Appetizers

Showing 44 Result(s)
Morel, Fiddlehead & Pancetta Tart, Just Out of the Oven
Appetizers Breads & Baked Goods Meat Mushrooms Wild Foods

Morel, Fiddlehead & Pancetta Tart

Fiddleheads taste like the woodlands in spring time – fresh, green and exuberantly wild. The flavor of fiddleheads is often compared to asparagus, artichokes or green beans, but such comparisons fall short. The truth is, fresh fiddleheads taste like nothing else. Only a few of the many species of ferns are considered to be edible and of those, only two or three are widely consumed. If the best known, and most eaten, is the Eastern fiddlehead, the Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia …

Appetizers Sauces & Condiments Vegetables Wild Foods

Steamed Artichokes with Ramp Aioli

For the uninitiated, cooking – and eating – an artichoke may seem like a daunting task. The prickly, tough-textured outside of the artichoke doesn’t seem particularly appetizing at first glance. After all, the artichoke is a close relative of the thistle and shares many of its characteristics. But beneath the leathery leaves of the artichoke lies a tender treasure – the sweet flesh that covers the base of each leaf and, best of all, the large meaty base or “heart” …

Chipotle Molé Wings with chipotle chiles
Appetizers Poultry Rubs and Marinades Sauces & Condiments

Chipotle Molé Wings

Olé for molé! While we never really get tired of original Buffalo-style wings, sometimes it’s fun to break out of the routine and try something new, exciting and deliciously different.  In this recipe, chicken wings get a south-of-the-border makeover; first, marinated with a rub of aromatic & zesty spices, sherry vinegar and garlic, then, after baking, a quick toss with a sweet and savory molé-style sauce made with smoky chipotle chile peppers and deep, dark chocolate.  While the sauce is not a really an authentic …

Spicy Gochujang Pork Puffs
Appetizers Asian Breads & Baked Goods Meat

Spicy Gochujang Pork Puffs

Ah, it’s that time of the year again. The holidays are past, winter is back with a vengeance and the Super Bowl is just around the corner. Sounds like the perfect time to whip up some hot, tasty party food! Over the past few years, we’ve noticed that Super Bowl snacks have gone far beyond the usual guacamole, chili and nachos. You’d almost think that the game was secondary to the increasingly elaborate edibles featured at Super Bowl parties with …

Crisp Caviar Spoons Wide
Appetizers Breads & Baked Goods Seafood Vegetables

Presenting… Caviar!

Once the symbol of opulence, caviars & roes are still among the ultimate delicacies, in a league shared only with truffles, champagne and saffron. Not so long ago, caviar could only mean ultra-expensive beluga caviar served with a mother-of-pearl spoon. Today, roe options from other types of fish can still offer an over-the-top experience at a much more affordable price.  With excellent domestic farm-raised caviar readily available, we can enjoy a delicacy that was once reserved only for royalty and …

Wild Mushroom Polenta with Thyme Sprig
Appetizers Mushrooms Wild Foods

Wild Mushroom Polenta

Polenta is one of those dishes that is far too underappreciated. It’s humble stuff, made from nothing more than coarse ground corn. The most basic of foods, it’s both thrifty and filling. It’s also quick and easy to make. If you can hold a spoon and stir, you can make polenta. Polenta is folk food. It fed both the Native Americans and early European pioneers (they called it corn meal mush or “coosh”), who often enjoyed it with a generous slosh …

Appetizers Asian Mushrooms Pasta Sauces & Condiments Soups & Stews Wild Foods

Wild Mushroom Wontons, Three Ways

Wontons are fun. They’re great party food, perfect as appetizers and for special occasions. But wontons are, at their heart, simple Asian comfort food. Wontons have been around in some form for literally thousands of years. Most basic wonton recipes are quite similar (after a thousand years or so, you should pretty much have the basic recipe perfected). Popular as street food in almost every Asian country, wontons have plenty of local variations. While fillings can vary, the basic technique remains …

Wasabi Deviled Eggs with Tobikko
Appetizers Eggs Any Style Sauces & Condiments

DEVILISHLY DELICIOUS: Deviled Eggs, Three Ways

Deviled eggs are as familiar to most Americans as apple pie. Certainly, they have been a staple at picnics and family dinners for decades. During the week following Easter, the inevitable surplus of hard-boiled eggs makes deviled eggs practically a requirement in many households. But how did deviled eggs come about and where did they get their curious name? Eggs, of course, have been a source of food for thousands upon thousands of years. The mingling of spices with eggs …

Appetizers Cheese Mushrooms

Wild Mushroom Nachos

Is there any party food more perfect than nachos? First, nachos are meant to be shared with others.  Second, their spicy heat demands a cool, fire-quenching beverage – preferably beer! There are no hard & fast rules regarding ingredients when making nachos.  The only constants are tortilla chips, salsa and cheese – the rest is up to you. In the spirit of fun & experimentation, we used one of our favorite ingredients in all the world, dried morel mushrooms (but …

Roasted Matsutake Mushrooms
Appetizers Asian Mushrooms Sauces & Condiments Soups & Stews Wild Foods

Matsutake Magic in 3 Delicious Ways

It is no dream… Matsutake are growing On the belly of the mountain – Haiku by Shigetaka There is something marvelous about the famous “pine mushroom,” the matsutake. Their distinctive spicy aroma and flavor are absolutely unique in the mushroom world. The exotic allure of wild mushrooms has inspired many poets across the centuries. No surprise, then, that the matsutake, so highly regarded in Japan, has inspired volumes of haiku. Equally inspired, David Arora, author of “Mushrooms Demystified,” described the …