Lox Stock and Barrel Ball

Just in case you don't know me, I'll preface this whole story with the fact that I am the least competitive person you may ever meet....Unless you ask me to compete with food, then, I will loose. my. mind.

The people I work with are pretty aware of this, so I'm sure that when the HR people dreamed up this competition, they must have had me in mind. They know how my heart beats :-) So the competition is to create a cheese-ball worthy of accolades from the entire staff (150 or so people), ok I exaggerate. There will be three judges. There are roughly 10 people competing and I am determined to win! I'll admit that I've never made, nor even thought to make a cheese-ball...Really, there are so many more sophisticated appetizers...I know, I'm a food snob, I digress...So, despite my snobbery, I set out to create a cheese-ball worthy of appearance on Wolfgang Puck's table...Not sure I achieved that exactly, but it turned out pretty respectable. Here is what I came up with:

The Lox, Stock and Barrel Ball

Ingredients:

4 Large Shallots (thinly sliced into rings) 1 Tbs butter 1 Cup Guinness beer 1 Tbs Brown Sugar (any hue will do) Dash of salt 8 oz. Cream Cheese 1 Cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese, (such as Flagship Cheddar from Beechers, or Coastal Cheddar available at Costco) Juice of 1 Lemon 1/4 cup freshly chopped, flat leaf Italian parsley 8 oz Smoked Salmon 1 Cup sliced Almonds (can use other nuts if you desire)

Crackers or bread for serving

Directions:

Slice the shallots and place in a saute pan on medium-low heat along with the Tbs of butter. Slowly cook the shallots, stirring frequently until they are tender and starting to caramelize. Be careful they don't start to burn. If so, turn down the heat on your pan. Once they start to turn a soft gold color, add the Guinness beer 1/4 cup at a time, allowing almost all of the liquid to cook off between additions. After the last addition of beer, add the brown sugar and a sprinkle of salt. Place the onions in a bowl and place in the refrigerator or freezer (depending on how much of a hurry you're in) to cool.

Once the onions have cooled, place the cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds to soften (obviously omit this if your cream cheese is at room temp). Once soft, stir it around to break up any chunks. Mix in all ingredients except the salmon until it is well incorporated. Do NOT add any salt at this point.

Stir in the salmon gently so as not to completely disintegrate it. At this point, taste for salty/sweet. If there is not enough salt, add it a very little at a time. Remember that whatever you serve it with will also have salt, so be cautious.

Once it's seasoned to your liking, place the mixture in the refrigerator to firm up a bit. I would say an hour should be sufficient. Once it has firmed up, remove from the refrigerator, and form roughly into a ball. Roll the ball into the sliced almonds so that it gets coated. The almonds will help the cheese-ball stay ball like, so keep pressing as many of them in as will stick.

Place on a tray and enJoy!

**Cooks Notes: I'm pretty sure this would be exceptional with Whiskey or Bourbon in place of the Guinness.