Shrimp ceviche bites

Inspired by my sister, Regina’s recent post about shrimp bruschetta and this Weight Watchers recipe for shrimp ceviche cocktail I just had to make this version of shrimp ceviche + gazpacho + margarita, in a bite-size version, for a party we’re attending tonight.

Shrimp ceviche bites

¼ c red onion, finely chopped
4 small limes, squeezed
1 orange, squeezed
2 t olive oil (I used blood orange olive oil that my sister brought me from The Tubby Olive
1 lb small shrimp, raw, peeled, and deveined
1 avocado, diced into small chunks
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
½ serrano pepper, seeds removed and minced
2 T cilantro, finely chopped, plus more for garnish
⅛ c tequila
salt and fresh black pepper to taste
2 heads endive, for serving

Combine all ingredients except endive in a non-metal bowl and toss to mix well, but gently, so as not to mash the tomato and avocado. Refrigerate for 6 hours, the citrus will “cook” the shrimp. When ready to serve, place one shrimp and a teaspoon of vegetables on each endive leaf. Garnish each with chopped cilantro or one whole cilantro leaf, if desired.
 

Halloween, in home cooking-style

OK, so what do glow-in-the-dark cocktails and maraschino cherries have in common?

Nothing. Randomly they came to my attention at the same time, and I’m inspired to share.

Glow-in-the-dark cocktails    I’ve been teaching a Cupcake Wars class for twelve middle school girls, and we have been having so much fun. Last week, we were doing Halloween cupcakes, and we decided to experiment with glow-in-the-dark frosting (really dayglo, because they need black light to reach), and we discovered that regular old tonic water (quinine) reacts with black light. How fun! Who knew you didn’t need anything more than your gin & tonic or vodka & tonic and a black lightbulb to be super Halloweenie!

Maraschino cherries    My youngest son loves maraschino cherries, and I try to keep them in stock for him. However, I was recently informed that I bought the “wrong” cherries. Apparently I bought salad cherries, rather than maraschino cherries, I didn’t know there were salad cherries, what kind of salad would you put cherries in? Anyway, according to Jude, these cherries are the smaller cousin of maraschino cherries, and I should not buy them. Just thought I’d share ...

Friday night cocktails and appetizers ...

... on Wednesday! The night before Thanksgiving calls for some celebration, relaxation, and reflection while your preparing what needs to be done in advance, so we moved Friday night cocktails to Wednesday this week.

Pumpkin martinis, first and foremost for the purpose of quality testing prior to serving them to a crowd on Thursday, and Pizza potato skins (made from the skins of the potatoes baked for the Make-ahead mashed potatoes, also to be served Thursday). What efficiency!

Pumpkin martinis

2 parts vanilla vodka
1 part amaretto
1 part canned pumpkin

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ½ c of crushed ice. Shake well. Strain into a martini glass, top with freshly grated nutmeg. The nutmeg was key!

Make-ahead mashed potatoes

5 lb russet potatoes
¼-½ lb butter, softened
3-4 c whole milk or light cream, warmed

One or two days before serving, bake potatoes in preheated 350° oven for about an hour, until flesh is tender. Let cool until comfortable to hold in your hand. Cut potatoes in half and scoop flesh into a bowl. Reserve skins for another use, that’s where all the vitamins are. Mash potatoes to remove all lumps. Add in butter and milk (½ cup at a time). When you’ve got the potatoes to your desired consistency, add another ½-1 cup of warmed milk and mix well.

The day of serving, warm the potatoes in a crockpot, on the stovetop, covered with foil in the oven, or in the microwave. Stir well to distribute the flavors. Top with additional butter.

Pizza potato skins

potato skins
pinch each salt, pepper, oregano, basil
mozzarella cheese
pepperoni
parmesan cheese
sour cream

Place skins on baking sheet. Top skins with herbs, cheese, and pepperoni. Bake until cheese is melted, bubbly, and just starting to brown. Serve with sour cream.

