Once again, looking at the search terms that brought people here has struck me with “Hey, I should post on that” urges. When I think no-cook appetizers, I think, “What can I set out for guests if I’m in a hurry and don’t have time for fiddly little sandwiches with the crusts cut off, or for elaborately carved vegetables with elaborately concocted sauces?” I’m thinking, slap a few things together and bring that tray out so I can hang out with the guests. So here, in no particular order, are things that I/we trot out as appetizers:
pesto and anything
crab dip and anything
roll-ups made from tortillas and cream cheese and one or two other ingredients like spinach leaf, or red bell peppers, or marinated sun-dried tomatoes
raspberry chipotle sauce poured over a huge chunk of brie and served on crackers
hollowed french bread loaf w/spinach dip inside
various dips and veggies
cheese sauces with things to dip
pita chips and pesto
salsa and chips
If you want to get some minimal cooking items, you can stuff pesto into the middle of a chunk of brie and bake it for a few minutes.
For some general thoughts to get you going on your own ideas….
Start with either something to dip or something to spread things on, or something to wrap around things. (chips, vegetables, crackers, bread in any variety of presentation, tortillas, lettuce or spinach leaves, ….)
Add something creamy/dippy (pesto, cream cheese with Stuff mixed in, sour cream with stuff, salad dressing, spreadable cheese, artichoke dip, etc.)
Add one or two other ingredients to create visual and flavor appeal. (vegetables, nuts, specialty meats, cilantro, basil, parsley, fruit,….)
Example: a thin slice of French baguette, spread with cream cheese that has been mixed with sun-dried tomato and pesto, add a tiny curl of prosciutto or a few slivers of bell pepper, and voila–beautiful and not-too-fiddly hors d’oevre!
We welcome additional thoughts–I know there are those of you out there who, (like Cher’s character in the movie “Mermaids”) have made it a life-style to only eat finger foods. So please share your ideas here!
Barb & Laura
3 Comments
August 22, 2006 at 2:55 am
Great ideas!
I love to take sandwich ham slices and spread cream cheese on them then wrap it around a dill spear.
Then you let it refrigerate and cut into little spirals.
They taste real good.
May 20, 2009 at 3:54 pm
One of my favorite, no cook , extremely easy appetizers a block of cream cheese, covered with canned (drained of juice) crab meat or cocktail shrimp, topped with cocktail sauce, served with Triscuits. Tips: I like the cocktail sauce with extra horseradish. Also I garnish the top with fresh chopped cilantro or parsley – could also add some lemon slices or wedges to squeeze on a little fresh lemon juice.
September 8, 2009 at 10:18 pm
[...] as you can tell from the picture, had a lovely smorgasbord of delicious eats. The big hit was my basil pesto bruschetta. Which is divine and so easy to make–a must at future parties! Also in the picture are my [...]