Cowboy Caviar
This is a recipe from my friend, Ellen Hoffman. It is served with tortilla chip scoops. These are addicting and disappear quickly so double the recipe if serving a crowd.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 can shoe peg corn short, stubby variety of corn
- 1 15 oz can black beans rinsed and drained
- ½ cup chopped green onions both green and white parts
- 1 cup chopped tomato
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper or to taste
- 1 large avocado diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
Instructions
- Combine vinegar, olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper and garlic in a medium bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients and gently toss to combine.
- Serve with chips.
Fig and Goat Cheese Crostini
This sweet, tangy and crunchy appetizer is flavorful yet light enough to be a good starter for a big Thanksgiving feast. If you aren't able to find fresh figs, a couple of slices of dried ones will be just fine.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp shallot minced
- 2 3-inch fresh thyme springs plus ½ tsp minced
- ½ Turkish or ¼ California bay leaf
- 1½ tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ lb dried Black Mission figs finely chopped (¾ cups)
- ¾ cup Port
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- 12 baguette slices ½-inch-thick diagonally cut
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 6 oz soft mild goat cheese at room temperature
- 2 fresh ripe figs cut into ½-inch slices
- garnish with fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
Savory fig jam
- Cook shallot, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf in butter in a 1 to 1½-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring, until shallot is softened, about 2 minutes. Add dried figs, Port, salt and pepper and bring to boil. Simmer, covered, until figs are soft, about 10 minutes. If there is still liquid in saucepan, remove lid and simmer, stirring, until most of liquid is evaporated, 3 to 4 minutes more. Discard bay leaf and thyme sprigs and transfer jam to a bowl. Cool, then stir in minced thyme and salt and pepper to taste.
Crostini
- Make the toast while jam cools:Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 350°F.Halve each baguette slice diagonally, then arrange on a baking sheet and brush tops lightly with oil. Bake until lightly toasted, about 7 minutes. Cool on baking sheet on a rack.
Assemble
- Spread each toast with 1 teaspoon fig jam and top with about 1½ teaspoons goat cheese and 2 pieces fresh fig.
Salt-Roasted Shrimp with Scampi Dip
By Tori Ritchie, Bon Appétit, April 2009
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 4-lb box rock salt
- 16 large shrimp uncooked and unpeeled
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter chilled, diced
- 1 tbsp fresh Italian parsley chopped
Instructions
- Spread salt in 12X9X2-inch baking dish. Arrange shrimp in single layer atop salt.Preheat oven to 500°F. Boil wine, lemon juice, and garlic in saucepan over medium-high heat until liquid is reduced to 1 tablespoon, about 10 minutes.Remove from heat. Add a few pieces of butter; whisk until smooth (do not let mixture boil).Continue whisking in butter, a few pieces at a time. Stir in parsley; season with salt and pepper. Let stand while shrimp cook.Roast shrimp on salt until just opaque in center and shells are pink, 6 to 7 minutes.Transfer sauce to bowl; nestle in salt.
Steak Crostini
This easy and elegant appetizer is beautiful and delicious. The homemade onion pickles are what makes this work and they are a breeze to make.
Equipment
- sous vide immersion circulator (nice but not required)
Ingredients
- 1 steak-cooked medium rare in immersion circulator thinly sliced
- horseradish sauce
- 2 cups baby arugula
Pickled Onions
- 1 red onion halved and sliced
- ½ cup white wine vinegar
- ½ tsp granulated sugar
- ½ tsp kosher salt
Crostini
- 1 baguette sliced diagonally into ¾" slices
- extra-virgin olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place sliced onions in a jar. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sugar and salt to dissolve. Pour mixture into jar, over onions. Let sit at room temperature for several hours. (Shake mixture every now and then).
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place baguette slices on the baking sheet. Using a pastry brush lightly coat the baguette slices with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until lightly toasted, about 8 minutes.
- Spread horseradish sauce on the crostini, then top with arugula, steak and pickled red onions