I used to make this when we lived in our old apartment. At that time, I would make the big size Pigs in a Blanket for breakfast. Today, I tried making a mini size for two-bites-snack. Andrew loves it so much that he ate 4 pieces today. Easy to make and great for parties. Oh by the way, the nice display plate was a house warming (Even though none has been held yet) gift from my dear cousin, Ci Jenny. Thanks a lot, Ci!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pack of Pillsbury crescents roll - comes in 8 pieces triangle roll dough then cut into half to make 16 pieces

16 pieces of small size sausages or 8 pieces of regular size sausages cut into half

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut the crescent rolls dough into 16 pieces, then roll each of the sausages starting for the bigger side of the dough. Arrange in a baking plate (I used pyrex) then bake in 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until the rolls turn golden. Ready to serve.

But there on the first page was "Tapas." My brother raised an eyebrow and said, "We call these appetizers in Edmonton." And you would think in an Italian restaurant these dishes would be called "antipasti," not the Spanish "tapas."

Well, I explained to my brother the new wave of tapas bars or restaurants in Vancouver. If you're a restaurant you have a tapas menu and on it you list all sorts of sumptuous morsels. You bring them out on simple plates, but elegantly and artistically arranged. Then no one seems to mind that they're paying $12 for three scallops. Tapas menus tend to range from $10-$14 with $12 being the average.

If you switch out the word tapas and pop in "appetizer" suddenly it's not as appetizing and people would protest paying the higher price for just an appetizer. Granted we don't need as much food as our hunter-gather ancestors did but the tapas drapery does seem to pull the wool over people's eyes. Sure some restaurants do have appetizers reaching that range but the prices are not comparable always to the style of restaurant. Stella's in East Van is a Belgium beer and tapas bar. A little cultural mixing there. Their dishes are pretty tasty.

Last night I was at Habit on Main St. They have a small menu with items ranging from $9-$18. There is no true differentiation between an appetizer and the main meal and the small menu says right at the top, Best to be shared. Some of these items that we had--the beet salad and the crispy tofu with eggplant--could have been considered tapas, but they were much larger portions and though two of us shared, these dishes could have been tapassed out to four people easily. If they had been listed as tapas, they would have been half the size for the same price.

So next time you're sitting down to an artistic repast of bite-size tapas, presume you're paying for the art and the name, and enjoy. Oh, and chew slowly to get your money's worth.

[caption id="attachment_8" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Uncle's Antipasto"][/caption]

Ingredients:

• 3-4 Tomatoes
• 1 lb Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella  
• Fresh Basil
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Prosciutto Ham – thinly sliced about 15 slices

Preparation:

Thinly slice tomatoes and set aside.  Cut one tomato into wedges and set aside. Slice buffalo mozzarella cheese.  Finely chop basil about two handfuls.

On a round serving dish – about 16 inch diameter, arrange tomatoes in a ring.  Add mozzarella cheese to every other tomato slice.  Arrange the tomato wedges in center of ring.  Add mozzarella cheese between tomato wedges.  Liberally sprinkle top with chopped basil.

Roll prosciutto ham.  Add to top of tomatoes alternating between mozzarella.  Add remaining prosciutto to edge of dish under tomatoes.

About 1 hour before serving, liberally drizzle with EVO.

Puff Pastry Shells with Sauteed Spinach and Portabellos, Balsamic Reduction, and Melted Brie Cheese

For this finger food I used frozen puff pastry shells for the first time - and they couldn't be easier!  They come frozen in packs of 24 (look in the frozen dessert section of your grocer) and are like flat discs right out of the package.  All you need to do is bake halfway, fill, and finish baking.

• 1 package puff pastry shells (I used Pepperidge Farm)
• 1 large portabello mushroom cap, finely diced
• 2 generous cups roughly chopped raw spinach leaves
• 1 tablespoon butter (I used Light Smart Balance)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 wheel (about 4 ounces) brie cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place the frozen pastry shells on a baking sheet and, once the oven reaches temperature, bake for 10 minutes.  In a medium-sized skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, add and season the mushrooms and spinach to taste and saute together until soft and wilted (about 5 minutes).  Meanwhile, in a small saucepan bring the balsamic vinegar and sugar to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove vinegar from heat and let sit.

