Appetizer/Hors D'Oeuvre/Starter Ideas

[weinoo]

We had a couple of nice starters last night, at a brand new Basque-style restaurant down these parts:

 

 

Crab stuffed piquillo peppers.

 

 

This is a potato "salad" like those you see in every pintxo bar. Topped with trout roe.

 

 

 

 

[Maison Rustique]

On 6/7/2024 at 5:07 PM, Tropicalsenior said:

I have a dip recipe that I have been making for 40 years. It's probably the easiest dip in the world and one of the best. I got it from a chef at a country club in Reno. It was his specialty and he never told anybody what was in it but I did him a favor by working for him through the holidays when he really needed it and as I left he gave me the recipe, making me promise to never divulge it.

It is simply 8 oz of cream cheese and one small can of anchovies. Mash the anchovies to paste and combine with the cheese. I've always gotten rave reviews and even some anchovy haters have loved it. I'm always asked for the recipe and especially in the cases of the anchovy haters I just have to smile and tell them I promised never to tell anyone.

 

I belong to a local group of food-lovers. One of them always hosts elegant, delicious-looking parties. I feel like I've "arrived" because I've been invited to one of her cocktail parties--a martini party. I was thinking of making this anchovy dip with Buttered Saltines. She is a very mid-century modern sort of woman, so thought these might fit. What do you think, since I've never tried the anchovy dip or the baked saltines (which sound a lot easier than frying them). 

 

I need easy and portable since it is bloody hot, my hands no longer work well to chop/dice and I plan to Uber so won't be able to juggle anything sloshy or cumbersome.

Edited Sunday at 01:17 PM by Maison Rustique
omitted word (log)

[blue_dolphin]

34 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

I belong to a local group of food-lovers. One of them always hosts elegant, delicious-looking parties. I feel like I've "arrived" because I've been invited to one of her cocktail parties--a martini party. I was thinking of making this anchovy dip with Buttered Saltines. She is a very mid-century modern sort of woman, so thought these might fit. What do you think, since I've never tried the anchovy dip or the baked saltines (which sound a lot easier than frying them). 

 

I need easy and portable since it is bloody hot, my hands no longer work well to chop/dice and I plan to Uber so won't be able to juggle anything sloshy or cumbersome.

 

That sounds really good and makes me want a martini and it's not even 7 AM yet!  My only hesitation would be that the buttered saltines say to serve warm and one of the comments said the leftovers weren't so good.  You might want to bake off a few test crackers and let them sit around for a while and see how they hold up.  Or just bring an alternate box of crackers you can swap in just in case they go limp. 

[Katie Meadow]

39 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

 

I belong to a local group of food-lovers. One of them always hosts elegant, delicious-looking parties. I feel like I've "arrived" because I've been invited to one of her cocktail parties--a martini party. I was thinking of making this anchovy dip with Buttered Saltines. She is a very mid-century modern sort of woman, so thought these might fit. What do you think, since I've never tried the anchovy dip or the baked saltines (which sound a lot easier than frying them). 

 

I need easy and portable since it is bloody hot, my hands no longer work well to chop/dice and I plan to Uber so won't be able to juggle anything sloshy or cumbersome.

It may sound ordinary, but with martinis you can't go wrong with high quality Virginia peanuts. Or Marcona almonds. Give yourself a break! Keeping those saltines warm and crispy sounds very challenging.

Edited Sunday at 01:58 PM by Katie Meadow (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

@Maison Rustique the butter cracker recipe really sounds good but I agree with @blue_dolphin that it might not be the best thing for transporting. My choice was always a high-end neutral flavored cracker. Much easier to carry and a lot less work. Another thing that would keep your work to a minimum would be to use anchovy paste instead of anchovy fillets. Just add the paste until the flavor tastes right to you.

One time I was invited to an impromptu birthday party and I stopped at the store on the way there and bought a tub of cream cheese, anchovy paste, and crackers. I just mixed it up when I got there. It was the hit of the party.

[Tropicalsenior]

I should add that at the Country Club where I worked, this was served as a canapé on tiny toast rounds. I've never done that myself, too much work.

[MetsFan5]

With the heat locally I have my eye on this recipe;

 

https://blog.workman.com/woodstock-farmers-market-carrot-dip

[blue_dolphin]

On 6/23/2024 at 7:08 AM, Tropicalsenior said:

My choice was always a high-end neutral flavored cracker.

 

On 6/23/2024 at 7:35 AM, Tropicalsenior said:

I should add that at the Country Club where I worked, this was served as a canapé on tiny toast rounds. I've never done that myself, too much work.

 

@Maison Rustique, not sure if your cocktail event has happened yet, but I thought I'd follow up on @Tropicalsenior's recommendations after mixing up a little of that anchovy spread to check it out. 

I agree that a neutral flavor is best and I'd avoid anything too salty as, at least with the anchovies I used, the spread was pretty salty.  

I didn't have any small tins of anchovies so I weighed out some of these:

 

To me, it tasted best on those little toasts I use for paté, like this: 

I also tried Triscuits and those Norwegian sourdough rye chips from Trader Joe's.  Both were too salty to taste good with the spread, at least to my taste buds. The spread is quite a little umami bomb so I think the small size of those toasts is nice, too. 

 

I'm thinking it would probably be pretty great on a bagel, maybe with some cucumbers or something like that but I'll have to bake some in order to try that out!

 

[Maison Rustique]

Thanks, @blue_dolphin. I appreciate the heads up.  Event is still a couple of weeks away so I plan to experiment before then. I'll be on the look-out for plain crackers, or may even go with some tasted baguette slices.

[weinoo]

Another thing you might think of, and something I generally do, is to soak the anchovies in a couple of changes of water.  This will held get rid of some of the saltiness, without losing or diminishing the flavor that anchovies bring.

 

And never underestimate what a little lemon zest/lemon juice might bring to the party.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 02:48 AM by weinoo (log)