Small bites
Be ready for parties or drop-in guests with easy-to-prepare finger foods
With everything on your to-do list during this time of year, don’t let the need to produce a festive snack add to your stress level. What you need are some incredibly easy appetizer recipes.
None of these involve complicated techniques — we’re talking a little slicing, spreading, stirring and pouring.
Some of these recipes may take a little more time to prepare than others. For example, the spicy maple bacon takes about 20 minutes, but during much of that time you can attend to something else, like finalizing your travel plans to Florida.
In addition, these recipes have five ingredients or less, and one has only two ingredients. There’s just a teensy bit of cheating in that some ingredients are prepared foods, like pesto. But I’m not going to pile on more stress by being a stickler about homemade everything, and neither should you.
I’m sure no one will judge you if you show up to your office get-together with a supermarket veggie platter or a bucket of chicken wings. Everyone loves to eat those. But with these simple, short recipes you can offer a homemade taste while maintaining your holiday sanity.
CLASSIC CHEESE
PLATE: Follow this formula: two cheeses — one soft (like goat cheese or brie) and one hard (try Manchego or Asiago). Offer bread or crackers for the third element, then add two of any of these items: olives, fresh or dried fruit, nuts (spiced or candied if you have them), honey or alreadysliced salty cured meats, like salami or prosciutto. Arrange artfully on your nicest wooden cutting board with appropriate serving knives or spoons and call it a day.
CROSTINI: Start with a fresh baguette cut into quarter- to half-inch thick slices as ingredient number one; if you have a few extra minutes, toast the slices. Top with your favorite two- to fouringredient combinations,
such as: cranberry chutney or fig jam with blue cheese; Manchego and Serrano ham; roast beef and brie; butter topped with thinly sliced radishes and sea salt; and deli chicken or egg salad topped with chopped chives.
DIPS: Surely, you’ve heard of the (in) famous-yet-delicious two-ingredient queso dip of processed cheese and spicy canned tomatoes nuked in a microwave until creamy. A guaranteed crowd pleaser, but it’s not the only quick dip made with few fixings. Mix vanilla Greek yogurt with honey and a splash of lemon and serve with sliced apples. Or stir taco seasoning into plain Greek yogurt and serve with corn chips or carrots. TORTILLAS: You can do a million snacky things with tortillas. There’s the classic smoked salmon roll: Spread a spinach tortilla with a thin schmear of herbed cream cheese — make sure to spread to the edges. Layer smoked salmon along one edge of the tortilla, sprinkle with chopped fresh dill and top with red onion slices. Starting with the salmon side, roll the tortilla up tightly, then slice into ½-inch portions. Refrigerate until serving. Variations: You may switch out the onion for capers, chopped tomatoes or avocado.
Other tortilla pinwheel combos include cream cheese, apricot jam and pre-shredded carrots, or a take on a muffuletta with ham, salami, provolone and store-bought olive tapenade.
You can also use tortillas as bases for flatbreads by topping them with brie and pear or your favorite pizza ingredients. Or get creative with quesadillas. Try these pesto sausage quesadillas, which were a bare fridge innovation. Spread about a tablespoon of pesto on a tortilla. Sprinkle crumbled cooked hot Italian sausage on the pesto, then add a layer of mozzarella and thinly sliced red onion on top. Place the tortilla on a medium hot skillet or griddle; cook until the cheese is melted. Fold one side of the tortilla over, then transfer to a cutting board. After the quesadilla has cooled a minute or two, slice and serve hot with warmed marinara sauce.
Other ideas for quesadillas: try unusual cheeses; add bacon and/ or avocado; lean sweet with fruit and chocolate hazelnut spread; or go all in on Elvis by grilling up a peanut butter, banana and bacon quesadilla.