Kitchen Play(ing) with Land O’Lakes 4 Cheese Italian Blend

This assignment for Kitchen PLAY is all about cheese. Specifically, the new 4 Cheese Italian Blend from Land O’Lakes. It combines Asiago, Romano, Parmesan and American cheeses into a cheese that you’ll want to use all over the place. It’s tangy and creamy, sharp and mild--all at once. It’s new in your local delis. If your deli doesn’t carry it yet, get on their case--you want this cheese!

Land O’Lakes is celebrating summer in a big way. Be on the lookout for 30 Days of Outdoor Dining! I’m one of thirty bloggers creating delicious recipes with 4 Cheese Italian Blend, so you’ll have plenty of new ideas for packing a picnic and heading to the park or the beach, or walking right out your door and firing up the grill!

I came up with two dishes just waiting to be packed in your picnic basket. I think you’re going to love them both. Not only are they super simple to make, but they’re bursting with flavor! The first one is a pizza inspired puff pastry tart. It’s got the 4 Cheese Italian Blend, sliced pork and salami, mushrooms, peppers and fresh basil. For the second dish, I went the dessert route. Little puff pastry parcels with the same cheese, sliced apples and cinnamon sugar. Like little not too sweet pies! All hand held, and all easy.

Supremely Tasty Puff Pastry Pizza Tart

Makes one (roughly) 12 x 8 inch tart

1 sheet of puff pastry from a 17 oz package, thawed at room temp for 40 minutes
1/2 pound of sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms 
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, plus Italian Seasoning
1 egg, beaten
Sliced Land O Lakes® 4 Cheese Italian Blend
Sliced deli meat (I used a thinly sliced roasted pork)
Small slices of Italian Salami
Jarred roasted red peppers, drained and roughly chopped. (I used half of a small jar, about 8 oz.)
Fresh basil leaves, sliced in ribbons, about 1/2 cup. (To slice into ribbons, stack up the leaves, roll them up and slice across.)
Grated Parmesan Cheese for sprinkling over the top

Heat oven to 400. Place a baking sheet (Mine are 18 x 13”) in the oven to get it nice and hot while you prepare the tart. On a second baking sheet, place a piece of parchment paper. Set aside.

In a medium skillet over medium high heat, heat the butter and oil. Sauté the mushrooms until nicely golden brown, about 10 minutes. Season with the salt, pepper and Italian Seasoning. Remove from pan and set aside.

Roll the sheet of puff pastry out on a lightly floured surface. You want it roughly 16 x 12 inches. Cut it in half the long way to form two rectangles, roughly 16 x 6. Put one piece of the pastry on the parchment lined baking sheet. Brush some of the beaten egg along the edges of the pastry--in about a 1/2 inch border.

Start adding your fillings. Staying within the egg wash border, make a layer of the Land O Lakes® 4 Cheese Italian Blend, then sliced pork, then a layer of salami. Next, put down a layer of the cooked mushrooms. Now add the chopped roasted peppers and the sliced basil.

Place the second rectangle of pastry dough over the fillings, and gently press the edges to the bottom. Starting at one corner, roll the bottom edge of the dough up over the top edge, and crimp as you go all around the tart. Gently press the edges with a fork. It doesn't matter if they look messy. Puff pastry is very forgiving and will look beautiful after it's baked!

Brush some egg wash all over the top of the tart, and then dust the top with grated parmesan. Make a few slits along the top to allow steam to escape. Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven and carefully slide the tart, along with it's parchment paper, on to the hot sheet, and return it to the oven to bake for 20 minutes. It should be a deep golden brown when it's done. Remove from the parchment paper, and place it on a rack to cool.

Slice and serve immediately, or pack the entire tart (unsliced) to bring on your picnic or outing. Serve warm or at room temp.

Bonus second recipe!

Apple and Cheese Puffed Parcels

Makes 8

1 sheet of puff pastry from a 17 oz package, thawed at room temp for 40 minutes
1 egg, lightly beaten
8 slices of Land O Lakes 4 Cheese® Italian Blend
1 medium apple, cored and thinly sliced (you don't need to peel it)
Cinnamon Sugar

Heat oven to 400. Place a baking sheet (I use an 18 x 13) in the oven to get it nice and hot while you prepare the tart. On a second baking sheet, place a piece of parchment paper. Set aside.

