Hors D'oeuvres - The New Hotness
November 30, 2023 10:26 AM Subscribe
Hello! Ten years ago I asked this question. Now... I'm back.
My toddler is now a tween and I have fewer fucks to give. Have I done sushi trays? Hell yes. Continued my rad 70's stuff? Of course. I also always have a charcuterie and cheese board. That's enough, right?
No! I wouldn't be asking this question if I didn't crave novelty, so I need your help. What are the new trends in heavy/hot apps? Are there any particularly winter-y vegetable items that work as party finger food? Anything goes, but I'd still appreciate items that I can make ahead or that aren't deviled eggs (as I can't eat them any more and that makes me sad).
Assume I have access to a pretty sizable collection of kitchen things, and access to well-stocked grocery stores from multiple cultures.
My toddler is now a tween and I have fewer fucks to give. Have I done sushi trays? Hell yes. Continued my rad 70's stuff? Of course. I also always have a charcuterie and cheese board. That's enough, right?
No! I wouldn't be asking this question if I didn't crave novelty, so I need your help. What are the new trends in heavy/hot apps? Are there any particularly winter-y vegetable items that work as party finger food? Anything goes, but I'd still appreciate items that I can make ahead or that aren't deviled eggs (as I can't eat them any more and that makes me sad).
Assume I have access to a pretty sizable collection of kitchen things, and access to well-stocked grocery stores from multiple cultures.
For a wintery time spread we always include roasted chestnuts...Score the top of chestnut with a knife and bake in oven for a few minutes...I peel most of them and put them on a pretty tray with a few sprigs of holly. I leave a few in their shell because some folk like to peel their own.
posted by Czjewel at 10:50 AM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Czjewel at 10:50 AM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
This Spam and brie bites recipe was in Bon Appetit a couple months back, and, well, it's Spam and brie bites.
posted by papayaninja at 11:43 AM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by papayaninja at 11:43 AM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I make a double batch of Martha Stewart's Ham and Gruyere Thumbprints and store them in the freezer.
I've also frozen Bacon-Wrapped Dates successfully.
As for new things, Instagram has been showing me upside-down tartlets - where you put your ingredients down on a sheet pan and cover them with a piece of puff pastry, then bake. You get kind of a savory danish situation.
For wintery veg, roast finger sized pieces of potato, carrot, fennel, delicata squash, etc and serve with a dipping sauce, perhaps a garlicky aioli?
posted by sarajane at 12:10 PM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've also frozen Bacon-Wrapped Dates successfully.
As for new things, Instagram has been showing me upside-down tartlets - where you put your ingredients down on a sheet pan and cover them with a piece of puff pastry, then bake. You get kind of a savory danish situation.
For wintery veg, roast finger sized pieces of potato, carrot, fennel, delicata squash, etc and serve with a dipping sauce, perhaps a garlicky aioli?
posted by sarajane at 12:10 PM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I got this following recipe that I've wanted to try in an email from Christopher Kimball of Milk Street; it may be up your alley:
Upside-Down Cambozola Tarts With Caramelized Onion
Slice a red onion into six ¼-inch-thick rounds; slice each round in half.
Line a baking sheet with parchment and mist with cooking spray. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer each round to the baking sheet, keeping the halves intact and spacing them evenly. Using your hands, slide the halves of each round in opposite directions so they are offset by about ½ inch.
Roll a piece of thawed puff pastry into a 10- by 10-inch square (they come out of the box at 9-inches) and cut into sixths.
Dock the dough by pricking it all over with a fork. Place one piece of dough over each onion, docked side up, and gently press down on the pastry to remove any air pockets.
Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Flip onto a serving platter, place a thin slice of Cambozola cheese over each square and drizzle with hot honey (honey infused with red pepper flakes). Garnish with fresh thyme or minced chives.
posted by carrienation at 12:11 PM on November 30, 2023
Upside-Down Cambozola Tarts With Caramelized Onion
Slice a red onion into six ¼-inch-thick rounds; slice each round in half.
Line a baking sheet with parchment and mist with cooking spray. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer each round to the baking sheet, keeping the halves intact and spacing them evenly. Using your hands, slide the halves of each round in opposite directions so they are offset by about ½ inch.
Roll a piece of thawed puff pastry into a 10- by 10-inch square (they come out of the box at 9-inches) and cut into sixths.
