Tag: Basil

Queso Fresco Strawberries: Homemade Queso Fresco Colored with Powdered Beets, Studded with Black Sesame Seeds, and Topped with Basil

Posted February 1, 2024 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

It isn’t often that I make a recipe and say, “That was fun! I’ll probably never make it again.” 😆 This is one of those rare recipes: fun, whimsical, easy, and pretty tasty . . . but also a little too “out there” for regular use. I had a feeling that might be the case when I decided to make it for my current blog menu, but I was so intrigued when I read its description in the book MY FINE FELLOW, I couldn’t help but make it!

In MY FINE FELLOW, main character Elijah enters the Royal Culinary Exhibition and makes this recipe as one of his competition dishes. It’s not really meant to be something you’d make at home. Instead, it’s supposed to showcase Elijah’s gourmet cooking skills. The book describes these cheese bites as homemade queso fresco colored with beet powder and dotted with nigella seeds, each with a strawberry stem on top.

I had a LOT of fun puzzling out how to bring a dish like this to life! First, I dried my own beets in my dehydrator and ground them down to a powder. Then I mixed them in with queso fresco I made using a recipe from Goodie Godmother. Rather than dotting the outside with nigella seeds, I decided to use black sesame, which I already had on hand and looks similar. Since strawberries aren’t in season, I topped the finished cheese bites with basil leaves instead of strawberry stems. The final flavor combo was a bit different from the story but still really delicious. I was pleasantly surprised that you could really taste the beets!

While I probably won’t be making beet-dyed, sesame-studded queso fresco strawberries again soon, I DO intend to use the methods I learned again in the future. The basic queso fresco recipe will become part of my regular cheesemaking at home, and I’m looking forward to experimenting with more powdered fruits and vegetables as natural dyes and flavor enhancers.

I’ve been having so much fun learning knew recipes and techniques as I make this menu. It’s been such a refreshing challenge. I can’t wait to see where it takes me next!

Enchanted Breadstick Arrows from the Island of Roke

Posted July 19, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

I wanted to continue this month’s Wizard of Earthsea menu with a fun little item we hear about during Ged’s revelry with his friends at a festival on the wizards’ island, Roke. The boys are playing around with various spells, and as Ged’s friend Vetch causes the leftover chicken bones from his dinner to turn into owls and fly around, Ged uses magic to fashion breadcrumb arrows that he sends after the birds. I loved the idea of bread arrows, so I created a recipe for Parmesan garlic basil breadsticks using premade pizza dough and added arrowheads with some extra dough.

They turned out delicious! Everyone in our family loved them, especially the baby. He wouldn’t let me walk by the tupperware container I had them in without grunting and reaching for a piece. I’d say that’s a pretty rave review! 😉

Ogion’s Fried Honey Basil Goat Cheese Bites

Posted July 5, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 4 Comments

Welcome to our Wizard of Earthsea menu! I wanted to start the Earthsea series for years, and a few months ago I finally got around to it. It felt a little slow at first, though this may be due to the fact I read it as an audiobook and wasn’t in love with the narration style. However, I stuck with it, and around chapter 5 things REALLY picked up. Forbidden magic, shadow monsters, dragons—I was hooked!

I wanted to start off our menu with a nod to one of my favorite characters: Ogion, the reclusive wizard who lives deep in the wilderness and acts as Ged’s first master. His gentle guidance and wisdom are a great foil to the rashness of Ged’s youth. Since Ogion loves his goats and has been known to serve cheese to his rare visitors, I loved the idea of making a goat cheese appetizer. I hunted through Pinterest for inspiration and came across this recipe for fried goat cheese balls with honey. It sounded just right for Ogion, so I whipped up a batch with a couple changes to make it my own: I mixed chopped basil into the cheese for a bit of freshness and swapped out the original Honey Bunches of Oats coating for panko crumbs. You can definitely try the cereal coating if you want (it sounds delicious!); I just felt like a simple bread crumb was more in keeping with Ogion’s humble home.

