Category: appetizer

Turkey & Zucchini Burgers

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The other day the sun was shining, so we wanted to make something to go on the barbecue.  We ended up frying these turkey burgers on the stove-top because we wondered if they would hold together on the grill.  In retrospect, after we let them sit while waiting to cook them, they ended up holding together quite well.  I would recommend oiling the grill really well if you’re going to barbecue them. The original recipe, in Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenhi, says you can get 18 burgers out of this recipe.  When he says burgers, he means tiny little meatballs 9which would probably make a great appetizer).  If you are making a real burger, the kind with the regular-sized bun, you can make more like 4-6 patties.

Now, about the taste – so good! So juicy! And healthier than a lot of other barbecue options. The sumac and sour cream sauce is excellent.  The original recipe doesn’t have green onions in it, but I had a happy accident when I added the green onions meant for the burgers to my sauce instead.  So feel free to make the sauce with or without green onions.   I also used only yogurt in my sauce; use 1/2 cup sour cream and 2/3 cup yogurt if you want to follow Ottolenghi’s recipe.

What you need for the burger:

500 grams ground turkey

about 2 cups coarsely grated zucchini

3 thinly sliced green onions

1 large egg

2 tablespoons chopped mint

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

sunflower or vegetable oil for frying (unless you grill)

hamburger buns of your choice; I used focaccia buns

What you need for the sour cream and sumac sauce:

1 cup Greek yogurt (just strained some of my homemade yogurt)

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1 & 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sumac

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

2 green onions, chopped (optional)

What you do for the sauce:

1. Mix all the ingredients together and set aside until needed, refrigerating if it’s going to be a while before you use it.

What you do for the burgers:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the meat patties, except for the oil for frying.  Mix with your hands and form into patties.

2. If you are pan-frying, preheat the oven to 425F. Pour a little oil into the pan, heat over medium until hot, then add the patties. Sear each side until it is nice and brown, then put the pan into the oven (or on another surface if your pan can’t go into the oven) and let them bake for 5-7 minutes.  In the meantime you can be toasting your buns, if you wish.

3. Serve with some of the sauce on top, and a salad on the side. Some options are found here and here.

Check out this posting if you want to see how to re-grow your green onions.

Mexican “Mother” Sauce – salsa fresca

salsa fresca - trust in kim

I’ve made the classic salsa fresca, or pico de gallo, many times before. This recipe is very similar, but I got it from a cooking class I took at Altamira Restaurant in Tulum, Mexico with chef Eric Fischer.  He called it the Mexican Mother Sauce, because it goes with everything. The thing I learned about salsa fresca from his class was that you don’t use the tomato seeds; not a big deal, but ends up being way less watery that way.

What you need:

100 grams tomato, diced, without seeds

50 grams sweet white onion, diced

5 grams cilantro, chopped

50 ml lime juice

2 grams serrano chili, finely minced

a large pinch each of salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Put everything in a bowl and stir it up.  Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate until you use it.

Serve with tortilla chips, or on the side of a meal with beans and rice.

Zucchini Linguini and Pesto

zucchini linguini and pesto - trust in kim

This one’s a raw recipe, excellent for using zucchini that will be coming up in your garden soon. It’s fresh and delicious, and really easy to make.  I serve it cold, but you could cook the zucchini in a little olive oil if you prefer.

What you need:

a young zucchini

1/4 cup very lightly toasted pine nuts

3/4 – 1 cup basil

1/2 clove of garlic

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan (I use lactose-free l’Ancetre brand)

olive oil

salt

What you do:

1.  Toast your pine nuts very lightly; you still want them to be creamy when you puree them.

2. Place the pine nuts, basil,  and garlic and a bit of salt in the food processor and add as much olive oil  as you need to make it smooth.  Then add the parmesan and give it one last whirl.  Add a bit more olive oil if you think it needs to be a little thinner.  Taste it and see if you need to add a little more salt. (You could also do this with by hand with a mortar and pestle.) This recipe makes enough pesto that you can save it for a pasta recipe, or freeze some for later.

3. Julienne the zucchini.  I don’t use the very inner part of the zucchini because it doesn’t hold together very well, so I just peel the whole thing with my julienne tool (see photo below).