Roll the puff pastry sheet out on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle about 16 x 11 inches. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut it into 8 rectangles. Place the rectangles on the parchment lined baking sheet.

Brush some egg wash on the edges of the rectangles. Take one slice of the cheese and fold it in half, then place it on one of the rectangles of dough. Repeat with the next 7 pieces. Next, take a few pieces of the apple, and cut them in half, slicing across the apple, to make smaller pieces. Place 3  or 4 pieces of the apple on the lower half of the cheese pieces.

Fold the pastry rectangles in half, covering the cheese and apple, and seal the edges. Starting at one corner, roll the bottom edge of the dough up over the top edge, and crimp as you go all around the tart. It doesn't matter if they look messy. Puff pastry is very forgiving and will look beautiful after it's baked!

Brush the tops of the parcels with egg wash, and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar. Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven and carefully slide the parchment paper and the parcels on to the hot sheet, and return it to the oven to bake for 15 minutes. They should be a deep golden brown when they're done. Remove from the parchment paper, and place them on a rack to cool.

These are wonderful warm or at room temp.

Be on the lookout for more outdoor inspired dishes with Land O Lakes 4 Cheese Italian Blend--and look for the cheese at your local deli! Follow Land O Lakes on Twitter at @LandOLakesKtchn and search the hash tag #kitchenplay to follow along for more 30 Days of Outdoor Dining.

For more information on Kitchen Play, sign up here.

Disclosure Statement

This post was sponsored by Land O’Lakes as part of the Kitchen PLAY SideCar series. All opinions given are my own.

Be sure to check Kitchen PLAY every day for the next fabulous recipe featuring new LAND O LAKES® 4 Cheese Italian Blend or LAND O LAKES® Deli American Cheese. Then, get in on the fun by leaving a comment with your own “30 Days of Outdoor Dining” tip for dining al fresco this summer. If you do, you’ll be entered to win a lovely grilling prize pack, including one grilling spatula, one marinade brush, one set of tongs and one grill scraper. Kitchen PLAY will be giving away four prizes total, one each week! Please visit Kitchen PLAY for sweepstakes guidelines.

Steak, Blue Cheese and Horseradish Cream Bites with Caramelized Onions

Who doesn’t love steak, blue cheese and horseradish? It’s a fantastic combination, almost like they were meant to be together. There’s only one thing that could make them better.

Caramelized onions. Well, really, caramelized onions can make almost anything better, can’t they? They develop such a delectable sweetness. Once made, it’s hard for me to stay out of them. They’re ridiculously simple to make, too. All you need is a little patience. Can you spare thirty minutes for some onions that will turn any dish from fantastic to fabulous? Sure you can! Caramelized onions can even turn simple cheese and crackers into a snack that will have any food lover begging for more. Don’t forget to try your onions in a sandwich!

This month’s Kitchen Play focuses on storage onions.  Now, I must confess--before this assignment, I didn’t even know there was a difference in onion types! I mean, different varieties, sure, but some that are good for storage as opposed to best eaten sooner than later? I had never thought of it that way.

Storage onions are lower in moisture, with thicker skins, making them perfect for braising, roasting, caramelizing, etc. Spring onions have thinner skins and a higher moisture content, making them more suitable for raw preparations. To be clear, we are talking about red, white and yellow onions, not green onions or scallions. Check out the National Onion Association for more information!

What is Kitchen Play? Kitchen Play is dedicated to connecting bloggers with PR professionals through different “assignments.” These assignments vary throughout the year, and highlight different products and seasons. If you’re interested, contact Kitchen Play today!

Read through to see how you can win one of six $100 prizes!

