We had some good friends over for dinner the other night (I cooked my spicy-crusted catfish with collard greens) and wanted to make a couple of easy, yet elegant looking appetizers we could enjoy with drinks while dinner finished cooking. And of course, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money!
When choosing what kind of appetizers I’m going to make, there’s a couple of things I consider before deciding what they will be. First of all, it has to be something I can make ahead of time and be ready to pop out of the oven or fridge when our guests arrive. I also look at what type of food and how filling it is that I’m serving for dinner…if it’s lighter fare for dinner, I’ll go heavier with the apps. And if I’m serving heartier food for our main course, I go lighter on the appetizers. Price is a major factor too…I look at recipes that use ingredients that are on sale that week.
The first appetizer I decided on is something I make every summer. It’s super quick, easy to prepare and can be presented in many different ways.
Mini Caprese Bites is my number one “go to” appetizer for all our summer entertaining. You can use cherub or grape tomatoes (I use whatever’s on sale that week) for this. Cherubs were on sale for $2.99 (for 10.5 oz) so that’s what I used. I picked up mozzarella cheese balls from King Soopers (Galbani Mozzarella Fresca Perline-which is pearl sized balls) for $5.29 (for an 8 oz container). The mozzarella balls come in different sizes-I chose the pearl size because I planned on using them for some other recipes but you can also use small ones and cut them into thirds or just buy mozzarella and cut into 1/2 inch cubes…whatever’s on sale is how I determine what I’m using….and $5.29 might sound like a lot for 8 ounces but there’s over 100 balls in the container so it literally costs about 5 cents per ball. I made 5 bites per person which ended up costing me about $3.00 for this appetizer (for 4 people).
Here’s the recipe that I’ve been using for years and just alter based on how many people we’re having over. This comes from Southern Living magazine (May 2008).
MINI CAPRESE BITES-
You can serve these mini tomato and mozzarella skewers in individual glasses as an appetizer at a seated dinner party, or arrange on a platter for your buffet. Gluten free.
Yield: Makes about 8 appetizer servings
Prep Time: About 15-20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 pt. grape tomatoes, halved
- 10 to 14 fresh small mozzarella cheese balls, but into thirds*
- 32 (4-inch) wooden skewers**
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 6 thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Thread 1 tomato half, 1 piece of cheese, and another tomato half onto each skewer. Place skewers in a shallow serving dish.
Whisk together oil and next 3 ingredients. Drizzle oil mixture over skewers; sprinkle with basil and salt and pepper to taste.
* (8-oz.) package fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2 inch cubes or pearl sized balls, may be substituted)
** Wooden pick may be substituted.
For my second appetizer I wanted to do something a little “fancier”, using shrimp (that was on sale). Because these were more filling and expensive, I decided to make 2 per person….with the caprese bites this was a perfect amount of appetizers for the four of us. You can adjust the shrimp and cucumber amounts, depending on how many you want to make. I bought extra-large raw shrimp that was on sale for $6.99 lb from the seafood counter and just asked for eight shrimp so it was 37 cents for each shrimp I used. The sour cream and cream cheese were both on sale for $1.00 each so for 2 appetizers each, for 4 people, this cost me approximately $5.25. Worth it because this was a “special” dinner for our friends Karen and Troy (also our neighbors, who are moving….I can’t imagine not having them next door and seeing Karen everyday!)
This recipe calls for the shrimp to be poached. If you haven’t poached before, it’s easy! If you wanted, you could use shrimp already cooked, but you won’t have as much flavor. My son showed me how to make these cucumber cups (he works at The Cliff House as a cook so he’s taught me quite a few recipes and tips). You could also put other types of meats or seafood on these cups, like a sliver of roast beef or a scallop on these.
SHRIMP IN CUCUMBER CUPS
This makes 8 cucumber cups…you will have some cucumber and dip left over, which you can eat together without the shrimp if you want. The dip is also good with raw veggies like carrots or celery. I got the recipe for the dip from Southern Living magazine (May 2012). The poached shrimp recipe also came from the same article, but my son and husband had also told me how to poach the shrimp….it’s a pretty standard way to poach shrimp.
Ingredients:
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/8 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp fresh dill
- 2 tsp green onion, chopped (use the green part, not the white)
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/8 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 English cucumber
- 8 poached shrimp
Preparation:
Stir together the softened cream cheese, sour cream, dill, chopped fresh green onion, fresh lemon juice and salt. Cut cucumbers into 8 rounds (about 3/4-inch-thick). Scoop seeds from centers of cucumber rounds, using a melon baller or small spoon. Fill cucumber cups with cream cheese mixture; top each with 1 peeled poached shrimp. Garnish if desired with fresh dill sprigs.
Gluten free version – check labels on cream cheese and sour cream.
POACHED SHRIMP:
Ingredients:
- Ice
- Water (to fill a dutch oven)
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp salt
- 8 unpeeled, large raw shrimp
Preparation:
Fill a large bowl halfway with ice and water. Fill a Dutch oven with water and squeeze the juice from the lemon in. Add the lemon halves, black peppercorns, bay leaves and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, add shrimp. Cover and let stand 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Pour the shrimp into the ice water and let stand 10 minutes. Peel and devein shrimp.
Two easy, fairly inexpensive, yet impressive looking appetizers….great for when you have company over or for when you’re asked to bring an appetizer to an event. You can make both of these earlier in the day and simply pull them out when ready to serve.
And if you’ve watched any of our cooking videos, you know how much I love growing my own herbs. Because I grow my own dill and basil, these actually cost me less to make than the prices I gave earlier.