Chef Foundation

Archive for the ‘Appetizers’ Category

As the enticing beginning to any meal or as snacks for the big game, appetizers are the chance for a cook to show off there imagination and creativity.

If you want great appetizer recipes, below are 3 delicious easy to prepare recipes:

1. All-American Snack

Ingredients:

- 3 cups thin pretzel sticks
- 4 cups Wheat Chex
- 4 cups Cheerios
-13 ounces can salted peanuts
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup melted butter

Directions:

- In large mixing bowl or slow-cooking pot, mix together pretzels, cereals, and peanuts.
- Sprinkle with garlic salt, celery salt, seasoned salt, and cheese.
- Pour melted butter over all; toss until well mixed.
- Cover and cook in slow-cooking pot on low 3 to 4 hours.
- Uncover the last 30 to 40 minutes.
- Serve as appetizer or snack.

2. Appetizer Cheese Ball

Ingredients:

- 8 ounces Cream Cheese – Room Temp
- 4 ounces Blue Cheese – Crumbled
- 4 ounces Cheddar Cheese – Shredded
- 2 teaspoons Mustard – Dijon-style
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon Garlic Powder
-1/4 teaspoon Salt
-1/2 cup Pecans – Finely Chopped
- 2/3 cup Currants
- 3/4 cup Parsley – Chopped

Dippers:

- Assorted Crackers
- Apple Wedges

Directions:

- Place the cream cheese, blue cheese, cheddar cheese, mustard,
Worcestershire, garlic powder, and salt in a mixer bowl and beat at low
speed just until well mixed.
- Stir in the pecans and currants.
- Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Refrigerate the cheese mixture for 30 minutes or until slightly firm, then shape into a ball.
- Roll in the chopped parsley to coat well.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.
- Place on a platter surrounded with crackers and apple wedges.

3. Appetizer Egg Rolls

Ingredients:

- 1/2 pound Pork; Boneless – Cut Julienne
- 1 each Onion; Small – Sliced
- 1 cup Cabbage – Green or Chinese
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 cup Mushrooms – Sliced
- 1/4 cup Sprouts – Bean or Alfalfa
- 1/4 cup Currants
- 1/4 cup Almonds – Slivered
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons Sherry – Dry
- 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon Ginger
- 12 each Egg Roll Wrappers -Abt 6″ Sq

Oil for Deep Fat Fry

Ginger Apricot Sauce:

- 1/4 cup Apricots – Dried (Abt. 10)
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

Directions:

- Cabbage should be shredded.
- Saute the pork, onion, and cabbage in hot oil until lightly browned.
- Stir in the mushrooms, bean sprouts, currants, and almonds and saute, stirring for 1 minute.
- Dissolve the cornstarch in 2 T water, and combine with sherry, soy sauce, and ginger; add to the pork mixture and bring to a boil, stirring.
- Remove from heat and cool.
- Stack the egg roll wrappers and cut in half to form rectangles.
- Forming one roll at a time, place a heaping a teaspoonful of pork mixture on one end of rectangle, moisten the long edges, and roll up.
- Press the edges together to seal.
- Egg roll may be prepared to this point, then refrigerated for several hours or overnight or frozen for several days before frying.
- Adjust time for browning.
- If rolls are frozen, let them thaw before cooking.
- Heat the oil to 375 degrees F. and fry the egg rolls, 4 or 5 at a time, until golden brown and crisp on all sides.
- Frying will take about 4 to 5 minutes; turn rolls once.
- Drain on paper towels and keep warm while frying the remaining rolls.
- Serve with warm Ginger Apricot Sauce.
- Ginger Apricot Sauce: Combine the apricots, sugar, ginger, and salt with 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
- Pour the mixture into a blender container or food processor.
- Add lemon juice, cover and process until smooth. Serve warm.

These five appetizer recipes would make a terrific addition to any Thanksgiving or Christmas potluck.

Recipe: Snap Pea Crab Canoes

8 oz. snap peas

8 oz crab meat

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 green onion with top, cut into one-inch chunks

1 t lemon juice

1 t Dijon mustard

Heat a quart of water to boiling. Add the snap peas and blanch for one minute. Drain, then put in ice water for one minute, then drain again. Carefully cut a slit into the straight side of each snap pea, then set aside. Put the remaining ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth. Put the crab mixture into a Ziploc bag and cut a small triangle off the corner of the bag. With one hand, hold a snap pea so that the slit opens, then fill with the crab mixture.

