It happened -- the night we'd been anticipating for almost two whole weeks: Philly food bloggers united.
At 6:50 p.m., we packed up our toast points and pumpkin-pie blintzes, hailed a cab, and made the 10-block trek down Chestnut Street. We were extremely nervous; I quizzed Alex on the names of expected guests and their respective blogs during the ride, and we eavesdropped outside the apartment door for a long minute before knocking. Hearing only some chatter and laughing -- no screams or other indications of ax-murdering -- we entered into a warm apartment with a bunch of mostly twenty-somethings sitting around drinking wine and munching on homecookings. Despite the initial awkardness of introductions (so... what's your blog?), we quickly started loving it. And as we expected, the food tasted insanely fine. These were our kinds of peoples. Check out their sites by clicking the links from our blogroll, to your right.
Being two people, we brought two dishes: an appetizer and a dessert (will post next!). We'd made the appetizer once before, but it originated in Alex's family as a Christmas dish. It's very simple, but for some reason we just think it tastes really good. These are easy to make en masse, and great to set out at cocktail parties as well.
Ingredients:
3 onions, sliced into thin strips
2 peppers, sliced into thin strips
1 baguette
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp olive oil
4 oz. blue cheese
1 bunch of scallions, finely sliced
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Slice the baguette into thin toasts, about 1/4 inch thick, and spread them out on a baking sheet. Toast them in the oven until they begin to brown, about 15 minutes. In a large pan, Cook the peppers and onions in the olive oil over medium heat, sprinkling them with the sugar and salt and pepper. Remove them from the heat after about 15 minutes, when onions have begun to brown and the peppers have softened. Scoop spoonfuls of the onion and pepper mixture onto the toasts, and top with a small piece of blue cheese (maybe about the size of a fingernail) and some pieces of scallion. If you want, you can throw the toasts back in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese, or just serve.
