With Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook, Stewart, along with Martha Stewart Living food editor Susan Spungen and photographer Dana Gallagher, has created not just a handbook but a dream book. The first 225 pages consist entirely of beautifully photographed, exquisite nibbles, tastes, and bites--and the following 270 pages give you the recipes and instructions to re-create them at home.
Pecorino-Romano is an aged Italian sheep's-milk cheese with a sharp, intense flavor. It is worth searching out this cheese, but if you can't locate it, you can use Parmesan cheese.
Makes 2 Dozen
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1/4 cup quick-cooking polenta
1 ounce Pecorino Romano cheese, grated on the small holes of a box grater
to yield 1/2 cup
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 recipe Golden Mushroom Caps (see below)
Heat the oven to broil with the rack in the upper position. Meanwhile, place 1/2 cup of the milk, 1/2 cup of water, the salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of the thyme in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Slowly pour in the polenta, whisking constantly. Cook, stirring, about 2 minutes, until the polenta thickens. Stir in all but 2 tablespoons of the cheese, the remaining milk, and the butter.
Using a small spoon, quickly spoon the polenta into the mushroom caps. Garnish each cap with the remaining cheese. Place the caps on a baking sheet. Broil until the cheese is golden, about 1 minute. Garnish with the remaining thyme. Serve hot.
Golden Mushroom Caps Makes 2 Dozen
Roasting mushroom caps at high heat brings out their inherent deep flavor, so they taste much better when stuffed. Buy mushrooms with caps small enough to eat in one bite, about 1/4 inches in diameter. If you use larger mushroom caps, buy fewer, or there will not be enough filling to stuff them.
24 small button mushrooms
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. remove the stems from the mushrooms and reserve if they are used in the filling. Use a damp cloth or mushroom brush to clean the mushrooms. Brush each mushroom with the olive oil . Add salt and pepper to taste.
Place the mushrooms, cap-side up, on a baking sheet. roast until the mushrooms are golden and their liquid begins to seep from the cavity, 6 to 7 minutes. Place cap-side up on paper towels to drain. The mushroom caps can be stored in an air-tight container for up to 4 hours.
Pecorino-Romano is an aged Italian sheep's-milk cheese with a sharp, intense flavor. It is worth searching out this cheese, but if you can't locate it, you can use Parmesan cheese.
