Posted on 05/31/2019 4:19:23 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
Freeper Lizma2 requested an appetizer thread last month; and since appetizers are one of my two favorite things to cook, I’m happy to oblige. I’ll repost some of my favorites and a new one I’ve found, and hopefully others will have contributions.
This pastry 'Sunflower' - or 'Tarte Soleil' - is visually beautiful, but not that difficult to make. You can do it with a wide variety of fillings, and sweet or savory.
Here’s a recipe from ‘Italian Food Forever’
http://www.italianfoodforever.com/2016/07/sunflower-spinach-puff-pastry-tart
and from ‘Entertaining with Beth’, a video showing the technique:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIF-6CFsYxk
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A couple of decades ago, when chef Jean Georges introduced his Seared Scallops with Cauliflower and Caper-Raisin Sauce, it became a great hit here in DC, and I guess everywhere he had restaurants; and I think it's still a favorite. It’s a little fussy to make, but a wonderful combination of flavors:
https://www.foodwine.com/food/special/jeangeorges/raisin.html
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One of my standbys – great with drinks – are these Cheese and Olive Puff Balls. I’ve made these without olives for those who don’t like them, and they’re still a hit. As with anything, the better the cheese you use, the better the dish; but this is usually a hit even with standard supermarket cheddar. (I think this recipe may go back to the 1950s):
Olive Cheese Puffs
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Ingredients:
2 Cups grated, sharp Cheddar Cheese
¼ lb. Butter (one stick from a pound)
1 cup of Flour, salted to taste (I usually don't use salt; the olives and cheese are enough)
pinch of Cayenne
Jar of Pimento-Stuffed Olives
1.Blend together in a food processor the grated cheese, butter, and flour.
2.Process until dough comes together in a ball.
3.Chill, covered, for about 20 minutes before forming puffs. (You don't want it to get too hard. When I've tried making the dough the day before and doing the balls the next day, it's been very subpar. You want to make the balls the same day that you make the dough, and chill just a bit, to get it firm enough to handle well.)
4.Pinch off a ball of dough, about an inch in diameter, and pat it into a thin disc in your palm; then place an olive in the middle. Pinch up the dough to cover the olive, and roll between your palms until smooth. (Or, dough can be rolled out to ¼ inch thickness, cut into 2 inch squares, and each square wrapped around an olive - but that's too much trouble for me, and usually results in too much dough.)
5.Place puffs on a cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes. ( I usually use parchment paper on the sheet.) Then remove to a wire rack to cool.
(To freeze unbaked, freeze on cookie sheet and remove to freezer containers when hard. When ready to bake, allow 3-5 minutes extra baking time.)
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This recipe for something called 'Mushroom Julienne' could be an actual dinner course, or an appetizer, depending on how you present it. I love watching this elegant, joyful Armenian lady on the YouTube 'Heghineh Cooking Show’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ4CTmb5gGo
-JT
This tastes as good as it looks.
Blueberry and cherry pie
Twenty three elaborate floral displays of dark pink peonies, lilac stocks and pale pink roses adorned the tables, along with large seven-branch state candelabrum and the elaborate soup tureen which was once used to serve George IV his favourite turtle soup.
I would love to try those cheese wafers. Wish we entertained more. One of my old favorites was thin sliced jicama, chilled with lime juice over the slices. Crispy, crunchy and fresh.
Mmmmmmm...the jicama in lime juice sounds delish.
That is very beautiful! I like the wavy stripes.
I’ve made the ubiquitous (and easy) Flag Sheet Cake, but that pie is actually Art :-)
Someone upthread mentioned Pimiento Cheese - my mom’s favorite dsh - reminded me to make a big crock tomorrow for her (4c). Sophisticated recipe, have to ditch the pecans and jalapenos.. she loves both, but demands Classic.
I hate Pimiento Cheese, entirely. Why, I’m not sure, as I spend scads on the constituent ingredients, just can’t bear them assembled together.
Sharp Cheddar-Cream Cheese-Blue Plate Mayo-grated onion-Worchestershire-Pickled Red Peppers-Lemon Juice-ground red & black peppers-garlic salt. Just cream w/beater less the pimientos: stir those in.
It’s the insipid sweetness that somehow gets into it, that offends me.
There’s a ‘Pub Cheese’ kind of dip/spread that I get at the supermarket - can’t recall the exact brand name - with jalapenos; and I like that a lot. No sweetness at all.
I make Queso in my sleep, which is essentially PC, just bubbling, *minus* the pimiento and plus the green chile...those little red derelicts must be the offender: pickled w/sugar.
My favorite recipe for Gazpacho calls for pimientos. I leave them out, and squirt in some Tabasco.
Here’s a thought about the flag pie and almost any highly decorative pie crust construction. Print the photo same size as the desired pie, black and white is fine..lay the paper over the rolled out dough and cut the pattern with a fine sharp paring knife or a beveled X-Acto blade. Others I’m sure have thought of this, it came to me from constructing architectural scale models. Eliminates the need for finding cookie cutters of varying sizes and allows for making very personalized pies with ease quickly. Dazzle you diners!
But, you’re an architect!
I’d build a house from plans; but a pie I’d like to do sorta ‘freehand’.....:-)
....as well as other things. Before we go all orthogonal we do freehand drawing and sketches.
And then there are French curves...
;>)
Perfect for the fourth. Frost and trim patriotically. Dip marshmallows in red icing,
add a licorice wick for the "firecrackers."
Very nice.
Ingredients 2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 6 tb unsalted butter, cup conf, 2 eggs yolks, egg white 2 tablespoons sour cream
METHOD Combine flour and baking soda. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar until blended. Add egg yolks, egg white and sour cream. Beat until smooth. Beat in flour mixture until dough just comes together. Form into two disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out one disk on liberally floured wax paper with a floured rolling pin to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2-inch star cutter, cut out star shapes and place on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with second disk. Gather up scraps, form into a disk and refrigerate. Bake for 10 minutes per batch, until lightly golden. Slide cookies onto a cooling rack and cool. Reroll chilled scraps, cut out additional stars and bake.
CHEF NOTE Make Ahead: It’s best to chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before cutting out the star shapes; the cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week to 10 days. Yield: 4 dozen.
When I was a kid, I had a Betty Crocker cookbook for kids; and it had a sugar cookie recipe.
I made them, without realizing that my grandmother’s self-rising flour already had salt; so I added the salt called for in the recipe.
To this day, I like my sugar cookies very salty! They weren’t ruined, they were interesting :-)
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