If your family doesn’t like seafood, try this variation instead:

Recipe: Snap Pea Cheese Canoes

8 oz snap peas

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 green onion with top, cut into one-inch chunks

2 T minced chives

½ t garlic salt

Heat a quart of water to boiling. Add the snap peas and blanch for one minute. Drain, then put in ice water for one minute, then drain again. Carefully cut a slit into the straight side of each snap pea, then set aside. Put the remaining ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth. Put the cheese mixture into a Ziploc bag and cut a small triangle off the corner of the bag. With one hand, hold a snap pea so that the slit opens, then fill with the cheese mixture.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Rounds with Roasted Garlic and Feta

2 large sweet potatoes, sliced ¼-inch thick

2 large heads of garlic

2 T + 1 t olive oil, divided

1 t salt 1 t dried sage

¼ C crumbled feta cheese

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. With the sweet potato slices in a bowl, add 2 T olive oil, salt, and sage, and stir to coat. Place the slices in a single layer on two cookie sheets. Put each head of garlic on a square of aluminum foil. Drizzle 1 t of olive oil over the two heads of garlic, then wrap them both with aluminum foil and place on the cookie sheets. Roast for 10 minutes, flip the slices, then roast for another 10-20 minutes, until the slices are brown at the edges. Remove from the oven.

Turn the oven to broil. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into a bowl and mash roughly. Spread mashed garlic onto the sweet potato rounds and then add a bit of crumbled feta to each round. Broil for about 2 minutes.

Recipe: Bruschetta Bites

1 tube of crescent roll dough

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 T mayonnaise

1 clove garlic, minced

20 whole fresh basil leaves

3 small, sweet tomatoes, sliced thin

Parmesan cheese, sliced thin

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Take the crescent roll dough out of the tube but leave it in the tube shape. Slice into ¼-inch rounds and place in a single layer on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until golden brown, about 11 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Mix the cream cheese, mayonnaise, and garlic. Spread each dough round with cheese mixture, then layer with one basil leaf, one tomato slice, and one parmesan slice.

Recipe: Quick & Easy Butternut Hummus

1 butternut squash, about 2 pounds

2 cloves garlic

½ C tahini

¼ C olive oil

2 T lemon juice

½ t salt

½ t paprika

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut the squash in half and place cut-side down on a cookie sheet. Bake for 45 minutes. Scoop the flesh of the squash out of the skin and place in a food processor. Add remaining ingredients and pulse until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Serve with pita bread. A wonderful vegetarian appetizer packed with fall flavor!

Making appetizers for a buffet is different to making appetizers for a dinner party. With buffet appetizers, the focus is usually on making quick easy appetizers and finger food recipes which look good but do not take long to prepare. Dinner party appetizers are inspected more closely so there is more emphasis on presentation.

If you are catering for a buffet you might have to make ten or twenty different appetizers, depending how many guests are expected, so easy party appetizers will be the order of the day here, rather than anything too fiddly or complicated.

Good buffet recipes include chicken wings, mini sandwiches, tortilla pinwheels, chips with dips, savory tartlets and anything that is easy to eat with the fingers. People at buffets sometimes like to stand rather than sit (also, you might not have enough tables and chairs for everyone) so make simple food which can be eaten with the fingers without making a mess.

Buffets and Food Safety

Since buffet food sits around until people eat it, it is important not to let anything sit there longer than a couple of hours. You can reduce this to one hour if the weather is hot. Whether your buffet holiday appetizers contain cheese, chicken, fish, vegetables or something else, bacteria grows in warm, moist conditions and it is not safe to leave food lying around for hours. This is another reason why it is a good idea to plan your buffet menu carefully and not make too much food.

You can keep some of the dishes in the refrigerator if you like and only get them out if the buffet food is dwindling. There is no point loading the buffet table with enough food for a hundred people if you only have twenty guests.

Last Minute Buffet Snacks

Have some olives, crackers, cheese, cherry tomatoes and chips on standby. If the other food starts to run out, you can add these reinforcements to the buffet table. If not, you can save them for another occasion. It is important to have these last minute buffet snacks. Running out of food at a buffet is never a good idea!

An Easy Recipe for Cheesy Crab Bites

This tasty appetizer recipe makes twenty four crab and cheese bites and these warm, broiled snacks are perfect for any kind of buffet. This is a very simple appetizer recipe and the flavors of crab, cheese, onions and horseradish are wonderful together. You can use canned tuna or salmon instead of the crab if you prefer.

