It's My Birthday and I'll Do a Giveaway If I Want To

A quick re-cap in case you missed it: About a month ago I was on a twitter chat hosted by Punk Domestics (@punkdomestics) and Columbus Salame (@ColumbusSalame). The chat was about salames and our favorite ways to eat them. I ended up winning a tasting kit from Columbus Salame which included five different types of their artisan salumes. I did a little happy dance and spent the past weeks coming up with new ways to use it. After all, I had a bunch to play with.

Over the past few weeks I may have <ahem> "hinted" a little bit that I would love to do a giveaway here on my blog with another tasting kit from Columbus Salame. OK...it might have been a little more blatant than a mere hint but we don't need to go into specifics. The point is that the wonderful folks over at Columbus Salame have told me that they would love to give away a sampling of their salumes to one of my lucky readers. How happy am I??? I am sooo happy! First, because this is the first giveaway I have done on my blog, and second because their products are fantastic!

The timing is perfect too because in case you aren't in "the know" there is a collaboration going on over at Punk Domestics for the next three months called Festa di Salumi where they are encouraging people to make salames at home and share with the Punk Domestic community. So, if you can't participate, or are participating but feel there is no such thing as too much salame, then this is a great giveaway for you.  Also, it's my Birthday today and what better way to celebrate than with a giveaway?

So what will the winner receive? Well Columbus Salame has offered to send a chub of each of the following varieties to one of my readers:

• All natural sopressata salame
• All natural peppered salame
• Cajun salame
• Italian dry salame
• Toscano salame
• Chorizo salame

I have been playing around with the tasting kit I won and I thought I would share another recipe I came up with to give you an idea for what you can do with some of that salame in case you happen to be the winner. This time I decided to go with an appetizer, because if I were to have a meal just like I wanted it would consist of appetizers and desserts. I wanted something that would be really easy to pull together, a one bite wonder that would please a crowd. I always think of cheese right after I think of salame and this time I decided to use the tang of goat cheese to compliment the saltiness of the salame. I also wanted some brininess in there so I went with some kalamata olives, added in some sun-dried tomatoes for a little sweetness and threw the combination of flavors into a wonton wrapper for the ultimate one bite snack. I also think you could top each won ton with a little chopped tomato to add even more flavor as a garnish but these are good just the way they are.

These were great and quickly dissapeared. I also think you could substitute the goat cheese for some cream cheese if you want a little less tang, or even drain some ricotta cheese and use that instead if you want no tang at all. Besides being versatile it only took me 30 minutes from start to finish to put these lovelies together. A winner all the way around.

Printable version

Salame Wonton Bites

(Makes 24)

Ingredients:

• 24 wonton wrappers
• 4 ounces of your favorite salame; finely chopped (I used some of Columbus Salame's Hot Sopressata)
• 4 ounces of goat cheese; crumbled (or use the same amount of either cream cheese, or drained ricotta)
• 2 tablespoons of kalamata olives; minced
• 2 tablespoons of sun-dried tomatoes; minced
• 1 teaspoon of fresh time, plus more for garnish
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Chopped tomato for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375°F. Grease a mini muffin pan and set aside.
2. In a bowl combine the salame, goat cheese, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, thyme, and pepper. Use a spatula to gently fold all of the ingredients together.
3. Place a wonton wrapper in each space of your mini muffin pan. Using a teaspoon divide the filling evenly between the wrappers. Moisten the ends of the won ton wrappers with some water (I used some of the brine from the olives) and fold them over each other to close each won ton. Bake for 10 minutes until the wontons are slightly browned.
4. Garnish with a sprinkling of thyme and the chopped tomato (if using).
5. Serve warm.

Need some more ways to use up that salame? Try out these other ideas I've come up with:

• Buttermilk Biscuits with Finocchiona, Cheddar, and Thyme
• Salami Swirl Bread
• Chorizo Empanadas 
• White Pizza with Cacciatore

So what do you have to do to enter this giveaway? I'll make it really easy. To win a sampling from Columbus Salame leave a comment here by Wednesday, September 26, midnight EST telling me your favorite way to eat/serve salame. I will choose one winner at random to be announced on Thursday, September 27. Winner will have 24 hours to get me their address. This giveaway is open to residents in the continental USA.

Disclaimer: I asked Columbus Salame to be a part of this giveaway and was not compensated in any way by them. The products I have been using of theirs I won and all opinions that I have of their products are entirely my own. I do suggest that you run over and check out their website, Columbus Salame. Thanks to Columbus Salame and to all my readers!