We went hiking yesterday in the foothills and ran into a friend and neighbor in Red Butte Canyon. He was angry about a recent breakup, so I invited him to come over for appetizers in an hour. We finished our hike, went home, all showered, and then I had to make some appetizer! I had a nice chunk of smoked salmon in the fridge (thanks Costco!). A quick trip to the basement was required to get a brick of cream cheese from the freezer and some crackers.
Microwave the cream cheese to thaw, but not so long that it is liquid. Whip with a fork to make it fluffy and add a couple of pinches of dill weed and some cracked pepper. Flake or chop salmon and serve on a tray. We paired with a dry reisling.
One could do the whipped cream cheese with any appropriate combination of spices to serve with crackers or crudites.
4 comments:
If your brick of cream cheese comes in a foil pouch (like philly), you can soften the unopened pouch in a bowl of warm water and not risk the uneven heating that some microwaves (like mine) produce.
Yes, microwaves can be unpredictable. When I am worried I sometimes turn down the power to 50% or 70%. Warm water is a great alternative when the guests aren't on the doormat.
I've always avoided freezing cheese, thinking it would change the texture.. does cream cheese freeze ok? Do you freeze other cheeses? I'm picking up my new freezer on Wed.. yay!
The texture of cream cheese does change if you freeze it. This is not a problem if the ultimate use will be in something cooked such as cheesecake, spinach-artichoke dip etc. When you heat it and whip it up it is just fine. I would not however let a brick defrost on its own and then try to spread it on a bagel.
I buy the big jar of shredded parmesan at Costco and keep it in the freezer. I just put about 1/2 cup in a small container to keep in the fridge and replenish from the stash as needed. I think with very hard, low water, cheeses it is ok. We use cheddar so fast that I never tried to freeze it!
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