five olives

Cocktails are appetizers that are served at the table with a sauce or dressing, and they are not to be confused with the potable alcoholic or nonalcoholic kinds. Seafood and fruit,as well as vegetables, are the ingredients most frequently used.

Shrimp cocktail, with a tangy sauce, is probably the favorite cocktail, especially before a steak dinner. Cocktails are always cold; most of them should be well chilled.

In cookery, canapes are small hot void appetizer served on bread, crackers, or a pastry base so that they can be picked up with the fingers. Unlike hors-doeuvres which are served alone, canapes must have this base.

Canapes must be served crisp and fresh, and they should be prepared just before serving.
Canapes may be very simple, consisting of a cracker spread with canape butter and decorated with a little meat, fish, egg, or cheese, or a sprig of parsley or watercress, or a slice of pimiento, pickle, radish, olive, or lemon.

For canapes, use firm-textured bread or bread one day old. If not available, quickly partially freeze bread before cutting. White, rye, whole wheat, and any breads trimmed free of crust are suitable for canapes, provided that bread and filling complement each other. Delicate crab meat, for instance, is best served on white bread, a tangy cheese on dark bread. The breads can be cut into any fancy shapes with cookie cutters, or more simply into rounds, squares, diamonds, or fingers. Toast and plain or fancy crackers also make excellent bases for canapes.
Allow about 4 to 6 canapes for each person.

Cheese Canapes

Blue Cheese Spread - Cream equal parts of blue cheese and sweet butter. Spread on crisp crackers.

Camembert Cheese Spread - Cream equal parts of Camembert and sweet butter. Spread on toast rounds. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

Cottage-Cheese Spread - Tap toast rounds with cottage cheese mixed with chopped tongue or ham or crisp bacon. Garnish with slice of stuffed olive.

Simple Cheese Spread - Cream together 1 cup shredded cheese (Swiss, Cheddar, cheese food, etc.), and 1/2 cup butter. Spread on rye or other dark bread and place under broiler until slightly browned. Or serve as is, topped with a radish slice. Makes about 3/4 cup.

Tiny Cheese Sandwiches - Spread crust-trimmed cracked-wheat bread with mayonnaise. Make sandwiches with bread and slices of cheese, sprinkled with pepper. Cut each sandwich into 4 squares. Dip ends of tiny pickled onions in paprika. Fasten onions on sandwiches with toothpicks.

What we need:

• 2 cups mixed, cooked, diced vegetables (green beans, potatoes, carrots, zucchini)
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon French mustard
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 8 thin slices lean cooked ham
• strips of red sweet pepper for garnish

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Appetizer is a small portion of food served before, or as the first course of a meal. Appetizers should be attractive in shape, color, and garnish, and have interesting flavor and texture combinations. Above all, they should not be too lung, since they are meant to stimulate, not to dull, the appetite for the meal that is to follow. Serve them always in small portions.

Apparently, appetizers have a basic appeal to human nature since every national cuisine features them.
The Scandinavians have their smorgasbord and pen-faced sandwiches, the Slavs their zakuska, the Italians their antipasto, and French their hors-d’oeuvre.

Appetizers provide the creative cook a first-class opportunity to produce food is pretty. They can vary from simple canapés spread with a canapé butter and garnished with a sprig of parsley to elaborate hot creations. The garnishes should all be edible.

Appetizers may be served both hot and cold, but it is OK to serve all cold or all hot dishes.
The main idea of serving appetizers is to make the food easy to handle with a napkin, and easy to eat in one to two bites. This way your guests will continue to dance, chat and having fun without needing to be encumbered by plates.

You need to find cabbage heads that are firm and heavy for their size. Outer leaves should
look fresh, be a good green or red (depending on variety), and be free of blemishes. At the
beginning of the season, regular cabbage may be less firm and feel softer. Savoy cabbage
and celery cabbage have softer, more loosely formed heads. When selecting these cabbages,
look for fresh, crisp leaves that are free of blemishes. One pound of cabbage usually serves 3
to 4 servings.

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