Thinking about holiday parties..... Easy Caviar Dip

From Fast Appetizers by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison.

Ingredients:
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise
- 6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- 1 and 1/2 cups of finely chopped red onion
- 8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature
- 2/3 cup of sour cream
- 4 ounce jar of black or red lumpfish caviar

Instructions:
In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise and the finely chopped eggs. Spread the mixture over the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan and layer the onion on top. Combine the cream cheese and sour cream and spread this mixture evenly over the onions. Sprinkle with the caviar and refrigerate. This recipe can certainly be made a day before it is served.

To serve, remove the sides of the spring form pan and transfer the bottom of the pan and the dip to a platter. Surround the layered dip with thinly sliced baguette or crackers of your choice.

Editorial Note: As you can see in the photo, I used a pedestal bowl rather than a springform pan to contain the dip. Whatever serving dish that you have available will work.

Cheese Shortbead for the Wine and Cheese

My sister Sylvia dreamed up this recipe for a tasty appetizer while vacationing in Florida. Clearly, her creativity knows no borders. These are great at a 'wine and cheese'.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened and creamed, plus 1 heaping Tbsp. coconut oil
- 2 tbsp very finely diced sweet onion
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp seasoned salt ( or a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper)
 - 1 & 1/2 cups of self-rising flour
- 2 cups of grated cheddar cheese (or 1 cup cheddar and 1 cup Monterey Jack)

Instructions:
Mix the first 6 ingredients together well, then stir in the cheese. Form the dough into 4 logs, about 1" diameter, wrap the logs tightly in plastic wrap or waxed paper and chill them until firm. Slice each log into 12 discs and bake on parchment lined pans in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for about 10 minutes until they are lightly brown on the bottom.

Cool on a rack before transferring carefully to a serving plate.

Who Doesn't like Devilled Eggs?

Devilled eggs are one of those things that you can make 'your own' by mixing up the ingredients. For example, using a different type of mustard can vary the flavour of the eggs. There are some who garnish these eggs with chives, tarragon, or perhaps a caper, or slice of olive. I'll tell you what I used to make these beauties.

For you perfectionists out there....feel free to festively pipe the yolk mixture into the whites using a piping bag. 

Ingredients:

- a bunch of large hard-boiled eggs (I used 9, which made 18 devilled halves)
- about 1 teaspoon of yellow mustard ( I used the type of mustard that you put on hotdogs)
- about 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
- salt and pepper to taste
- smoked paprika for garnishing

Instructions:  

Hard boil as many eggs as you want. Remember each egg will be cut in half to form a single two-bite portion. I boiled 9 eggs for this recipe and placed them in the fridge overnight, although they need not be refrigerated at this point, and can be used as soon as they are cool enough to handle. Crack the eggs and remove the shell. Carefully cut each egg lengthwise into two parts. Pop the yolks into a medium-sized bowl and mash them together with the mustard, mayo, salt and pepper. Place a spoonful of the mashed yolk mixture into the cavity in which it originated in the egg white. Arrange the eggs on a serving platter and sprinkle a small amount of paprika over each egg. Keep cool until you're ready to wow someone.

Holy Green Guacamole

There is nothing like the spring-green colour of a perfectly ripe avocado. Guacamole is an avocado-based dip that originated in Mexico. It is traditionally made by mashing ripe avocados with a molcajete (mortar and pestle) and adding tomatoes and seasonings. Guacamole was made by the Aztecs as early as the 1500s. After the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, guacamole became popular in Spain. The name comes from an Aztec dialect, from āhuacatl (="avocado") + molli (="sauce"). (Source: Wikipedia) Over the years I have refined my recipe for guacamole to its simple green essence. More traditional recipes contain additional ingredients such as tomato, chilies, cumin, garlic, black pepper, hot pepper sauce and cilantro. Guacamole is one of those dishes where you can play around with the ingredients to suit your taste and arrive at a "house" version of this traditional Mexican dip. This is the version that you will get Chez Bubba.

Ingredients:
- 2 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded
- 2 chopped scallions/green onions (use both the green and white parts)
- juice of one juicy lime (2 tablespoons)
- salt to taste

Cut the avocado into large chunks and mash coarsely in a bowl with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients and blend gently. The guacamole does not have to be absolutely smooth. Leaving a few small chunks is fine and some people prefer it that way.

Editorial Note: Lime juice adds flavor and slows the enzyme-caused browning so get it on the avocado quickly.