After the shells are finished their first 10 minutes of baking, take them out of the oven and remove their round centers with a small paring knife.  Discard the centers.   Fill each shell with a small spoonful of the mushroom and spinach mixture and drizzle a bit of the balsamic reduction over the filling.  Take the brie cheese out of its packaging, cut off and discard the rind (the outer white layer) and top each shell with a hunk of brie cheese.  Place the baking sheet of filled shells back in the oven for another 10 minutes of baking.

These are best served hot and melty, right out of the oven.  In each bite you'll taste the buttery light puff pastry, the earthy flavors of spinach and mushroom, the sweet and tart overlay of the reduced vinegar, and the creaminess of the cheese.  Enjoy...

Warning: A lot of these pranks are a bit juvenile and some of them can get you banned from ever coming back to the restaurant (it has happened).  Seriously think about it before trying and do not do it if it is too extreme.  Some of these even I will not do.

Waiting

Some restaurants force you to wait.  This is a perfect first opportunity.

• If calling ahead for reservations, call with a complicated foreign name or almost dirty sounding name (careful, some may hang up thinking its a prank call).
• Or, even better, say it like "Ka-Noots," but then spell it "K-N-U-T-Z" even if they don't ask you to.
• When you get called, chances are it will be someone other than whoever answered the phone.  Make sure you make a big deal out of him/her mispronouncing it.
• Tell them your party is twice as large as it is, and the others are still coming.  Sit separated from each other as if the others will show up soon.  When you order deny you ever mentioned your party was larger.
• Have your entire party bring handkerchiefs.  Cough, sneeze and wheeze into them, pretending to fill the entire waiting room with germs.

Ordering

Chances are, your waitress/waiter is used to quirky people.  That's why you have to take it up a notch.

• When ordering drinks, make sure you express a lot of interest in the soup du jour.  Ask the waiter about every ingredient and act as if you are savoring it.  When ordering the food, forget all about it.  Ignore the waiter when he mentions it.
• When the drinks come, switch orders with your party.  Pretend that you ordered the iced tea and your friend next to you ordered the Coke.  Make sure you make the waiter do all the switching of glasses.
• Try to see if you can order an entree as an appetizer.  Insist on it.  When it comes, wait for everyone else's entree to come before eating.
• Insist on seeing the dessert tray before you order an entree, even if the restaurant doesn't have one.
• If there are a lot of people in your party, have one person order something and have everyone else, one by one, say they'll have what he's having.  Each time, he'll have to make a new number on his pad.  Likely, the waiter will have to check if they can serve that many of a particular entree.  Even if he comes back to say it's okay, have the first person change his order and, one by one, have everyone else change their order to that entree.
• Try to use coupons for fast food restaurants (for things your restaurant has), like free coffee or medium soda.

At the Table

Sometimes food can still be a long way off at this point.  Try to see how much you can get away with without being kicked out.

• Everyone fall asleep at the table.
• Go through all of the bread in the shortest amount of time possible and keep asking for more.
• Play the Left-or-Right game with waiters and waitresses carrying trays of plates and meals.  Basically, walk through the aisles aimlessly until you and the waitress are walking toward each other.  Try to block her path by figuring out which side she means to pass you on, and then walk towards that side.  Then switch simultaneously with her.  See how long this can go on.
• Take out McDonald's Happy Meal toys and play with them at the table.
• Be loud and obnoxious until the manager comes out.
• Light stuff on fire with the candle at your table.
• Play sword fights with the bread sticks.
• Have one member of your party change into a grim reaper costume in the bathroom.  When he comes back, have him stand behind another member of your party for as long as possible.  Have everyone ignore him completely.  Either stay there for the remainder of the meal and exit with the rest of the party, or have a watch alarm go off and walk out alone.
• Transform the table into a mobile office.  Do your best to bring laptops, land line phones, a cork board with papers and pictures tacked on to act as a cubicle wall, pen cups, staplers and as much other stuff you can think of.
• Take out food you brought with you and start eating it.

Eating

Here is what you've been waiting for.  Hopefully, you haven't completely filled up on bread.

