Tag Archives: appetizers

Malaysian Mussels — LSQ

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Steaming the shellfish in a red curry sauce imparts just a hint of spice.
2 tablespoons oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tablespoons)
1/2-inch piece ginger minced (2 tablespoons)
1 tsp or more red curry paste
1 cup coconut milk
2 pounds mussels, beards removed and scrubbed clean
12 cilantro sprigs, chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When oil shimmers, add garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Stir curry paste into garlic and ginger and continue to cook 1 minute more. Add coconut milk to skillet and bring to a boil.

Add mussels to skillet, cover, and cook just until mussels open, 2-3 minutes. Transfer mussels to a large serving bowl with a slotted spoon. Pour coconut curry sauce over mussels, garnish with cilantro and lime and serve immediately.

Mojo Verde from “Tapas” by Ann and Larry Walker, 1998.

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That stuff is like crack cocaine of dips/sauces and my gang love it. I got my recipe from a Tapas cookbook by Ann and Larry Walker, now out of print, that I found in a used book rack several years ago. It has just a few ingredients–green bell peppers, garlic, sherry vinegar, olive oil and cilantro…Tina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This bright green sauce probably came to mainland Spain from South or Central America via the Canary Islands, where we enjoyed it with virtually every meal. It is exciting to both the palate and the eye. Explore its uses with fish, meat, and cooked vegetables such as boiled potatoes, or as a lively dip for raw vegetables.

4 cloves garlic

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1 medium green bell pepper, stemmed and seeded

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

In a blender or food processor, whirl the garlic with the cilantro until it forms a paste, carefully pushing down the solids with a rubber spatula. Add the bell pepper, then the olive oil and vinegar, and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Let it rest for 30 minutes before serving. The sauce keeps for several hours, but turns a little gray if kept overnight.  Makes about 2 cups.

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

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