On my first trip to New York City a little over twenty years ago, I was introduced to the delicacy that is the bagel. I could go on and on about how much I love this dense, bready treat, particularly toasted with a ‘schmeer’ as I heard one old man put it, by way of asking for cream cheese to be spread on the bagel.
Enjoying a bagel on the streets of Manhattan, April, 1992.
Every
time I went back to New York, I made a point to breakfast on a bagel to two,
and always with that ‘schmeer.’ Well, lo
and behold on one trip I came across a deli that offered various flavored cream
cheeses instead of just plain. One of
those flavors was sun dried tomato. I
tried it. I was in heaven! This spread was so savory, tangy and
delicious I almost had to sit down to eat the bagel. I almost needed a cigarette after a I was
done. Yes, it was that good.
When
I got back to Texas, I knew I had to replicate this spread.
I’d
been using sun dried tomatoes in pastas and such for some time, and I love the
way the drying concentrates the tomato flavor.
I pureed some up and blended them with cream cheese and gave it a
try. It was good, but not anywhere close
to the flavor from the NY deli. So I
made a few more batches, adding a couple of herbs and spices and such, and
eventually I came up with a winner.
Sun
Dried Tomato Cream Cheese Dip/Spread
1 8oz package of Philadelphia cream cheese
2 oz (by weight) sun dried tomatoes
2 oz pitted Kalamata olives, drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil (or one tablespoon fresh)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Pinch of salt
2 oz (by weight) sun dried tomatoes
2 oz pitted Kalamata olives, drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil (or one tablespoon fresh)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Pinch of salt
You
can buy sun dried tomatoes a lot of ways, including the variety in a jar of
olive oil. I skip these and just buy the
dry kind in a package, which I then rehydrate in some boiling water. For this recipe, you can use either, but the
dry kind are cheaper and lower in calories.
If you use the dry sort, add them to boiling water for five minutes or
so,
then drain and slice into thin strips.
Add
these to a small pan or saucier with the olive oil and sauté. Immediately add the Kalamata olives (and
note, they must be KALAMATA olives, don’t go cheap here and substitute plain
old black or green olives, for the flavor won’t be the same. You might get away with some Nicoise olives,
but trust me, the only olives that give you that real NY deli flavor will be
good old, purple Kalamata).
Next,
add the basil, salt and crushed garlic and sauté all, stirring constantly to
keep the tomatoes from burning, until you smell the roasted garlic aroma
wafting up from the pan. Remove from
heat and set aside.
Add
the sun dried tomato mixture to your food processor and process until a smooth
paste forms, with few lumps of tomato or olive remaining.
This will probably take about a minute. Next cube up your cream cheese
and add this
to the food processor. Blend until
smooth.
Depending
on your tomatoes, sometimes the mixture comes out a beige color, sort of the color
of Thousand Island dressing, which I don’t think is quite all that appetizing,
so I add a few drops of red food coloring to brighten.
You
can serve the mixture at room temperature as a dip, and it will yield nicely to
crackers such as Wheat Thins. Or, you
can chill the mixture and use it as a spread on crackers, sandwiches, or of
course, the ubiquitous bagel.
Until
next time,
Forgetaboutit!
Chris
No comments:
Post a Comment