and more wine.

Toasted Nut Tart (adapted from Bon App) 
A different take on Pecan Pie
You'll need a 9' tart pan with a removable bottom. I have one you can borrow.


Crust:
1 c all purpose flour
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 c butter, room temp.
1/4 c sugar
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 egg

- Mix flour, cornstarch, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl.
- In a food processor, beat butter, sugar and powdered sugar until pale yellow.  Add egg and beat to blend.
- Add dry ingredients to bowl in 3 batches. Mix to blend. Gather into a ball, flatten in a disc. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.
Can be made at least 2 days ahead. Keep chilled
- Preheat oven to 375. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12" round. Transfer to pan, press into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Trim the overhanging dough so it's flush and reserve the extras (to patch the crust). Prick the dough all over with a fork and freeze for 10 mins.
-Cover with foil, fill the foil with pie weights (rice or beans work). Bake until edges of crust are starting to turn golden, about 35 mins. Remove the foil and beans, patch any cracks with the remaining dough, return to the oven and bake until golden all over, about 15 mins. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
Can be made 1 day ahead, store airtight in pan at room temp. (Only if you don't have roaches...)

In lieu of rolling pin, use a glass (or wine bottle). 

Filling:
1/2 c unsalted pistachios, chopped
1/2c hazelnuts, skins rubbed off, chopped. (try to buy without skins, getting them off are a bitch)
1/4c pine nuts
1/4c butter
1c packed brown sugar
1c light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp bourbon
3 large eggs
Powdered sugar

- preheat oven to 350. Spread nuts out on 3 separate baking sheets. Toast nuts until fragrant and brown (5 mins for pistachios, 10 for pine and 15 for hazelnuts). Remember to toss the nuts throughout the baking and check often, they burn quick.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, Cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. (again, check often, it burns fast (are you noticing a trend here?))
-Stir brown sugar, corn syrup, salt and vanilla in a medium bowl, stir in eggs, browned butter and nuts. Pour into tart shell.
-Bake, rotating halfway through, until filling it set around the edges and jiggles slightly in the center when nudged, about 1 hour. Tent foil over the crust if it gets too brown, cool on a rack.
- Dust with powdered sugar.

Sooooo..........I burned it.
I blame my wonky gas oven.
Seriously, keep an eye on those nuts.

New music obsession:
Phantogram
A indie, electronic/pop duo from Saratoga Springs (I spent a month in Saratoga this summer... I'm not surprised that this band comes from there, it's a weird town), I'm really digging their new EP- Nightlife.

I really want to see them in concert. Apparently they incorporate their visual art into their concerts. That is something I can get behind.

KDP Reunion + Epic Blogsgiving

Connie and Mags visited for Thanksgiving!

And Monagle crashed in the spare bedroom while he looked a place of his own.
It was the reunion to end all reunions.

They'd never been to New York before.
They were scared of the subway.
They are still scared of New Yorkers.
They got lost pretty easily.
I don't know how life happened before Google Maps.

But...
We made a pumpkin pie at 2am.
My kitchen capacity was tested with 3 people. (Monagle doesn't cook... See Fig Newtons)
We cooked a lot.... A LOT.

Keep an eye out for T-day recipes/adventures.

2 am Pumpkin Pie

Roasted Pear and Cranberry Salad

Ninja Bread Men

Cranium + Wine= The reason why Hannah's not allowed to play board games 

There are more photos coming, as soon as I can raid Connie's camera. Look out for sidewalk sushi picnics, sleeping on public transportation, pumpkin hummus, gingerbread whales, waiting in line to see Harry Potter dance and sing and many empty bottles of wine.



This is pretty amazing:
The Recipe Project

If you love me, you'll buy me this book.
It's a band that's put together a book and CD.
They take top chef's recipes and sing them word for word.

There is something that is so right about a world that can create this.

Zucchini Bread. Challenge accepted.

Hey guys!

I got a tweet from @hannahjwolf at some ungodly hour (time zones, man, seriously) that I never posted this recipe.

This was originally supposed to hit the site in September, when the zucchini seems to multiply like rabbits. But then I forgot about it.

Seriously, zucchini? Ever heard of birth control?

SO, close your eyes and pretend it's still summer. You know you want to.

Also: I seem to have misplaced the photos I took while baking this. Hello, Google Images.


Zucchini Bread (adapted from The American Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)

This zucchini looks like a duck.

Let me tell you a secret, guys. When I say “adapted”, I usually mean “too lazy to go to the store to get the right ingredients”. This particular recipe was made with whatever I could find in the fridge/pantry. What I’m going to do is put the ingredients I actually used and then put what I will probably use next time in parenthesis next to it. That way you can be inspired to make EVEN BETTER zucchini bread.

Ingredients:

2 zucchini, normal sized or just 1 if it’s gigantic

1 - 1 ½ cup sugar (Less sugar is better.)

6 Tbs butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

¼ cup vanilla cultured coconut milk “yogurt” (Next time I will use real yogurt, probably something of the greek variety. Coconut milk yogurt is pretty tasty, but it can leave a weird fake-sugary aftertaste even though there’s no fake sugar in it. Totally weird.)