Dock the dough by pricking it all over with a fork. Place one piece of dough over each onion, docked side up, and gently press down on the pastry to remove any air pockets.
Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Flip onto a serving platter, place a thin slice of Cambozola cheese over each square and drizzle with hot honey (honey infused with red pepper flakes). Garnish with fresh thyme or minced chives.
posted by carrienation at 12:11 PM on November 30, 2023
Deep fried ravioli? You can make them from scratch, but there is no need to. Just buy a package of ravioli or two and deep fry them till they are light golden. Serve them with a dipping sauce that makes sense with the content, for instance a classic spinach and ricotta ravioli will be good with a loose pesto sauce, or with ajvar sauce, or salsa.
Deep fried stuff is best straight from the golden pot, but can be reheated in the microwave and still be fine.
Blinis are always good too. With sour cream and lox or salmon roe or whatever smokey, fishy thing you can imagine.
Which reminds me of smoked herring, served on rye bread or toast or toasted rye bread, garnished with radishes and chives.
Tramezzini? I love tramezzini, but they are perhaps a leap of faith (as the author writes in the linked article).
posted by mumimor at 1:37 PM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Deep fried stuff is best straight from the golden pot, but can be reheated in the microwave and still be fine.
Blinis are always good too. With sour cream and lox or salmon roe or whatever smokey, fishy thing you can imagine.
Which reminds me of smoked herring, served on rye bread or toast or toasted rye bread, garnished with radishes and chives.
Tramezzini? I love tramezzini, but they are perhaps a leap of faith (as the author writes in the linked article).
posted by mumimor at 1:37 PM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Glazed bacon - toss bacon with some brown sugar and seasoning then bake until crisp. Once you work out the timing which varies greatly based on how thick the bacon is, these can be made earlier in the day or week, stored in fridge, served at room temp. They are very popular. Here's an example recipe.
posted by RoadScholar at 4:18 PM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by RoadScholar at 4:18 PM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
A roasted filet, sliced, served wtih horseradish mayo. Stores for a few days in the fridge.
Seared tuna, sliced, served with wasabi mayo. Keeps in freezer, but needs to be seared after thawing. Maybe you'd be okay without searing, just serve thawed, sliced.
posted by RoadScholar at 4:23 PM on November 30, 2023
Seared tuna, sliced, served with wasabi mayo. Keeps in freezer, but needs to be seared after thawing. Maybe you'd be okay without searing, just serve thawed, sliced.
posted by RoadScholar at 4:23 PM on November 30, 2023
Smitten Kitchen has a recipe for a vegetable okonomiyaki (Japanese vegetable pancakes) that are made of mostly cabbage, carrot, and kale. They can be prepped ahead and frozen, and she suggests a dipping sauce recipe but you can also just use sweet chili or chili crisp or whatever you want!
posted by little mouth at 4:58 PM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by little mouth at 4:58 PM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Also from Smitten Kitchen, Tarte du Soleil! It looks gorgeous and is relatively simple to put together. It would probably also freeze well.
You can make it with frozen puff pastry and any number of fillings, like pesto or tapenade or sun dried tomatoes.
posted by Lycaste at 7:53 PM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
You can make it with frozen puff pastry and any number of fillings, like pesto or tapenade or sun dried tomatoes.
posted by Lycaste at 7:53 PM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Ha! I'm having a party tomorrow and procrastinating here instead of making some of the food ahead. Here's a few things I'm serving. Everything is able to be eaten standing up, without utensils.
- A beef tenderloin sliced and served with horseradish sauce on rolls
- Spinach and cheese stuffed mushrooms
- Gruyere and onion cocktail biscuits
- A veggie platter with Mediterranean-style dips
- A fruit platter with my favorite thing of all: Brie cheese that looks like a layer cake
For the brie "layer cake" (which I copied from the cheese case at Wegman's, where they sell this for $20/lb), you need two mini wheels of brie, mascarpone cheese, and two identical or complementarily flavored fruit ingredients: 1) fresh fruit for the top, and 2) a preserve or fruit sauce or glaze to put between the layers and also on top. You also need wooden skewers to help hold the top layer on the bottom layer without sliding.