• Make "OMNOMNOM" noises as you eat.
• Ask for extra napkins (if paper napkins).  Hide them when you get them (most restaurants give you hundreds to begin with) and ask for more.
• Treat your non-paper napkins like tissues.  Blow into them very loudly.
• If you are a man, ask for the ladies' room.  For a woman, ask for the men's room.  Do not make it seem like you are asking for someone else.  Then, go to the correct room (they're usually near each other anyway).
• Take a blender from out of your bag, find an outlet, and puree your food.
• Wear rubber gloves while eating.
• Drop anything you can find at your table into your drink.
• Count every french fry and complain that "there are only 56 fries.  Last time you gave me 61."
• Don't eat any of your food, have it wrapped, and have the waiter send compliments to the chef.

Paying and Tipping

The waiter and management thinks this is their big payoff, but it's actually your big payoff.

• Sign your name as something goofy on the check.
• Doodle all over the merchant's copy of the receipt.
• Tell your waiter the mints were the best part of your meal.
• Instead of the pen they provided, use a pink pen.
• Better yet, use red ink and mark the check with a circled "C+," noting all the poor quality foods on the check itself, and marking "good improvement" on the bottom.
• Leave the waiter grocery store coupons for tips.
• Leave the waiter a gift card for the restaurant you are at, if they have one.

The Exit Prank

Only do this once you are ready to leave.  I'd advise against actually doing this because the ensuing chaos could be dangerous and I am pretty sure it is breaking some law.

Disperse your party amongst the restaurant's empty tables.  Before any of the wait staff realize this, walk a few steps into the kitchen so that you cannot be seen by anyone.  Count to five slowly in your head, and once you have reached five, come out and scream "Someone has poisoned the soup!" at the top of your lungs.  At this cue, have everyone else in your party scream and run towards the exit.  Hopefully, the entire restaurant will do the same.

This is my most epic post ever

I thought I'd share this appetizer because it's very easy and impressive and it's perfect for late summer dinner parties. Just slice and roast some eggplant, squash, and zucchini, and layer it with slices of fresh mozzarella and tomato. A rosemary spring holds the whole thing together and makes the whole thing look very festive. In this example I spread homemade pesto in between some of the layers, and piped pesto dots onto the plate. Alternatively, a drizzle of balsamic reduction underneath the vegetable tower gives it a dramatic flair.

They expect every restaurant to be packed every night during ARW, so make some reservations stat! (Walk-ins are accepted, but reservations are strongly recommended)

Austin Restaurant Week Participating Restaurants:

A cube of crusty French country bread topped with an olive oil-drenched roasted garlic clove, a demi-cherry tomato and a freshly picked tarragon leaf from my window sill.

Finally, it all makes sense... live to taste, taste to live. Little simple bites of splendor before a meal, or just comme ça, disappear in my mouth which turns into a satisfied smile. Get creative, search the cupboards and the fridge... here is the beginning of one early evening in July..

the bread

Bastien and I ride our bikes to a nearby organic market once every fortnight and buy this bread from a lady who grows her wheat, grinds it into flour, kneads it with water and yeast into dough, and cooks it in a wood burning old stone oven. Needless to say, it's good bread.

the roasted garlic

When you cook something in the oven for 20 minutes or more, throw a few cloves of garlic (unpeeled) on a dish, sprinkle with olive oil, and let them roast until soft. Afterwards, you can peel them and eat them whole, or spread the garlic paste on bread...mix into pasta...etc... They also refrigerate well. There are often people who sell just garlic at the street markets here, so my garlic is always from one of these local farmers

the recipe for tarragon-topped roasted-garlic appetizer:

Slice some French bread into thick cubes. Drizzle with just a splash of olive oil. Top with a clove of roasted garlic (as explained above) and half of a cherry tomato on a toothpick. Wrap a tarragon leaf around the toothpick and serve.

A local sweet cherry tomato opens to a dab of goat's cheese, a twinkle of black olive tapenade, and a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar.

on eating local:

I'm happy to see that eating local is in recently. It's the theme of a number of posts online. It's the "challenge" on many food aficionado blogs. Most of my dishes are partly, mostly, or completely local, and usually organic, officially or not. Here, the bread, garlic, tomato, tarragon, goat's cheese, and cucumber are local. Look out soon for a post on the local products that I'm lucky enough to bring home on my bike.

