Appetizer/Hors D'Oeuvre/Starter Ideas

[prasantrin]

I'd go with sausage rolls (not pigs in a blanket, but sausage rolls). They're not fancy schmancy, and may lack in the "wow" factor, but a good sausage roll always satisfies. I like to add asparagus and red peppers to the sausage filling for colour.

[kiliki]

I ended up making smaller versions of the Butternut squash, shittake mushroom and goat cheese turnovers from this month's Food and Wine and they were a hit. They travel well, are fine at room and are very "fall" so if anyone needs something like that this season, I'd recommend them.

[markemorse]

kiliki...turn it into a chicken salad and serve on belgian endive leaves

actually you can serve lots of fun bites on endive leaves

tracey

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Do be aware that endive leaves only look appetizing for about an hour after you separate them from the head set them out: I made the mistake of opening one too early last night and by the time they should've been served they were seriously thinking about wilting completely.

Edited November 3, 2008 by markemorse (log)

[pam claughton]

I went to an appetizer party last night where everyone brought a different dish. I made spiced beef cigars, a savory ground beef filling that's rolled in buttery phyllo dough and baked. It's always a hit and three people wanted the recipe! I actually got the recipe a few years ago here on egullet and have made it repeatedly. It also freezes really well. I brought half to the party and froze the other half and will just thaw and bake. Here's the recipe, http://efoodie.typepad.com/efoodie/2005/12...ite_appeti.html

My favorite appetizer though was one of the simplest and also really pretty, a great one to keep in mind for holiday parties. It was made by a friend and all she did was take about a half cup of good olive oil, and infuse it will a lot of minced garlic. She microwaved for a few minutes, then let cool and sit overnight. Then at the party all she did was put a six inch log of goat cheese on a plate, flatten it a little to give a better surface area. Then she poured the garlic oil mix over the top and then the key is the bright red crushed peppercorns which she put all across the top. It's very pretty, super simple and delicious on crackers or bread.

[Dejah]

I went to an appetizer party last night where everyone brought a different dish. I made spiced beef cigars, a savory ground beef filling that's rolled in buttery phyllo dough and baked. It's always a hit and three people wanted the recipe! I actually got the recipe a few years ago here on egullet and have made it repeatedly. It also freezes really well. I brought half to the party and froze the other half and will just thaw and bake. Here's the recipe, http://efoodie.typepad.com/efoodie/2005/12...ite_appeti.html

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Pretty incredible that your post came up this morning. The cigars are always a hit.

I am just getting ready to make Spiced Beef Cigars for a potluck party but using ground lamb instead of beef.

[pam claughton]

I went to an appetizer party last night where everyone brought a different dish. I made spiced beef cigars, a savory ground beef filling that's rolled in buttery phyllo dough and baked. It's always a hit and three people wanted the recipe! I actually got the recipe a few years ago here on egullet and have made it repeatedly. It also freezes really well. I brought half to the party and froze the other half and will just thaw and bake. Here's the recipe, http://efoodie.typepad.com/efoodie/2005/12...ite_appeti.html

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Pretty incredible that your post came up this morning. The cigars are always a hit.

I am just getting ready to make Spiced Beef Cigars for a potluck party but using ground lamb instead of beef.

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Hi Dejah!

You know it's funny, I was wondering how they'd be with lamb, as the spices seem like they'd work well. May try that next time.

Can't thank you enough for this recipe.

Pam

[Gregg]

Throw some Little Smokies in a crockpot.  Mix up a jar of grape chili and a bottle of Heinz cocktail sauce and dump in.  People love this stuff.  It is a Halloween staple at our house.

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oh wow - i forgot about that one! except i use currant jelly and mustard for my sauce.

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Cranberry sauce and tomato sauce in our house.........with meatballs.

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now i'm going to be forced to start a thread on this topic.

Lol...current jelly and chili sauce (the weird stuff, like kicked up ketchup) in our house.

[heidih]

The tartness and uniqueness of currant jelly has always been a secret weapon in my kitchen.

[FrogPrincesse]

I can't believe nothing has been posted on this thread for months. Little pre-dinner snacks/appetizers (I like to call them pupus, Hawaiian or not) are my favorite food. They are fun, generally easy to put together, and they allow you to taste a variety of things. And they can easily morph into a full meal as long as you have enough bites and diversity.

Here is an example of what we had with our cocktails last night.

Pears, Parma ham and saba; homemade ricotta on malted brown bread with a little bit of eureka lemon olive oil.

[FrogPrincesse]

I love beets and found a bunch of huge golden beets at Bristol Farms last week. So I made bruschetta with roasted beets and parmigiano (a simple recipe from Babbo). The beets were roasted for about an hour and a half in a 400F oven. They were peeled, cooed to room temperature, then diced and seasoned with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, chives, and fennel seeds (the original recipe calls for caraway). The beets are arranged on a toasted slice of rustic bread (I used country levain bread from Bread and Cie, a local bakery), then topped with shaved parmigiano (I started grating the cheese with a microplane, didn't like the look, and finished with a knife to cut thin slices of cheese - much better).

