Appetizer
3523 recipes found
Crispy Feta With Lemon
When heat touches feta, its exterior crisps while its interior becomes surprisingly creamy and soft. Turning it into a dazzling appetizer takes very little: Dust the cheese with cornstarch and sesame seeds, sauté it in butter, then finish it with a squeeze of lemon. You can perch it atop a cracker, or eat it on its own, in awe of the sum of so few parts.
Spicy Corn Pakoras With Mango-Tamarind Chutney
Crisp and deeply seasoned, pakoras are Indian fritters that can be made from almost any vegetable. To emphasize the corn flavor here, fine cornmeal joins the more traditional chickpea flour — along with fresh corn. A ridiculously flavorful chutney, which is sweet, hot and a little sour, accompanies the dish. But a jarred version from the supermarket would certainly work in a pinch.
Borani-yeh Karafs (Celery Yogurt Dip)
Borani is an Iranian yogurt-based dish that highlights one ingredient, typically a vegetable. This one combines crisp celery with Greek yogurt for a cooling snack. Dried mint and dried dill are Iranian pantry staples and are always ready to be used in an array of dishes. Don’t think of them as substitutes for fresh herbs but as stars in their own right. You can use fresh dill, if you prefer, but the dried mint here delivers a unique flavor and fragrance not found in its fresh counterpart. The dried cranberries add texture and color, and balance the celery with a hint of sweetness. Serve this dish as a dip or dig right in with a spoon.
Buffalo Cauliflower Dip
The most negotiable part of Buffalo wings, it turns out, are the wings. Buffalo crudités can be just as crisp, Buffalo chicken dip just as tangy, and Buffalo cauliflower dip just as spicy and alluring. The whole dip — from caramelizing cauliflower to stirring together the creamy hot sauce base and baking on the generous layer of cheese — is made in one pan. You can bring the pan right to the table with dippers of choice and watch it disappear. Just because classic dishes are made a certain way — and Buffalo wings have a cult following, no doubt! — don’t be afraid to riff on them once in awhile. That's how new classics are made.
Peanut Chicken Wings
Here's a lively twist on the traditional chicken wing. Just grill or broil the wings until they're cooked through, then toss with a simple sauce of coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, fish sauce and lime juice. Return to the grill or oven until they're crisp. You might never go back to Buffalo.
Crunchy Chickpeas With Turmeric, Ginger and Pepper
Roasted chickpeas are tossed in an addictive spice combination of turmeric, ginger and black pepper. The beans are dry-roasted and then tossed in the spice-infused oil to ensure they get ample coverage. Eat these on their own as a snack or use as a topping for savory yogurt or a curry. You may want to make a double batch — they’ll go quickly.
Stuffed Mushrooms With Panko and Pecorino
These flavorful stuffed mushrooms come together quickly, which makes them great for entertaining. Crunchy panko bread crumbs, instead of the traditional sort, are combined with salty cheese, parsley and garlic, then spooned into mushroom caps and baked until crisp and golden. You can assemble them through Step 2 a few days in advance and pop them into the oven minutes before guests arrive. Pro tip: Don’t throw away the mushroom stems. Freeze them to add to your next pot of stock for unbeatable richness.
Squash Blossom Quesadillas
Blue-Potato Soup
Sweet Spiced Pecans
The spicing level is fairly forgiving on these pecans, which make a wonderful gift for the holidays or party snack. You can add more cayenne for heat or a little more sugar if you want them sweeter. The key points, though, are making sure they toast well but don't burn and using really good pecans, like Elliots from Georgia, which are stubbier and sweeter than the bigger, skinnier pecans that come from Texas and other Southwestern states (though they are delicious, too.) Ordering bulk pecans online helps keep the cost down.
Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad)
In Isan (and the rest of Thailand), green papaya salad is called som tum, with “som” meaning “sour” and “tum” referring to the pounding sound of the large pestle used to crush ingredients. It is eaten by itself as a snack, or with marinated grilled beef and chicken.
Egg Mayo
Egg mayo — or oeuf mayo, as it’s called in France — is simply hard-boiled eggs coated with seasoned mayonnaise, but it’s so beloved in France that it has a society to protect it: Association de sauvegarde de l’oeuf mayonnaise. You could season store-bought mayonnaise for this recipe from Priscilla Martel, but at least just once, you should make your own. It’ll be delicious, and you’ll feel like a magician. The dish is beautiful served plain, and tasty dressed with anchovies, capers, snipped chives or other herbs (choose one or more). It’s good as a starter, with a pouf of dressed greens, or as part of a platter of small salads (hors d’oeuvres variées), a picnic on a tray.
Maduros (Fried Sweet Plantains)
Tender in the middle and crisp at the edges, maduros, or sweet fried plantains, are served as a side dish throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Plantains change color as they ripen: They are firm when green and unripe, then soften as they turn yellow, and eventually, black. Like bananas, plantains develop more sugar as time passes. For the sweetest maduros, use blackened plantains — they have the most sugar, and will yield a more caramelized result. If you can only find yellow ones at the store, buy them in advance and be prepared to wait over a week for them to fully ripen. They’re worth it.
