Elegant Yet Easy Hors d’Oeurves

As the holiday season gets into full swing I thought it would be fun to post some ideas for finger food to serve at parties. All of these are fairly simple but have a certain “wow” factor and definitely match up well with a glass of bubbly.

Smoked Salmon Toasts

Toast white bread, let cool and then spread generously with softened unsalted butter. Trim off the crusts and then cut into your preferred shape. For the ones pictured I cut the toast into four squares and then diagonally to get 8 small triangles out of each slice. Pick and put a piece of dill on each one, sticking it to the butter and placing it so it hangs a bit over the edge. For each slice of salmon cut lengthwise in a way to make a long triangle. Roll the piece of salmon up starting with the thicker side to form the middle of the “rose” and the thinnest to make the outer “petals”. Stick the rose to the toast. I would not make these too far ahead, maybe no more than a few hours. If you do make them ahead the way to keep them fresh and from drying out moisten paper towel with cool water and wring it out well, then place it very gently over top.

Pate with Red Wine Onion Jam

To make red wine onion jam, thinly slice up an onion and sauté in butter over medium heat. You want the onions to cook slowly and get soft, not brown and crunchy as happens when you cook them quickly on high heat. When they are getting pretty soft add in two tablespoons of sugar and continue cooking letting the sugar melt and help to caramelize the onion, then add in ½ cup of red wine. Let this all boil and reduce until most of the liquid is gone. Remove and let cool in the refrigerator.
Purchase a mousse type liver pate. Follow the same directions for the toast as in the Smoked Salmon Toasts except that you might want to cut them so that they are slightly larger. I did quarters. Working with well chilled pate (you want it to be easy to cut and if it’s too warm it will get soft) slice small pieces and place on the toasts. Top with a small amount of the red wine onion jam.

Roasted Asparagus with Lemon Aioli or Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan

This is a super simple way to cook asparagus that is good as a side dish also. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet drizzle some olive oil and salt and pepper the pan, if you are doing the parmesan version add a clove of garlic put through a press. Place the raw asparagus on the pan and roll back and forth to coat the asparagus, if you are doing the parmesan version then sprinkle the cheese over them now. Place in the oven. Check them after 10 minutes and begin keeping an eye on them, when they are close to done you can stick them under the broiler to get some nice brown color. These can be done far ahead and should be served at room temperature. If you made the parmesan version then just serve them as is. For the lemon aioli one make the sauce by combining lemon juice, mayo, and lemon zest. Grate some more lemon zest over the top of the asparagus for decoration and flavor.

Roasted Fennel Bulb with Parmesan and Olives

Slice up a couple fennel bulbs saving and setting aside the stems and fronds. Follow the same instructions as the asparagus except do not add garlic and do not put the cheese on before cooking. Sprinkle a handful of pitted calamata olives over the top of the fennel. After cooking, when the dish has come to room temperature sprinkle with some parmesan flakes. You can make parmesan flakes by using a vegetable peeler. Pick a few sprigs of greens from the fennel fronds and sprinkle over the top. This dish is also best served at room temperature and can be done fairly far ahead of time. I do this one in a shallow baking dish and just serve it in that.

Roasted Potato with Sour Cream and Caviar or Bacon

This one is a little more labor intensive than the first few. Using small red new potatoes and a paring knife carve around the side of the potato to form a sort of column. See picture. Now on the opposite sides that sill have peel, in other words the ends of the columns, take a melon baller and scoop out a shallow cup in the potato and then slice the potato in half making two pieces. Boil the potatoes until they are about half cooked in heavily salted water. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and very lightly coat them with olive oil. Roast them in a 400 degree oven letting them brown a little. Watch them closely and check the bottoms to make sure they’re not browning too quickly. Remove and let cool completely. Now fill the cups with sour cream. You can do this with a piping bag or just a small spoon. Top with a bit of caviar or some cooked cubes of bacon. Cut chives so you have about inch long pieces and stick two into each cup sticking up out of the sour cream. If you are making these ahead you can go as far as filling the potato with sour cream and then just top them off when you’re ready to serve them.

Endive Cups filled with Crab and Tarragon Salad

This one is super simple. Buy a container of cooked lump crab meat and pick through to remove any shell still in it. Mix the crab with mayo, lemon juice and chopped fresh tarragon. Cut the end of the endive off and pull apart the leaves, using these for cups scoop about a tablespoon of the crab mixture onto each leaf. You can decorate the top with a frond from the fennel bulb if you did that recipe or a little red caviar, or just some chopped parsley or chives.

Smoked Trout Mousse on Cucumber

In a food processor combine one package of cream cheese, at room temperature, about a tablespoon of horseradish and one and half filets of smoked trout. For the half fillet use the thicker side so you can use the thinner one for decorative purposes later. Process everything until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings and put into a piping bag. Cut a seedless cucumber into rounds that are about ½ inch thick and using a mellon baller scoop out a shallow cup on one side. Set them upside down on a tray that is covered with paper towel until you are ready to use them. For an extra decorative touch I use a zester to carve channels on the side of the cucumber as shown in the photo below.

You can fill the cucumber cups around one hour before you are serving them, but not much more than that since the cucumbers start to give off water and will cause the mousse to slip off. When filling them leave a small mound as shown. Top each one with a small piece of the trout from the leftover ½ fillet and a sprig of dill.

Sirloin Tips with Spicy Cherry Peppers

This one didn't get photographed but it's super easy and was a big hit. Take sirloin tips or other chunks of steak, cut into small bite sized pieces. Cook according to the directions here. Once it gets a good browning throw in some spicy pickled cherry peppers out of a jar (not too many, they are very spicy) and cut in half and stick under the broiler for a couple minutes. Serve hot with toothpicks.