Appetizer/Hors D'Oeuvre/Starter Ideas

[Jaymes]

... romanoff crap caviar ...

[Gifted Gourmet]

... romanoff crap caviar ...

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Listen, just yesterday I found a ritzy Malassol caviar online which serves two people (not hungry!) for $680! Better they should taste the pristine purity of the salmon/cheese mixture unfettered by fish eggs ...

[john b]

My favorite are mushroom caps stuffed with bacon, cheddar cheese, green onion and garlic. Sorry, I don't have a recipe, I've been making them for so long I just add the ingredients in a bowl until it tastes right.

[handmc]

One of my favorite threads.

Salmon battons

I take smoked salmon, spread softened chive cream chesse on the salmon dot with drops of chilpotle tabasco sauce and wrap around batons of peeled seeded cucumber.

Wild Mushroom Crostini w/egg

Take italian bread and cuts off crusts. Cut bread into squares. Rough chop wild mushrooms, any kind will work actually, sautee in a dry pan until they brown a bit, toss in some chopped porcini mushrooms that have been soaked in red wine. Add a pat of butter, 2 tbs of demi, and 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid and cooking until it thickens.

1/2 six plum tomatoes and scoup out seeds brush with oil and roast in a 300 degree oven until softened. Roast some garlic in EVOO with a healthy pinch of salt till browned.

Chopped the tomatoes and garlic together and stir in the oil you used to cook the garlic in.

Spoon mushroom mix onto crostini, add two spoonfuls of tomato sauce on top of the Mushroom mix top with a poached egg and serve.

[deltadoc]

Grilled Crostini with Roasted Garlic, Montrachet Goat Cheese and Apple-Raisin Chutney

Straighforward, here is the Apple-Raisin Chutney Recipe

1 C Brown sugar

3/4 C rice vinegar

2 minced garlic cloves

1 1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cinnamon stick

1 1/2 lbs Granny Smith apples peeled, cored cut into small pieces

1 C golden raisins

1 C diced seeded plum tomatoes

1 TBSP chopped fresh spearmint

Stir sugar and vinegar in heavy saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add next 4 ingredients, simmer until syrupy and reduced about 1/2.

Mix in apples and raisins, increase to high heat, boil until apples are tender stirring frequently (about 10 minutes). Cool, refrigerate up to 3 days ahead. Add tomatoes and mint just before serving.

doc

[fierydrunk]

Baltimore Crab Dip

Basically:

A pkg of Philly Cream Cheese

A can of shredded crab meat (approx 10 oz of crab), esp blue crab

Worcheshire (tsp)

Old Bay seasoning (tsp)

green onions for garnish

s&p

mix it all up and bake til warm...spead on baguette slices or heavyish crackers.

Cheap and irresistable and don't call it kitschy or I'll knock your block off!!!!!

Merry Christmas, from Lucy Van Pelt

[RETREVR]

I make a salmon mouse and pipe it onto english cucumber that has been decorativly zested and sliced on a mandolin. I suppose you could make those salmon roulades small enough to fit on a cucumber. I just like the freshness with salmon.

I made italian sausage in a puff pastry purse today. Quite often we make a little puff pastry tart which contains brie and raz jam. Last week we did brie en crout and couldn't get anybody to touch it. After the first few people attack it, it looks like a greasy mess on the platter.

Lamchops can make a great app. We call them lambsicles. Roast the racks as you like then slice them into chops. I like to see the carnage at an otherwise civilized event.

Very small new potatoes on the half-shell are good....if you have a little caviar laying around.

Shrimp always seems to get snapped up. Try wrapping large shrimp in bacon or pancetta. Make a tequila marinade or whatever. Serve with guacamole or whatnot.

We did roasted aspergrass wrapped in procuitto today. I wish they would quit putting asperagrass on the menu this time of year.

We do bruscetta of all sorts. One simple one that has good eye appeal is a basic toast with herbed olive oil, topped with fontina then one half of a calamatta on one end and one strip of roasted pepper on the bias on the other end. Don't used canned peppers. Just julienne a red pepper season and toss with olive oil and roast in the oven. Like I said....it is very simple, but looks and tasts great. One bite is soo different from the other.

One of our biggest hits is a mini pannini with tapenade and fresh mozz.

The funny thing is that the general public will gravitate to the "less foo-foo" items. Take a room full of doctors and lawyers and offer lamchops and caviar on one table and offer coctail burgers and grilled cheese on another table. Guess which table will get more action.

[Puck Confit]

A Jean-Georges recipe for Tuna-Wasabi Wontons always garners raves:

Servings

Yields 24 pieces.

Ingredients

24 wonton skins

1 8-ounce tuna steak, about 1 and a 1/2 inches thick

1 cup cream cheese

2 tablespoons wasabi paste

1/2 lime, juiced

Salt

1/4 cup white sesame seeds, toasted

1/2 cup pickled ginger

Cooking Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut a 2-inch circle from each wonton skin using a cookie cutter. Place the circles on a large cookie sheet and bake for about 5 to 7 minutes, until the wontons look puffy and turn golden around the edges. Set aside to cool.

