New Cheese Ball or Spread for an Open House

Guests enjoying the foods we prepared

Yesterday my good friend Tetiana, of Re/Max Preferred Choice here in Aberdeen, asked if I would come with her to help out with food for an open house she was hosting. I had made little appetizer foods for an open house here last summer. Despite being a truly lovely home, it is still on the market as of today. Tetiana assured me she was making the foods this time, but would appreciate help with serving, while she was busy with potential buyers. Still, I wanted to bring something, so I elected to make a version of some little filled sweet peppers I had made for the holidays a while back. 

Little Sweet Peppers

I started out with the idea of making them just as I made the ones back in December of 2013, but true to form, I cannot even follow my own recipes, even if they were great. Those appetizers were wonderful. I used a cheese ball mixture but softened it to fill those little sweet peppers that are available everywhere now. In lovely colors of red, orange and yellow, and perfect sized for appetizers, they are really attractive. In reading the mixture I made for the cheese ball, I immediately thought of substitutions. And more substitutions. And pretty soon it was such a different recipe that here I am, writing about it. 
 

My Cheese Mixture in little Sweet Pepper halves

Cheese Balls and Variations

Cheese Balls come in so many types and styles that there is really no particular way to make them. Almost any cheese, as long as it is either a smooth, soft type like cream cheese, chevre, blue, Gorgonzola and the like, with something that can be shredded, like cheddar, Jack, Parmesan or others, can be bound together into a cheese ball. It seems that little individual cheese balls have started popping up lately in magazines and on TV, but I came up with this concept on my own a little over 2 years ago. I thought of making tiny individual balls for this Open House, but then remembered those little sweet peppers and went that direction instead. 

"Cheese Ball" Filled Sweet Pepper

Many recipes for cheese balls, if left to soften at room temperature, are also good as a spread, or can be if thinned a little with milk or oil. In this case, I opted to leave out the bacon and go for a more herbal mixture. It seems that cream cheese is a sort of universal "base" or binder for other things. I really wanted to use goat cheese, but chevre tends to be a little crumbly, so cream cheese came to the rescue once again. I had planned to use plain chevre and add my own herbs. I did add more of my own herbs, but while perusing the options at the local grocery, I decided on a 4 ounce log of lemon flavored chevre and a 4 ounce log of garlic and herb flavored chevre. Between these two, there would already be a tasty base for the mixture. Other things to add to a cheese ball are so numerous it hardly seems possible to ever cover them all. I chose dried cherries for a sweet note, and used dill and parsley as the extra herbs. 

Mini Cheesecakes with Jam and Raspberry 

Though this new mixture was used to fill little sweet peppers, it could just as easily be formed into a ball and rolled in more herbs or nuts or cheese. Once chilled it is plenty firm enough to be used this way. Additions to this cheese ball recipe could be things like cracked black pepper (which I meant to use and forgot!), finely chopped fried bacon, nuts left in small chunks instead of ground. Cooked chicken could be finely chopped and added, or smoked salmon or trout. For more ideas see the recipe options here. 

If the mini sweet peppers are not available where you live, regular bell peppers of assorted colors would also work. They would need to be cut into approximately 1 1/2 x 2-inch sections. If the cheese mixture is fine enough, it could also be piped or scooped onto endive leaves, cucumber or zucchini medallions, celery sticks or even carrot coins. These ideas can be seen here.

Herbed Goat Cheese (Ball or Spread)

Herbed Goat Cheese Filled Sweet Peppers

Makes enough to fill one (1 pound) bag of sweet peppers

8 ounces chevre such as lemon and/or herb flavors
8 ounces cream cheese
1½ - 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh dill
1½ tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley
½ teaspoon lemon zest, or more, if desired
¼ cup chopped scallions
¼ cup chopped dried cherries
½ cup nuts, chopped or ground (I used walnuts)
1 pound bag mini sweet peppers

Allow the cheeses to soften at room temperature for about 1 hour. Place all the cheese into a bowl and with a hand mixer whip the cheeses until smooth. Add in all the remaining ingredients except the peppers and mix again to evenly distribute.

Cut off stem end of the peppers, then slice them in half lengthwise. Remove any seeds and membranes. With a small knife, fill each pepper half and smooth evenly. They can be served as is, or topped with a dill or parsley sprig. if desired.

If making a cheese ball, once all the ingredients are well blended, allow the mixture to firm up in the fridge. Once firm, scrape all the mixture together and roll into a ball. Roll the ball in one of the following: ground of chopped nuts, minced herbs (for this recipe, a combination of more minced dill and parsley), or shredded cheese such as finely shredded Swiss, or Parmesan or Romano.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Greek Style Potato Salad

I was going to make some burgers on the grill a few days back and couldn't think of anything for a side dish. I have made my Mustard Potato Salad a few times recently, and of course my Pan Potatoes, Oven Fried Potatoes, and Grilled Potato Salad a couple of times. I know there are other things than potatoes to make as a side dish for burgers, but there was not much else fresh to make. Summer is nearly here but really wonderful summer produce is still a ways off. The grocery stores still have the same tired vegetables that have come from all over the world. Good enough I guess, but I am really craving nice fresh garden vegetables from our little Farmers Market. Not yet, alas.

Greek Style Potato Salad

So back to a side dish. Potatoes it was going to be. What to do differently? I have a recipe for a Greek potato salad that I made up quite a few years back. It was really good, using red skinned potatoes sliced thinly with skins left on. And therein lies the problem. My husband won 't eat potato skins, so that potato salad, while delicious to me, was anathema to him. I am going to make it again sometime soon regardless. It is a long time since I made that. Meanwhile, the "Greek" flavors sounded good to me. I had some Feta in the fridge, dill in the spice cabinet. Lemon is also a classic Greek flavor and I thought I would use the vinaigrette concept, but using lemon juice.

Bowing to my husband's dislike of potato skins, I baked the potatoes whole and let them cool enough to handle easily. I took off the skins and just crumbled them into a bowl with my hands. I was going for rustic instead of structured. I made the lemon and olive oil vinaigrette and used capers and the Feta cheese. Olives and/or tomatoes would also be nice additions if you like them. I do; my husband does not. I left them out.

All in all, the flavors in this potato salad were really wonderful. Everything tasted great together. I would love to have used fresh dill, but even still this was good. 

Greek Style Potato Salad

Greek Style Potato Salad

Serves about 6

2 pounds russet potatoes (5 - 6 medium)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon dill weed or 1 tablespoon fresh
⅓ cup lemon juice
½ cup olive oil
3 scallions, chopped
1 - 2 teaspoons capers
½ cup Feta cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scrub the potatoes well, pat dry and set them on a baking sheet. Bake the potatoes until tender, about 45 minutes. Set the potatoes aside until cool enough to handle.

In a large bowl, whisk together the salt, garlic, dill weed and lemon juice. Add the olive oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly to emulsify.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove skins if desired, then crush the potatoes into the vinaigrette. If leaving skins on, you may need to cut them into chunks. Add in the scallions, capers and Feta cheese and toss well to combine. This potato salad tastes best tepid or at room temperature.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.