A little messy to eat but absolutely delicious!

[FrogPrincesse]

Last night before dinner we had various little snacks with our cocktails: a slice of Wagon Wheel cheese from Cowgirl Creamery (love the name, but it tasted pretty blend/rubbery to me), salmon rillettes tartines, and goat cheese truffles.

The salmon rillettes are the fresh and smoked salmon rillettes in The Cooking of Southwest France by Paula Wolfert.

The goat cheese truffles were dipped in poppy seeds or pimenton (my favorite) and the recipe is from Babbo.

[Dan Rose]

homemade ricotta on malted brown bread with a little bit of eureka lemon olive oil.

I've done something quite similar with ricotta on small toasted rounds, a bit of olive oil and kosher salt, and fried sage leaves.

[FrogPrincesse]

Fig, ricotta, saba

Heaven.

[blue_dolphin]

Oh figs! That looks beautiful. I am impatiently waiting for the figs from my (non-fig-loving) neighbor's tree to ripen.

I got more chard in my CSA box last week and once again used it in one of my favorites, Bruschetta With Swiss Chard and Smoked Trout from the NYT. I blanch, drain and chop the chard then and sauté it with garlic in olive oil. Then toast some nice crusty bread, rub with garlic, drizzle a little olive oil. Top with some of the chard, smoked trout and a squeeze of lemon just before serving. The chard can be prepped ahead, stored in the fridge and used over several evenings…..or even for breakfast!

[FrogPrincesse]

blue_dolphin - that looks amazing! I need to smoke some trout again soon.

Smoked trout rillettes are great too. A local restaurant serves them with roasted golden beets and it's one of my favorite appetizers.

[blue_dolphin]

blue_dolphin - that looks amazing! I need to smoke some trout again soon.

Smoked trout rillettes are great too. A local restaurant serves them with roasted golden beets and it's one of my favorite appetizers.

It's indeed very tasty. One of those things that's more than the sum of its parts. And as long as the toast is nice and crispy, they hold up pretty well over a cocktail hour or so and are a good option for the non-dairy crowd (I tend to use cheese in many apps because I love it so much).

But I must confess to taking the easy way out with TJ's tinned smoked trout. I'm sure it would be much better with your own, something I've never tried - almost all smoke in my kitchen is purely accidental !

[heidih]

But I must confess to taking the easy way out with TJ's tinned smoked trout.

Thank you for mentioning the TJ trout. I have seen it and my mind skipped immediately to it when you first posted this dish. I was not sure about the quality. Now I will take the plunge.

[FrogPrincesse]

I had this little appetizer with a Martini the other day:

Local fresh goat cheese (Nicolau), Easter egg radish, baby tomatoes and cucumbers from Suzie's Farm.

[Okanagancook]

Zuni Cafe has a recipe for Graisserons described as scrappy bits of meat that fall to the bottom of the cauldron when making duck confit...crispy bits of meat with a flavourful gelee which also accumulates at the bottom of the pot. "A cherished stash, saved for a lucky few to enjoy as an hors d'oeuvre, sliced like pate, with pickles and toasts". This recipe makes a pot full of the cherished stash :-)

All the meat is salted for 24 hours and includes (pork shoulder, duck breast, duck leg, Chicken gizzards and hearts and pig's foot. After salting for 24 hours it is rinsed and everything, save for the pig foot and duck leg with bone on, is either minced or coarsely ground. It goes into a pot with some chicken stock and covered with duck fat! Leave it to bubble away for a couple of hours. Drain off the fat and save it. Use the juices (gelee) to mix in with the meat. Bone and chop the pig foot and duck legs. Mix well. Put in jars and cover with reserved fat. Serve on melba toasts or whatever you have. Yummy. Here are some pictures of the process:

[FrogPrincesse]

Graisserons - never heard of this but this looks delicious, like a cross between rillettes and pate.

What a wonderful idea. How do you store them, in the fridge? I imagine you could freeze them too?

[Okanagancook]

I am going to try a test one in the freezer. Don't see why it won't work. The rest I would store in the fridge for sure.

[mkayahara]

Looks like cretons!

[Okanagancook]

The frozen product was no different than the fresh so I have 10 jars in the freezer :-)))

[judiu]

O'cook, any chance of suggested proportions? I'd love to make this for some friends that need impressing !

[Kerry Beal]

At the Heartland Gathering in Cleveland we had an appetizer that I enjoyed very much when we visited Lolita. I wrote down the ingredients mentioned in the menu and just yesterday realized that a recipe is available online - so here we have Roasted Dates with Pancetta, Almonds and Chile. Quite a lovely combination of flavours.