The Cooking Salon is going very well as the entire BRK family rises early each Saturday to set up an entire kitchen only to have to deal with beautiful scenery, lovely weather, wonderful people, live music, fresh produce, and delicious dishes. Someone has to do it, right? I have taught cooking classes for seven Saturdays now and have already racked up some lasting experiences and lessons. I’ll dwell more on that in another post though. This past Saturday I taught my second Wolf Trap Salon. Wolf Trap is the outdoor theater for our area which hosts many entertaining shows and concerts. The cool thing about WT is that we can purchase Lawn Tickets, spread our blankets, have a picnic, and enjoy the show. So this Salon was designed to teach others how to pack a wonderful picnic for a night at Wolf Trap or a day in Virginia’s wine country. Here’s a little number I created that is so simple to make and delicious on a cheese flight with some crisp chilled wine or Cava. The lemon flavor bursts in your mouth in this sweet and chewy all natural creamy candy. How’s that for a bio?
Lemon Drops
8 Medjool Dates
2 Tablespoons Mascarpone cheese
zest of one organic lemon
mint leaves, optional
Slit down the one side of each date and remove pit. Wash and zest one lemon and mix zest with Mascarpone until smooth. Using a tiny spoon fill each date with a bit of lemon filling and pinch date closed. Poke a mint leaf into each date for garnish if desired. Store Lemon Drops in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Serves 4.
* I’m thinking orange zest for Christmastime.
Speaking of Mascarpone cheese, I created these super Pretty Peach Melbas for babble.com. And now that peach season is in full swing, try this recipe with fresh peaches from your local farm.
Or how ’bout some pretty Little Peach Cakes?
What is your favorite Cheese Flight item other than cheese of course?
Robin Sue
12 Comments
MMM Those sound so good! I usually stuff some almond butter into my dates, but this sounds like a true treat. I love mascarpone cheese.
Wow these look amazing! I bet it would be nice with a little bit of goat cheese too!
These sound delicious, a lovely little bite!
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Wow, that is so simple, but I bet the combination of flavors is amazing!
I love when restaurants have the cheese/salami platters with olives and crackers – I could live off of cheese!
These look very posh. Great idea!
Would never have thought of the lemon. Nice!
I enjoy Medjool dates out of hand, and filled with a variety of goodies, including almond paste.
But your wonderful version, with its buttery Mascarpone and lemon zest looks and sounds far more appealing!
These look exquisite!
I've wanted to try something with dates for a while now – I might have to give these a go. They sound wonderful!
I have been wanting to make something with this marscapone I bought, I think the peches and raspberries will have to be it
We just got some fresh raspberries at the farmers market yesterday.
Oh my… I so wish I could have sat in on that talk. We do a Shakespeare in the Park thing here in KC. We now have a group of 6 that come and do the gourmet type picnic food thing. I made some killer bacon lettuce and fried green tomato sandwiches. These would have been terrific with them.
So, what else was on your menu???
I'm so glad the Salon is going so well. What a great way to get the kiddos involved in your experience, too. Plus, they're cheap labor, right?
Your lemon drops are wonderful. What else was on the menu?