Appetizers with Apple as Ingredient

[julied]

I am hosting an appletini cocktail party and have decided on an all apple theme. I would love to hear any good appetizer recipes (preference is for finger foods) you would be willing to share - thanks!

[Jaybert41]

Apples are incredibly versatile with savory food, considering their sweetness, acidity and texture and you could work them in to almost any dish or recipe. In a savory roll I would consider them more of an accompaniment than main ingredient.

Some ideas:

Smoked Salmon with Apples & Horseradish

Raw Oysters with Green Apple, Celery & Pistachio Oil

Raw Oysters with Gewertzraminer Gelee, Apple & Caraway Seed

Foie Gras with Preserved Ginger and Apple Relish

Tuna Sashimi with Apple-Lime Puree & Goat Cheese

Slaw of Apple, Celeriac, Radicchio & Brown Mustard Seed

Clams with White Miso Vinaigrette, Shisho & Apple

Crisp Applewood Smoked Bacon on Brioche with Apple Puree

Pickled Apples with Coriander Seed and Chinese Celery Leaves

[Jaymes]

I attended a party not long ago and there was an ambrosial baked brie with apples. Sooooo good.

[foodie3]

chicken liver pate two ways - on slices of brioche and on slices of apple.

[ludja]

On the recent horseradish thread we were speaking of an Austrian sauce--Apfelkren. It's an apple-horseradish sauce. Goes great with beef and pork--could probably come up with some good ways to use it. I've seen mayo variants also with grated apple, onion, horseradish, lemon juice, s&p.

Use to fill small tomatoes or stuffed eggs?

Spread on roast beef slices and roll up?

Fill stuffed mushrooms with?

Use as a dip for cooked shrimp?

Another idea is apple/cheddar combinations--

cheddar gougeres stuffed with chopped apple or spicy applesauce and bacon?

fresh or crisped apple slices to dip in pimento cheese?

cheddar cheese empandas filled with spicy apple mix?

Make some type of apple chutney-cheese spread.

Sounds like a fun party; be sure to tell us what you end up doing.

[ludja]

chicken liver pate two ways - on slices of brioche and on slices of apple.

Nice idea!

[Malawry]

Slices of apple with smoked trout or matjes herring attached with a dab of mustard

Curried apple soup, in demitasse cups

Waldorf salad, diced down tiny, served in belgian endive boats

[jackal10]

John Tovey's Apple with Tarragon cream (adapted by JL)

Apples:

Half a Granny Smith each, peeled and cored

Fill the core with:

Soft cheese with herbs and garlic. Either use a commercial one like Boursin, or whizz up cream cheese, butter garlic and herbs

Pour over: Tarragon cream

Double Cream mixed with a little tarragon vinegar. If you want, you can make it like a creme anglais.

Decorate with a sprig of tarragon..

The original sat on a bed of date puree

You could make a mini versions from cubes of apple with a small hole for the cheese cut with a small baller.

I'd also recommend

Warm apple pizza: Pizza base, thickly sliced peeled apples, lots of butter and sugar. Bake like a pizza until the top begins to brown. Slice and eat

Drink champagne mixed with fresh apple juice, 50:50

Edited April 9, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[FistFullaRoux]

And you can make roses out of apple peel, just for decoration.

It's the same procedure as you would do with a tomato. Peel a thin ribbon from the apple, trying to keep it similar in width, then roll up small sections of them until they look like roses.

You may need to use a bit of a sticky ingredient to get these to hold their shape, though.

[agnolottigirl]

Galettes. . . apples and chard (with onion or shallot) are delicious. I like the pastry for this one with a little whole-wheat flour, makes it a bit crunchy, more substantial.

Edit to add: oh, yeah. . . and don't forget the cheese! Goat cheese, blue cheese, whatever you got.

Edited April 9, 2004 by agnolottigirl (log)

[slbunge]

It's not finger food but there is a recipe for Apple Salad with Cabrales and Toasted Almonds in Food and Wine. Recipe is available here.

I'm a sucker for virtually anything with cabrales.

[tanabutler]

Pipe a gorgonzola/cream cheese/walnut "paté" (1/2 c. each, in food processor until smooooooooth) onto apple slices. (You would definitely want to toss the unpeeled slices in a little lemon juice first so they don't go brown.)

From Epicurious:

CROSTINI WITH ROASTED GARLIC, GOAT CHEESE AND APPLE CHUTNEY

GINGERED APPLE SLAW

APPLE CHUTNEY

[Christnp]

Do you know about www.epicurious.com? You can search a giant database of Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazine recipes, and also see reader's ratings and comments about the recipe. I just did an advanced search for "apple", checking 'hors d'oevres' and pulled up a few interesting recipes.

Sorry if you already know about it, but some times people haven't discovered this yet.

[reesek]

i always make bite sized potato pancakes for parties - applesauce is a very simple and traditional topping...i also usually make a creamy sauce with horseradish, extra firm tofu, s&p and rice vinegar.

you might also think about a cheese fondue (chocolate would work too) served with bread (or pound cake) and apples. mmm, an appletini sounds good...

[dahlsk]

I had a nice salad at Lurcat in Minneapolis that was matchstick sized pieces of manchego and apple, dressed with a little chive oil. Simple, clean and refreshing!

dahlsk

[Mabelline]

foodie3 and ludja beat me to the chicken liver with apple. I was going to suggest livers with curry and horseradish or grainy mustard on tart apple slices.

If you are having a dessert app as well, how about old-fashioned apple dumplings? Only make them real tiny and cute, using the littler-sized apples,wrapped in pastry with brown sugar,butter, and brandy. Then serve with cream or a nice cheese.