4. Arrange the julienned zucchini on a plate and top it with some pesto, and you’re ready to dig in!

julienne peeler - trust in kim

julienne tool from Kuhn Rikon

 

Parmesan Rosemary Savoury Shortbread

trust in kim - parmesan rosemary savoury shortbread

I was looking for something to bring to a friend’s house to complement a glass of wine, and came across this tasty recipe.  Unfortunately I didn’t know that this new friend was celiac, so she couldn’t eat any.  So even though I seemed a little insensitive, the others who got to eat the leftovers were more than pleased to eat them up.

This is an Ina Garten/Barefoot Contessa recipe, with only a few little changes.  I used rosemary instead of thyme, so feel free to substitute thyme if you wish. I also added some fleur de sel on top of the crackers, but if you need to have lower sodium content you can leave it out.

You need to refrigerate the dough for a little while, so it works great to make it a day or two in advance, then pull it out and bake it so you have some freshly baked crackers.

What you need:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (or add less salt)

1 cup freshly grated parmesan

1 – 1 & 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 & 1/4 cups flour

What you do:

1. Cream the butter.  Mix in the parmesan, rosemary, salt and pepper on low speed.

2. Add the flour on low speed, mixing for one minute. You might need to add a teaspoon of water to hold it together a bit, but it will still be a bit of a crumbly mixture.

3. Turn the mixture out onto your counter top and knead it together, then form it into a 9 inch log.  Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or up to 4 days.

4. Preheat the oven to 350F, then cut the log into slices about 1 cm thick with a small sharp knife.

5. Place the slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet and top each slice with a little fleur de sel.  Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until they are just slightly browned.

6. Remove the shortbread from the pan and let them cool on a cooling rack.  Keep any spares in an airtight container.

Scrumptiously Stuffed Mushroom Caps

stuffed mushroom caps - trust in kim

I can’t remember ever making stuffed mushroom caps before, but the other day someone in the grocery store-bought all these fabulous mushrooms to make an appetizer, and that got me thinking.  I love mushrooms, and there are so many fabulous things I could combine them with.  So, for a party I was planning, I made up this recipe.  I used faux cream cheese, but you could use the real thing if you prefer.  Likewise, feel free to substitute faux cheese for the parmesan.

I baked and served mine in this antique mini-muffin pan, but you can use any kind of oven-proof dish that you have.

What you need:

about 32 button mushrooms; try to choose larger ones

1- 255 gram bag of spinach

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

8 slices bacon

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

1/3 cup cream cheese/soy cream cheese

3 scallions

juice of 1/4 lemon

What you do:

1. Heat a frying pan, add a little water and let the spinach wilt, using tongs to move it around.  When the spinach has wilted, put it in a colander to drain.  Squeeze the liquid out once it has cooled, then chop it finely.

2. Fry the bacon until it is a little crispy and drain on paper towels. Chop it finely when it has cooled.

3. Clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth and remove the stems, then cut a little of the mushroom away to make room for the filling. Finely chop the mushroom bits and stems.

3. Remove the bacon fat from the frying pan and throw in a little olive oil, then the mushroom bits.  Fry until the mushroom shrinks, then add the garlic and cook for a few minutes.

4. Remove the mushrooms from the heat and put them in a bowl where you will add the spinach, bacon, grated cheese and bread crumbs and mix it all together. Add some salt and pepper

5. Chop the scallions finely, then mix them with the cream cheese, lemon and a little salt.  Scoop a little of this into each mushroom cap.  Add about a tablespoonful of the spinach mixture, mounding it on top of the mushroom and pressing down.

6. You can make these an hour or two ahead of time, then pop them in a 350F oven for about 20 minutes, watching them for the last few minutes to make sure they don’t brown too much.

Serve them after they’ve rested for a few minutes; the mushroom is really hot when it first comes out of the oven. Enjoy!

Pickle Skewers

pickle skewers - trust in kim

Here’s a yummy, pretty and easy party appetizer.  There’s a mixture of sweet and salty pickles and olives, and a sweet grape to finish it off.

What you need:

pitted olives

sweet pickled onions

dill pickles, sliced into rounds

sweet grapes

wooden skewers

What you do:

Skewer everything starting with the grape.  That way the last flavour will be  sweet one.

Mushroom Ravioli and Grilled Zucchini Appetizer

 

Here’s a super easy appetizer; you just need to be able to find some great mushroom pasta for this.

