Appetizers :: 4/5 :: Leslie Durso

Archive for Appetizers – Page 4

Mexican Wontons

By Leslie · Comments (19) · May 12th, 2010

A wonderful appetizer that everyone will love! These are super easy and very tasty! We were having people come over and I was playing with ideas to hybridize some foods and voila, Mexican wontons hatched! I hope you enjoy!

Mexican Wontons

What you’ll need:

1 package of wonton wrappers

8 oz. black beans, rinsed

8 oz. or 1 ear corn, cooked and zipped

1 tomato, diced and de-seeded

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

a handful of cilantro, chopped

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

What you’ll do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Mix all the ingredients, minus the wrappers, in a medium bowl. Lay one wrapper on a cutting board. Place a small amount of mixture on the center of the wrapper.

Wet your finger in water and run it along one corner of the wrapper. Fold the corner to the other and press down forming a triangle shape. Pull the two opposite corners together and seal with water. Place on a greased cookie sheet and repeat till the sheet is full.

Spray the top of the finished wontons with cooking spray and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until they are golden.

Serve warm with your favorite salsa.

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Comments (19)

Categories : Appetizers

Guacamole!

By Leslie · Comments (6) · May 4th, 2010

There are few things I love more in life than good guacamole! Growing up in San Diego, it became a staple in my diet very early on. So, without further adeu, here is the way I make guacamole:

Guacamole

What you'll need:

2 ripe avocados

1/4 onion, finely minced

1/2 large ripe tomato, diced into small pieces

a handful of cilantro, chopped

the juice of half a lime

a pinch of salt

What you'll do:

Place the meat of the avocados in a medium bowl and roughly mash with a fork.

Add in the onion, tomato, cilantro, lime and salt. Mix together.

That's it! I love serving it back in it's own skin. It looks cute and everyone gets and individual bowl : )

You can also get more creative, by adding cheddar cheese or roasted corn for a little something extra.

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Comments (6)

Categories : Appetizers, Dips, Ethnic: Mexican, Guacamole

This Italian gal's version of vegetarian sushi

By Leslie · Comments (16) · April 15th, 2010

So everyone loves sushi right?? Well, vegetarians, not so much. . . But I have solved that! I used all my favorite vegetables to create Italian Vegetable Sushi! I even serve it with my Italian version of soy sauce, which is not a soy sauce at all. It's so easy and so healthy and your guests will have never seen anything like it!

Leslie's Vegetarian Italian Sushi

What you'll need:

1 eggplant, sliced very thinly lengthwise, grilled and patted dry

1 red bell pepper, roasted, de-seeded, quartered and patted dry

2 handfuls of fresh spinach

3-4 fresh basil leaves

a couple pinched parmesan cheese

1/2 cup to 3/4 cup ricotta cheese, drained (click here for my homemade recipe)

For the dipping sauce:

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp. olive oil

a pinch of salt

a pinch of sugar

What you'll do:

After prepping the eggplant and pepper make sure you pat them dry. It's very important or they won't stick together properly. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter. Place your grilled cooled eggplant in a long row:

Make sure you lay your eggplant wide enough, it's better to be too wide.

Arrange the spinach and basil over the eggplant:

Next, place the peppers and the parmesan:

When placing the ricotta, do one line right down the middle:

Now for the wrapping. Lift the bottom and fold it upwards and use your fingers to form the round tube:

Careful, not to let any of the cheese fall to the outside.

After you've got your tightly wrapped tube, refrigerate for at least an hour. This can be done a day ahead. When ready, carefully remove the plastic wrap and slice in 1 1/2 slices.

For the dipping sauce, simply whisk the ingredients together!

You can serve these however you like, but I love the idea of serving then like sushi with chopsticks and the sauce in a soy sauce bowl.

Enjoy!

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Comments (16)

Categories : Appetizers, Ethnic: Mediterranean

The Tate Olives

By Leslie · Comments (2) · March 31st, 2010

After checking out St. Paul's cathedral in London, we walked over the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern Museum. There is a lovely cafe on the 7th floor. You can take in the wonderful view and enjoy the delicious food!! Including these awesome olives!

