The crazy month of December is quickly coming to a head. Office parties, Christmas, Chanukah and New Year’s Eve are in our sights. And these are some of my favorite recipes to make for for parties or presents. None of them are too time consuming to make, and most of them are fairly inexpensive as well.
Curried Leeks in Phyllo Cups
- 2 large leeks, white part only, thinly chopped
- 4 teaspoons of curry powder
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 12 phyllo cups
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 1/2 of a plum tomato
- Chives
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Pour the olive oil into a small pot and add the leeks, curry, wine and salt. Saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
While the leeks are cooking, put the phyllo cups in the oven for just under 3 minutes. You only want them warmed – but keep an eye on them, they can burn in a second.
Divide the curried leeks between the phyllo cups, top with tomato and chives.
Cheddar Crackers
- 4 oz (½ a bag) of Cabot Seriously Sharp cheddar cheese
- ½ cup of parmesan, shredded
- ¾ cup unbleached flour
- 4 tablespoons of melted butter
- 1 teaspoon of dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon of cayenne
- 2 tablespoons of water (You may need to add more, so keep a small glass of water nearby.)
Mix together the cheddar, ½ of the parmesan, the flour, melted butter and dry mustard. Once all of the ingredients are incorporated, roll the mixture out into a log on waxed paper. Freeze for an hour. (Or up to a month if you are making the dough ahead of time.) Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Cut the dough into ½ inch pieces and lay on a greased cookie sheet or a non-stick cookie sheet. Top with the reserved parmesan and sprinkle with cayenne. Bake for 8 minutes or until brown.
Makes approximately 30 crackers.
Endive and Dill Cream Cheese
- 2 heads of endive, washed and separated
- 1 cup of cream cheese
- 2 ½ tablespoons of fresh dill, chopped
- 1 tablespoon of chives, chopped
- ½ teaspoon of salt
Dry the endive well on paper towels. Mix together the cream cheese, salt, dill and chives. Spoon into the endive. Garnish with dill.
Makes approximately 20 appetizers.
Cheese Toast
(Note: These little toasts are ridiculously inexpensive, and extremely popular when served with booze.)
- ½ loaf of sourdough bread
- 1 cup of parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
- 2 tablespoons of butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice the sourdough slices in half. Spread with butter and top with cheese. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until cheese is brown.
Ricotta Pie
- 1 container of ricotta (8 oz)
- 1 egg
- Pepper
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 1 medium onion, diced (I like a lot of onion, so depending on your taste you might want to use a small one.)
- 1/3 cup of white wine
- 3 tomatoes, cut in half with the seeds removed
- Salt
- 1/2 cup of parmesan
- A lot of fresh herbs (I used thyme, basil and summer savory)
- 1 store-bought pie crust
- 2 slices of mozzarella, halved
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Saute the onion in the butter with salt and pepper. When it’s slightly soft add the wine. Finish cooking and let it cool. At the same time salt the seeded tomatoes and let them drain on paper towels, about 10 minutes. Mix the tomatoes, parmesan, onions, herbs, ricotta and egg together. On a greased baking pan lay the pie crust down and spoon the filling on top of it. Bring pie crust edges together, and in the opening lay the slices of mozzarella.
Serves 4-6.
Artichoke Bacon and Parmesan Dip
- 2 packages of light cream cheese
- 10 jarred artichokes in water, diced
- 1 cup of shredded parmesan
- 6 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled
- 3 tablespoons of dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all of the ingredients in an oven proof bowl and bake uncovered until hot and bubbly, about 15-20 minutes.
Serve with crusty bread.
(Note: this recipe was inspired by Dorothy Barker’s suggestion for a seafood-less dip, in GTCosita’sdelicious sounding Crab Dip recipe post.)
Pretzel Bites with Smoked Salt (Based on a recipe by Two Peas and Their Pod)
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 package (or 2 ¼ teaspoons) of yeast
- 1 ½ cups of water
- 6 tablespoons of butter
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 4 ½ cups of flour
- Olive oil
- 3 teaspoons of baking soda
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoons of water
- Smoked salt, kosher salt or sea salt
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Mix the sugar and yeast together in a bowl. Add warm water (approximately 110 degrees) and stir well. Let the yeast mixture sit for 10 minutes, or until bubbly. Add the butter, salt and flour and mix well. On a lightly floured surface knead the dough for 5 minutes. Oil a large bowl and roll the dough around in the bowl until covered with oil. Cover with a damp paper towel and let the dough rise in a warm space for 1 hour. (Make ahead: at this point you can refrigerate the dough for 24 hours.
Pull a small amount of the dough out, and on a floured surface roll it out into a rope, approximately an inch thick. Cut the dough into 1 inch pieces. Set the pieces aside on a sheet pan. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and add the baking soda. Drop about 10 pieces at a time into the water. Let boil for 30 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon to another pan. When all of the pretzels have been boiled, mix together the egg and water. Brush each pretzel with the egg wash and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown.
Makes approximately 50.
Note: These should be eaten the same day that they are baked.
Cheddar Covered Olives
- 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup of flour
- ¼ cup of butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons of water
- 1 jar of green olives
Preheat oven to 375.
Drain the olives and pat dry. Mix together the cheese, butter, water and flour. (This will be a fairly dry dough.) Pat out a small amount of the dough into a round and cover the olive with it. Bake the olives until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Makes approximately 30.
Fried Vegetarian Dumplings (Loosely based on a recipe from Smitten Kitchen)
- 1/2 pound firm tofu
- 1/2 cup shredded purple cabbage
- ¼ cup of finely chopped red pepper
- 3 chopped scallions
- 2 teaspoons of grated or chopped ginger
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 6 shakes of sesame oil
- 7 shakes of Mongolian fire oil (if you don’t have any, substitute a little cayenne)
- 1 package of wonton wrappers
- Water
Potsticker Dipping Sauce
- 1/3 cup of soy sauce
- 1/4 cup of rice wine or rice vinegar
- 6 shakes sesame oil
- 6 shakes Mongolian fire oil
- Scallions to garnish
Cut the tofu in half horizontally and lay between layers of paper towels. Place on a paper plate, top with another paper plate, and weigh it down with a large cookbook or a large can. Let the tofu stand for 25 minutes. (You won’t believe the moisture that comes out, so you might even want to do this in the sink.) Add the soy sauce, sesame oil and Mongolian fire oil or cayenne to a bowl. Dice the tofu as finely as possible, (which isn’t difficult, it wants to be in little pieces) and dice the vegetables. Stir every time you add new items into the bowl to make sure that they get some of the soy sauce oil mixture. (I added the liquid first and kept stirring so that the dumpling filling would have a few minutes to marinate.)
To form the dumplings, brush each edge with water, place a teaspoon of the filling in the middle and fold it over. Then brush water on all the top and both sides of the wrapper and crimp.
Heat a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the peanut or vegetable oil until a piece of scallion sizzles when it hits the pan.
Serve immediately if you can, but they are good at room temperature too.
Makes approximately 24.
These are some of my favorites for parties. What are yours?
