Dates and Goat Cheese

Melon and Ham

I seem to be on a mission to find  easy but good food; maybe it is the unbelievable heat we have been having.  Simple seems to have a special appeal when the thermometer reads in the high 90′s.  The neighbors came over last night for dinner and I was scratching my head to come up with some quick and easy appetizers.  I had a ripe cantaloupe, some excellent Polish ham, some dates and a little goat cheese.  Add a few drops of honey and you have  pretty good summer appetizers.  They must have hit the spot as they disappeared from the plate just about as quickly as they took to assemble.

See more quick, easy and good appetizers at emealsforyou.com

Grapefruit Sorbet

I’m big on “pantry cooking.”  I believe you should be able to make wonderful meals from what you have around the kitchen, whether in the pantry, frig or freezer.  With just a little imagination you should be able to cobble together an  easy appetizer, meal or dessert from items you have on hand.  At emealsforyou.com we give you a list of what we consider essentials for stocking away.

This weekend we were running a little short on appetizers so I went to the pantry and started looking for a quick, easy appetizer to make.  A can of black beans from the shelf, some fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden, some pickled pepper rings from the frig and some frozen pita bread all went together to make a very good relish and chips.  Add a few spices and herbs to your taste and you will wish you had written the recipe down for future use.

Along these lines I give you the easiest recipe I can think of.  Serve this grapefruit sorbet between courses at a formal dinner or have it following a salad for lunch to make it special.  So the next time you are in the store pick up a can of frozen grapefruit juice to save for a “rainy” day.

Oven-roasted Shrimp

We made our quarterly trek to New Jersey last week to see family and friends.  The trip was great but a lot of driving as the side trips were a little more involved then usual.  We ate too much food, some at restaurants and most at my mother-in-law’s house.  Traditionally we do Porterhouse steaks on the grill on our last night there, this time we did them on the next to last.  With family, friends and friends of family present we had a wonderful time and I got to go to my favorite grocery store, Wegman’s, for the 2″ thick steaks.

I took along a carrot cake, some angel food cakes and those wonderful chocolate cookies/cakes that are used for ice cream sandwiches.  I also made, at my mother-in-law’s request, the largest pot of hot fudge sauce I have ever made.  Appetizers consisted of blue cheese stuffed mushroom caps, tapenade on toast points and the shrimp; which brings me to the reason for this post.

First a quick primer on shrimp.  I get questions all the time about how to determine which shrimp to use and why. so here we go.  The number on the bag is the number per pound, 15 -21 means that you can expect to find 15 to 21 shrimp per pound.  31-36 means 31 or so to the pound.  So basically the less per pound, lower number, the larger the shrimp.  The second fact is wild caught verses everything else.  Don’t worry about fresh verses frozen or frozen thawed as most of the shrimp is frozen as soon as it is caught to keep it fresh.  Unless you live on the coast and can buy your shrimp from the boat that caught them, and by all means do this if possible, buy the frozen.  If you can get the wild caught, this means they are not from a “shrimp farm” where they are raised on specific foods, usually in fresh water ponds;  spend the extra buck or two and see how good the wild caught really are.  A quick note on prawns, those huge 6 or so per pound giants in the seafood case, they are almost always farm raised and while impressive to see lack any real flavor.

Every time I make a shrimp dish using the wild caught I get tons of compliments on not only the taste but also on the texture.  Please don’t overcook shrimp, they cook very quickly, which makes them the ideal easy appetizer.  With cocktail sauce or sautéed or baked get a little wild in your life and give these a try.

Basil Pesto on Pasta

Pesto is a wonderful thing.  You can make it with almost any herb or vegetable.  You can serve it as an appetizer, a dip or a sauce on pasta or meats and fish.  Basically you add cheese, garlic, olive oil and your herb or vegetable and some nuts together in a food processor, process until you get the consistency you wish and voila! you have it; all in about 30 seconds.

We have been making assorted pesto for years; combining sun-dried tomatoes and toasted pecans or spinach and hazelnuts, and of course basil and pine nuts. (see our selections at emealsforyou.com).   The problem and reason for this post is that there seems to be a shortage of pine nuts on the market.  Usually readily available in the grocery in pound bags, you are lucky to see a couple ounce jar in the Italian specialty aisle for about $5.  Don’t let this dissuade you from making pesto.  Use toasted walnuts in place of the pine nuts and you will not notice the difference.  The texture will be the same and you will get the same “sweetness” that the pine nuts provided.  Basil is flourishing in the bright sunshine,  plant some or buy some but give pesto a try for a great meal.

Basil Pesto

Toast pine nuts lightly. Place basil, pine nuts ( or any other nut you choose), garlic and romano in food processor, process until a paste forms, add oil slowly until you reach the consistency you desire. Should be spreadable, like peanut butter.

Note: Great on sandwiches, may be used on pasta. I spread it on toasted French bread, sprinkle with romano and basil and broiler slightly.

Shown here on pasta.

Hummus

We have been doing a lot of “small plates” in recent weeks.  My wife would rather have several choices of foods then one big meal.  As in my recent posts I find “small plates” to be an excellent way to use up all the small quantities of leftovers without them appearing to be leftovers.  Some of our neighborhood friends have been asking how they can make interesting appetizers for their guests.  As many are single and don’t cook, the requirements are that the appetizers have to be easy to prepare, something they have on hand and most of all good.