Recreating these at home:

What you'll need:

Large pitted green olives

The pulp of an orange, cut into little segments

Olive oil

Fresh cracked salt and pepper

Fresh chopped oregano

What you'll do:

Stuff the olives with the orange pulp and place in a bowl. Toss with olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. And there you go! Easy as can be and very delicious!

Here is my pumpkin soup I had that was fabulous! If you'd like a similar recipe, check mine out for butternut squash soup.

The view of St. Paul's from our table:

Comments (2)

Categories : Appetizers, Restaurant Reviews: London

Cheese for Dinner

By Leslie · Comments (4) · February 24th, 2010

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love cheese!! Well, my brother and sister in-law got us a fantastic present this past Christmas, Cheese! They sent us 3 cheeses from my favorite place, Cowgirl Creamery!

Here is the MT TAM which is sooo yummy and creamy!

I served it with some plain crackers and truffle honey!! Delicious!

xoxo

Comments (4)

Categories : Appetizers, Cheese

12. How to Prepare and Make Eggplant

By Leslie · Comments (2) · October 12th, 2009

Eggplant is one of the most used and diverse vegetables out there! Originally a native to India, eggplant is now used all over the world.

eggplant_plant Being Italian vegetarian, I love eggplant! It makes a great meat substitute in recipes! I'm going to teach you how to prep an eggplant and one of my favorite ways to cook it! This recipe is so easy and one of my favorite side dishes ever! First off, you need to salt the eggplant: Wash the eggplant and cut off the ends.

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Slice the eggplant lengthwise in about 1/4 inch slices. (I'm slicing for my recipe today, but you could also dice or slice widthwise) DSCN2123 Place the eggplant slices in a strainer and sprinkle with salt. This draws all the bitterness out of the eggplant.

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Let sit for about 30 minutes. Pat dry with a paper towel. For this recipe I'm going to grill the slices in a grill pan.

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You'll know it's done grilling when it's soft and flexible. Next place the slices on a workspace and place a slice of mozzarella cheese, basil leaf and a slice of roma tomato in the center of the eggplant and roll up the edges.

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Place the rolls on a cookie sheet and stick into the oven for a couple minutes until the cheese just starts to melt. Serve immediately. These are such tasty, healthy little treats!! DSCN2128

Eggplant is also great diced into some baked macaroni! Eggplant Parmesan and Eggplant Rollatini are some of my favorites too that you can find in previous blogs! Love eggplant rollatini? Try placing a mound of spaghetti inside before you wrap it up for a different version. One of my favorite Indian dishes is Baigan Bhartha which is a combination of smashed eggplant with tomatoes, onions and Indian spices! Super Yummy! Eggplant is also great in Mousaka, Ratatouille or just plain grilled with some garlic, parsley and olive oil.

FUN FACT: Eggplant is richer in nicotine than any other edible plant, with a concentration of 100 ng/g (or 0.01 mg/100g). However, the amount of nicotine from eggplant or any other food is negligible compared to passive smoking.^[8] On average, 20lbs (9 kg) of eggplant contains about the same amount of nicotine as a cigarette.

FUN FACT #2: Eggplant is closely related to the tomato and the potato

Comments (2)

Categories : 29 Things to Know in Your Kitchen, Appetizers, Side Dishes, Vegetables: Eggplant, Vegetables: Tomato

9. Have the ability to have people over for cocktails and serve them something that wasn ' t frozen at one point

By Leslie · Comments (1) · October 7th, 2009

So, as we are heading into adulthood. Things they are a changing! Instead of having people over for beers and delivery pizza, we have people over for cocktails and appetizers. Appetizers are super easy and a great way for people to feel wonderful and comfy at your house. Of course, what appetizers you make depend on what alcohol you are going to serve. If you are doing wine, stick to cheeses and simple apps. For cocktails, you can go a little broader with your apps. Some of my favorite appetizers are simple little bites like this:

These are so easy! Find a good cracker that you like. Top them with quince jam and brie (far left), mascarpone with a raspberry (middle), and pesto with ricotta (right). These flavors are all wonderful and make great little bites. I also make a sweeter version like this: strawberry app

This is a cracker with creme fraiche, slivered strawberries and a pinch of brown sugar. I also love doing cheese plates. Couple things to remember. Stick to 3 good cheeses. More than 3 can be too confusing. Keep it simple. Label each cheese and have a separate knife for each. When I serve cheese, I like to serve with a fruit or two and some plain crackers. Plain crackers so you don't mess with the cheese flavor. Depending on the cheese, I also like to add a dollop of honey on the plate. 3128ZQ38W2L._SL500_AA280_

These are super cute and you can find them on Amazon.