[mags]

I had a wonderful salad a few years ago of smoked trout with watercress and slivered apple, and a dressing made of whipped cream infused with horseradish. Also, what about making an apple chutney?

[julied]

Thank you all for your wonderful ideas! I plan to use a lot of them. A few sound like they might be a bit more than I am ready to tackle for this event - I have about 30 people coming. But for the recipes I don't try for this party, I will try them out at smaller gatherings.

And yes - I have discovered Epicurious. I use it all the time. Didn't have much luck when I searched there a few weeks ago, but went back after I posted here last night and had much better luck. I am wondering if they improved their search since I last tried this search a few weeks ago?

Edited April 10, 2004 by julied (log)

[GG Mora]

I hope I'm not too late to the party...

What about Belgian endive filled with a shrimp/apple salad? Finely diced cooked shrimp, apple and onion, moistened with mayo & a splash of vodka, S&P to taste, sprig of dill on top (or minced dill in the salad)...

[Suzanne F]

Look in lower left-hand corner for Picaman's Squash-and-Apple Tart from the NY eGullet Pie Potluck back in January.

[merstar]

Here are two possibilities:

Apple-Stuffed Mushrooms

Yield: 32 servings

32 large Mushrooms, fresh

Vegetable cooking spray

3 tb Celery; finely chopped

1/2 c Apple; minced

2 tb Fine, dry breadcrumbs

1 tb Parsley, fresh; chopped

2 tb Walnuts; finely chopped, toasted

1 tb Blue cheese; crumbled

2 ts Lemon juice

Clean mushrooms with damp paper towels. Remove stems; finely chop 1/3 cup of stems, reserving remaining stems for another use. Set mushroom caps aside. Coat a small skillet with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add 1/3 cup reserved chopped mushroom stems and celery; saute 2 minutes or until tender. Combine celery mix, apple and next 5 ingredients in a small bowl; stir well. Spoon 1-1/2 ts apple mix into each reserved mushroom cap. Place mushrooms in a 15x10" jelly roll pan; bake at 350~ for 15 minutes.

ROQUEFORT DIP WITH APPLE, ENDIVE, AND CELERY HEART

4 ounces fromage blanc or softened cream cheese (about 1/2 cup)

3 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons medium-dry Sherry

4 ounces Roquefort (about 1 cup crumbled)

2 Belgian endives

12 inner celery ribs with leaves

1 medium head white radicchio* (optional)

1 crisp red apple such as Gala or Fuji

*available at some specialty produce shops

This dip is especially attractive served in a hollowed-out head of Castelfranco radicchio, a white radicchio with loose, pink-streaked leaves that readily open to form a bowl.

If using fromage blanc, in a bowl stir together with milk and Sherry until smooth. If using cream cheese, with an electric mixer beat together with milk and Sherry until smooth. Crumble Roquefort and gently stir into mixture (being careful not to break up lumps). Dip may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

Have ready a large bowl of ice and cold water. Trim root ends of endives and separate leaves. Trim celery to 4- to 6-inch lengths. Remove any discolored outer leaves from radicchio and trim root end slightly so radicchio stands upright. Put vegetables in bowl of ice water to crisp (and to help radicchio leaves open). Let vegetables stand at least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours.

In a colander drain radicchio and shake to remove water. Twist and pull out center leaves to form a "bowl" for dip. Spoon dip into radicchio or a small bowl.

In colander drain endive and celery and pat dry. Quarter apple and remove core. Cut quarters into thin wedges. Put several ice cubes in each of 2 wine glasses and stand endive, celery, and apple over ice.

Serve dip with apple, endive, and celery.

Serves 8 as an hors d'oeuvre.

Gourmet

December 1998

[julied]

Ludja asked for a follow up on what I decided to make for the Appletini party. Which was a huge success thanks to all of you. My head is pounding right now - drank a bit too much of my own Appletini potion. It didn't help that the party started at 6 pm and the last guests left at 1 am. All left raving about the appetizers.

Stephen's Apple Salad - Couldn't find Cabrales cheese, bought something I thought was close, bit it tasted awful, so I through in some blue cheese and served the salad on endives - guests loved it

Merstar's Stuffed Mushrooms - What a hit - I used crimini mushrooms I find they have more flavor.

Tana's Gorgonzola Walnut Pate - Yum! I toasted the walnuts first. Piped out the pate onto apple slices and topped off with a spiced walnut (made spiced walnuts, almonds and pecans just to throw in bowls as a little extra)

Chicken Liver Pate - Many of you suggested this. I cheated here and bought pre-made, served on apple slices with chive garnish

Baked Brie - Topped with brown sugar and almond slices sauteed in butter and served with apple slices

Blue Cheese Shortbread Leaves with Cream Cheese Chutney Roulade - Found this on Epicurious - I made it two ways - with a sweet apple raisin chutney and a spicey apple cranberry chutney - Thought I would like the spicey better but turned out the sweet was the better combination - really complemented the blue cheese shortbread.

Pastry Wrapped Chicken Apple Sausage - Found this on epicurious too. Called for honey mustard and cheddar cheese, but I used gruyer (sp?) - ok, so its still pigs in a blanket, but it was very good

Chicken Apple Sausage baked with Grapes - Another hit. Turned this into a finger food by chopping up the sausage and serving on a platter with toothpicks. Grape sauce is reduced and then add balsamic vinegar. I love anything with balsamic!

And last but not least, apple pizza - A sweet pizza. No cheese, I served this last as a sort of dessert. I guess we had a few appletini's by then because my husband swears there was cheese on this, but there wasn't.

Thanks again for all your great ideas. I've been eating at great restaurants for years, but just started cooking myself about a year or two ago. All these apps, with the exception of the baked brie were new to me - so this could have been a disaster - but they all turned out and I had very satisfied guests.