Appetizer/Hors D'Oeuvre/Starter Ideas

[Rachel Perlow]

When making deviled eggs, buy the small or medium eggs. They are cuter when finished and more of a one bite hors d'oeuvre than larger eggs.

Deviled Eggs non-recipe

Hard cook eggs, peel and slice in half lengthwise. Push yolks through a sieve and mix with a little mayo & mustard until creamy. Fill whites with yolk mixture and sprinkle with paprika.

Edited June 13, 2003 by Rachel Perlow (log)

[Jaymes]

Did anybody see an article in a newspaper or magazine or something - sometime back - discussing the food for a very large wedding reception - I think it was a Latin couple.

Anyway, in addition to the typical roast beef, etc., it said something like "and 3000 deviled eggs."

And it added that they were all eaten.

[Jinmyo]

Joy of Cooking says refrigerate the seviche no longer than 90 minutes.  Does that mean if I make it tonight, or even tomorrow morning, it will be no good in a few hours?

Ack.

No!

Gah.

[fimbul]

So, I've been commssioned to make an appetizer or two for a friend's cook-out tomorrow.

And, after trying to come up with a fun idea, I finally gave up. I figured I'd do boring old tabouleh and make a couple of salsa and bring chips.

And I started reading this thread, and thinking about devilled eggs. And I remembered all the enormous, cheap boxes of quail eggs I saw --but did not buy-- at the Asian grocery store yesterday.

I'm kicking myself for not buying the things. And it's too far to get to today.

But devilled quail eggs would've been a neat trick, since I doubt if many of the folks who'll be at this party have ever eaten a quail egg in their lives.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

[bigbear]

I'll give you my easy, dumbed-down, gringo-ized version of ceviché. There is nothing hard and fast about cevivhé recipes. Use limes. Use sesame oil. Use a different hot sauce. Whatever.

4 lbs. of raw scallops or cooked shrimp

32 oz. catsup

Juice of 8 lemons

Juice of 1 orange

1 large vidalia onion, sliced and chopped a bit

1/8 tsp. each, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder

1 Tbs. olive oil

Tabasco to taste (lots is good)

Mix everything in a non-reactive container and put in the fridge the night before. When serving, stir in a handful of chopped, fresh parsley (I hate cilantro). Serve popcorn on the side.

[Priscilla]

Wow I am so making ceviche or gazpacho this weekend except with shrimp instead of scallops, and I want my friends to do like Jaymes said and stand around enjoying the cool goodness.

Also, deviled eggs. Fimbul, I have many many times imagined deviled eggs with cute adorable quail eggs, and my intention is, next time I'm at the Asian supermarket, to just buy them and do it. I have, as Rachel said, bought small eggs for the task and they were nice. But oh those quail eggs. I imagine they'd need only to be brought to a boil and allowed to sit a minute to be hard boiled.

And it's just true, as everyone has been saying, you can have 8,000 deviled eggs and they will ALL be eaten and people'll be scrounging around saying, are all those deviled eggs gone?

Sometimes I have made variations, like adding avocado & crabmeat in there, but mostly regular. A friend told me about something she learned either from the dread Martha Stewart or the beatified Julia Child (can't remember which she said), adding a little melted butter to the filling, which of course resolidifies when chilled, helping the hold shape. I've not done this, but I can wrap my mind around it.

[=Mark]

As far as the devilled eggs, be sure to buy older eggs (ones closest to the pull date). They will have lost some moisture and will be much easier to peel. I still have nightmares about peeling 3 dozen fresh boiled eggs that had the shell clinging to the egg like it was glued. Made for some raggedy looking eggs and more than a few had to be tossed.

[LEdlund]

I know you have already picked out your appetizers, but I just have to add my new favorite to the list. It's so simple and tasty.

I saute some red, yellow and orange peppers slowly in evoo until they melt. Take them off the heat and add salt, a little sugar and some good balsamic. I serve them with slice ciabatta. Yum. The leftovers are great tossed with pasta and some olives.

[zilla369]

Has anyone here actually PEELED very many quail eggs in a row? I did a boiled quail egg garnish for salads for 50 people in school once. I don't care how old they are, that is tedious as hell - it's like flossing shark's teeth, the job that never ends.

The next time i poached those suckers.

[fimbul]

Has anyone here actually PEELED very many quail eggs in a row?  I did a boiled quail egg garnish for salads for 50 people in school once.  I don't care how old they are, that is tedious as hell - it's like flossing shark's teeth, the job that never ends.

The next time i poached those suckers.

Er... I'm about to. I just ran out and bought two boxes (24 in each) of quail eggs at a closer Asian market.

I must confess my imagination had skipped straight to the bit where the eggs are already peeled. I had given nary a thought to the actual peeling itself.

Ah well. My girlfriend's away tonight, so it looks as though I'm in for a nice quiet evening of quail egg-shucking and tv watching. Um. Yay?

edit: Me fail English? That's unpossible!

