During a recent visit to an Asian grocery store, we found some bread called “Banh Da”. Honestly, we’re not sure if that’s the manufacturer or the bread type, as it’s all in Vietnamese. It’s a rice bread, and it says on the package it’s made entirely from rice flour and water. We’re not quite sure what all the little black spots are, or how it got so shiny, but it’s all part of the mystery we guess. So, we decided to try it out with a seared salmon appetizer arrangement.
We love to make lavash crackers, they are fun, fairly easy, and you can use them for appetizers like this one. This is very simply just two of our own crackers with a falafel, homemade pesto, and sprinkled with smoked paprika. We had this around midnight while watching the episode of Lost where Locke stops the islands time-switches. It was an on-the-spur of the moment little snack we just improvised with what was available, but it turned our really good. In fact, we’re now considering if these may be worth serving at our wedding reception in April (Yeah, we’re getting married). Well done Locke, we salute you with falafel !
Continue reading Lavash Crackers With Falafel, Pesto And Grape Tomato
We do love smoked salmon in our house, and it makes for great appetizers or snacks. Salmon is also fairly easy to combine with other ingredients, as long as you keep the taste influences light so as not to overpower the subtle fish taste. It works particularly well on fresh bread, or lightly toasted older revived bread.
Continue reading Appetizer: Homemade Pesto, Greens, Smoked Salmon And Grape Tomato
Sure, it looks inconspicuous, but this little thing will burn you up. Don’t make this unless you have a high tolerance for hot spices, or substitute the chili jam for something of a more moderate taste.
Continue reading Goat Cheese with Chili Jam Appetizer (spicy!)
It was one of those day were we just wanted a simple snack. Luckilly we had some leftover raspberry sauce from our Christmas panna cotta desert (which was fantastic), so with a good cheese, some cardamom crisps, and a crazy idea of adding a touch of India, we came up with this. We really liked the pairings, the rajma masala brought out a little extra zing from the cardamom, almost making it stronger.
A fresh little appetizer for parties or just for Wednesday night. It’s so easy to make, there really is no reason not to make everyday food a little more interesting. This is also our first ‘sandwich’ without bread, so we’re now starting to push the envelope of our sandwich blog :-).
Surprise your loved one with appetizers after a long day at work, and you’ll be the star of the evening.
Continue reading Appetizer: Cucumber With Smoked Salmon, Curry-Fraîche, Capers and Dill
After making a fantastic tuna sandwich, we made a few variations of tuna appetizers the next day. This is one of them, and it’s great. When working with tuna, be very careful not to overpower the subtle taste. We added a very mild Saint Faron cheese as a spread almost, and topped it with a small amount of balsamic vinegar reduction. Notice how the vinegar brings out the texture of the tuna in the pictures. This is a bite of food heaven.
A simple appetizer, but not cheap due to the tuna. However, well worth the money if you like us love seared tuna. We got a few nice steaks at Costco and decided to make Tuna Sandwiches, and appetizers from the leftovers. This is one of them, and it belong in the very tasty food group 🙂
This is one of the three appetizers we plan on serving for Thanksgiving. The secret is to use freshly-made ingredients, and so we made our own pesto and used Super Sweet 100 tomatoes from our backyard garden. We used goat cheese, which blends very nicely with the tomato and pesto. For bread, we stuck to a baguette.
Continue reading Appetizer: Goat Cheese and Pesto Bruschetta with Cherry Tomatoes
For Christmas 2007, Wendie bought me a torch – one of those you use in making desserts such as creme brulee. I had seen one on TV and I wanted it desperately. When I got it, I started manically torching everything, hoping to discover new uses and develop new dishes. As it turned out, most things don’t do well being torched. Roast beef… not so good. Vegetables…nope. Cornflakes… wouldn’t recommend it. The one thing that actually has its moments is cheese.
With the torch I can melt the surface of the cheese, and when biting into it you get a a feeling of warmth on your upper lip, while the rest of the bite is cold. Not entirely unpleasant. For a cheese sandwich, this requires a huge amount of torching action, due to the surface that needs to be melted, but for appetizers it works. After two years I still haven’t made creme brulee, but I’ve managed to construct this appetizer, which in my opinion is perfect for all those torches out there collecting dust. Enjoy.
Continue reading Torched Roquefort Appetizer with Muffaletta Spread and Pecorino Romano Cheese