Sunday, November 28, 2010

gift wrapped

I happen to believe that part of a present is its presentation. The carnivore disagrees with me. Every year at Christmas I carefully match ribbons and bows with pretty paper on each gift I give. If it were up the carnivore we would throw everything in a brown bag, staple it shut, and call it a day. (I seriously had to have a conversation with him the other day about why we couldn't reuse plastic grocery bags to put gifts in.) In fact, he is notorious for doing just that in his family. The first year we were together I compromised and wrapped things in brown butcher paper with colorful ribbons. But now, since I do all the wrapping, I am back to my old ways. And I feel the same way about my food. You eat with you eyes first, right? That's why I love these little packages.

To make these goodie bags you will need:
One package of frozen puff pastry, thawed
4-8oz of cubed beef
2-4 yukon potatoes
4 mini carrots
1 cup of broccoli
1/4 cup of red onion
goat cheese crumbles
italian seasonings
salt and pepper
butter


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a baking sheet. Brown the beef in a skillet with your choice of seasonings. I usually use salt, pepper and garlic powder. Chop the veggies into bite sized pieces. Blanch the vegetables in boiling water until almost done (about 5 minutes for potatoes and carrots, about 2 minutes for onions and broccoli). Drain veggies, toss with your choice of seasonings. I like rosemary and parsley. Set the veggies aside. Roll out the dough. Cut it into 8 small squares. In the center of each place your choice of filling. The carnivore likes meat and potatoes (go figure). I like all the veggies. Sprinkle each with a few goat cheese crumbles and dot with butter. Fold up the corners to make a small purse. (They will open slightly as they cook to give a peak of the yumminess inside.) Bake in the oven for about twenty minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden.

You can serve a couple with some sauteed green beans for dinner. Or set them out before hand as a hearty appetizer. They would be get on a buffet too. In any case, these giftbags won't be around for long. They are as good as they are pretty.

5 comments:

  1. Mmm, these look incredible! I can totally see some lightly roasted garlic in these, too. In fact, I'm pretty sure my own omnivorous husband would find the veggie ones just as appetizing... if not more so. ;)

    Delicious! We'll have to try these!

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  3. Hi there. Just came across your site while searching for help. I'm about to marry a carnivore (I've been veg for 14 years) and though we've been living together for over a year, dinner is starting to become more and more of a challenge and source of conflict. I'm happy to see we're not the only ones! I'll be combing through your site for ideas. The only problem is I have never cooked meat in my life and while I'm ok cooking with things like pre-processed chicken breasts, I'm really not ok dealing with raw meat (never was), so that is where an extra challenge will come in for us. Anyway, thanks for blogging about this!

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  4. @coexist - fill them up however. they are delicious!

    @laura - so glad you found me. it does sound like you have a challenge, but just know you can make it work. i like with a very picky carnivore and we have been doing it for years now. and i have one tip for you when it comes to cooking meat - let him grill it! congrats!

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  5. What a wonderful post, this looks lovely and must try it.

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