This is being posted a bit late but I don't care. It's good for any holiday!
I was in charge of Thanksgiving day appetizers. I'm not much of a cook and am really trying to get better at it so I really wanted to impress the families with my "appetizer making skills". Or whatever. I brought mulitple appetizers and foods to snack on but my three main appetizers were as follows: Spanikopita, Asiago Cheese Dip, and Balsamic Crostinis. I can promise you that none of them are hard to make at all! Here's the recipes...knock your food hearts out!
Spanikopita
Ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach - thawed, drained and squeezed dry or fresh spinach (I used fresh)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 (4 ounce) packages feta cheese, crumbled
4 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 (16 ounce) packages phyllo dough
3/4 pound butter, melted
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Slowly cook and stir onions until softened. Mix in spinach, dill and flour. Cook approximately 10 minutes, or until most of the moisture has been absorbed. Remove from heat. Mix in feta cheese, eggs, salt and pepper.
3. Separate one sheet of phyllo from the stack and evenly brush with a light coating of butter. Place another sheet of phyllo over the butter and press the two sheets together. Cut the layered phyllo dough into long strips about 3 inches wide. Keep the remaining phyllo covered with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
4. Lay out one strip of phyllo at a time on your work surface with one of the narrow ends close to you. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling 1 inch from the end closest to you. Fold the bottom right corner over the filling to the left edge to form a triangle. Fold the triangle up, bringing the point at the bottom left up to rest along the left edge. Turn the lower left corner over to touch the right edge. Continue turning the triangle over in this manner until you reach the end of the phyllo. Repeat with the remaining filling and phyllo dough.
5. Place filled phyllo dough triangles on a large baking sheet and brush with the remaining butter. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Asiago Cheese Dip
Ingredients
1/2 cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes
1 cup Hot Water
1 cup Mayonnaise
1 cup Sour Cream
1/2 cup Shredded Asiago Cheese
1/2 cup chopped Fresh Mushrooms
1/4 cup Chopped Green Onions
1 teaspoon Asiago Cheese
Instructions
1. Soak the tomatoes in water in a small bowl; drain and squeeze out excess water.
2. Slice tomatoes into strips.
3. Combine the tomatostrips, mayonnaise, sour cream, 1/2 cup cheese, mushrooms, and green onions in a bowl and mix well.
4. Spoon into a pie plate or baking disk that is to be used as a serving platter.
5. Srinkle with 1 teaspoon cheese (I use more but that depends on how much you like cheese).
6. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 25 minutes.
Balsamic Crostini
Ingredients
1 French baguette, cut into diagonal 1/2" slices
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper
1 Bottle of Balsamic Vingear
1 1/2 medium tomato, diced
1 1/2 onion, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup lemon juice
Cilantro (as much as you care for)
1 package Buffalo Mozzarella, thinly sliced (I used shredded mozzarella and it worked well too)
Parsley, minced
Instructions
1. Set oven to broil at 425 degrees F.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the olive oil and garic and season with salt and pepper.
3. Brush baugette slices with this mixture and broil on middle rack for about 4 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Pour vinegar into stock pot and bring to a small boil.
5. Reduce heat and continue to boil until 75% of the vinegar has evaporated, then allow to cool.
6. In a seperate medium bowl, combine tomato, onion, cilantro.
7. Mix well and add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and lemon juice. Toss until fully combined.
8. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Assembly
Take the crostini and place one piece of Buffalo Mozzarella on top, spoon on a small portion of the refrigerated Pico De Gallo and drizzle with the Balsamic reduction. If you're using the shredded Mozzarella, place the Pico De Gallo on first, top with shredded mozarella, then continue with Balsamic reduction. Garnish with minced parsely.
Enjoy!!!
