Appetizers – Page 6 – Rosemary and the Goat

Calico Shrimp Dip

Add this to Bubba’a list of shrimp things.

Bubba from Forrest Gump has nothing on me; how he can rattle off his list of ways to cook shrimp and eat it. Well, I can bake it, broil it, stir-fry it, sauté it, sushi it and fry it. I can serve you shrimp gumbo, a shrimp and corn chowder, a shrimp taco wrap a shrimp pintxos (tapas), stuffed into a pasta shell or an avocado cup. How about a Red Chard and Shrimp Artichoke Stir-fry or maybe coconut shrimp wontons or even some Crispy Salt and Pepper shrimp where you can eat the shells. Ya can get by without looking at my Honey Walnut Shrimp or my Shrimp Mussels Clams and Linguini; those are some of my best.

I had bought these beautiful jumbo (really huge jumbos) shrimp on sale one week and was waiting to use them for a simple shrimp cocktail and the more I looked at these I was trying to talk myself out of chopping them up for this dip just because they were at least a 3 bite shrimp and it seemed a shame to turn them into a dip. But company was coming and I wanted to make a few appetizers for the evening.

November 9, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers/ ColdApp

Shrimp and Mango Pintxos

So what’s a pintxo anyway.

I don’t know if I have every told you this story, so if I have just skip over this part. Years ago (1997) when my oldest graduated from University of Texas he moved to Spain for 5 months to learn to speak Spanish a little better. Well while there, one night he called and said he was on his way to a tapas bar. I knew what a tapas was because I had read about them even though I had not gone to a tapas bar yet. Anyway, long story short, I thought he said “topless bar” but then once he started talking about it I knew what he meant.

Many years later when we went to Spain, we ate at nothing but tapas bars in Seville because small plate appetizers are one of our favorite ways to eat –I just want several. So recently my son and his wife Missy returned from San Sebastian, Spain (trip for her 40th birthday) and they ate at some wonderful places. I received pictures almost daily of some of the pintxos they were feasting on.

September 5, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers/ Entree/ Fish/Seafood/ HotApp

Sugar Cane Skewered Shrimp with Bacon and Pineapple

I finally found some sugar cane and wanted to use it.

I’ve always wanted to make something on a sugar cane skewer and now I have. And now that I have I may just save it for drink skewers. This recipe would have been much faster using ordinary wooden skewers. That said, don’t worry about looking for sugar cane, just get out those long pics.

Many years ago before using the internet, I use to look up newspaper food pages (usually on a Wednesday or Thursday) to see what foods were popular (I guess now we would say “trending”) in that area. The Courier-Journal in Louisville’s food pages can still be accessed. If you have time, try typing in some of your favorite city’s newspapers. The Citizen-Times in Asheville offers a 30 day free look. The Post and Courier from Charleston has free access to their recipes. If you want to see what’s happening on the other side of the US (from me anyway) Napa Valley Register offers free access too.

I just read an article about what was the favorite foods from each state. Results were crazy. In almost all states, by far, the winning type of food was pizza. Of course, Texas had Mexican food winning out as did Colorado and California. Hawaii’s favorite food was bakery items.

August 26, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers/ ColdApp

Smoked Salmon with Boursin

What a delicious appetizer and they are so cute.

Either you are one of those people who like smoked salmon or you say no thank you.

I think smoked salmon is something you acquire a taste for; after you have prepared salmon just about every other way possible and are ready to venture out and try something new. I’m not sure when I had my first smoked salmon but I probably didn’t like it immediately and then I tried it again in a Smoked Salmon Martin Spread and loved it.

There’s a lot you can do with that little package of smoked salmon that is pre-sliced and ready to use. You could crumble it and put it in an omelette, top deviled eggs with a sliver, put it in some sushi, try it in a quiche, throw it into a hot bowl of pasta along with some lemon and capers and a little butter and of course put it on top of a bagel with cream cheese and capers and some finely chopped red onion.

If you don’t want to make the boursin from scratch, you can buy it in a container in the dairy section of your grocery.

August 21, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp/ Salads/ Side dish

BLT Stacked Tomatoes

One of my favorite foods from Savannah.

Do you find it hard to pass up a fried green tomato? Well I do and while visiting in Savannah back in April I saw them on every menu I looked at along with shrimp and grits and pimento cheese .

I grew up eating fried green tomatoes. My dad had the best garden ever and “organic” before most people even though of growing anything without a lot of pesticides. He made his own garlic spray that he would spray on his plants for bugs and he even hooked up a pump in the lake they lived on (after retirement) and use that water to water his garden.

Over the years of our gardening we would grow all types of tomatoes and I could not wait to see the first green tomatoes get big enough to pick and fry and believe me it was hard to pick them knowing in just a few days we would have beautiful vine ripen tomatoes. But, that was never a hard decision for me to make — pick or not pick.