What you will need:

12 slices of toast 2 tablespoon chopped pimientos 1/2 cup cottage cheese 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella 2 sliced green onions 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish 4 oz canned crabmeat, drained and flaked 1/2 cup mayonnaise How to make it:

Preheat the broiler. Cut each slice of toast into 4 triangles. Combine the pimientos with the cottage cheese, mozzarella, horseradish, mayonnaise, crabmeat and half the green onions and spread this mixture over the toast triangles. Top with the remaining green onions. Broil for a couple of minutes, or until golden brown, then serve hot.

If you are like so many other families during the holidays you may be dreaming about eating your fill of a Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey dinner. People far and wide are now making their plans to be home of the holidays, or to at least they want to enjoy a warm inviting meal even if they are away from home for the holidays. However, one thing is for sure, no matter where a turkey dinner may be served and enjoyed most likely there will always be some leftover turkey meat.

Make some Easy Party Appetizers rather than a Plain Turkey Salad

If you are considering your options of what to do with any leftover turkey, rather than making a plain old everyday turkey salad consider making some easy party appetizers out of it. Just about anyone anywhere will be expecting you to serve leftover turkey as a salad or as a cold sandwich. You can surprise everyone by creating a mouthwatering pate out of the leftover meat that they can enjoy by spreading it over any number of flavorful crackers and thin specialty breads.

This is a turkey pate that is easy to make and very delicious. It will be a wonderful treat opposed to a dull turkey salad or sandwich. However, the best thing about it is if everyone is expecting the same old thing that you usually do with the leftover turkey meat then they will indeed be in for a real treat this holiday season.

Recipe for Turkey Pate

What You Need

4 cups cooked turkey 1 teaspoon liquid smoke ½ cup butter or margarine ¼ cup chopped green onion ½ teaspoon chopped thyme ½ teaspoon chopped dill weed 1 package softened cream cheese 8 ounce 2 cups finely chopped walnuts

How to Make It

Remove cream cheese from the refrigerator and set out for about 20 minutes before preparing this recipe in order to soften it to use in this recipe.

Using a food processor ground the cooked turkey and then add the liquid smoke and butter or margarine and blend well.

Add the green onion, thyme, dill weed, and cream cheese and puree the mixture.

Roll turkey pate chopped walnuts, form into large balls, and then mash into a mold or 7×4 inch loaf pan evenly. Cover with clear food wrap or foil and place in the refrigerator to chill for 4 or 5 hours before serving with French bread, vegetable slices or spears, apple slices and assorted crackers.

Are you scratching your head trying to come up with another healthy snack for your kid – that he’ll actually like??? Well, scratch no more, try this recipe for a new twist on fries.

Kids love fries. (Heck, I love fries!) So, why not make fries into a healthy treat that you can be proud to serve and happy to watch get gobbled up.

Here’s what you’ll need:

- 16 medium carrots

- 2 teaspoons olive oil

- 1 teaspoon salt

- parchment paper for baking

First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel and cut the carrots (16 carrots or 2 pounds worth) into sticks that are about 4 inches long. Put the sticks into a bowl and pour the olive oil over them and mix to coat.

Next, place the carrot sticks on a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Then, sprinkle the carrots with the salt.

Bake the carrots until they begin to crisp (about 20 to 25 minutes)

Serve these Crispy Carrot beauties warm. You won’t believe it, but kids that hate carrots will have a change of heart after they try this easy appetizer recipe!

Don’t stop with using this recipe for just a snack, make it the side dish for dinner one night. Or have it as an appetizer for the next party you throw.

Enjoy!

This is an extremely good pumpkin bread recipe. It makes 2 large loaves. If you are fond of spices, you can double them without a problem. You can also substitute applesauce for half or all of the oil. If you substitute applesauce for all of the oil, the loaf will be slightly spongy when slicing, but it will taste just as good. Wrap the loaves in plastic wrap or place in an empty bread wrapper to store them. They taste even better the following day after baking.

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups cooked and mashed pumpkin (can use puree)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup raisins (optional)

1. Prepare two 9×5 bread pans by greasing and lightly flouring them. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir well until all spices are blended throughout. Add raisins and stir to blend.
3. Add the pumpkin, eggs and oil to the dry ingredients. Beat well until all dry ingredients are moistened.
4. Pour the batter and distribute equally into prepared bread pans.
3. Bake approximately 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not over bake or loaves will be dry.
4. Remove from oven and turn out loaves from pans to cool on wire rack or dish towel.