Mini sake martinis refresh the palette

recipe for mini sake martinis:

Freeze small shot glasses. Thinly slice a cucumber into rounds and fill with goat's cheese or cottage cheese. Roll and stab onto a toothpick with a green olive. Pour the cold sake (Japanese rice wine) into the ice-cold glasses, top with garnish, and serve immediately.

Combine all ingredients and chill about 2 hours. Serve with your favorite dippers to your favorite people.

Go ahead and layer everything in order in a shallow serving dish.  Traditionally people use Black Olives as a layer too but I can't stand them so I use tomatoes instead or just omit the tomatoes and have a six layer dip instead!

Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin cups lightly with Pam.

Divide broccoli evenly among muffin cups. Crumble one strip of bacon into each. Divide shredded cheese evenly among muffin cups. With a fork or your fingers, mix the veggie, bacon and cheese a little, so they don’t end up in layers when your quiche is done.

In large mixing bowl, beat eggs well. Add heavy cream and mix well. Stir in seasonings. Pour mixture evenly into muffin cups. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Mini-quiches are done when knife inserted into middle comes out clean.

(Note: these will puff up a lot in the oven, then shrink back down as they cool. Perfectly normal.)

Now for one of the worst pictures to appear on my blog (granted, the screen has totally died on our camera, so I'm shooting rather blindly):

Crowder Pea Hummus, adapted from this recipe

2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 small or one large clove garlic
3-4 cups crowder peas, simmered about 30 minutes until tender
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8-1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/8-1/4 cup cold water
Salt and pepper to taste

Strip rosemary leaves from stems, discard stems, and place leaves in the bowl of a food processor. Add garlic and pulse until finely chopped. Pour in the peas and a little water; process until evenly blended.
With food processor running, slowly pour in the olive oil, scraping sides of the bowl as necessary. Pour in balsamic vinegar and process until evenly blended. Taste, and add more vinegar, 1 tablespoon at a time, as desired. Pour in the water and process to make a spreadable consistency. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if necessary. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill before serving.

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Place a slice of pepperoni in each of 24 greased miniature muffin cups. Fill muffin cups three-fourths full with cheese mixture.
Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Carefully run a knife around edges of muffin cups to loosen. Serve warm. Yield: 2 dozen.

Read Reviews (52)

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PREP TIME	25 Min
COOK TIME	10 Min
READY IN	35 Min
Original recipe yield 38 meatballs

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 3 pounds ground beef
• 2 (1 ounce) packages dry onion soup mix
• 3 slices white bread
• 2 tablespoons half-and-half
• 1 (28 ounce) bottle ketchup
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Remove the crusts from the white bread and tear into small bread crumbs. In a medium size mixing bowl, combine beef, soup mix, white bread crumbs and half-and-half cream. Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and arrange in 9x13 inch baking dishes (as many baking dishes as it takes or bake the meatballs in shifts).
3. Bake 10 to 15 minutes; or until browned.
4. In a slow cooker with the temperature set to high, mix together ketchup, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Cook until the mixture comes to a boil, then reduce temperature to low until you are ready to serve the meatballs.
5. Place the meatballs in the sauce and serve.

~Lewis Grizzard

This zesty tomato-tamarind rasam is thanks to my friends Kiran and Ranjit. Last weekend they dropped in for the evening and brought a bag of luscious homegrown tomatoes. What a nice surprise! I love tomatoes. As I was putting the bag in the fridge, somewhere at the back of my mind I tucked in a thought that I was going to make tomato-tamarind rasam out of them.

This rasam is generally had as an appetizer and what an appetizer it is! Unlike some other appetizers/soups which are heavy and tend to make you full, this rasam is light, warm, full of flavor and will surely satisfy your taste buds. Doctors and health magazines say tomatoes are rich in Vitamins A, C, B-Complex, potassium, flavonoids, and have anti-carcinogenic properties. They also seems to have this thing called Lycopene which supposedly keeps you young and all that. Well, all this sounds really good so keep eating tomatoes!