Slice the tuna into 11/2-inch cubes and cut each cube into 1/8-inch-thick squares. Mix the cream cheese with the wasabi until smooth, and season to taste with lime juice and salt. Spread a thin layer of the cheese mixture onto the wonton, place a little slice of pickled ginger on top, and finish with a square of tuna. Sprinkle the tuna with sesame seeds.

As do Terrance Brennan's Cheese Gougères:

Servings

Yields 32 pieces.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup milk plus extra for brushing

1/2 teaspoon each salt and ground white pepper

1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup grated Gruyère plus extra for garnish

Coarse sea salt

Cooking Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Bring the butter, milk, 1/4 cup water, salt, and pepper to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the sifted flour and baking powder. Stir well, and return to medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and forms a ball, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Place the cheese and the mixture in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle, and beat until just warm. Add the eggs slowly as the mixer runs, until dough is smooth and shiny. (Alternatively, stir to cool by hand and beat in eggs with a wooden spoon.) Transfer to a pastry bag, and pipe in 1-inch mounds using a No. 4 tip, or drop with a teaspoon, on a sheet pan lined with parchment. (At this stage, the gougères can be frozen and then stored in a plastic bag. They do not have to be thawed before baking, but 11/2 to 2 minutes should be added to the cooking time.) Brush with milk, and sprinkle with cheese and sea salt.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes; when puffs are golden brown, reduce to 375 degrees and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Serve hot or at room temperature. May be reheated.

[spaghetttti]

Baltimore Crab Dip

Basically:

A pkg of Philly Cream Cheese

A can of shredded crab meat (approx 10 oz of crab), esp blue crab

Worcheshire (tsp)

Old Bay seasoning (tsp)

green onions for garnish

s&p

mix it all up and bake til warm...spead on baguette slices or heavyish crackers.

Cheap and irresistable and don't call it kitschy or I'll knock your block off!!!!! 

Merry Christmas, from Lucy Van Pelt

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On Christmas Eve I made a variation of this dip using tuna and stuffed cucumbers with it.

[annachan]

Usually, finger food for a party is an easy one for me. However, there are some strict guidelines this time and I like to see what others can come up with.

Requirements:

1) Must be finger food. No need to use utensils to consume.

2) Dairy free - we got people who are lactose intolerent.

3) Be kosher - since dairy is out, we're sticking with the meat theme, with no pork, shellfish.

4) Items must be fairly easy and inexpensive. It'll be for 30-40 people.

5) Prefer items that we can prep ahead. Event will be Sunday brunch and I'll have the day before to prep.

Dessert is taken care of already since I'll be bringing the chocolate fountain over. So I'm looking for some savory items. I have several things in mind, like frittata, turkey meatballs, mushroom in puff pastry and chicken nuggets. Also thinking about some sort of salad stuffed something.

So, ideas?

[racheld]

Finger frittata? Don't think I've ever seen that. Anything rolled into a tortilla is always popular at showers, and they make lovely colors and flavors now. We just did spinach ones with a mock-crab salad, sliced into diagonal pieces, and dried tomato ones with a vegetable stuffing. Really pretty together on the platters.

French-toast fingers with powdered sugar are nice, as are beignets, since it's a brunch.

And dainty-sized breakfast burritos, in plain flour tortillas, are always a popular brunch selection...any filling with the eggs, especially mushroom pr onion/green pepper.

And fruit is a given, with the fountain.

[annachan]

Finger frittata?  Don't think I've ever seen that.

I make mini frittatas by baking them in mini muffin tins. They worked well as finger food.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[annachan]

One more thing, the mother to be is also diabetic!

Edited August 5, 2005 by annachan (log)

[mizducky]

If this is a kosher meal, I'm guessing the guests would appreciate deli. How about making little open-faced mini-sandwiches on cocktail-sized pumpernickel? Top with slivers of really good pastrami, corned beef, etc., on top of schmears of really good horse-radishy deli mustard. Garnish with slivers of sweet onion, slices of olive, etc. I know I'd inhale a whole bunch of those if they were served at a party I was at.

[tejon]

I made ginger-sesame chicken on tiny skewers for a friend's shower (she was borderline diabetic at the time). Went over famously with everyone. Satay would also be good, again on small skewers so no utensils are needed. Meat can be marinated ahead of time, then popped into the broiler and served.

[annachan]

I made ginger-sesame chicken on tiny skewers for a friend's shower (she was borderline diabetic at the time). Went over famously with everyone. Satay would also be good, again on small skewers so no utensils are needed. Meat can be marinated ahead of time, then popped into the broiler and served.

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Do you have a good recipe for the satay? The one I usually use won't work for the shower, has yogurt in it.

[Pam R]

How about going parve instead of meat?

Around these parts, the most popular thing we do for bar/bat mitzvahs, brises, baby namings, etc. are party sandwiches. I think some parts call them tea sandwiches or double decker fancy sandwiches. You know, the ones you slice lengthwise - fill with combos of egg, tuna and salmon salads and veggies. Cream cheese is out - but soy cream cheese with lox would make a good one too.

Mix these up by rolling tortillas with grilled veggies, hummous, bean spreads, pesto, fresh veggies, etc.