Hummus Redux

A friend of my sister Sylvia gave me this idea for enhanced hummus.

Hummus is a staple. Adding a few extra ingredients simply heightens the hummus experience.

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups of regular hummus, available at most grocery stores on this planet
- a cup of peeled and cubed cucumber
- 3 green onions (a.k.a. scallions) chopped
- 2 inch cube of feta cheese crumbled
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

Place the hummus in the bottom of a smallish serving bowl (it must hold at least 2 cups). Ring the  the bowl with the cucumber, then place the chopped scallions inside the ring of cucumber. Fill in the middle of the dish with the crumbled feta. Season with salt and pepper to taste (remembering that feta is a very salty cheese) and drizzle with a small amount of oil. Serve with the crackers of your choice.

Putting a little Spin on Things…Cottage Canapé Toasts

At the cottage, considering canapés.


As per last year, and the year before that, I continue to stockpile half-eaten loaves of bread in the microwave at the cottage. I no longer have a microwave at home in the city because I only ever used the one I had as a giant butter-melter. However, it's great to have this type of ant-secure breadbox at the cottage. The thing fills up and that's when I use a little olive oil, kosher salt and fresh rosemary to make a transformation.

How to make increasingly stale bread edible…..

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Slice and cut the stale bread into pieces approximately 4 by 4 cm. A baguette works well but Wonderbread will do.

Place the pieces of bread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly chopped rosemary. Rosemary is a strongly flavoured herb so a little goes a long way. Alternatively, you can drizzle the bread with olive oil and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. Place the pan in the preheated oven and allow the bread to toast for anywhere from 5-25 minutes. This is all highly dependent on your oven (some are hotter than others), the thickness of the bread, and its moisture content. Check it frequently. The longer you leave it in the oven the crunchier it becomes. My preference is to remove the toasts as soon as they begin to turn a golden brown. Allow them  to cool and then package in an airtight container. Serve that same day with cheese, chopped liver, and dips or use the toasts as the base for bruschetta.

The toasts that you see in the photo below were made from a fairly rustic loaf. Think I'll serve them with a large chunk of cheddar.

 

Dainty they are not.

Please note that this recipe will work with fresh bread as well as stale bread; it does not work with mouldy bread.

Blue Cheese and Cheddar Nibbly-Bits

This recipe was adapted from Deb Perelman's recipe for Rosemary, Gruyere and Sea Salt Crisps found in her Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Perhaps I should say that this recipe was inspired by hers, since she might not absolutely approve of the following adaptation.

The major deviation in my recipe,(aside from changing the type of cheese, omitting the rosemary, and doubling the quantities of ingredients), was the addition of water to the dough mixture. I suspect that if you followed Ms. Perelman's advice and used a food processor to cut the cheese and butter into the flour, the addition of water would be unnecessary,(which is probably why she doesn't call for it in her recipe). Unfortunately, my old-timey kitchen doesn't contain a food processor.

So maybe these nibbly-bits were not texturally perfect by Perelman's standards but like I always say, perfectionism impedes progress. In any event, you're likely going to be eating them while consuming alcohol and may be willing to overlook any possible imperfections. 

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of crumbled blue cheese
- 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
- 8 tablespoons of butter (1 stick or 1/4 pound)
- 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour plus more for the counter
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup cold water
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the first four ingredients together using a pastry cutter until the butter has been cut into the flour, as if you were making pastry. Then add the water a bit at a time and stir with a fork until the crumbs hold together in dough form. Cut the dough in half and wrap each half in a square of wax paper. Chill for 15-20 minutes.  

On a floured surface, roll the dough to approximately 1/8 inch thickness. Cut the flattened dough into approximate 1-inch diamond shapes or squares. Dock each cracker with a skewer or knife point, then dab lightly with a bit of water. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Set the baking sheet on a rack to cool.

Here's my dough. It doesn't look bad here but just be aware that blue cheese can add a bit of a greyish hue to things.

Retro Bacon-Cracker Appetizers

For those with steel-lined gallbladders....

This very tasty recipe is taken directly from a successful American blog called The Pioneer Woman by blogger Ree Drummond.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of flaky crackers (such as 'President's Choice Original Rich and Flaky Topping Crackers')
• 1 pound of thinly sliced bacon (or as much as you need depending on how many appetizers you're making)
• Grated Parmesan Cheese or Brown Sugar 

The name of these crackers is very explicit.
 

