Grilled Feta

I wanted to make grilled halloumi but couldn't find any, so I bought some feta and found that you can grill it as long as it's in a little tinfoil packet. This is a great appetizer or accompaniment to a light dinner of Greek salad and chicken souvlaki. You can really add in whatever you want for seasoning. I kept it pretty simple with grape tomatoes, herbs de provence, lemon, and garlic, but you could add cooked tomatoes, capers, chilies, olives... The cheese gets hot and melty and it's super tasty, and couldn't be easier.

Pear Crostini

There was a recipe in Plenty for pear crostini and this is inspired by that but a little different. I love pears and cheese, so this is a great mix. It's sweet and a little tart and creamy, it's delicious. Great appetizer. 

Ingredients:

1 pear

1/2 tsp sugar

Black pepper

1/2 tsp lemon zest

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tbsp pecorino

2 slices good bread

Olive oil

1 clove garlic

Soft goat cheese

Tarte Soleil

I saw this beautiful snack on Smitten Kitchen and had to try it. It's so easy! It looks really fancy, but it's super simple. Very tasty and would be great to have out for a cocktail party. You can fill it with anything (cheese, chocolate, nutella...) but I tried a savory one first with tapenade. I did a mini one using just one sheet of puff pastry, but you can do a bigger one using two. 

Ingredients:

1 sheet thawed puff pastry

tapenade (I made some by pureeing black olives, sundried tomatoes, capers, garlic, anchovy paste, olive oil, and red pepper flakes, but store-bought works, too!)

grated pecorino

1 egg, beaten up with some water

Summer Rolls

These are the best summer rolls I've made. They were so fresh and flavorful and crunchy. I did use this and this for inspiration and sort of merged them. Yum!

Makes 8 summer rolls

Ingredients:

1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

2 carrots, peeled and shredded 

1/2 cucumber, cut into matchsticks

Snap peas

3 scallions, cut into matchsticks

1 handful cilantro, chopped

1 handful mint leaves

Red leaf lettuce, ripped into pieces

Handful of peanuts, roughly chopped

8 rice paper rounds

Candied Bacon (or crack)

If you need a new make-ahead salty cocktail snack, this is it. It's salty and sweet and crunchy and bursting with flavor. It's completely addictive and totally delicious.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup nuts (I like spicy smokehouse almonds)

1/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp chipotle powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 lb bacon

Directions:

Blend first six ingredients in a food processor. Add maple syrup until it's almost in a sandy paste. Season to taste with more sugar or chipotle as you like.

Dinner Party Hors d'Oeuvres - Chicken Liver Pate and Caramelized Onions, St. Andre Cheese and Fig Butter

We had friends over for dinner last night and I made a nice little appetizer spread. My sister in law, Katie, gave Jamie this slate cheese board which is so fun if you have chalk because you can write out what everything is. I made this delicious chicken liver pate (but with half the butter - still amazing) and wanted to serve it with caramelized and slightly pickled onions, a la Vinegar Hill House. Yum! It was so delicious. Onion recipe below. I also picked up some fig butter from Trader Joe's and paired that with a wedge of St. Andre cheese and served it all with thin crostini. 

Chilled Cucumber Ramp Soup

If you're in New York City, you might have heard that it's ramp season. Ramps are wild leeks that come out in April and May. Some people think they're overrated, but I love them. I bought a big bunch from the farmers market and played around with some new recipes this weekend. More to come this week, but I'll start off with the super simple, slightly spicy, very refreshing cucumber soup. (If you can't get ramps, you can use garlic and/or shallots, or scallions.) There are just 6 ingredients and it takes all of 2 minutes to make.

Pea Hummus

This is so fresh and bright and such a fun change from regular hummus. I saw this recipe on Cup of Jo and wanted to try it out. I didn't follow the directions exactly, but made it just like I usually make hummus - a little of this and a little of that. It was delicious. Jamie, my pea lover, adored it.

Ingredients:

1 box frozen peas

juice of 1/2 a lime

big handful fresh cilantro, rinced

1 large clove garlic

2 big tsp tahini

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

a little water

salt and pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

Directions:

Cook the peas until soft and thawed - a couple minutes in a sauce pan with some water. Drain and run under cold water until cool.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Peaches with Basil

It's summer and it's hot - apps that involve no cooking really appeal to me. This recipe from Epicurious looked so fresh and summery. I tried it out this week and it was great! Jamie loved them, and they couldn't have been easier. Kind of a fun switch from prosciutto with melon. The vinegar, sugar, cumin mixture adds a nice, subtle zing and the salty prosciutto and sweet peach go well together - and basil makes it all taste fresh and summery.

I think it would also probably be great thrown on the grill for a minute with some pecorino, but for now this is great and involves no cooking.

For 2 (1/2 peach per person, so just get more if you have more people!)
Ingredients:
1 yellow peach, core removed and cut into 8 pieces
4 pieces of prosciutto, cut in half lengthwise
8 basil leaves
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
big pinch cumin

Directions:
Mix the vinegar, sugar, and cumin and toss the peach slices with it in a bowl. Let them sit about 10 minutes. Wrap each peach slice with a strip of prosciutto, put a piece of basil on top, and secure with a toothpick. Done!

Sautéed Calamari

I've always seen calamari on menus as grilled or fried. I went to dinner at Supper last year on the Lower East Side and they had sauteed calamari. It was delicious and I've been making my own ever since. (Calamari is cheap and it cooks in no time.) It's a great appetizer or side dish and it seems impressive but is super easy. Last weekend I had some chorizo grease left in a pan and I thought it would go really well will calamari--it was a hit. Any time you make chorizo, save the grease for calamari! (I used leftover from the chorizo for a grilled pizza.)

Ingredients:
2 calamari, cleaned (or more if you have more people), sliced into thin rings
grease leftover from sauteeing loose chorizo in olive oil
1 clove of garlic

Directions:
Heat up the leftover grease and add the garlic (on high heat.) Sautee it until fragrant. Then add the sliced calamari and toss it all together. Cook until the calamari looks opaque, only 1-2 minutes. You really don't want to over cook it because it will get rubbery.
Take them out of the pan and serve.

(If you don't have chorizo grease, you can just use olive oil and add a bunch of crushed red pepper flakes.)