This week's theme is appetizers, for your Super Bowl celebration or whatever occasion.
I've hosted a party for the Super Bowl every year but one since SB XXIII in 1989 (featuring the greatest QB ever, Joe Montana, for 49ers fans that's "The Drive"). But I digress. Anyway, all these are things that will reliably make your guests happy, it's proven.
Some of these previously appeared in my Tailgate Food and DKos Favorites diaries.
Big Shrimp Sandwich
1 long loaf sourdough bread
1½ pounds prawns or large shrimp
1/2 package crab boil (optional)
1 5-ounce package soft herb cheese spread such as Rondelé
1 large avocado, sliced
Juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon dill weed
Shell and devein the prawns. Cook them in boiling water with crab boil spices until just pink, 3 or 4 minutes. Drain and refrigerate.
Split the loaf of bread in half lengthwise. Remove about half of the bread from the middle of each section, leaving the crust around the edges. Spread the cheese over the bottom of the loaf. Arrange the cooked prawns on the cheese, then top with slices of avocado. Sprinkle with lemon juice and dill weed. Place top on loaf and press down well. Cut sandwich carefully into ¾-inch slices.
Yogurt Dill Sauce
For dipping vegetables into.
1 pint plain yogurt
½ pint sour cream
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
2 teaspoons salt
3 to 6 cloves garlic, pressed
2 to 3 teaspoons dried dill weed, or 3 tablespoons minced fresh dill
Place all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until well blended. Adjust the amount of garlic to your taste. [The original recipe calls for 6 cloves, which makes the dip VERY garlicky. This may be the only recipe ever where I’ve reduced the amount of garlic!]
Store sauce in a glass or plastic container. Cover tightly and refrigerate.
Swedish Meatballs
From Joy of Cooking, 1975 edition - about 50 1-inch balls
2 slices bread
½ cup milk
1½ pounds ground meat (½ pound each beef, veal and pork)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup finely chopped onion
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
5 cups beef stock
Cornstarch
Soak the bread in enough milk to cover.
Put ground meat in a large mixing bowl. Beat eggs well and add to the ground meat. Sauté the onion in butter until golden and add to the meat. Wring the liquid from the bread and add to meat, along with parsley, salt, paprika, lemon rind, lemon juice and Worcestershire. Mix everything well with your hands. Shape lightly into 1-inch balls.
Bring the stock to a boil in a large skillet. Drop meatballs into boiling stock. Simmer covered about 15 minutes. Remove meatballs from stock. Measure the stock, return to pan, and bring to a boil. For each cup of stock, use 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with a little water. Add the cornstarch and water to the stock and cook, stirring, until smooth. Season to taste. Reheat the meatballs in the gravy and serve.
Spinach Bread Dip
From the back of the Knorr soup mix package – about 3 cups. Serving it in the bread bowl looks cool but last time I made this I had trouble finding the round loaves, it still tastes the same in a dish.
1 package Knorr vegetable or leek soup mix
1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
2 green onions, minced
1 small can water chestnuts, chopped
2 round loaves sourdough bread
In a large bowl combine soup mix, mayonnaise and sour cream. Strain excess water from spinach and add to dip mixture. Add green onions and water chestnuts, stir to combine. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
Slice a circle around the top of one loaf of bread and remove inside. Fill the hole with the spinach dip. Cut the removed bread and the other loaf into bite-size pieces to serve with dip.
Smoked Salmon Dip
8 oz cream cheese
1 tsp. horseradish
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. dillweed
3 tbsp. minced red onion
2 tsp. capers
6 oz. smoked salmon
Cream the cheese, horseradish, dillweed and lemon juice in a mixer. Fold in the
last three ingredients. Serve with Bagel chips.
BBQ Shrimp
One of the best
really easy things I know of.
large shrimp or prawns
bacon
wooden toothpicks or skewers
bbq sauce
Peel and devein shrimp. Cut bacon strips into thirds, wrap one around each shrimp, secure with a toothpick. Place in a dish, pour your favorite bbq sauce over, refrigerate. Grill until done, 5 minutes or so.
Pickled Snow Peas
1-quart glass jar
12 oz vegetables (Trader Joes sells snow peas or sugar snap peas in 12-oz bags, just the right amount)
Minced garlic to taste (2-3 cloves)
1-1/4 cups apple cider vinegar
1-1/4 cups water
4 tsp kosher or pickling salt (non-iodized salt keeps better color of green vegs)
2 tsp sugar
Mix the marinade and stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Put vegetables and garlic in jar and pour marinade over. Put lid on jar and refrigerate at least 24 hours. After 2 or more days you might prefer to remove the vegs from the marinade to keep them from getting stronger tasting.
Shrimp and Saga Blue Croutons
From Bon Appétit - 14 appetizers
28 uncooked medium shrimp
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
14 1/3-inch thick baguette slices
6 ounces Saga blue cheese, room temperature
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, stems removed, leaves chopped
Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Add shrimp and cook until just pink, about 2 minutes. Drain and cool. Peel and devein shrimp. This can be prepared ahead and refrigerated; let stand 1 hour at room temperature before using.
Melt butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bread slices in batches and cook until golden, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to cookie sheet.
Preheat broiler. Spread cheese over croutons; top each with 2 shrimp. Broil 4 inches from heat until cheese melts and shrimp are heated through, about 2 minutes. Transfer to platter. Sprinkle with rosemary.
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Have you figured out yet that I like shrimp? It's a party, you have to have some luxury foods. Also I've always got to have a big piece of smoked salmon with all the trimmings.
I also like to have something a little more substantial as a sort of main course, but it needs to also be finger food. This isn't a situation where people can sit down at a table with knives and forks. One good solution is to get some dinner rolls and make mini-sandwiches. My smoked chicken is a great possibility here, or a super-easy crockpot pulled pork. Either of these are mostly prepped ahead of time so that the host has a chance to look at the football game too. Or if you don't mind cooking on the spot, go for sliders (from recent WFD by Mark Morgan).
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and for more good ideas, here's a previous Party Food WFD by ninkasi23.
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Actually for dinner here tonight is the lentil soup from last week's WFD. What's for dinner where you are?
Please share your own kitchen expertise with the community! Message ninkasi23 if you can write a future WFD.