Instructions:

Lay crackers face up on a cookie sheet. Place about 1 teaspoon of grated Parmesan cheese (or brown sugar) onto each cracker. Cut the bacon strips in half and wrap each cheese- (or sugar-) covered cracker in one half piece of bacon. It should fit snugly around the cracker. Place the bacon-wrapped crackers onto a baking sheet that has a metal rack on it, then place the sheet in a 250-degree oven for about 2 hours.

Editor's Note: After baking, these can be cooled and placed in a freezer bag (and subsequently frozen)for later use. They just need to be warmed slightly in the oven prior to serving. 

I decided to try both flavours....cheese and brown sugar.

Wrapped and ready for the slow bake.

The amazing (and potentially attack-inducing) thing about these appetizers is just how much of the bacon fat is absorbed by the cracker. Ah well, it makes for easy clean-up of the baking sheet.

The finished product. You'll notice that the bacon sometimes torques the crackers during baking....this only adds to the appeal. (Cracker girdled by bacon sounds yummy to me). 

 

Bruschetta

Bruschetta is an Italian antipasto that has been around for a long time (the 15th century) as a way of salvaging stale bread. This is one of the reasons that it appeals to me so much.  My absolute favourite recipe for bruschetta consists of grilled bread topped with olive oil, salt and pepper. There are variations of course and outside of Italy the most popular recipe involves basil, fresh tomato, garlic and onion or mozzarella.

 

We had the most amazing Norcia-style bruschetta in Umbria, which featured both pork products (including a simple very thinly sliced piece of fat) and a ground mushroom pate, incorporating truffles. Yum is about all I can say.

Trota Fario Croccante al Pane di Erbe Aromatiche Dell’orto a.k.a. Herb-crusted Trout Filets

Appetizer in the raw

This was an attractive and delicious appetizer that we were vaguely taught how to prepare by Chef Flavio in Norcia. I sense that he may have been tiring of his hapless students by the end of the week so did much of the preparation of the trout on his own. The rest of us watched with varying degrees of concentration. I happened to miss the instruction on how long to bake the fish, however, given the size of the filets and how quickly fish cooks, it should not take long.

Trout, with balsamic roasted apricots.

 

Ingredients:

·         8 boneless trout filets ( I’m guessing that each filet was about 1/3 pound in weight)

·         ¾ cup breadcrumbs

·         a few leaves of basil, marjoram, thyme, chives and oregano

·         3 cloves of garlic

·         zest of 2 lemons

·         extra virgin olive oil

 

Combine the breadcrumbs, herbs, lemon zest and garlic together in a blender. Oil a baking pan and place the trout filets skin side down on the pan. Cover each filet with a layer of the lovely herb green breadcrumb mixture. Cover the baking pan with tinfoil and bake in a 400 degree F. oven until the fish flesh is firm (a few minutes should do it). 

 

Bacon and Pea Crostini

Two types of pretty yummy crostini, if I do say so myself.

Some of you may recall my canape toasts from a previous recipe, which was posted last summer. http://princessbubba.blogspot.ca/2012/08/putting-little-spin-on-thingscottage.html That's how you make the bottom half of the pea and bacon crostini shown in the foreground of the above photo. 

For the crostini in the background of the photo, I roasted some cherry tomatoes in the oven with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, squished them, then mixed in some salt, Parmesan and herbes de Provence... but that's another story.

Ingredients for the Pea and Bacon Crostini:
- some homemade canape toasts (as per Bubba's recipe)
- 2 cups of frozen peas, the small ones if possible ( les petite pois)
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- about 1/4 cup pf crumbled feta cheese
- 4 strips of fried bacon, crumbled

Pour the peas into a strainer and defrost them with running warm water. Drain them and dry them with paper towels. In a blender, or with your hand-held immersible whizzer, blend the peas, garlic, yogurt, olive oil, salt and pepper until just combined. You want the texture to remain a little bit chunky. Place the mixture in a small bowl and stir in the crumbled feta. Mound a generous spoonful of the pea mixture on each canape toast and garnish with the bacon.

Editorial note: BTW...'squishing' is a culinary term. At least, it is in my kitchen.      
 

Guacamole by Penelope

My sister says...."I was cruising through your appetizer recipes on the blog and thought you might like my own personal fave guacamole".