Antipasto platters also make great easy appetizers. Basically, stack a bunch of meats and marinated veggies on a platter and serve! Now of course if you are a vegetarian, you are going to stick to just veggies or do two separate plates. ss1b26_antipasti_platter_lg

Common ingredients would be: marinated mushrooms, olives, roasted peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, mozzarella, salami, and proscuitto. All these simple appetizers can come together so quickly and can make a big impact. Next time you've got friends coming over, don't feed them frozen appetizers, try some of these!

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Categories : 29 Things to Know in Your Kitchen, Appetizers

7. Cheese!

By Leslie · Comments (3) · October 5th, 2009

5 new cheeses to try! There is one thing that my girlfriends and I love…it's cheese!!! Nothing better than tasty, creamy, gooey, scrumptious cheese!!! Have you ever walked into your grocery stores gourmet cheese section and not had any idea what to buy?? Hopefully after this, you'll get some ideas! There are just so many different kinds of cheeses, cow, goat, sheep, etc. I can't possibly cover all of them, so today I'm going to focus on a couple that I love…but take a chance at the store! Give a cheese a chance!
Brie

You have probably had brie before. It's getting used more and more these days. It's a delicious creamy cheese with a soft skin. My favorite brand is "Supreme" This is a great "go to" cheese to have at any party as a appetizer. It's great plain on a cracker, but there are so many more interesting things to do with it! Since brie has a very mild flavor, it's great with jams. Try a cracker with some quince jam and a small slice of brie. If you can't find quince jam, try peach, raspberry or orange. It makes a tasty little bite! Brie also makes an excellent grilled cheese sandwich! I love grilled cheese!!! Try a few slices of brie, some sliced apples and a couple crumbles of blue cheese in your sandwich. It's a favorite with my friends! Wrapped in puff pastry and baked is also an amazing appetizer. And if you already know about brie and want to explore more, try a camembert or a blue brie (it's a brie with blue cheese running down the middle).

Gruyere

big_gruyere

This is a very tasty cheese! It's a great cheese to know about. You can also have this as part of a great cheese plate for a party. I add it in to a lot of recipes. When I make mac n' cheese (see below blog) I will shred a little and add it in with the cheddar, it'll give it a hint of a nice rich flavor! I will shave some into a casserole, or even put it on a pizza.

Burrata

CantareBurrata

This is my favorite brand.
Oh my gosh!! Burrata is sooooo good!!! If you love mozzarella, you have to have burrata! It's basically, mozzarella cheese with ricotta cheese in the middle. And it tastes like heaven melting in your mouth! You can eat this cheese anyway. It's phenom on a bed of arugula with some basil and a simple balsamic vinaigrette. Serve it with heirloom tomatoes, golden beets, procuitto, or what ever you love! So yummy!!

Gouda

Gouda is a great versatile cheese. Gouda is made in Holland and accounts for 60% of the cheese made there. There are lots of kinds of gouda, young, aged, smoked, etc. It is great as an appetizer or as a dessert cheese and excellent with fruit. Try it out! You won't regret it!

Mascarpone

mascarpone italiano

This is my favorite kind.
Mascarpone is the Italian version of cream cheese. Once you try it, you'll be hooked!! Try it in your next cheesecake. I even spread it on a cracker and top it with a strawberry slice. It'll blow your mind! It is a little lighter than cream cheese and has a little bit of a sweeter flavor. Give it a try : )
Here's a few cheese tips. You should always serve cheese at room temperature. This means leave it out for about an hour before you want to serve it. When you're making a cheese plate, make sure you always have a different knife for each cheese. You don't want your havarti tasting like humbolt fog blue!

Now, there are thousands of different kinds of cheeses, add a comment and tell us about your favorite cheese and what you do with it : )

Comments (3)

Categories : 29 Things to Know in Your Kitchen, Appetizers, Cheese

4. Family Recipes

By Leslie · Comments (2) · October 2nd, 2009

Today is an important log. Will you use it as often as cutting an onion? No. Will you like it is as much as chocolate chip cookies? Maybe. Will you treasure it forever? YES!!