I know goat cheese isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and fried goat cheese with honey may sound a little odd, but oh my gosh, guys. The FLAVORS. There’s a bit of tang from the cheese balanced with just the right amount of freshness and sweetness from the basil and honey. You get two different textures too: the crisp outer panko layer and the creamy inner cheese. The flavors and textures all come together to make a perfectly balance bite that, despite having so many distinct components, feels simple and fresh.

So even if you’re not big on goat cheese, I recommend giving this one a try. I DEFINITELY think Ogion would approve. 🙂

Grilled Tilapia with Tomato Basil Cream Sauce

Posted May 11, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 4 Comments

While reading Sabriel, one of the dishes that stood out most to me was the grilled fish Sabriel eats when she arrives at her father’s house. The fish itself is described as “small and almost circular,” and it’s served with a delicious-sounding sauce of tomato, basil, and garlic. As soon as I read those words, I knew I’d found the entree for my Sabriel menu!

Though the sauce’s base isn’t described, it sounded to me like it was most likely a cream sauce (I’ve seen similar sauces served with fish before). The fish had me stumped at first. The closest comparison I could think of was tilapia, since it’s silver and on the smallish side. I grilled some up, whipped up a cream base I adapted from this recipe, and roasted some grape tomatoes. This has become one of my favorite ways to prepare fish!

Shepherd Book’s Goat Cheese & Basil Stuffed Strawberries: An AWR Original Recipe!

Posted March 2, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 4 Comments

Howdy, folks! Today’s recipe marks the start of our first TV show menu of the year. It’s themed after one of my favorite shows: Firefly!

The show is set in a dystopian future when mankind leaves Earth to terraform the universe. The arm of the law doesn’t really reach the outer systems, which have taken on an attitude toward law and justice reminiscent of the Wild West. The show follows the travels of the crew and passengers of the spaceship Serenity.

In the first episode, the ship’s mechanic convinces a preacher named Shepherd Book to travel with them, and he pays for his passage with something unusual: a small box of strawberries.

Charybdis Whirlpools: Greek Spiral Sandwiches

Posted August 13, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 1 Comment

In The Odyssey, Odysseus must choose between facing the man-eating monster Scylla or the ship-destroying whirlpool Charybdis. A tough choice no matter how you slice it, but these Greek pinwheel sandwiches are an easy choice: truly delicious and easy to make! A recipe that I originally found on Hello Healthy, they’ve got all the flavors you’d expect in a classic Greek salad (feta, cucumbers, peppers), plus some surprises (like herbed cream cheese). I love the way the feta incorporates into the cream cheese, and the roasted peppers add just the right touch of crunch.

Siren Notes on the Rocks: Basil Music Note Crackers and Tropical Hurricane Cocktails

Posted August 6, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 2 Comments

Happy August, everybody! Our new book of the month is The Odyssey! That’s right. We’re taking the term “classic” to a whole new level this month. Maybe the hot weather’s had me craving a sea voyage. 😉

Prim’s Basil and Goat Cheese Bites

Posted November 6, 2014 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments

So excited for our new Book of the Month: The Hunger Games! I’ve loved both the books and the movies, and since Mockingjay Part 1 is coming out later this month, it seemed like the perfect time for a Hunger Games menu. Luckily, the books feature so many recipes, any difficulty in developing a menu comes from the sheer number of options.

Diana Barry’s Signature Salad

Posted July 3, 2014 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments

Once in a rare while, you come across a book with so much vibrance and life, you read the last few chapters as slowly as possible, just because you don’t want it to end. For me, Anne of Green Gables was one of those books. SO AWESOME. That’s why I chose it for our July Book of the Month!

Witch Hat Calzones with Melted Witch Pesto

Posted February 13, 2014 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 9 Comments

I made a different version of these witch hat calzones for a Halloween party once, and they were a big hit! My favorite pesto recipe adds a little Technicolor flair, plus a fun flavor element, making these calzones the perfect entrée for this month’s menu. The recipe is remarkably kid-friendly, so if you have any little budding chefs in the household, I’d definitely enlist their help with this one!