Ingredients:

• 2 medium Hass avocados
• 1 small package chevre
• 2 cloves garlic finely minced
• juice of 1/2 lemon 
• lemon zest
• salt

Mix until quite smooth. This is really tangy and very tasty on sandwiches. Use instead of mayo - especially on a BLT.

Editorial Note: And once again, from Wikipedia...The Hass avocado, sometimes marketed as the Haas avocado, is a cultivar of avocado with dark green-colored, bumpy skin It was first grown and sold by Southern Californian mail carrier and amateur horticulturalist Rudolph Hass, who also gave it his name. The Hass avocado is medium-sized, weighing 200-300 gms.  When ripe the skin becomes a dark purplish-black and yields to gentle pressure.Owing to its taste, size, shelf-life, high growing yield and in some areas, year-round harvesting, the Hass cultivar is the most commercially popular avocado worldwide. 

Smoked Salmon Crepes

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Smoked Salmon Crepes This is a fancy pants recipe that looks and tastes great and is easy to make. Crepe Ingredients: 2 eggs 1 ¼ cup of 1% milk Pinch of salt 1 cup of all-purpose flour Filling Ingredients: herb and garlic flavoured cream cheese 1 cup packed

Draft

This is a fancy pants recipe that looks and tastes great and is easy to make.

Crepe Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 ¼ cup of 1% milk
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour

 

Filling Ingredients:

• herb and garlic flavoured cream cheese (I used goat cheese instead)
• 1 cup packed baby spinach leaves (didn't have any, didn't use it)
• 8-10 thin slices of smoked salmon

 

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk and salt. Whisk in the flour until the batter is smooth. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Heat a non-stick crepe pan (or whatever pan you have) over medium heat, then lift the pan and add ¼ cup of batter. Swirl the batter in the pan until it reaches a crepe sized circle, return to the heat and cook for 30 seconds. Flip the crepe and cook for 30 seconds more. The crepes should be golden brown. Transfer the cooked crepe to a plate and cover with foil. Repeat this process with the remaining batter.

 

When all of the crepes have been made, spread a thin layer of cream cheese over each, then place spinach leaves down the middle, followed by one slice of smoked salmon. Fold the bottom edge of the crepe over the salmon, then fold the top edge down over the bottom.

 

I cut the crepes in half in order to serve them as an appetizer, but if left whole, they would make a great first course dish.

 

Makes 8-10 fancy pants crepes. 

Seared scallops with basil whipped cream

Recipe by Ricardo. Photo by Julie's friend Gurleen Matharu.

This delightful recipe was provided to me by Julie, a young woman with obvious skills in the kitchen. Although I haven’t made the scallops myself, Julie has assured me that they taste as good as they look.

Ingredients:

• 250 ml (1 cup) 35% cream
• 250 ml (1 cup) fresh basil, chopped
• Tabasco sauce, to taste
• 30 small scallops, trimmed
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) vegetable oil
• 30 ml (2 tablespoons) butter
• Fresh chives and pink peppercorns, for garnish (Julie used a pomegranate seed-very pretty- rather than a peppercorn. Whatever works.)

1. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove from the heat. Add the basil, stir and let cool. Refrigerate. Strain the chilled cream, the whisk it until soft peaks form. Season with Tabasco sauce, to taste.

2. In a skillet, sear the scallops in the oil and butter. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Using large spoons to serve the scallops in individual portions, place about 10 ml (2 teaspoons) of whipped cream on each spoon, followed by a warm scallop. Garnish with chives and a pink peppercorn.

Julie has provided Ricardo's website here: http://www.ricardocuisine.com

Roasted Red Peppers

Roasted red peppers are used commonly today. You can buy them in bits and pieces, or as relatively whole peppers in jars at most grocery stores. They can be used in salads, pasta dishes, appetizers and in anything else where you would like a dash of scarlet colour and some subtle flavour.

It's easy to roast peppers at home on your stove, in the oven, or on the barbecue. If you have a gas stove, simply place the whole pepper on a high flame and turn it frequently to char one side after another. Although I haven't roasted peppers on the barbecue, I assume that the method would be similar. If you want to roast them in the oven, place the peppers on a cookie sheet under the broiler, watch them carefully and turn the peppers as necessary to get them sufficiently charred.

After the pepper is well-charred, remove it from the heat and place it in a paper bag. Close the top of the bag and let the pepper steam until it is cool. Remove it from the bag and run your hands up and down the sides of the pepper under running water to remove most of the black char. Cut off the top and remove the seeds. You'll have a much fresher tasting and less slimy version of a roasted red pepper than the bottled variety.

