Cabernet poached pears with blue cheese

My husband and I tried this dish on our 1 year wedding anniversary. We stayed in a B&B in Bar Harbor, and popped into this little place for appetizers and cocktails before dinner. We ordered the only vegetarian appetizer on the menu and were blown away with how amazing it was. If we weren't in a fancy restaurant, I think both of us would have licked the plate. EJ asked me how happy I would be if I had the recipe for the dish, and I agreed that it would be amazing to be able to recreate this exactly. Lo and behold, at the hostess stand was a book featuring restaurants throughout Maine, and Mache Bistro was in the book. What recipe did they decide to submit for the publication? Why, the Cabernet poached pears, of course!

I made this for my in-laws on the 4th of July, and it was a hit! Of course, I can't take credit for the recipe. This is unaltered from the original. I'm thinking about experimenting with different fruits instead of pears, though the pears were out of this world.

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Lettuce Wraps

I really enjoyed eating these. Because I am such a nice person, I brought these over to a friend's house to share. EJ was a little angry, I think he wanted to hoard them for ourselves!



Ingredients:
1 block tofu, drained and diced into small pieces
1 package tempeh
sesame oil
1-2 cups chow mein noodles (optional, but I love these things)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 can water chestnuts, cut into small pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red chili powder, or to taste
few tablespoons sesame seeds
1 cup peanut sauce (I used a pre-packaged, fat free peanut sauce)
3-6 tbsp soy sauce (depending on how salty you want it or how salty your peanut sauce is)
2 tbsp rice vinegar

whole iceberg lettuce leaves


Tempeh marinade:
1/4 c sugar
1/2 c water
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
2 tbs ketchup
1 tbs lime juice


1. Saute the tofu over medium heat with some sesame oil. Its hard to get the tofu cooked evenly when the pieces are so small, so I just flip the pieces every few minutes until most seem brown.

2. Cut the tempeh into small pieces. Combine the tempeh with the tempeh sauce in a saucepan and stir well. Cover and bring to med-low heat. Heat until the tempeh has absorbed most of the sauce.

3. Combine all ingredients (including tempeh and tofu) in a large skillet. Mix thoroughly. You should taste the mixture too see what it needs - i did this in a hurry and didn't measure everything. I hope my above measurements are accurate!

Spoon into lettuce leaves and eat like tacos. Be careful - they can get drippy! The cool crunch of the lettuce is a great contrast to the heat of the tempeh/tofu mixture. I love this stuff!

Note: I used more tofu than tempeh - I think in the future I will add more tempeh. I like the texture of the tempeh a lot, and I think more of it will make this dish much better.

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Easy Bruschetta

Ingredients:

3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup fresh basil, sliced
4-5 tbs feta cheese
1/4 of a white onion, diced
2 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Super easy - combine everything. Voila!

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