[caption id="attachment_187" align="aligncenter" width="573" caption="Zesty tomato-tamarind rasam: thanks to Kiran and Ranjit"][/caption]

6 medium size tomatoes

fresh tamarind/imli  (1 x 1 inch)

1/3 tea spoon rasam powder

1/4 tea spoon crushed black pepper

jaggery/gud/goL (1 x 1 inch)

1.5 teaspoon salt

1 sprig curry leaves/kadhi patta/mitho limdo

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves/cilantro/hara dhaniya

For vaghar: 1 tsp butter/ghee, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, 2 whole red chilies

1. Blend the tomatoes in a blender with 1 cup of water and strain the liquid. Boil the strained tomato juice over medium heat for about 7-8 minutes.

2. Soak tamarind in 1/4 cup of water for a few minutes, softly crush it with your fingers and extract the water and strain the liquid. Now Add the tamarind water, rasam powder, ground black pepper and jaggery to the boiling tomato juice. Boil for 5 minutes.

3. Add salt, curry leaves and 2 cups of water. Boil for 5 more minutes on medium heat.

4. Heat ghee/butter and do a  vaghar/tadka of mustard seeds, and whole red chilies. Finally, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves/cilantro on rasam.

I chopped curry leaves/kadhi patta in small pieces but I think it's better to put just whole leaves. Also, If you don't like cumin seeds/jeera, or mustard seeds in your rasam, you can skip them.

]]> http://friendlypeople.wordpress.com/?p=73 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:40:27 +0000 friendlypeople http://friendlypeople.wordpress.com/?p=73 In a blender, puree 2 small bunches of cilantro (thick stems discarded), 1/2 peeled and sliced ginger, 1/2 cup canol oil, 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, and 2 teaspoons sesame oil.  Serve with cooked shrimp.

In a medium bowl, combine 2 cups Greek yogurt, 1 clove garlic (chopped), 1/4 c chopped walnuts, 1/4 cup chopped dill, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.  Top with additional chopped dill and walnuts.  Serve with carrots, cherry tomatoes, and blanched green beans.

I had my mind set on making an appetizer that would be portable, easy to eat, and contain some fresh summery produce.  Bam--I found it!  These squares were so easy to make!  And who can argue with a new fun way to use zucchini!  They are tasty, not too rich, and have a nice airy texture.  Though these turned out well, the next time I make them I would entertain the idea of using a 9 x 9 square pan to make thicker smaller squares (for use as an app) or thicker larger squares (for use as a side dish).  The mixture seemed a little bit on the scarce side for a 9 x 13.  I would also increase the 1/2 cup of cheese to a full cup.    

Zucchini Squares:

Lightly grease a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish. (Cooking spray works fine here.) Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Pour mixture into dish. Bake at 350° for about 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool and cut into squares.  Can be served as an appetizer or side dish.

Original recipe found here on About.com.

Tomato Herb Flatbread

Ingredients:

For the dough:

½ tsp. sugar

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

½ cup warm water (about 110°)

1 ½ tsp. instant yeast

For the topping:

extra virgin olive oil

garlic salt

pepper

dried marjoram

dried parsley

dried oregano

tomatoes, sliced 1/8”-thick

4 large basil leaves, minced

1 rosemary skewer, finely minced

freshly grated Parmesan

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the sugar, flour and salt.  In a liquid measuring cup, combine the warm water and yeast.  Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly pour the liquid into the dry ingredients.  Once the dough has formed, allow the mixer to continue kneading on low speed for about 2 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic and clears the sides of the bowl.  Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turned once to cover the whole ball in oil, and cover with a clean kitchen towel.  Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours.

Punch down the dough, return to the bowl, and let rise until doubled in size a second time, about 1 hour.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500°.  Shape the dough into a rectangle on a baking stone.  Drizzle the dough lightly with olive oil and brush to cover evenly.  Sprinkle evenly with garlic salt, pepper and dried herbs to taste.  Lay sliced tomatoes evenly over the dough.  Sprinkle minced fresh herbs and grated cheese on top.  Bake until the edges of the dough are browned, about 12-15 minutes. 

Source: adapted from Good Things Catered

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the mixed vegetables, beans, onion, celery and bell pepper.
2. In a small sauce pan, combine vinegar, sugar, mustard and flour. Bring to boil, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
3. Pour dressing over vegetables and toss. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours and serve.