Suzanne Carillo

Appetizers are one of my all time favourite dishes to make.

I love the idea of tiny sexy looking bites with loads of flavour.

It is no secret that simple is best. And although putting these together can be a little finicky… they turn out beautifully and are simply delicious!

I never measured anything when making any of these and "eye-balled it" so if the quantities are slightly off I apologize in advance.

Baby BLTs

These are the most finicky of the bunch but oh so yummy!

Ingredients:

Baby roma tomatoes
1 tbsp mayonnaise (If you like spicy food you could mix some cayenne pepper into your mayo.)
Fresh basil leaves
1 slice cooked crisp pancetta

Method:

Cut a small slice off the bottom of each little tomato. Just enough so it'll stand up straight.
Then cut off the top and hollow out a bit of the insides. I did this with a knife but you could use a melon baller if you have one that is small enough. Don't hollow it all the way out, just create a bit of a pocket at the top.

Take a zip-lock baggy and put a tablespoon of mayonnaise inside and squish it to one corner. Trim a very small piece of the corner of the bag with a knife. You can now pipe a little bit of mayo into each of the tomato hulls.

Add in small piece of pancetta and tuck in a small basil leave behind the pancetta.

Pear Walnut Cheese Bites

Ingredients:

1 ripe but firm pear
good hard cheese ( I used aged Beemster from Holland)
lemon juice
1/3 cup roasted walnuts (1 for each appetizer) (Do not skip roasting the walnuts – it makes all the difference. Bake them for about 5-10 minutes at 350 F or until slightly browned. Watch them though…nuts can burn fast. )

Method:

1. Cut the pear into bite sized squares and toss with some lemon juice. The lemon stops them from turning brown.

2. Cut the cheese into same size squares.

3. Layer the 3 elements together on a toothpick. Be careful with the walnuts. You may have the "screw" the toothpick into the nut so that it doesn't crack in half.

Goat's Cheese Pecan Date Balls

Ingredients

1/4 cup Goat's cheese
2 tbsp Cream cheese
1/4 cup Roasted pecans finely chopped (follow same advice as for walnuts above for roasting and then chop)
4 Large dried dates

1. Cream the goat's cheese and cream cheese together until smooth.
2. Place your roasted chopped pecans into a shallow bowl. Take a small spoonful of the mixture and drop it into the pecans rolling around until a ball forms.
3. Cut the date into 3 strips and remove pit. I added the dates last minute but now I would suggest wrapping the date around the cheese ball and securing it with the toothpick rather than just placing on top like I did.

Let me know if you decide to make any of these how you like them. I have to say I enjoyed my appetizers more than my mains.

For dessert I made a trio of tarts…apple, pumpkin and butter. I just love the idea again of 3 tiny tasters rather than a full piece of pie.