When we were on vacation in Colorado, one of our friends made this delicious appetizer. The other name for it is Insalata Caprese, and it is a classic dish from the Italian region of Campania (thanks Wikipedia). We loved it and it is a very easy, yet elegant dish to serve. Here is a paraphrased recipe:
Ingredients:
Fresh mozzarella
Tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes. You can also use cherry tomatoes, or sliced tomatoes)
Fresh basil
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Put the mozzarella and the tomatoes in a serving dish. Cut the basil up (I stacked the leaves, rolled them up, and then cut them into slivers), and sprinkle the basil on top of the mozzarella and tomatoes. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top. I mixed it all up at this point to evenly disperse the oil and vinegar. Viola! You are done.
I brought this to an Italian themed potluck tonight and people raved. And it only took me about 5-10 minutes to make this! We served it with slices of French baguette but you could eat this by itself too. You can also thread them onto toothpicks, but that takes too much work in my opinion. This is a great, easy dish you can quickly throw together for a party, and people think you are a fabulous cook because of it.
Showing posts with label appetizer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label appetizer. Show all posts
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
Super Bowl Sunday
This year's Super Bowl wasn't quite as exciting for me as last year's since the Bears weren't in it, but we still had fun having people over and eating a lot of food. This year we had about twenty people over, some of those being kids. I made way too much food, but now I have lots to eat this week. Next time I'm going to let other people bring more, and I'll scale back a bit. You know, the problem with preparing for a Super Bowl party is that there's no time to relax afterwards. You spend all weekend in the kitchen, have your party, clean up, and then it's back to work the next day. At least with Thanksgiving I had three days to recover!
All in all we had a great time. Here was the line-up:
Buffalo Wings
I made these last year, and they were so good that they deserved repeating. I made about six pounds of wings and made 1 1/2 times the sauce. These were eaten up and I only had about eight wings left at the end of the party. I served them with blue cheese dressing. Just like Hooters wings, but without the degradation of women.
Sweet Chili-Glazed Chicken Wings
I made these last year also, but this time I cooked them in my roasting pan with the wire rack so they didn't get soggy. I baked them for 30 minutes, then broiled them for a few minutes just to get them a little crispy. I left out the chili-garlic sauce and most of the crushed red pepper since kids would be eating them.
New England Clam Chowder
I was rooting for the Giants but I still liked the idea of making this to go along with the New England Patriots. This clam chowder was delicious - thinner than I'm used to, but what flavor! This was an excellent recipe, especially given that it calls for canned clams and bottled clam juice! Unfortunately, I discovered that chowder is just not a popular Super Bowl food. Most people went for the wings and other things that could be picked up and eaten with their hands. But I would definitely make this one again, for ourselves or for company. I used 1/2 cups of flour, and added the reserved clam juice at the end so that I could control how thin it would end up - otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.
Deviled Eggs
Same recipe as last year, always a crowd pleaser. No matter what fancy appetizers you make for a party, deviled eggs are always the first to go.
Guacamole
I stuck with Alton Brown's recipe that I used last year, but doubled it this time. We had a lot left over - we didn't have as many guacamole fans as we thought we would. My avocados were not the best, but this was still very good.
Hummus and Pita Chips
I've made this hummus before and blogged about it here. Very good, but didn't get eaten much at the party, likely because I had way too much food out there. Well, that just goes to show you that I'm a good Filipino. Better to have too much food at a party than not enough! That would be a Filipino host's worst nightmare.
Veggie Tray
I did the same as I did last year, and made my own tray of baby carrots, grape tomatoes, and celery sticks. I made Ranch dip using a Hidden Valley ranch dressing packet and a 16 oz. tub of sour cream.
Grapes
Believe it or not, this may have been the most popular item on the buffet line. Kids love grapes. And when you are full but want to keep eating, a handful of grapes goes down pretty easy. I had a large bowl full of red and green grapes. My husband was sure to cut up the bunches so that guests could grab a handful easily.
Chocolate-Covered Caramelized Matzoh Crunch
I follow David Lebovitz's blog, and was excited to see this recipe this past week. His pictures on his blog just made it look so delicious! This was pretty good, but not knock-my-socks-off. I think it would be better if I had some sea salt sprinkled on top of them like he suggests. This is not very difficult to make, so if you happen to have matzoh crackers laying around, this is a good use for them.
Cinnamon-Scented Devil's Food Cupcakes
I think I have a standard rotation now for the Super Bowl - wings, guacamole, deviled eggs, and cupcakes. These are my building blocks. I made a different type of cupcake this year. I've had this one bookmarked for years, and finally tried it this weekend. I didn't want to use all of my precious Droste cocoa powder (that I had to buy in Wisconsin because they don't sell good cocoa powder in east Tennessee!), so I used half Nestle's and half Droste. I colored the frosting so that 1/3 of the cupcakes had white frosting, 1/3 had red, and 1/3 had blue (since those were the colors for both teams). I used regular cupcake liners instead of panettone molds, and ended up with about 45 cupcakes. These were excellent cupcakes - moist, rich cake, and the frosting has a subtle almond flavor. These were a lot of work, but I've realized that all cupcakes made from scratch are a lot of work. For special occasions they are worth it!
Some of my guests also brought a spinach dip with crackers, chocolate chip cookies, and another veggie tray. Needless to say, we all left with full bellies and happy hearts, celebrating the Giants win and enjoying some good party food.
All in all we had a great time. Here was the line-up:
Buffalo Wings
I made these last year, and they were so good that they deserved repeating. I made about six pounds of wings and made 1 1/2 times the sauce. These were eaten up and I only had about eight wings left at the end of the party. I served them with blue cheese dressing. Just like Hooters wings, but without the degradation of women.