Have you ever had fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese on top? I haven’t either but saw it on some menus in Savannah. I have posted a Fried Green Tomato with Black Eyed Pea Vinaigrette and a Fried Green Tomato with Ravigote Sauce.

July 7, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Elote Dip

If you like Mexican corn on the cob, you’ll love this dip.

Coming up blank for an idea for your next cookout? Sometimes I have problems putting together a menu; don’t know why because I have an endless supply of recipes I want to try or to recreate from places I have been or ideas that friends have told me about. Corn of some type is almost always on our menu as a side dish when we bbq.

Corn isn’t actually a vegetable, it’s a grain but I always called it a vegetable because it was one of the few so-called vegetables my kids would eat when they were young; green beans – sometimes, fried okra – of course, no on salads, no on broccoli, spinach etc. So I had to call corn a vegetable so I would feel like I was half-way getting my kids to eat healthy. Of course, now, they eat everything.

Elote Cafe in Sedona is famous for their Elote (corn) appetizer. A friend of mine went there a few years ago and loved the cafe so much they ate there three times.

Elote corn is sold by street food vendors in Mexico. Usually it will be cook in the husk, the husk will be pulled back and used for a handle to hold on to the corn and the corn will be smeared with butter, mayonnaise, lime juice, chili powder (I add some cayenne too when I make it this way), and sprinkled with some cojita cheese. It is delicious for any summer cookout and if you like that then make some Elote dip. All the same ingredients but cut off the cob and put in a bowl and baked for you to enjoy with some really good tortilla chips.

My favorite corn is yellow corn or even the peaches and cream variety which is yellow and while. The weekend I made this Elote Dip I could only find white corn. If you have a choice go with the yellow variety because it makes a prettier dip and I personally like the taste better.

May 4, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Avocado Lime Shrimp Cups

Beautiful, spicy, crunchy little appetizer for your next get together OR just because you want to make something new.

If you look at my appetizer index you will see that appetizers are probably my favorite things to cook/bake/make. I love little tidbits of food. You can graze on a table of appetizer and not feel overly stuffed. Plus, they are usually cute and interesting little pieces of food. And, I love anything made with shrimp.

Cocktail parties were always my favorite type of party to cater and I always prepared some of my all-time favorites. My Parmesan Bacon Wraps (we always referred to as a “heart attack” on a cracker) were sooo good and everyone loved them. Once someone referred to my Parmesan Shrimp Toast as sex on a cracker (have no idea how he came up with that description). Over 11,000 people have looked at that recipe. This little Avocado Bacon Sandwich is one of my favorite tea sandwiches and is perfect with a pot of Walnut Green tea.

I feel like my taste have changed over the years. I haven’t done those bacon wraps in a couple of years and I love appetizers that are a little more on the fussy side rather than making a big batch of dip or something I just dump in a pan. Back in the 70’s I had a friend (still a friend – hi Sally) who said she didn’t like sharing a particular appetizer recipe because she didn’t want to see it at someone else’s dinner party. After we moved away from each other, she did share the recipe. I never shared recipes when I catered for the same reason; but when I quit catering that was the point of this blog and that was (is) to share some of my favorite old and new recipes.

April 24, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers/ Salads/ Sandwiches

Smoked Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Roasted Pecans

Not for a sandwich kind of chicken salad.

Back when we were first married my husband always wanted me to put apples in our tuna fish salad sandwiches. Yuck, I would say, fruit doesn’t belong on a sandwich and if he wanted apples in his then he would chop some up and put on his sandwich. When it comes to any creamy type salad that goes on a sandwich my opinion is NO fruit.

But, I have changed my mind over the years (not about fruit on sandwich) about adding fruit to things like chicken salad. There are so many chicken salads that have fruit like grapes, oranges, pineapple and this one has dried cranberries. To me this type salad has to be eaten with a fork or in this case I’m using some endive leaves and radicchio as little containers and also some crackers on the side. And funny thing, the day after my bunco group ate this my husband wanted some for lunch and he said do you have any bread, and I said Noooo, you can’t have bread with that kind of chicken salad. I know that’s crazy but I gave him a fist full of crackers instead.

There are two things I always feel like make a salad recipe better, that is, if it calls for chicken or nuts you use smoked meat and roasted nuts. I do my nuts in the microwave on a Pampered Chef small baking stone and we always have something on the Kamado Joe Smoker I can use in a salad.

April 4, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers/ Side dish

Caramelized Mushrooms

I love these little fungi.

How many ways can you love a mushroom. Well, I love them in mushroom soup, love them fried, raw in a salad, on pizza, from a can, fresh from the market and of course, who doesn’t love stuffed mushrooms. I actually won a contest with my Italian Stuffed Mushrooms back in the 70’s when we lived in Jeffersontown, Kentucky.

I would love to go foraging for mushrooms but it would be my luck I would pick the wrong kind and end up in a deep sleep or worst. What fun it would be hunting these little things; kind of like an Easter egg hunt but much tastier.