Edited June 13, 2003 by fimbul (log)

[KateW]

That stuffed mushroom recipe looks excellent and very close to the one in Joy of Cooking that I was going to use. The JOC one says to sprinkle the mushrooms with the cheese before baking instead of mixing the cheese in.

The only problem is, I forgot to get cheese :( I was going to just use some of my mom's when I got there, because I was going to use the recipe that says sprinkle it on top. Mind if I alter your recipe a bit so I can do that?

PS I am doing stuffed mushrooms and guacamole. (not together)

[MatthewB]

Mind if I alter your recipe a bit so I can do that?

That is not allowed here.

[KateW]

Meanie

[zilla369]

Has anyone here actually PEELED very many quail eggs in a row?  I did a boiled quail egg garnish for salads for 50 people in school once.  I don't care how old they are, that is tedious as hell - it's like flossing shark's teeth, the job that never ends.

The next time i poached those suckers.

Er... I'm about to. I just ran out and bought two boxes (24 in each) of quail eggs at a closer Asian market.

I must confess my imagination had skipped straight to the bit where the eggs are already peeled. I had given nary a thought to the actual peeling itself.

Ah well. My girlfriend's away tonight, so it looks as though I'm in for a nice quiet evening of quail egg-shucking and tv watching. Um. Yay?

edit: Me fail English? That's unpossible!

I have heard, but never done this, that quail eggshells can be dissolved if you soak the hard-boiled eggs in vinegar overnight, then just peel off the membrane.

6 minutes should do for a boiling time, after starting in cold water.

[MatthewB]

Meanie

I'm not a meanie.

I'm an ass-hat.

[fimbul]

6 minutes should do for a boiling time, after starting in cold water.

Cool! Thanks.

I think I'll skip the vinegar trick, though. No point in doing simply what can be done with great difficulty and lots of swearing. (<-- I learned this from my dad.)

I'm not a meanie.

I'm an ass-hat. 

My cat was very nearly renamed Asshat the other week. It's a wunnerfully useful term.

[jackal10]

Tea-marbled quail eggs are great.

Hard boil, crack the shells all over then simmer for THREE HOURS in strong teas with 2 Tbs dark soy, cinnamon, star anise.

Then peel.

Serve on a bed of chinese "seaweed"...(fried shredded kale)

Pullet eggs if you want them a bit bigger

[Richard Kilgore]

Here's an alternative to devilled eggs that I served earlier this year. Hard cook the eggs, cut in half, wrap in a thin strip of proscuitto, basil leaf on top, drizzle with EEVO.

Edited June 13, 2003 by Richard Kilgore (log)

[maggiethecat]

Here's an alternative to deviled eggs that I served earlier this year. Hard cook the eggs, cut in half, wrap in a thin strip of proscuitto, basil leaf on top, drizzle with EEVO.

My mother makes these, and they are fabulous, and a little less work than devilled eggs. (Yum, devilled eggs!)

But...if it's really hot, wouldn't the mayo in the DEs provide some kind of Botulism Insurance.

OTOH: Devilled eggs sell fast. And whenever I plan an outdoor event the temp can hit the low forties, even in August.

[KateW]

Well, the mushrooms came out pretty well and the guacamole was great but that's no surprise, I had made it a few times before and it's really pretty hard to screw up. My uncle did not bring smoked salmon but he made his caesar salad and it was great. I helped make garlic bread when I got there, and there was store bought potato salad (very good). The only problem was the meat. There were no ribs with bones at the store, apparently, so mom's SO got boneless ribs and par boiled them, didn't marinate them in anything, and just put them on the grill and brushed them with barbecue sauce. They came out very dry. The chicken was, let's just say, way underdone.

Remember what I said about the saying, you should never try cooking something new for company? Well, the poor guy is nice and all but he can't cook. Mom was a little pissed at learning from him at 11 in the morning that, in 4 hours, 9 more people would be showing up to her house. But in the end we all had a good time, I think.

The recipe I ended up using for the mushrooms was a mix of the one I got on this thread and the one in JOC. I also had to do my own improvising a bit. Thanks everyone for the help!

[Xanthippe]

One more suggestion: Hummus and pita chips is always a crowd-pleaser, plus it's quick-and-dirty easy to put together; of late, I've been making a chipotle hummus variant that folks gobble up like crazy. And in addition to the pita chips, I will also set out tortilla chips.

[Rachel Perlow]

So did you feel the cheese was better melted on top, or did you long for it to be melded into the filling?

[pariah_kerry]

At a recent cookout, our friend brought a gorgonzola/cream cheese spread with fresh figs for dipping. It was pure heaven.

[KateW]

So did you feel the cheese was better melted on top, or did you long for it to be melded into the filling?

Ehhh..maybe both. But I can think of a few things I would have done differently, if I'd had some things on hand. Chopped parsley, for one thing. Maybe less bread crumbs, more chopped mushrooms. There's always time to try again.

[tippingvelvet]

Having some people over tomorrow night for cocktails and appetizers. I like to know if anyone would like to share their favorite appetizer recipes? I'm in a rut with my appetizer recipes.

Thanks.