hot appetizers – Rosemary and the Goat

Cambozola, Apple and Prosciutto App

Good and easy!

A tapa, pintxos, meze (platter), pupu, zakuska, Hors D’oeuvres, canapés, antipasto, amuse bouche, finger food, charcuterie, and even crudites are all words for appetizers from all over the world. Who doesn’t love munching on something while having a great vintage cocktail before dinner?

I love appetizers and cocktail parties. I feel like I have master my cocktail making and I’ve been making appetizers all my married life and that’s 53 years now. I love a good “surprise” amuse bouche from the chef and I’ve never met a tapa or pintxos (I have a few of those on this blog I tried after returning from a Spain trip) I didn’t love. I remember one of my first amuse bouches was from Gramercy Tavern and the waiter brought out a tiny little dish filled with salt and it had a tater tot resting in the middle of the dish. Well, that tater tot was filled with a black tapenade and later after returning home the chef actually scaled down and sent the recipe to me. I still have not made that dish but I will one day soon.

August 23, 2022 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Bacon Jalapeno Cheddar Frico

Who doesn’t like a good Frico! (Cheese crisp)

Cheese, bacon, jalapeño — who could not like any appetizer with those ingredients and how could you make an easier appetizer than this recipe for a very thin and crisp bite to go with your favorite cocktail or glass of wine.

I don’t want to talk about the pandemic ( or the fact I have had my first shot) or the freezing temperatures or anything else that I don’t have any control. When things don’t go the way I would like them to I cook and I cook and I cook then I may make a cocktail or two.

Ya say “what’s a frico” ? Well it is a dish from Italy the consist mainly of heated cheese that melts and turns into a lacy crisp. There is a version that is thicker made with potatoes, onions and other vegetables but the one I’m making is another version that I think most Americans probably make and it is simply a thin layer of shredded cheese added on a hot frying pan and cooked until the cheese becomes slightly crispy. While warm, the frico can be molded into a bowl or little cup where you could add toppings etc. I’m going to have to try the other version sometimes because it looks like a thick potatoey pizza.

February 22, 2021 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Escargot in Parsley-Garlic Butter

Escargot for Christmas.

Oh, no! not snails. Not those little slimy things that wiggle on the sidewalk that we use to pour salt on when we were kids. Ahh, yes.

Well, they are similar. The ones we prepared for Christmas dinner were Helix snails from France and were nice fat/plump ones. The ones that use to get salted are common brown garden snails and probably not enough meat to even get stuck between your teeth but still edible. Snails are low in fat except, of course, for all the butter you put on them before baking in the oven. This is only my third time making escargot and I think they get better each time I make them. (Don’t use jumbo ones though, that wasn’t my favorite.) I like them garlicky, buttery (of course) and the best crunchy bread I can find.

I first had escargot on a cruise years ago and I remember after eating them one night we ordered 2 orders each every meal for the rest of the cruise. I found my escargot on Amazon because they were much cheaper than the $7.50/can/dozen at my HEB market (and those were the jumbo ones). And I have already reordered them so I would have on hand for a last minute appetizer. They were $16 for 48 snails.

February 25, 2019 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Sausage Cheese Dip

Cheese, Sausage and lots of other good stuff.

How many different cheese dip recipes have you tried? How many grandmothers would drive over an hour to pick up her twin granddaughter’s favorite cheese dip from Poncho’s restaurant in Memphis? Ours did and it wasn’t anything like the above dip. Their dip was so good but like most cheese dips and had lots of cumin in it and thin enough you might want to drink it.

I made this cheese dip when we had company over for the superbowl and I was in such a hurry to get things on the table I didn’t get a picture of chips in my acrylic cowboy hat that looks great piled full of chips or snacks.

When it comes to cheese dip, most of my life I used Velvetta cheese and Rotel tomatoes and simply melted it and ate it. Then I started using a stick blender on it so there were no hunks of tomatoes and even later I would put it cold in my Vitamix and blend the cheese, Rotel and add some water, cumin, black pepper and garlic salt. I really like the taste that cumin gives to cheese dip and when I make it thin enough we don’t even like it heated like in the “old” days.

May 6, 2017 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Spanakopita

(Posted by my daughter, Alexis.)

I like when football season rolls around here in Austin, but not necessarily because I’m a huge sports fan. Living in a college town, the city definitely becomes a little more alive during the fall. But mainly, the games are a chance to hang with friends, “watch” the game, eat some good food and partake in a few beverages.

Instead of the usual football watching fare(pizza, queso, etc), I wanted to make one of my favorite appetizers the other weekend for the TX-OU game. I thought that the spanakopita might resemble mini footballs. Think junior high. I remember guys folding notebook paper into “footballs” and flickingthem across classrooms through their friend’s hands forming a “field goal”. Well anyways, that’s what I imagined while making these. I tried to get a shot of one of the phyllo triangles being punted through the field goal when Texas kicked one of many field goals during that game.

November 9, 2009 By Alexis