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 June 23 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 June 23 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 June 27 by weinoo (log)

[liuzhou]

EVOO fried matsutake on flatbread. Salt, pepper. Stop.

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

I made choux filled with taramasalata for a Silver Palate-themed gathering. Choux are a great vehicle for mousses etc and they make the perfect bite! 

 

 

[MaryIsobel]

I am making 80 charcuterie cups for the cocktail hour at my daughter's wedding - coming up on October 12th. Did a couple of trial cups today to get the amount of ingredients figured out. Imagine 1 red and 1 green apple slice and instead of 3 cubes of orange cheddar, I will do two cubes of white, exta old cheddar with a cube or wedge of some other kind of cheese in the middle. 

6 grapes in the bottom for filler, 1 wedge of Jarlsberg, two types of salami, an olive and a gherkin. We will set out glasses of breadsticks and flatbread as oposed to incuding them in the cups as there are going to be two people with celiac in attendance. They are aware that there is no guarnatee of no cross contamination. Will also have cups of mixed nuts for the vegetarians. 

My two sisters, my niece and my daughter's mother-in-law-to-be and I will assemble the cups the night before. The cups I bought come with cellophane wrappers.

[Shelby]

22 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

I am making 80 charcuterie cups for the cocktail hour at my daughter's wedding - coming up on October 12th. Did a couple of trial cups today to get the amount of ingredients figured out. Imagine 1 red and 1 green apple slice and instead of 3 cubes of orange cheddar, I will do two cubes of white, exta old cheddar with a cube or wedge of some other kind of cheese in the middle. 

6 grapes in the bottom for filler, 1 wedge of Jarlsberg, two types of salami, an olive and a gherkin. We will set out glasses of breadsticks and flatbread as oposed to incuding them in the cups as there are going to be two people with celiac in attendance. They are aware that there is no guarnatee of no cross contamination. Will also have cups of mixed nuts for the vegetarians. 

My two sisters, my niece and my daughter's mother-in-law-to-be and I will assemble the cups the night before. The cups I bought come with cellophane wrappers.

I love this.  You did excellent!!!

[MaryIsobel]

18 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I love this.  You did excellent!!!

Thanks - I like the cups better than a huge platter or two which in my experience get looking messy pretty quickly.

[Shelby]

7 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

Thanks - I like the cups better than a huge platter or two which in my experience get looking messy pretty quickly.

Me too.  I'm weirdly shy about getting food from a buffet etc. (I know I know).  I'd love having a cup like this so I can just grab it and eat an array of things.

[Shel_B]

Vera Barker’s Cocktail Wieners
Combine 1½ cups ketchup, ½ cup brown sugar and ¾ cup bourbon with 2½ pounds of cocktail wieners. Simmer the mixture on the stovetop on low heat for 2½ hours. Use a slow cooker, if you like.

 

Note:  A subsequent article suggested adding some sautéed and caramelized onions to the sauce. The same comment suggested adding more brown sugar, although I think that the amount should be enough.  It certainly was for use the several times we made the recipe.  I think sweetie even cut the sugar back a bit. While bourbon is good, you can try other whiskies ... I think sweetie did once or twice.

 

It seems that “Vera’s” have been around for a while.  I know of one family that has been making them for every family gathering since 1980-81.
 

[MaryIsobel]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

Me too.  I'm weirdly shy about getting food from a buffet etc. (I know I know).  I'd love having a cup like this so I can just grab it and eat an array of things.

My soon-to-be- son-in-law also has an aversion to buffet food or bowls of nuts or snacks without a serving spoon so he will be much happier with the cups!