It's Appetizer Season!

Well, my blogging "with a vengeance" wasn't so vengeful after all. Things have been a little busy, with the holidays and all, so I thought I should share a little of what I've been up to..

Given the choice of appetizers or dessert, I will always opt for appetizers.  In fact, I would opt for appetizers for dinner, too.  And lately I have been sharing the love.  I've catered two appetizer parties in the past couple weeks,taught a Holiday Appetizer class, and have brought an appetizer to every dinner I've gone to lately.  I'm clearly not alone in my love of the small plates. 

It all started with Thanksgiving, the official start of Appetizer Season.  For the second year in a row I brought a Kahlua Baked Brie (sorry no picture, because it was significantly attacked by the crowd in the time it took me to get my camera out of my purse).  One woman who I had given the recipe to last year told me that she  pulled the recipe out of her coat pocket the next day, staring at it longingly like it was the phone number from a cute guy she met in a bar the night before, complete with that old "oh, what did I do last night?"  Yep, it's that good, folks:

Kahlua Baked Brie

1 6oz wheel of Brie

¼ c chopped toasted pecans or walnuts

2T Kahlua

1T agave nectar

Preheat oven to 350◦.  Cut the rind off top of brie, leaving 1/4” at edges.  In a bowl combine remaining ingredients.  Place brie on an oven-safe dish, preferably one with a lip. Top with Kahlua mixture.  Bake for 5-8 minutes until soft. Serve with baguette, crackers, or apple and pear slices.

Last weekend I prepared 5 appetizers for a wine tasting party...

We had Caprese Kebabs, Wild Salmon Spread with Cucumber Rounds, Proscuitto, Fig & Arugula Roll-ups with Lemon Chevre, Spinach Stuffed Red Bliss Potatoes, and Asian Style Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce.  You're probably saying, "Wow, that sounds delicious."  And you would be right. I made much more than necessary, and the small group ate every single dingle thing, much to the chagrin of the hostess who was hoping for leftovers later in the evening.

After that party I came home and got ready to go to a holiday party of my own.  I never like to come empty handed, and since I was hopped up on appetizer energy I decided to make yet another.  This was completely on the fly, which I think is why I liked it so much.  When I throw something together with ingredients I have on hand and it comes out this delicious, it makes me do the happy dance (no picture of that dance either, sadly).  This Pear, Proscuitto & Gorgonzola Crostini will be making the rounds at a lot of parties in the next couple weeks. 

Start by melting a tablespoon of unsalted butter in a skillet.  Add 1 pear, diced and 3 slices proscuitto, chopped.  Saute for a few minutes until the pear is slightly softened.  Hit it with a pinch of salt and pepper and a little sprinkling of fresh thyme leaves.

While the pear is cooking, drizzle olive oil over thinly sliced baguette slices (this recipe will make about 24 crostini) and pop them in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes until slightly toasted.

Remove the bread form the oven and top with the pear mixture.  Place a few crumbles of gorgonzola on top of the pears and bake again for 8-10 minutes until cheese is melted.  When you pull them out of the oven, think about how many guests there really are going to be at the party and then determine how many of these you can eat in advance and still have enough for everyone else...my count was three.

I'll share more of the other appetizer recipes with you later; writing this and looking at the pictures made me hungry.  Got to pop into the kitchen and see what I can come up with now.....