Sweet Chili-Glazed Chicken Wings
I made these last year also, but this time I cooked them in my roasting pan with the wire rack so they didn't get soggy. I baked them for 30 minutes, then broiled them for a few minutes just to get them a little crispy. I left out the chili-garlic sauce and most of the crushed red pepper since kids would be eating them.
New England Clam Chowder
I was rooting for the Giants but I still liked the idea of making this to go along with the New England Patriots. This clam chowder was delicious - thinner than I'm used to, but what flavor! This was an excellent recipe, especially given that it calls for canned clams and bottled clam juice! Unfortunately, I discovered that chowder is just not a popular Super Bowl food. Most people went for the wings and other things that could be picked up and eaten with their hands. But I would definitely make this one again, for ourselves or for company. I used 1/2 cups of flour, and added the reserved clam juice at the end so that I could control how thin it would end up - otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.
Deviled Eggs
Same recipe as last year, always a crowd pleaser. No matter what fancy appetizers you make for a party, deviled eggs are always the first to go.
Guacamole
I stuck with Alton Brown's recipe that I used last year, but doubled it this time. We had a lot left over - we didn't have as many guacamole fans as we thought we would. My avocados were not the best, but this was still very good.
Hummus and Pita Chips
I've made this hummus before and blogged about it here. Very good, but didn't get eaten much at the party, likely because I had way too much food out there. Well, that just goes to show you that I'm a good Filipino. Better to have too much food at a party than not enough! That would be a Filipino host's worst nightmare.
Veggie Tray
I did the same as I did last year, and made my own tray of baby carrots, grape tomatoes, and celery sticks. I made Ranch dip using a Hidden Valley ranch dressing packet and a 16 oz. tub of sour cream.
Grapes
Believe it or not, this may have been the most popular item on the buffet line. Kids love grapes. And when you are full but want to keep eating, a handful of grapes goes down pretty easy. I had a large bowl full of red and green grapes. My husband was sure to cut up the bunches so that guests could grab a handful easily.
Chocolate-Covered Caramelized Matzoh Crunch
I follow David Lebovitz's blog, and was excited to see this recipe this past week. His pictures on his blog just made it look so delicious! This was pretty good, but not knock-my-socks-off. I think it would be better if I had some sea salt sprinkled on top of them like he suggests. This is not very difficult to make, so if you happen to have matzoh crackers laying around, this is a good use for them.
Cinnamon-Scented Devil's Food Cupcakes
I think I have a standard rotation now for the Super Bowl - wings, guacamole, deviled eggs, and cupcakes. These are my building blocks. I made a different type of cupcake this year. I've had this one bookmarked for years, and finally tried it this weekend. I didn't want to use all of my precious Droste cocoa powder (that I had to buy in Wisconsin because they don't sell good cocoa powder in east Tennessee!), so I used half Nestle's and half Droste. I colored the frosting so that 1/3 of the cupcakes had white frosting, 1/3 had red, and 1/3 had blue (since those were the colors for both teams). I used regular cupcake liners instead of panettone molds, and ended up with about 45 cupcakes. These were excellent cupcakes - moist, rich cake, and the frosting has a subtle almond flavor. These were a lot of work, but I've realized that all cupcakes made from scratch are a lot of work. For special occasions they are worth it!
Some of my guests also brought a spinach dip with crackers, chocolate chip cookies, and another veggie tray. Needless to say, we all left with full bellies and happy hearts, celebrating the Giants win and enjoying some good party food.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Spanakopita
I went to a Christmas party for my women's Bible study group this week. I found this recipe a few years ago, and always wanted to try it, but never did because it looked like so much work. It just sounded so delicious though, so I felt a little bold and decided that I was finally going to make it. People thought they were great (my husband loved them). But they are just so darn labor intensive. I have never made anything with phyllo dough, and it is very difficult to work with. The buttering of each layer, and then cutting them into strips (I used a pizza cutter) was the most time consuming part. Each individual pastry probably took me two minutes to make. So - would I make these again? My husband wants me to make them for New Year's, and has offered to help assemble them, so maybe. I definitely would not make them again if I had to do it all by myself. I read on the reviews that one person made it into a pie, which sounds easier. I'll have to look into that one.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Bruschetta
I like bruschetta. I first tried bruschetta in college, at those afternoon special lectures that different groups would host that would get catered. I probably went to half of them just to eat bruschetta, shrimp cocktail, and fruit kabobs. Mmmm.....
For an appetizer last night we bought some baguettes that were already cut up into 1/2 inch slices. I broiled them for 2 minutes on each side - they got a little burnt so next time I would lower the rack a notch. I loosely followed the recipe from the Joy of Cooking. I rubbed garlic onto one side of the toasted baguettes, and then topped half of them with grated mozzarella and put them under the broiler again to melt the cheese. Then I topped all of them with fresh diced tomatoes mixed with chopped fresh basil and a little salt. Yum! These were great. I liked the mozzarella topped ones a little better. I will definitely make these again for company.
For an appetizer last night we bought some baguettes that were already cut up into 1/2 inch slices. I broiled them for 2 minutes on each side - they got a little burnt so next time I would lower the rack a notch. I loosely followed the recipe from the Joy of Cooking. I rubbed garlic onto one side of the toasted baguettes, and then topped half of them with grated mozzarella and put them under the broiler again to melt the cheese. Then I topped all of them with fresh diced tomatoes mixed with chopped fresh basil and a little salt. Yum! These were great. I liked the mozzarella topped ones a little better. I will definitely make these again for company.
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