Category Archives: appetizers

Shaved Celery and Sardines on Blue Cheese Toast – Washington Post

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This dish, based on an appetizer at Prune restaurant in New York City, plays with the classic pairing of blue cheese and celery, and adds sardines to make it a meal.

3 ribs celery
1 clove garlic, minced
Freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon (2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon best-quality extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher or sea salt
1 ounce Cambozola or other mild blue cheese, at room temperature (see headnote)
4 diagonally cut baguette slices, toasted (may substitute 2 larger slices of a bread of your choice)
2 ounces olive-oil-packed sardines, drained

Trim the celery by shaving off the thick skin and strings with a vegetable peeler. Cut crosswise into very thin slices, preferably using a small mandoline.

Combine the celery, garlic, lemon juice, oil and salt to taste in a small bowl, making sure the celery is well coated.

Divide the cheese into four equal pieces and spread on the baguette slices. Top with the dressed celery. Place equal portions of the sardines on each baguette slice, and eat.

Curried Potatoes And Peas Samosas – Serves 2

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1/2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes — diced
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup donion — diced
1 tablespoon garlic — minced
2 tablespoon butter — unsalted
2 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 cup peas — frozen but thawed
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt to taste
1 pkg pie dough (purchased)15 oz

Preheat oven to 450F; line a baking sheet with parchment.

Cook potatoes in salted water in a large saute pan, covered, over medium heat until tender, 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain, set aside, and return pan to burner.

Saute the onion and garlic in butter over medium heat until onion begins to soften about 3 minutes. Stir in Curry powder and cook 30 seconds.

Deglaze with broth, then ad peas and reserved potatoes, bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, add lime juice, and season with salt; cool slightly.

To assemble, unroll pie dough rounds and cut each into quarters. Spoon 1/2 cup curry mixture in the center of 4 quarters; top each with remaining dough quarters. Seal samosas with fingers, crimp with a fork, and carefully transfer to prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden, 15 minutes.

Serve with chutney and salad.

Terry’s notes: I used 8 ounces of Simply Potatoes Hash Brown with onions the large cube. Cooked briefly and then I used 1/2 cup of the potato water in the curry mix. I used 1/2 regular McCormick Curry Powder and 1/2 Penzy’s Hot Curry powder. It sure was easy to put together and very good. Makes 4 or more which are smaller if you want them as hors d’oeuvres.

Serve with tomato chutney

Toasted Pita Triangles – Ina

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1 bag pita bread

Good olive oil

Kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cut each pita in half and then each half in triangles and place them in a single layer on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Roasted Eggplant Caponata – Ina

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1 large eggplant (1 1/2 pounds)

Good olive oil

4 ounces jarred roasted red peppers, chopped

1/2 cup large green olives, pitted and chopped

1 cup chopped yellow onion

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)

3 tablespoons minced parsley

2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons drained capers

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

½-1 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Toasted pita triangles, for serving

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.

Place the whole eggplant on the pan, prick with a fork in several places, and rub with olive oil. Roast for 45 to 50 minutes, until the eggplant is very soft when pierced with a knife. Set aside to cool. Halve the eggplant, peel, and discard the skin. Place the eggplant, peppers, and olives in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until coarsely chopped. Pour into a mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add the onion and red pepper flakes and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, until the onion is lightly browned. Add the garlic, cook for 1 minute, and add to the eggplant mixture. Add the parsley, pine nuts, lemon juice, capers, tomato paste, vinegar, salt, and pepper and mix. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to develop. Taste for seasonings and serve at room temperature with toasted pita triangles.

Tony Bourdain’s Mushroom Soup – Les Halles Cookbook

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2-4 tablespoons Butter

1 small Onion — thinly sliced

12 ounces Button mushrooms

4 cups veggie Stock

1 sprig Italian parsley — whole

Salt and Pepper

2 ounces Dry sherry — high quality

In a medium saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter over median heat and add the onion. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent,, then add the mushrooms and the remaining butter. Let the mixture sweat for about 8 minutes, taking care that the onion doesn’t take  on any brown color. Stir in the chicken stock and the parley and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat and simmer for about an hour.

After an hour, remove the parsley and discard. let the soup cool for a few minutes, then transfer to the blender and carefully blend at high speed until smooth. Do I have to remind you to do this in stages, with the blender’s lid firmly held down, and with the weight of your body keeping the thing from flying off and allowing boiling hot mushroom puree to erupt all over your kitchen?

IMPROVISATION

To astound your guest with a Wild Mushroom Soup, simply replace some of those button mushrooms with a few dried cepes or morels which have been soaked until soft, drained, and squeezed. Not too many; the dried mushroom will have a much stronger taste, and you don’t want to overwhelm the soup. Pan sear, on high heat, a single small, pretty, fresh chanterelle or morel for each portion, and then slice into a cute fan and float on top in each bowl.

Recipe Notes

Try adding dried chanterelles and morels to the soup. Very simple but good enough to serve as a small first course at a dinner party.

Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms — Smitten Kitchen

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1 pound mushrooms such as cremini or white, halved lengthwise if large
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle. Toss mushrooms with capers, garlic, oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt and several grinds of pepper in a 1 1/2- to 2-qt shallow baking dish. Top with butter and roast, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender and golden and bubbly garlic sauce forms below, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and parsley. Serve immediately, with crusty bread on the side for swiping up the juices. Smitten kitchen

Perfect as can be from Gourmet.com

Potted Crab — Helen Krafsur

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1/2 lb lump crabmeat

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1 tablespoon medium-dry Sherry

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon minced shallot

1/4 teaspoon ground mace (or whatever you feel like)

1/4 teaspoon salt

black pepper to taste

pinch of cayenne

Melt butter in a skillet over low heat and stir in remaining ingredients (except crabmeat). cook for a few minutes then add crabmeat and combine.

Transfer mixture to dish or dishes and tamp down.  Cover surface with wax paper, then cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 23 hours.  Bring to room temp. before serving.

I planned on taking a photo of Helen’s gift but we ate the whole thing.  It was sooo good!!

Seaweed salad — Moosewood

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1 ounce dried wakame (about 2 cups)

1/2 ounce dried arame or hijiki (about 1 cup)

Dressing

1 tbsp sugar

1/3 c. rice wine vinegar or 1/4 c. white vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

1-2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1/2 to 1 fresh chili, seeded and minced

1 tsp. dark sesame oil

Please the 2 dried seaweeds in separate heatproof bowls, add boiling water to cover, and set aside to soak.  Wakame and hijiki usually soften in about 10 minutes, although it can take longer.  Arame softens in about 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients.

When softened, drain each seaweed well.  Remove any tough center ribs of the wakame, cut it into thing strips, and place in a serving bowl.  Add the arame or hijiki, pour on the dressing, and toss well.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 20 min.  Served chilled.

DMV NOTE:  I have no clue how much dried seaweed I used but imagine it was much less than what is called for (Carol gave me the seaweed).  Bearing that in mind I halved the dressing.  I used a 1/4 jalapeno as I didn’t have a hot red pepper, and added some aleppo pepper flakes for color.  It’s delicious, not the brillant green you find in restaurants but no preservatives and also not $5/serrving or $8/pound.

Pastorio’s zucchini cakes

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2.5 cups grated zucchini

1/2 cup oyster crackers

1 egg, beaten

1 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning (Might be too much old bay, be careful)

1 Tbsp flour

1 (short) cup finely chopped onion

Oil and butter for frying

Put grated zucchini in a cloth or paper towel and squeeze out excess moisture (I have made this recipe several times and this step is KEY to success). Mix all ingredients except butter and oil together until well blended. Fry on high heat in a mixture of half oil/half butter until golden on each side. I used saltines.

Notes: I added 1 tsp dijon and 1 tbsp mayo, used red onions as well.  My cakes were wet, next time I will add more crackers.  Despite being wet they held together well.

Served them with spicy avocado sauce and lemon wedges

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

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DSCF1530

Based loosely on this:

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

Makes 1 thin crust 12-inch pizza

1 recipe Really Simple Pizza Dough or your favorite pizza dough
1/2 pound asparagus
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 pound mozzarella, shredded or cut into small cubes
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Several grinds black pepper
1 scallion, thinly sliced

Preheat your oven to the hottest temperature it goes, or about 500 in most cases. If you use a pizza stone, have it in there.

Prepare asparagus: No need to snap off ends; they can be your  handles as you peel the asparagus. Holding a single asparagus spear by its tough end, lay it flat on a cutting board and using a vegetable peeler (a Y-shaped peeler works best here, but I only had a standard, old and pretty dull peeler and it still worked; a mandolin would also work, in theory, but I found it more difficult to do it that way), create long shavings of asparagus by drawing the peeler from the base to the top of the stalk. Repeat with remaining stalks and don’t fret some pieces are unevenly thick (such as the end of the stalk, which might be too thin to peel); the mixed textures give a great character to the pizza. Discard tough ends. Toss peelings with olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and be sure to try one  I bet you can hardly believe how good raw asparagus can taste.

Assemble and bake pizza: Roll or stretch out your pizza dough to a 12-inch round. Either transfer to a floured or cornmeal-dusted pizza peel (if using a pizza stone in the oven) or to a floured or cornmeal-dusted tray to bake it on. Sprinkle pizza dough with Parmesan, then mozzarella. Pile asparagus on top. Bake pizza for 10 to 15 minutes, or until edges are browned, the cheese is bubbly and the asparagus might be lightly charred. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with scallions, then slice and eat.

More ways to tweak this: Pinch of red pepper flakes (toss with asparagus), squeeze of lemon juice (over the asparagus, after you remove it from the oven), sprinkle of truffle salt or few drops of truffle oil (if you’ve got it; also at end) or up to 3 eggs (bake pizza for 8 minutes, break eggs on top, then finish cooking pizza and eggs together)

Finally, if you’ve got a grill going, this pizza seems almost destined for it. When I grill pizza, I throw the whole dough down on an oiled grill and let it cook for a few minutes on the underside. I pull it off with tongs, flip it out onto a plate and pile the toppings on the grilled side, before sliding the raw side back onto the grill. Grill the pizza with the lid down for a few minutes, or until everything is bubbly and brown.

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