Do all of these the day before. Roll the tortillas in plastic wrap. Wrap the 'party sandwiches' in wax paper, then place a slightly damp towel on top of them overnight. Slice the tortillas into 6 - cut the crusts of the sandwiches and cut them into triangles or rectangles or whatever. Onto trays and wrapped in plastic into the fridge. These are items that are BETTER made the day before.

Crudite is always good - especially with a 'new mother and older ladies' crowd.

Are you catering or hosting?

[godito]

I would have some bite size empanadas (meat and potatoes) or even some really small samosas

Also, vegetable spring rolls. You don't have to fry them, they're great "raw". Just cook your veggies beforehand and cut the rolls by half (or in three parts)

Soups served in shot glasses are great. Cold soups are nice for the summer days. I would have a nice gazpacho or a cold ginger and carrot soup.

Also, small skewers. Anything works, like tomato and watermellon. Marinate the first in olive oil, salt and basil, and add a drop of aged balsamic to the watermelon.

Just some ideas. Hope it helps.

[Megan Blocker]

If this is a kosher meal, I'm guessing the guests would appreciate deli. How about making little open-faced mini-sandwiches on cocktail-sized pumpernickel? Top with slivers of really good pastrami, corned beef, etc., on top of schmears of really good horse-radishy deli mustard. Garnish with slivers of sweet onion, slices of olive, etc. I know I'd inhale a whole bunch of those if they were served at a party I was at.

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That is so cute! Further proof that anything becomes dainty and elegant when served in miniature, even deli!

[annachan]

How about going parve instead of meat?

Around these parts, the most popular thing we do for bar/bat mitzvahs, brises, baby namings, etc. are party sandwiches.  I think some parts call them tea sandwiches or double decker fancy sandwiches.  You know, the ones you slice lengthwise - fill with combos of egg, tuna and salmon salads and veggies.  Cream cheese is out - but soy cream cheese with lox would make a good one too. 

Mix these up by rolling tortillas with grilled veggies, hummous, bean spreads, pesto, fresh veggies, etc.

Do all of these the day before.  Roll the tortillas in plastic wrap.  Wrap the 'party sandwiches' in wax paper, then place a slightly damp towel on top of them overnight.  Slice the tortillas into 6 - cut the crusts of the sandwiches and cut them into triangles or rectangles or whatever.  Onto trays and wrapped in plastic into the fridge.  These are items that are BETTER made the day before.

Crudite is always good - especially with a 'new mother and older ladies' crowd.

Are you catering or hosting?

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I'm hosting, sort of. It will be at the expected parents' place (they have a larger home to acommodate the crowd), but I'm giving the shower.

[tejon]

I made ginger-sesame chicken on tiny skewers for a friend's shower (she was borderline diabetic at the time). Went over famously with everyone. Satay would also be good, again on small skewers so no utensils are needed. Meat can be marinated ahead of time, then popped into the broiler and served.

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Do you have a good recipe for the satay? The one I usually use won't work for the shower, has yogurt in it.

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Sure. Mine is pretty simple. Grate lots of fresh ginger, add in turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin, a good dose of brown sugar, and salt. Let the chicken marinate in this overnight, then broil. Great with peanut sauce, but just fine alone as well.

Edited August 6, 2005 by tejon (log)

[Sackville]

I was going to suggest the English Tea theme we had at a baby shower I threw recently but between all the milk and the fact the mom was a vegetarian it's the total opposite of what you're doing!!

Nevertheless, I do have a couple good punch recipes for the non-drinking mom and her friends:

Quaker Punch

Soft Breeze

These are also so cute -- even if she's diabetic, others may enjoy them. Or you may be able to find sugar-free candy to make them with.

Baby Pacifiers (shower favours)

[Pam R]

Are you catering or hosting?

I'm hosting, sort of. It will be at the expected parents' place (they have a larger home to acommodate the crowd), but I'm giving the shower.

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Right. So I'd try to choose things that could all be prepped ahead with no a la minute issues. Unless you don't mind running around heating stuff up.

[rooftop1000]

Stuffed endive leaves are pretty easy and you can go with anything from chicken salad to caponata(sweet n sour eggplant salad)

marinated veggies are fun too like the Italian Giardinair or fancy stuff like pickled green beans and asparagus. Some good dips can be made with mayo instead of cream cheese sour cream etc .....

had mini reubens at a wedding once so the pastrami minis are a great idea

tracey

Edited August 7, 2005 by rooftop1000 (log)

[Sackville]

One of my friends and I get together every Thursday afternoon for a little chat and to cook. Next week she wants to make things she can serve at a party on Saturday evening.

That's 2 full days things would have to keep and I am having a hard time thinking of "nibbly" things I could make that would keep that long without being kept in a fridge/freezer (in the UK we do not have big fridges and with a new baby their's is already stuffed!).

We could fit maybe 1 dish in the fridge or freezer but that would be it. The majority has to stay out.

To add to the fun, she is vegetarian. Not everything has to be vegetarian but some or most of it should be.

I was thinking we could make some sweets like brownies or cookies and maybe also some spiced nuts but beyond that I'm stumped!