If you like diet soda, you might like coconut milk yogurt.

Vanilla, as much as you want. I trust your judgement.

2 cups all purpose flour (The only reason I didn’t do half whole wheat flour was because we didn’t have any.)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

>1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp cardamom

½ tsp salt


Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375°. Grease two 8” loaf pans.

Shred the zucchini onto a pile of paper towels (I usually go with 3 paper towels) with a large-holed grater. (Giggle because I totally just said “holed”.) Squeeze out as much excess water as you can by wrapping the towels around the now shredded zucchini and, well, squeezing it over a sink or bowl. This step is pretty important if you enjoy your bread to be bread-textured rather than pudding-textured.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, butter, eggs, yogurt and vanilla.

In a totally separate large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and salt. (I should interject here that usually this kind of spice bread calls for allspice, which I totally would have added if I had any. Man, I am the worst food blogger ever.)

Fold the wet ingredients and the zucchini into the flour mix until just combined. I’m going to be honest, I totally mixed instead of folded. Shut up, it turned out fine.

Divide the batter between the two loaf pans and bake (at 375°) for 30-ish minutes. Check them at twenty. When they’re brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, they’re done.

Let cool in the pan until you only burn your fingers a little when you dump them out on the cooling rack. Let cool a while before you eat it.

This is what it looks like when Emeril makes zucchini bread. Aim for this.

Music:

Honestly, I was watching “Sons of Anarchy” while I was baking this. I have a big crush on Ron Perlman.

Do I love Ron Perlman? Or do I love the eight tons of prosthetics he pulls off as hellboy?

BUT RIGHT NOW I am listening to almost my entire punk library because I was feeling old this morning.

Fountain of Youth mini-playlist:

"We’re Only Gonna Die” – Bad Religion

"Beat My Guest” – Adam Ant

“No Voice of Mine” – Strung Out

“Dismantle Me” – The Distillers

“Never Heard of Corduroy” – None More Black


Enough of me. Go hassle Hannah about the KDP New York reunion posts we're all waiting for.

Short bread cookies

Shortbread Cookies (from Chef Magnus Nilsson)
2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
10 1/2 tbsp butter- room temp
1 egg- room temp
1 egg yolk- room temp
3 tbsp raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 400
whisk flour, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl, add butter, mash it in using your fingers until a meal forms.
Whisk egg and yolk in a bowl, add to flour, mix to blend.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll balls of dough (about 2 tbsp worth) (it's very very crumbly, it'll take a while to form a cohesive ball. Be patient). Place on prepared sheets, make hole with your finger on the top. Fill hole with raspberry jam.
Bake for about 12-14 mins. Cool on a rack.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself," that recipe looks great! But, I really need a picture to seal the deal."
I have to apologize, dear KDP aficionados.
In my excitement over baking these amazing cookies, I forgot to take pictures.
So instead of knowing what they look like, just imagine that when you are eating them, your taste buds feel like this:

This tasty firework display is well accompanied with the sweet tune-age of James Blake, a producer/electronic music maker from London. It's pretty amazing, the texture of the arrangements, layering voices, acapella and synthesized, dubstep, chord shifts and drums. 

I'm just discovering London's electronic scene and though it's a shame it's taken me so long, I am very excited for unearthing gems. If you have any good ones, please let me know. 

Cup-tarts

Cup cakes, cup pies and now cup tarts...Muffin tins are taking over the world. 

Roasted Tomato, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Tarts (I invented this shit)
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 c sliced mushrooms
5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Phyllo dough- thawed
Butter- melted
Goat Brie- cut into 1 in pieces
Goat Cheese- grated


- Preheat oven to 425.
- Mix the tomatoes, mushrooms. garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper into a oven proof dish. Roast for 30 mins, until the tomatoes are slightly shriveled, but have retained their shape.
- Prep the phyllo cups.
    - Take 1 sheet of phyllo (please see Hannah's Tips for Working with Phyllo), fold hamburger style 2      times, so you end up with a rectangle of 4 sheets. Cut the sheets on the folds, so the 4 are seperate.
    - brush Butter on the square and layer in the muffin tin.
    - Repeat this so that each muffin tin has between 4 and 6 layers of phyllo, creating a cup.

Phyllo prep stations

- Place 1 piece of the brie in the bottom of each tart, spoon some of the tomato mix over, then sprinkle with the grated cheese.

- Bake for 20 mins at 350, until the cheese is melted and the phyllo is golden brown.
- VERY IMPORTANT- Let the cup-tarts rest in the muffin tins for at least 10 minutes. They need to cool quite a bit before you can pull them out and.....
- Stuff your face.

 

Music stuff:
Black Prarie's Feast of the Hunter's Moon from April 2010.
I'm sure you've all deduced how I feel about The Decemberists and Bluegrass (the answer is pretty f-ing positive), so adding those two together is the best things I've heard in a long time.
Plus, when I play the "this is the soundtrack to the film about my life" game with these tracks, I'm in a Western.