Vegetarian Meatballs
Seasoned with Parmesan, ricotta, fennel seeds and oregano, these meat-free Italian meatballs capture all the flavors of the classic. Cremini mushrooms and chickpeas mimic the texture of ground beef, bulgur helps bind the mixture together, and ricotta keeps it tender. The balls are rolled in a light coating of bread crumbs and Parmesan that crisps as it bakes, but if you prefer a saucy meatball, skip the coating and simply bake until firm, then simmer in marinara. Any extra coating mixture can be toasted in the oven and sprinkled over roasted veggies or creamy pastas. Leftover meatballs can be frozen and reheated in a 425-degree oven until warmed through, about 15 minutes.
Summer Squash Fritters With Garlic Dipping Sauce
David Venable, the most popular host on QVC, has a reputation for comfort food in its most cheesy, porky forms. But he is also a son of the South, and loves his summer vegetables. This recipe shows off his appreciation of both and is a delicious way to use up summer squash. It might seem daunting to peel 20 cloves of garlic, but you can make quick work of it by smashing the unpeeled cloves lightly with the side of a knife. The papery part will be easy to remove, and the cloves will still roast up mellow and soft. The resulting sauce is also excellent on sandwiches.
Caviar Potato Chips and Lemon Cream
There couldn't be anything simpler about this festive cocktail snack, in which potato chips are topped with lemon zest-infused crème fraîche and salmon roe. This dish is more about shopping than cooking. You need to get the salmon roe, available at fishmongers and specialty markets, and some good, small-batch potato chips. But once you have those, it's a snap to assemble. Do so at the last minute so the chips stay nice and crisp.
Sour Cream and Roasted Red Onion Dip
Here’s how to make onion dip without standing near the stove for an eternity, waiting for onions to caramelize: Roast rings of onion in the oven with the teeniest bit of sugar for 40 minutes for effortlessly faux-caramelized onions. Red onions are naturally a bit sweeter and mellower than white ones, especially when they get brown and slouchy, but lemon juice, chives and raw garlic will perk them right up. The creaminess — what we’re here for — comes from three sources: sour cream, mayonnaise and Greek yogurt, a nice counter to the crisp potato chips you'll, of course, serve it with.
Mango-Avocado Salad With Lime Vinaigrette
Inspired by Vietnamese green papaya salad, this salad stars ripe, juicy mangoes and dresses them in the classic punchy lime-fish sauce dressing. Tender torn greens, crunchy sweet snap peas and creamy avocado round out this dish with both crispy and creamy bites. The cooling salad is the perfect side to accompany grilled or roasted fish, chicken, or steak. If mangoes are unavailable, tomatoes or sweet stone fruit like peaches are tasty options.
Spinach and Pea Fritters
As a vegetable-forward weeknight meal, these spinach fritters have it all: sweet peas, gooey cheese and crispy bits. Made from thawed, frozen peas and spinach, the work is minimal. If you’d like to use fresh peas and spinach, you’ll need to quickly blanch and drain them first. Fresh mozzarella adds a pleasant creaminess, but goat cheese or feta would work, too. Serve these over quinoa or rice, or top with a poached or fried egg for brunch.
Green Pea Guacamole
Adding fresh English peas to what is an otherwise fairly traditional guacamole is one of those radical moves that is also completely obvious after you taste it. The peas add intense sweetness and a chunky texture to the dip, making it more substantial on the chip. They also intensify the color of the green avocado — and help the guacamole stay that way. Pea guacamole keeps its bright hue in the fridge for a few days without turning brown around the edges. A good dose of lime juice helps this cause. This dish, a collaboration between ABC Cocina’s chef-owner, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and his chef de cuisine, Ian Coogan, is the best kind of greenmarket tweak upon a classic.
Slow-Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes With Fresh Thyme
Like any other tomato recipe, this dish lives or dies with the perfectly ripened tomato. Commercial growers breed for size, shape and hardiness of shipping, but you should put your emphasis on taste rather than appearance. I'm a willing taker for tomatoes that are not so stunning-looking because I know how good they taste.''
Dickie's Canapes
Celery-Leek Soup With Potato and Parsley
This celery-forward soup is in essence a potato-leek soup that substitutes most of the potatoes with brighter celery, and skips the vast quantities of cream in the original, resulting in a lighter flavor and texture. Woodsy herbs like thyme and bay leaves, and fresh, raw parsley give the soup its intensely green, almost grassy taste. It’s worth trying the soup without dairy, then admiring the transformative effect of a splash of crème fraîche or cream, which subdues the louder celery notes.
Tomato-Green Bean Salad With Chickpeas, Feta and Dill
This is a perfect salad for summer, when the market is chockablock with great produce. Use whatever tomatoes are sweetest, and feel free to add yellow wax beans or romano beans in addition to green beans. If your market has fresh shelling beans, use those instead of chickpeas. Plan ahead to soak dried chickpeas overnight. With a soak, they only take an hour to cook, and taste better than canned ones.