Cheesy Lemony Garlic Dip/Spread/Pepper stuffing

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Lip Smacking Dip My sister P. came to the cottage on the river for a final visit this season and brought with her a yummy dip of her own design. I enjoyed it for a second time for breakfast toast the next day, while watching fish jump and the cormorant fight

Draft

My sister P. came to the cottage on the river for a final visit this season and brought with her a yummy dip/spread of her own design. I enjoyed it for a second time the following morning on toast, while watching fish jump and the cormorant fight the seagull for its favourite rocky perch. As you can see from the photo above, when I made it most recently, I used it to stuff a roasted pepper. 

Very versatile this cheesy, lemony, garlicky stuff.

Ingredients:

• 140 gram package of chevre (soft goat cheese available in most grocery store cheese departments)
• grated zest of one lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh dill (also available at most grocery stores, in the produce department)

Blend all ingredients together in a small bowl with a fork.  Serve with crackers, chips or veggies. Also good with cottage canape toasts (see post dated Aug. 17, 2012)

Editorial Notes:
You can use a food processor rather than a fork for blending the mixture if you prefer, but you'll lose a lot of dip on the blades. Plus, the food processor is an incredible pain to clean.

A smaller amount of dried dill weed (not seed) can be substituted for the larger amount (2 tablespoons) of chopped fresh dill called for in the recipe. But speaking from experience, the difference in flavour is staggering. Use fresh if you possibly can. 

Sweet Brie App

Again from the cooking class 25 years ago, comes this easy appetizer recipe for which there are now about a million variations.

Ingredients:
- 4 to 6 inch wedge of Brie cheese (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup of chopped pecans
- enough brown sugar to cover the cheese

Cut the top rind off the cheese and press the pecans on top. Cover the cheese with brown sugar and place under the broiler for 3 minutes or until the sugar caramelizes. Serve immediately with crackers.

Editorial Note: This app tastes better than it looks. I think that I placed it too close to the broiler and as a result, some of the sugar caramelized too quickly. You'll simply have to experiment with what works best in your oven.

The Endive with Herb Cheese App

The 3rd in a series of apps that I learned about at a cooking class long, long ago...

Ingredients:

- 2 heads of Belgium endive (not curly endive)
- 1 , 5 ounce package of Boursin herb cheese or similar soft cheese
- watercress or alfalfa sprouts as a garnish

Trim the bottoms of the endive so that the leaves are almost all the same length. Soften the cheese and spread approximately 1 teaspoon on the bottom of each leaf. Garnish with the watercress or alfalfa sprouts. Arrange on a serving platter and refrigerate until ready to serve. These things look better in real life than they do in a photo.

The Firecracker Shrimp App

My sister's friend Ilona provided the recipe for this app. The size of shrimp can be altered, according to personal preference. These can either be served at room temperature as an appetizer or served hot over steamed rice or noodles. Also, large pan-seared scallops can be substituted for the shrimp.

Ingredients:

- Quarter cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- Quarter cup green onion, minced
- 2 tbsp. garlic, finely minced
- 1 tbsp. ginger, finely minced
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. honey
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp. asian chilli sauce
- 1 tbsp. white sesame seeds, toasted
- 1 pound of shrimp

In a bowl, combine the first 14 ingredients. Then either sauté, boil or grill 1 pound shrimp, deveined. Toss the cooked shrimp in the marinade. (Remove shrimp shells shell before placing them in the marinade).

Mushroom Apps...and I'm not talking iPhone here

Since I have young guests visiting this weekend, I decided to have a kitchen party and serve the kind of apps I can relate to. I obtained the recipe for these mushroom appetizers at a cooking class at least 25 years ago, (before the majority of my guests were born).

Ingredients:
- 12 thin slices of bread (crusts removed, rolled thin with a rolling pin and buttered on one side and placed on a sheet of waxed paper, buttered side down)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound of finely chopped mushrooms
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Melt the butter in a skillet, add the mushrooms and saute. When the moisture has disappeared from the mushrooms, add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Cool the mushroom mixture, then place 1 tablespoon of the mushrooms on each slice of bread (keeping the buttered side down). Roll up the bread; you may need to fasten the mushroom roll with a toothpick at this point. Refrigerate. When ready to serve, bake at 425 degrees F. for 15 minutes.