So, when I saw this recipe for Caramelized mushrooms and the instructions said “walk away” I knew I was going to have to try these. So many times, when I walk away from something I’m cooking, I end up burning the thing I was so looking forwarding to eating; but this night I did not. We were enjoying the outdoor kitchen before another one of our “cold spells” came through Texas and I decided to whip us up a little appetizer while we cooked outside. These were gone in a few minutes so make plenty if you plan on sharing them or just make a batch for yourself.

These mushrooms would be delicious as a side dish to a good grilled steak, chicken or how about a big platter of them for no particular reason.

March 20, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers/ Beef/Veal/ Entree/ HotApp

Mini Corn Dogs with Mustard Dipping Sauce

Get them while they’re hot.

So, what’s so special about a corn dog? Nothing really but I’ve never been able to pass one up once that smell of a frying dog is in the wind and my hose catches the drift.

Use to be, back in the day, (maybe even before my day) one would go to a carnival or state fair and would be confronted with things like the Bearded Lady, the wolf man, person with two heads (ok, maybe that one was in an old movie I saw when I was a kid), the snake woman, sword swallower, little person, very big person, and probably things your mother would have never let you go in to take even a peek.

I would have been more concerned with what are they going to feed us. There are so many things that are fried at state fairs and I’m sure depending on where you live, there may even be some I haven’t heard of. Here are just a few I have seen and come across looking for the next “big” fried things on a stick. Chicken Fried Lobster with champagne gravy (sounds pretty good), Fried Butter, Fried Snicker Bars, Funnel Cakes, Fried Cheese Curds, Frog Legs (Now I would like that one.), Batter Dipped Deep Fried Twinkies (and I thought those were gone.), Fried Jalapeños, of course, and the list goes on and on for those artery clogging treats.

Personally, I don’t think you can beat a good hot dog turned into a corn dog. I’ve made these with plain yellow mustard but I have also made the dipping sauce recipe below to go with these. Cutting the dogs into thirds make such a cute little appetizer and ya don’t have to feel guilty about eating a couple. Ok, so who could stop at just a couple. And, these are the perfect size for the kids, that is if you let them have hot dogs.

February 4, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers

Coconut Shrimp Wontons

Here’s another Shrimp Wonton with a different twist.

I love coconut, I love shrimp and I love anything crunchy/crispy like fried wontons. That’s starting to sound a little like Bubba Gump and if I remember correctly, the first time I ever ordered Coconut Shrimp was at Bubba Gump’s restaurant in San Francisco. I did another Shrimp Wonton back in July 2015 but this has a little different twist on it.

Coconut and shrimp belong together just like jelly and peanut butter (although I don’t like jelly on peanut butter). Our Republic Grille here in The Woodlands serves an appetizer of coconut shrimp with a habanero marmalade that is crazy sweet/hot and delicious. I’m always on the lookout for new appetizers to try out on friends.

On our trip last year to Seattle we visited Chateau Ste Michelle winery one day and I discovered several of their wines that I had never tried (mostly because they were above the price I normally want to pay for wines.) The lady who was doing our tasting told me about the recipes on their site and when she mentioned coconut shrimp I knew I was going to had to pay the website a visit; and you may just find a few recipes you want to give a try.

January 15, 2016 By Sherry

Appetizers/ Bread/ Morning Foods/ Pastries

Granny Hester’s Sweet Potato Biscuits

Wish I knew this Granny.

I don’t often get foods from companies to try out for the blog so I was excited to get a note from Darlene, PPR Communications, Granny Hester’s Sweet Potato Biscuit asking me if I would like to try their sweet potato biscuits. The company is doing some testing in our area in Sam’s Club and she came across my blog. Their sweet potato biscuits are already being sold there and at our Trader Joes.

I love their story of how the biscuit recipe came about. Granny Hester came up with this recipe while experimenting for the perfect biscuit for her husband before he left for the Navy in WWII. The recipe was eventually handed down (like all good grandmothers do) to a granddaughter who started making these biscuits for family and friends and now works out of a 50,000 sq. ft. building (former sock mill) in Ft. Payne, Alabama.

I’ve done sweet potato biscuits before for an appetizer so I couldn’t wait to try out their biscuits with a couple of other recipes. For my first try I used the frozen biscuit, split it and then grilled it on a panini grill and topped with some pulled pork, slaw and pepper rings for a fancy slider for New Year’s Eve. It was really good that way because the biscuit got kind of crisp, almost like a chip.

My second try was using the biscuits with ham and orange marmalade; I made these many times when I catered. Cooked biscuits, split, top with ham and orange marmalade then back in the oven to warm up.

On Granny Hester’s site they have a Sweet Potato Cinnamon Roll made from their biscuits so that was definitely going to be breakfast one Saturday morning and those are in the opening picture.

January 5, 2016 By Sherry

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