My assignment for use of the storage onions is appetizers or soup. I chose an appetizer using some of my favorite flavors. The components in this recipe all come together to make a bite sized appetizer that even the heartiest of meat eaters will approve of. Speaking of components, don’t be fooled by the wordy recipe. You’re caramelizing onions, which is non-thinking activity--you just need to stir them occasionally. The sauce takes two minutes, if that, to mix up. Cook the steak in under 8 minutes, then bake up the puff pastry squares. These bites will impress at your next get together, for sure!

Steak, Blue Cheese and Horseradish Cream Bites with Caramelized Onions

Makes 24 squares

Caramelized onions:
3 small to medium-ish yellow onions, peeled, cut in half, and thinly sliced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil
salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Horseradish Sauce:
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp horseradish (you can find it in the grocery store, usually near the mustards)
2 tsp lemon juice

1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough, thawed for 20 minutes before you work with it
1 petite sirloin (approx. 3/4 lb.), or the cut of your choice, at room temperature
Asiago, parmesan, provolone, fontina, mozzarella shredded cheese blend
crumbled blue cheese
fresh snipped chives

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Start by caramelizing the onions. In a large skillet set over medium low heat, add the butter and oil. Let it get nice and hot, but not burning, and add the onions. Sprinkle with a couple pinches of the salt, and add some pepper. Stir every few minutes. You should just hear a little sizzling action in the pan, but not too much.

Continue to do this for about 30 minutes. You should end up with about 1 cup of caramelized onions. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

While the onions are caramelizing, mix the sour cream, horseradish, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Cover and set in the fridge. A note about the horseradish--I saw some premade horseradish sauce in the store, and it's got HFCS syrup in it. No one needs that, so avoid it if you can.

Next, prep your steak. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. I used my small cast iron skillet, but use your favorite pan. Get it nice and hot, then add some oil, just to coat the bottom. Next let the oil get hot-this is very important for good searing.

This video from Gordon Ramsay pretty much covers the best way to cook steak in the house. My steak was about 1 1/2 inches thick, and I gave it 3 1/2 minutes on one side, then 2 1/2 minutes on the second. The butter basting adds such a nice flavor, so give it a try!

Set the steak aside to rest and cool.

Take the puff pastry sheet and, on a lightly floured surface, roll it out into a rectangle. Even the edges up with a knife or pizza cutter, and cut into as even squares/rectangles as you can. I used a very sharp knife and a clean ruler, and cut 24 squares.

Transfer the squares to a parchment lined baking sheet, and prick them with a fork a few times. Next, sprinkle some of the shredded cheese blend over each one. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Remove from the oven and with a spoon, make an indentation in the middle of each square. Set pan aside.

Assembly:

Slice the steak into very thin strips, slicing across the grain. Take the strips, and slice each one in half, lengthwise, to make even thinner strips. Take the horseradish sauce out of the fridge, and spoon it into a small zip top bag. Seal the bag and snip off a very small tip on the corner. Set aside.

Divide the steak between the puff pastry squares. Next, using a fork, add some caramelized onions to each one. A nice dollop, but not too much-you don't want too much moisture on the squares. Top each with some crumbled blue cheese, and return to the oven, and bake for about 5 minutes, till the cheese is melted.

Remove from oven and using a small spatula (I use an offset spatula for small jobs like this.), remove each square to a cooling rack. Transfer the cooling rack to the baking sheet that you just cooked them on. Let the squares cool to almost room temp, this way the cream won't melt and slide off when you add it.

Pipe some horseradish sauce on top of each square, and top with the snipped chives.

• If you’re not into bite sized foods, or making individual bite foods makes you feel tired just thinking about it, consider taking the flavors of this recipe to a sandwich or flatbread pizza-type deal. You won’t regret it!

Be sure to check out Kitchen Play and sign up for fun food assignments! Also, please head on over to The National Onion Association for delicious ideas and recipes.

You can play along with Kitchen Play and WIN!

The National Onion Association is also sponsoring a wonderful giveaway at Kitchen PLAY. Simply recreate any one recipe from this month’s Progressive Party, post about the experience on your blog and provide a link to your post on Kitchen PLAY to enter.  All qualifying bloggers in each course will be entered to win $100 (6 prizes total).  The deadline is October 31, 2011. Please review the complete contest rules before entering. Good luck!