Hummus falls into these categories.  You can put this recipe together in a few minutes and it will bring raves from your quests.  The recipe calls for chic peas, also known as garbanzo beans, but I use white beans or navy beans if I don’t have the chic peas.  Both provide the smooth, fulfilling taste, are easy on the budget and will get you out of the kitchen and onto the deck quickly.

Tomato Crostini

Coming off an extended period of cooking for company I thought it would be the ideal time to suggest scaling back on the food and saving money at the same time.  In our house the term “small plates” refers to any number of small, colorful dishes (think tapas) that provide an interesting alternative to dinners, both large and small.  My wife prefers several small options to one big meal, usually on Friday night.

Small plates are ideal for using up all the small containers of leftovers you find after a week of meals.  Usually too little to provide a meal but when taken as a group will  provide “ahs”  from the  crowd.  For the cost of a baguette ($2.79 at Panara Bread) you can feed a large group when pairing the toasted bread with the leftovers in your frig.  A basic salad, cut into smaller pieces, provides a wonderful and surprising addition.  Yesterday I took the leftover pork chops from a dinner party and shredded them,  added  chopped onions, celery and garlic and  wrapped them in flour tortillas.  Cut them on the diagonal and you have another quick and “cheap” small plate.  Plus you get the added smile of using those annoying plastic baggies and containers in the frig.

The bottom line here is to use your imagination.  Leftover frozen ham becomes wonderful finger food when placed on refrigerator biscuits with a little pepper jelly added for zing.  A container of olives become a great tapenade to spread on toasted slices of the baguette.  The secret here is put a few on a serving platter, add a few more of another, bring out small dessert plates or even paper plates and you have an instant party or maybe an intimate dinner.

Clams. Mussels and Shrimp

Come over and bring an appetizer.  To some that sends terror, some it means a stop at the local market for one of those “shrimp rings” but to me it opens the door to bring a great dish.  I like this dish because it sends wonderful garlicy smells throughout the kitchen.  It is perfect because most people will find something they like in the dish.  Whether you like shrimp, or mussels or clams they are all in there soaking up all the garlic and white wine.

I serve this in a large bowl surrounded by crunchy bread to sop up the juices.  This is a great appetizer or serve it over pasta and call it a meal.

Pour the wine, please.

Greek Mussels, Shrimp and Clams

Clean and rinse mussels and clams. Add oil to hot pan, sauté carrots, onions and celery (diced) until soft, add thyme, garlic, sauté for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, wine, clams, shrimp and mussels, cover pan, cook until mussels and clams open, discard unopened mussels and clams. Place on serving platter, sprinkle with zest, lemon juice and cilantro.

In line with a recent post Why We Cook – A Rant I wanted to add surprise to the equation. Sometimes it’s fun to add something to the meal that is unexpected, something that appears to be one thing and winds up being a totally unexpected treat.  One night in New Jersey I made seckel pears.  These are small pears that are only available in the early fall, roasted with goat cheese, black pepper and honey as an appetizer for a group of macho cops, EMT’s and RN’s.  The unexpected taste of the tart pears with the smooth goat cheese and sweet honey was a huge hit.  The fresh cracked pepper added to the visual.  These are similar to the full size pears I make for dessert but the small size makes them ideal as a quick and unexpected appetizer.

Another visual trick is my watermelon salad.  Served in a large bowl with other various salads on a buffet, the guest assume that it is a tomato salad.  Watching the look on their faces as they popped the watermelon into their mouths was very satisfying.  The combination of crisp sweet watermelon with the salty feta cheese, pinenuts and red onion makes a wonderful surprise addition to any meal.  Now that watermelon is available all year long; this is not just a summer treat.  Once the word got around about the watermelon salad it completely disappeared in a matter of minutes.

So, mix it up a little, try something different and surprise your guest.

Baked Garlic

Regular readers will remember that I posted last week on a Neighborhood Dinner Party I am having this Saturday.  On the menu was Baked Garlic and TJ’s Special Sipping Sauce as appetizers.  When creating the menu for I always look for courses that will compliment the main dish and is fairly easy to prepare and easy on the budget.  I first had the baked garlic at a restaurant in Chicago, Bistro 110, in Watertower Place.  They served it with hot and crunchy french bread and salty butter.  The smell of the sweet garlic added to the whole Bistro experience.

The purpose, at least for me, of serving appetizers is to give me a little more time in the kitchen once the guests arrive and prior to the meal. sometimes I serve it in the kitchen with drinks and sometimes I serve it in another room, depending on how much confusion in going on in the kitchen at the time.

For this meal I am serving this garlic along with TJ’s Special Dipping Sauce.  This dipping sauce came about when my brother-in-law, not the rocket scientist for those frequent readers out there, took us to dinner and raved about the dipping sauce.  We put together the recipe from what we remember we tasted in the dipping sauce.

Bottom line is keep your appetizers reasonable from a preparation standpoint and also remember that if your guests fill up on appetizers they won’t have room for the wonder main course you worked so hard on.

Baked Garlic

Cut just the very top off the garlic; pour oil over garlic. Salt and pepper to taste. Wrap garlic in aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until soft. Remove from foil, and plate. Serve with toast points, warm, crunchy french bread or crackers.

TJ's Special Dipping Sauce

To be good doesn’t necessarily mean difficult.  There are times when you want a quick, easy appetizer to serve while you spend time with the main meal.  This dipping sauce is the ideal candidate to fill that need.  Simply mix the ingredients together with the olive oil, cut some crusty bread, put it all on a platter and go get dinner ready.  The nice part about this is you can make a little or a lot.  If your guests wolf it down; make more.

Quick, easy and oh yeah, cheap!