Friday night cocktails and appetizers

My neighbor’s hot artichoke and spinach dip — the best I’ve ever had! — and key lime martinis that tasted just like key lime pie! Part sweet, part tangy, part garlic, part creamy, it was the perfect combination. If you like, for an extra special touch, rim martini glasses with graham cracker crumbs.

Key lime martinis

2 oz vanilla vodka
2 oz liquer 43
2 oz Rose’s lime juice

Combine in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake, let set to chill well. Strain into martini glasses.

Friday night cocktails and appetizers

It was a quiet rainy night. One football practice had ended early, the other one had been canceled altogether, so there were more kids around, and fewer adults. It called for just a bottle of red wine and an easy dinner. Corn chowder was in the crockpot, and I put together some Open-faced Italian tuna melts based on Rachael Ray’s Tuna Mini Melts with Rosemary, but I was looking for less sandwich, more appetizer. And, as usual, I wanted to use what I had in the house, so I used a hearty whole-grain bread, and made them open-faced (who needs that extra slice of bread when you could have an extra glass of wine instead?). I added some sundried tomatoes for color and flavor too.

Open-faced Italian tuna melts

2 cans Italian tuna in olive oil, lightly drained
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 large sprig rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped
1 sundried tomato, finely chopped
Black pepper
1 T olive oil
4 slices provolone cheese, deli sliced and chopped
8 full-size slices of grainy bread, or 32 slices of cocktail bread

Mash tuna with finely chopped shallot, rosemary, sundried tomato, black pepper, and olive oil. Stir in the chopped cheese. Toast one side of the bread under the broiler until light brown, turn bread over, top each with a generous tablespoon of tuna. Place under the broiler again, just until warm.

Friday night cocktails and appetizers

Part deux. I have some homemade amaretto on the hutch staring me down. My friend Tammy has seasonal cocktails, and my husband usually loves them. I can’t remember what her summer cocktail is right now, but her winter cocktail is amaretto and ginger, and Fred loves it. I’m not a ginger ale person, but you can only drink so many amaretto on the rocks before you’re lying flat on your back, so I came up with amaretto and orange juice. Whether you prefer ginger ale or OJ, serve it in a highball glass, on the rocks.

This evening, we’ll be having our amaretto cocktails with black bean “hummus”. This is a recipe that originally came from my friend Eileen. It isn’t a Mediterranean inspired hummus, it’s more of a Mexican black bean dip, but because of it’s consistency and color, we had trouble coming up with a name for it [that didn’t sound like the punchline of a 5th grader’s off-color joke]. Thus, I’ve taken to calling it “hummus”. Again, one of my favorite things about it is that I usually have all the ingredients on hand, and if I don’t, they’re simple enough that I can remember what they are without writing them down.

Black bean hummus

1 can black beans, drain and reserve liquid
½ jar Mrs. Renfro’s Roasted Garlic Salsa, more if you like
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lemon
½ bunch cilantro, more if you like

Put garlic in a blender and blend until garlic is chopped fine. Add beans, salsa, lemon, and cilantro to blender. Blend until smooth (a hummus-like consistency). Add as much reserved liquid as you like to reach your desired consistency.

Friday night cocktails and appetizers

Most Friday nights you can find some neighbors in my kitchen (and some neighborhood kids of all ages in various rooms in the house), kids generally feast on chips and salsa and pizza, but whomever is in the kitchen is looking for a signature cocktail and a tasty app.

Today felt like Fall. Today’s signature cocktail was apple cider with some dark Puerto Rican rum. Yum. Today’s signature app was red bean dip. For those of you who don’t live in New England, red bean dip is often served at Really New England restaurants (those with lobster specials, early bird specials, and lots of blue hairs). The red bean dip is great with Wheat Thins^® — and all those red beans pack quite the protein punch!

Red bean dip
1 can red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
¼ c ketchup
¼ c relish, drained, squeezed dry
½ t dry mustard
2 T horseradish
2 t worcestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate at least 3o minutes. Serve with Wheat Thins^®. Even better the next day.