A terrible thing is happening in this world: family recipes are getting lost! We must stop this! It's so important to know where your family came from and yes, what they ate. Food can tell a beautiful story and don't let it be one you miss hearing from your family. Ask your grandparents and parents about what they love to eat, about what they love to cook and what they most remember eating when they were kids. Try some of their old recipes. It's fun! The difference in ingredients is so funny! Unless your Grandparents grew up on a farm, they didn't have the resources to fresh produce or exotic foods like we do these days. It was pretty limited. So, I say take advantage! Use those weird looking beans you found at the farmers market; you may love them! Also, lots of family recipes get lost because no one ever wrote them down. Before cookbooks took up a whole section at Barnes and Noble, recipes were taught by showing. A handful of this, a pinch of this and a glass of this. There was very little formal measuring. I feel very lucky to have gotten to see my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother cook this way. I also have the pleasure of having a mother in law who is a superb Indian cook. (a whole Indian post will be coming soon!) I've broken down the recipes by person, so here goes! My Great-Grandma Gurissi was a neat lady. Every memory I have of her was her teaching me how to cook, how to crochet or having my dad pick her up and sing opera around the house. She had some great recipes! This is one of my favorites!

stuffed artichoke

Grandma Gurissi's Stuffed Artichokes

4 medium Artichokes

1/2 cup dry Bread Crumbs (Italian of course)

1/4 cup Grated Italian Cheese

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1/2 cup Parsley, chopped

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

Mozzarella

Cut off stalk at base of artichokes and trim off some of the tough leaves. With scissors, trim the tips to make for easier handling. Wash thoroughly. Fill with stuffing. When stuffing, seperate the leaves to get the mixture evenly distributed. Drizzle olive oil down the middle of each. (sparingly) stiff a chunk of mozzarella cheese on top (optional) Place in a dutch oven or any deep pot. Fill with water half way up the artichokes. Cover and simmer slowly about 1 hour or until leaves pull out easily. Serve at room temp.

My Grandma Durso. She is amazing! Every time you walk in her house it smells like something wonderful cooking! I love that smell! She puts so much love into everything she makes and you can taste it! You really can! My family spends a lot of time out on Long Island every summer. This always means there will be clams involved for dinner. My Grandpa takes my cousin Joe and my brother John out and they rake up fresh clams. My Grandmother and Great Aunt Rose will then make baked clams and spaghetti and clams. Here is one of those recipes and her making clams:

Baked Clams

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Partially freeze clams to make them easier to open

Open clams with thin knife

Place clams on a cookie sheet on the half-shell

Using kitchen sheers cut the clams inside the shell while saving the juice within the clam

Pour a slight amount of olive oil onto each clam

Add fresh parsley

Grind fresh pepper over them

Sprinkle with garlic powder, Parmesan cheese.

Finally lightly sprinkle with breadcrumbs

Cook for about 15 minutes or when cooked all the way through

My Grandma Rubel was the quintessential hostess! Every meal at her house was like a fancy dinner party. There would always be a huge roast and beautiful flowers. She taught me a lot about the importance of presentation. Here are some of my favorite recipes she would make and are very easy.

Peggy’s Popovers

Preheat oven and popover pan to 450 degrees

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

3 eggs

2 t. oil

½ t. salt

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until bubbles form, about 10 seconds. Fill popover pan ½ to ¾ full of batter. Bake 20 minutes at 425 degrees and then turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake an additional 20 minutes. Prick popovers when removed from oven.