Place one wheel on your serving platter. (Don't remove the rind.) "Frost" the top with a thin layer of mascarpone. Now add your fruit sauce, preserve, or glaze. Use enough so that when you slice into it later, you'll see colorful sauce between the layers. Now add three or four 2" lengths of skewer to the bottom layer. They should look like stilts sticking up and they will be hidden. Now add the second wheel on top and gently push down onto the skewers. Frost the top with more mascarpone. Add more sauce to the top, taking care to drip some over the edges, as if it were a drip cake. Add your fresh fruit on top. Voila, a cake made of cheese and fruit. For serving, I like to slice one wedge, as if I'm cutting into a birthday cake, and lay it on its side next to the rest of the "cake." That way, guests can see that it's cheese, not a dessert. It also makes them less hesitant to cut slices. Prep all this about an hour before serving, so the brie has enough time to soften just a bit on its serving tray.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 5:40 AM on December 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
- A beef tenderloin sliced and served with horseradish sauce on rolls
- Spinach and cheese stuffed mushrooms
- Gruyere and onion cocktail biscuits
- A veggie platter with Mediterranean-style dips
- A fruit platter with my favorite thing of all: Brie cheese that looks like a layer cake
For the brie "layer cake" (which I copied from the cheese case at Wegman's, where they sell this for $20/lb), you need two mini wheels of brie, mascarpone cheese, and two identical or complementarily flavored fruit ingredients: 1) fresh fruit for the top, and 2) a preserve or fruit sauce or glaze to put between the layers and also on top. You also need wooden skewers to help hold the top layer on the bottom layer without sliding.
Place one wheel on your serving platter. (Don't remove the rind.) "Frost" the top with a thin layer of mascarpone. Now add your fruit sauce, preserve, or glaze. Use enough so that when you slice into it later, you'll see colorful sauce between the layers. Now add three or four 2" lengths of skewer to the bottom layer. They should look like stilts sticking up and they will be hidden. Now add the second wheel on top and gently push down onto the skewers. Frost the top with more mascarpone. Add more sauce to the top, taking care to drip some over the edges, as if it were a drip cake. Add your fresh fruit on top. Voila, a cake made of cheese and fruit. For serving, I like to slice one wedge, as if I'm cutting into a birthday cake, and lay it on its side next to the rest of the "cake." That way, guests can see that it's cheese, not a dessert. It also makes them less hesitant to cut slices. Prep all this about an hour before serving, so the brie has enough time to soften just a bit on its serving tray.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 5:40 AM on December 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
Someone brought meatballs in red sauce and small rolls to an event, they were delicious and easy. Bacon-wrapped scallops. It's always nice ro have some vegetables; roasted brussells sprouts with pancetta are delicious. I learned to make these from one of Laurie Colwin's Cookbooks, highly recommended if you like reading about food.
Asparagus & Gruyere tart The hot spinach/ artichoke dip is a classic for a reason. Herb-Cheese Palmiers. Cheese Coins with Jalapeño Jelly. Make deviled eggs, top with smoked salmon. Polenta Squares with Wild Mushrooms and Fontina. I make polenta with green olives and pepperoni, it's a great carrier for savory toppings.
Laurie Colwin recommends, and has a recipe for gingerbread. Make it in mini-muffin tins, top with lemon glaze. It makes the house smell like Christmas, and is incredibly tasty and comforting.
Please share the shrimp mold recipe; I'm intrigued.
posted by theora55 at 8:51 AM on December 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Asparagus & Gruyere tart The hot spinach/ artichoke dip is a classic for a reason. Herb-Cheese Palmiers. Cheese Coins with Jalapeño Jelly. Make deviled eggs, top with smoked salmon. Polenta Squares with Wild Mushrooms and Fontina. I make polenta with green olives and pepperoni, it's a great carrier for savory toppings.
Laurie Colwin recommends, and has a recipe for gingerbread. Make it in mini-muffin tins, top with lemon glaze. It makes the house smell like Christmas, and is incredibly tasty and comforting.
Please share the shrimp mold recipe; I'm intrigued.
posted by theora55 at 8:51 AM on December 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
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If you are making a log cabin type of structure, I'd recommend shoring up the insides with crackers, and also pipe the cream cheese/pub cheese "mortar" between logs rather than using a knife.
posted by queensissy at 10:42 AM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]