What you need:

mushroom ravioli

one small zucchini

olive oil

finely grated parmesan

salt and pepper

large toothpicks or small skewere

What you do:

1. Boil water for the pasta and grate the cheese.  Slice the zucchini thinly.

2. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan.  Fry the zucchini until both sides are slightly browned; alternatively, you can grill them on the barbecue after brushing with olive oil.

3. Cook the pasta, then skewer each ravioli along with one slice of cooked zucchini.

4.  Arrange the skewered pasta and zucchini on a platter and drizzle with a little olive oil.  Sprinkle with Parmesan and salt and pepper.

Leek, Prosciutto and Gruyere Toasts

 

I made this yummy appetizer for my mom’s birthday, and it was a big hit.  I used the leek recipe from here, but then changed the recipe a bit by adding the prosciutto and switching the brie for gruyere.  The brie would be amazing on these, but we already had one appy using it, so I wanted to use a different cheese.

You can make the leek part ahead of time, and then make them up just before you need to serve them.

What you need:

3 tablespoons butter

6 cups leeks, sliced thinly

2/3 cup whipping cream

1/3 cup parmesan

salt and pepper

100 grams or so of prosciutto

grated Gruyère cheese (or pieces of Brie)

1 loaf sourdough baguette (Terra Bread makes a great one)

What you do:

1. Heat the butter in a frying pan, then add the leeks.  Cook for about 15 minutes, until they are soft, but not browned.

2. Add the cream and bring it to a boil, then cook for about 2 minutes. Stir in the parmesan, salt and pepper.

3. Slice the bread in half lengthwise and put it on a baking sheet.  Spread the leek mixture onto the bread.

4.  Put some prosciutto on the bread, then top with some grated cheese.

5. Bake at about 400F for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbling a little.

6.  Slice the bread and serve right away.

Another Beautiful Veggie Platter

 

I’ve posted once before about making a veggie platter, but I thought I’d do another, since this one features an idea from my friend I-Wen, her pepper bowls.  You just cut the tops off of some bell peppers and use them for bowls for the dip and other veggies.  This one also has some edible flowers on it; they look pretty, but I tasted them just to see what they were like, and I can’t say I thought they tasted very good.  But they are safe to put on your platter, in case anyone does want to try them.

What you need:

several large bell peppers, in a variety of colours, preferably with flatter bottoms so they can stand)

assorted veggies, such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and more peppers (I never buy the pre-cut mini carrots because I find they don’t taste like much, and I’ve heard that they rinse them in bleach to keep them from turning white)

radishes with greens still on

edible flowers, such as chrysanthemum, violet, snapdragon, or marigold (I found a package at a produce store)

your favourite dip

a large platter

What you do:

1. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds.  If you need to, cut a little off the bottom of the peppers so they are level and can stand up.

2. Cut the other veggies and put some of them into the pepper bowls; I found carrot and pepper sticks work best for this.

3. Fill one of the peppers with your favourite dip, and put a small spoon in it for serving.

4. Arrange the veggies around the platter, and put a few flowers on top.  Keep some veggies on hand to refill the platter as parts of it get eaten up.

So pretty you almost don’t want to eat it!

Awesome Ouzo Prawns

For my mom’s 70th birthday party last weekend we made many appetizers, but I think this was my favourite.  The sauce is really yummy, and the prawns were so fresh and huge that they popped when bitten into.  Even if you don’t like ouzo, you’ll probably still like these, as the anise taste is quite subtle.

I served these as an appy, so I just put a toothpick in each one.  They would also work great on pasta.  Mmmm, makes me want to make them again!

What you need:

about 1lb fresh prawns, cleaned and shells removed

3 tablespoons butter

1 clove garlic, finely diced

1/3 cup cream

1/4 cup ouzo or sambuca

salt and pepper

What you do:

1.  Cook the garlic in the butter for a minute or so, but make sure the garlic doesn’t brown.

2.  Add the cream and cook for a few minutes, stirring, until it has thickened up a bit.  Add some salt and pepper.

3.  Now you have two options:  you can either add the ouzo to the cream and cook it off, then cook the prawns, which is the way I did it.  Or,  you can cook the prawns, then add the ouzo to them and set a flame to them, then add the cream mixture.

4.  If you chose the adding the ouzo to the cream choice, you may now heat some butter in a large frying pan, add the prawns and cook on each side only until they turn pink.  Over-cooking will turn them into tough, unpleasant things.  Once they are cooked, add the cream and ouzo sauce, give it a good stir, and serve.