Sometimes we just like doing a few appetizers instead of a full dinner. It can be fun and interactive. Here are some easy options.
For the mushroom pate:
- 2 cups crimini mushrooms
- 1 large shallot diced
- 1 clove roasted garlic
- 1/8 cup red wine
- 1 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Pop the stems off your mushrooms and clean. Thinly slice the mushroom caps. Add the diced shallots, mushrooms, and olive oil to a saute pan and cook until well done. Then deglaze the pan with the red wine and reduce the wine. Add the cooked mushroom mix to a food processor with pine nuts and roasted garlic and process until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours.
To make the roasted garlic all you have to do is peal the outer skin off the bulb of garlic and cut off the top tip. Place in a oven safe ramekin or muffin tin and coat generously with olive oil. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Roasting garlic like this mellows it out. You can even use that as part of your appetizer as roasted garlic spread on toast.
We also made the olive salad we are obsessed with currently.
For the olive salad mix:
- chopped black olives
- chopped green olives
- chopped artichoke hearts
- minced garlic
- small amount of olive oil
- small amount of balsamic or red wine vinagar
The olive salad gets better after it has chilled for a few hours or overnight. We also served some sliced radishes and broccoli sprouts to be eaten alone or combined with the other foods on a piece of bread. That's the fun interactive part! The threes cheeses we had with this were Capricho de Cabra with herbs (simple soft goat cheese), Motasio (firm mild cow's milk cheese), and Gouda with truffles.