These are great for brunch served with butter and jam or you can serve them with a roast and au jus poured over them or you can add some cheese on top like gruyere, parmesan or cheddar before you bake them. All roads point to yummyness! Here is another one of my favorites:

Creamed Spinach

3 large bags frozen chopped spinach (or fresh! Just wilt it in a pan with a little olive oil)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup (or a little more) mayonnaise (or veganaise)

1 small can french fried onions

Cook spinach in saucepan. Drain spinach and then take a small amount at a time and squeeze against a strainer to remove as much liquid as possible. Put this spinach in a bowl. After squeezing out all the spinach, add mushroom soup and mayonnaise. Mix well to make sure there are no areas of plain spinach. Turn mixture into a baking dish and top with onions. Bake at 325 degrees for about 20-30 minutes until bubbling. This is really good at Thanksgiving or anytime you serve red meat. me and mom And my Mom. Where do I begin? I would know nothing about food if it wasn't for her. She is an inspiration! (and she is going to hate that I'm writing about her) My Mom raised 4 kids and made sure a full homemade dinner was on the table every night at 6 o'clock. I have no idea how she did it! I love everything she makes! I'll be sharing plenty of her recipes as this blog continues, but I wanted to share this recipe today. My Mom loves sweets like I do and she makes the best apple pie! Since it is apple season, here is her recipe:

Apple Pie

For a 10 inch apple pie

Prepare a pastry for 10 inch two crust apple pie.

Apple Filling:

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

½ t. nutmeg

1 t. cinnamon

Dash of salt

8 cups thinly sliced pared tart apples

3 T. butter or margarine

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry. Stir together sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt; mix with apples. Turn apples into pastry-lined pie pan; dot with butter. Cover with top crust. Make slits in the crust to allow steam to escape. Seal and flute the top. Cover edges with 2-3 inch strip of foil to prevent excessive browning of the edges. Remove foil the last 15 minutes of baking. Bake for 40-50 minutes until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through the slits in the top. (You may want to put a large cookie sheet on the rack below the pie, incase it drips the sugary mixture.)

I love you Mom!

Comments (2)

Categories : 29 Things to Know in Your Kitchen, Appetizers, Bread, Desserts, Side Dishes

Game Day!

By Leslie · Comments (5) · September 13th, 2009

So today was USC game day at the Sarna house. That meant two things, our house would be taken over by hard core fans, and I would make a bunch of yummy food! Thank goodness SC pulled out a win in the end! (Sim can get very depressed when they lose) I decided on a menu of American Classics. Here is what I made: Spinach Artichoke Dip (a definite crowd pleaser, see "jewelry party" blog for recipe) Pulled Pork Sandwiches Beef Sliders Coleslaw Italian Pasta Salad Cheesy Potatoes Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting Here are some recipes:

Beef Sliders

What you'll need:

5 lbs. of Ground Chuck Beef

1 medium yellow onion, diced finely

5 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

2 Eggs

A Handful of chopped Parsely

A Handful of Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper

What you'll do:

Easy Peezy! Just mix it all together in a big bowl with your hands and form patties. You can make hamburger size or slider size which is what we did. Then just grill.

Coleslaw

What you'll need:

1 package of Coleslaw (mix of cabbage, purple cabbage and carrots)

1 can of Mandarin Oranges, drained and roughly chopped

1 ear of Corn, cooked and zipped

2 Scallions, chopped

1/2 cup Veganaise of Mayonaise

2 tbsp. Milk

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tbsp. ground Celery Seed

2 tbsp. Cider Vinegar

What you'll do:

In a medium bowl, combine the cabbage, oranges, corn, and scallions. In a small bowl whisk the mayo, milk, sugar and celery seed. When it's smooth, add the Vinegar. Dress the salad and serve cold. Be creative with this one, you can add chicken, shrimp, nuts, tofu, anything you like. : ) Coleslaw

Cheesy Potatoes (also been known as Party Potatoes)

This is the greatest recipe! My Mom used to make this when we were kids for all of our pool parties (hence how it got its alternative name) It's really easy and tasty.

What you'll need:

2 lbs. frozen hash browns

½ cup melted butter

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

2 Tbsp. chopped onions

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 pint of sour cream (remember, fat-free is the only vegetarian one)

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

2 cups crushed corn flakes

¼ cup butter melted

What you'll do:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Pour into a buttered 9 x 13 dish. Top with corn flakes and melted butter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted in the center. Cheesy Potatoes

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

What you'll need:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cups buttermilk, room temperature

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:

8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese, softened

1 stick of butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pound of confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with liners. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a mixer. (careful when you first turn on. Start on low then build up or the red dye with splash on you!) Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. Bake for 20 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Frost the cupcakes when cool. I took some of the leftover frosting, dyed it red and wrote "GO" and "USC" on them.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting