Category: Appetizers and Hors d’Oeuvres

Pita bread is great to serve with dips because the bread is firm and easy to manipulate into tiny cups. If you can find the tiny pita breads, cut them in half and the pockets are perfect.

Ingredients

4 oz herbed cream cheese (eg. Boursin or Rondele)
⅓ cup mayonnaise
⅓ cup sour cream
3 ½ oz frozen snow crabpicked over and shredded
¼ tsp black pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice
pita bread cut in quarters

Directions

Beat cheese until creamy and stir in mayonnaise and sour cream.

If crab is very wet squeeze out excess moisture. Stir in crab.

Add pepper and lemon juice.

Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary (cheese and crab are usually quite salty). Serve with pita bread.

This meal in a pot can be ready in the time it takes to boil rice and put together a few bowls of your favorite curry condiments; say, chutney, cucumbers in yogurt, sliced banana and coconut.

Ingredients

1 ½ lbs shrimppeeled and deveined
6 tbsp butter
4 green onionschopped
1 clove garlicminced
1 tbsp curry powderor to taste
¾ cup heavy cream
lemon juice
salt
parsleyfreshly chopped

Directions

Thaw shrimp if frozen and pat dry. Heat butter in a large, heavy frying pan. Add green onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until softened.

Stir in curry powder. Add shrimp and coat well with the spicy mixture. Cook 4 to 5 minutes, then stir in cream. Simmer until shrimp are firm yet tender, about 5 more minutes (taste one and be sure not to overcook).

Season to taste with lemon juice and salt. Serve at once over rice, sprinkled with parsley.

These patties expand both ways – the quantity is easily increased to serve as many hungry mouths as necessary, while any excess can be cooled, wrapped in foil in a single layer, frozen, then reheated without thawing. Just don’t keep them frozen for more than a few weeks.

Ingredients

2 (7 ¾ oz) tins salmonpink or red
1 egglightly beaten
½ cup fine dry bread or cracker crumbs
1 tsp medium curry powder
2 tbsp shallots or green onionsminced
2 tbsp sour cream
fresh lemon juice
salt
fine dry crumbs for coating
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions

Drain most of liquid from salmon, then turn into a bowl and mash thoroughly, bones, skin and all.

Add next seven ingredients, and mix well.

Press plastic wrap over the surface and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Remove from fridge and shape mixture into 10 or 12 small patties – essential, as big ones will fall apart while cooking.

Heat butter and oil in heavy skillet over moderate heat.

Coat patties with fine dry crumbs, then fry until well-browned, turning once.

Serve with the following sauce or your own favorite.

Sour Cream Sauce

While salmon mixture chills, blend some sour cream with as much chopped green onion and fresh parsley as you like. Season liberally with fresh lemon juice plus a little salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

A deliciously simple appetizer.

Ingredients

4 medium artichokes
1 ½ cups dry white wine
⅓ cup shallots, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp oregano, crushed
1 tbsp parsley, minced

Directions

Stand prepared artichokes in a deep saucepan or pot with 3 inches boiling salted water. (You can add a little olive oil, lemon juice and/or herbs to the cooking water, if you like.)

Cover and boil gently 25 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of artichoke or until a petal near the center pulls out easily.

Stand artichokes upside down to drain.

Heat wine and shallots over medium heat until mixture is reduced to ¾ cup.

Add lemon juice and oregano. Cool slightly; return pan to low heat.

Slowly add butter in small amounts, stirring constantly until sauce thickens.

Garnish with fresh parsley. Serve alongside cooked artichokes.

Ellen Burr’s winning recipe for the 1997 Gilroy Garlic Festival perfectly balances bright fresh citrus with aromatic garlic and a touch of heat.

Ingredients

1 ½ lbs jumbo shrimppeeled (tails on) and deveined
⅓ cup lime juicefreshly squeezed
⅓ cup lemon juicefreshly squeezed
⅓ cup blood orange juice
4 oz unsalted buttermelted
12 large cloves garlicpeeled and finely chopped
saltto taste
¼ cup fresh cilantrochopped
¼ tsp Pico de Gallo or cayenne
1 large loaf Fresh breadthinly sliced
citrus slicesfor garnish
cilantro leavesfor garnish

Directions

Arrange shrimp in a large, shallow, non-reactive baking dish.

Mix remaining ingredients except bread and garnishes; pour over shrimp.

Broil, turning shrimp once or twice, until shrimp is opaque and just firm to the touch, about 8 minutes.

Immediately serve shrimp and sauce over bread. Garnish with citrus slices and sprigs of cilantro. Serve remaining bread on the side.