This is a sweet cheese spread served chilled that only takes a few minutes to make, but must be prepared well in advance of being served. I like to offer this as part of an appetizer when serving East Indian cuisine. It can served as a bowl or mold that guest help themselves to or as individual offerings on small slices of Naan bread or crackers. Yields about 3.5 cups of spread
Ingredients
1 cup dried mangos – rehydrated and diced
3/4 cup water
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. of cream cheese – softened
3/4 cup apricot preserve or orange marmalade
2 TBL whole milk
1 cup pecans or pistachios – chopped
Procces
- Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
- Set cream cheese out to soften – make sure to remove from packaging while still cold and hard, its a mess to get unpacked once soft.
- Hydrate mangos prior to dicing by placing water and mangos in sauce pan that you bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 mins. Once done, drain water and let mangos cool on a paper towel. When cool, dice to the size you want in your spread. I usually go with 1/8th inch dices.
- Chop nuts. How fine you chop is up to you depending on the texture and appearance you want and how good your food processor is. I usually chop medium to fine.
- Once cream cheese is soft, beat at medium speed until smooth and fluffy.
- Stir in mangos and remaining ingredients.
- If you are serving this as a serve yourself bowl or mold place spread in either a mold or the serving bowl, cover and chill for at least six hours.
- Usually I chop up a small amount of nuts very fine and dust the spread to help with presentation.
- If you planning on making individual servings on bread or crackers for appetizers or Hors d’oeuvres, place spread on a plate to chill. I usually press spread into a large round mold so it looks like a disk of brie. I then dust the top and sides with nuts and cut out slices to place on either crackers or savory bread.
