Need Finger food ideas

[Habanero Smoker]

Smoked wings are also good.

[bigredsmoker]

Empanadas are always good and filling. Let me know if you want the recipe? Also, hubby and I make little mini quesadillas out of multi colored/flavored tortillas, with smoked shrimp, smoked chicken...you name it...they're cute and festive and REALLY easy to make!!

Yes, I would like the recipe! I am currently collecting all the recipes I find enticing and putting them in a notebook for future smokes. Thanks!

[bigredsmoker]

I was also considering doing some smoked salmon. I am not a smoked salmon fan ( I have tried it many times, in places like Vancouver where it is supposed to be the best, and have never cared for it. A little too fishy I think.) Anyway, I would like to make some for my Jan 5 party. It is a little more up-scale so I usually go all out with the fancy stuff for that one. I have read nothing on smoking salmon yet so I would love some ideas on that and how to serve the finished product. Gizmo, I would like your smoked salmon dip recipe if you don't mind. I saw some salmon at Sam's Club, would that be good to use? Hard to get good fresh fish hear in Nebraska. Thanks!

Terry

[sherlock]

Empanadas are always good and filling. Let me know if you want the recipe? Also, hubby and I make little mini quesadillas out of multi colored/flavored tortillas, with smoked shrimp, smoked chicken...you name it...they're cute and festive and REALLY easy to make!!

Yes, I would like the recipe! I am currently collecting all the recipes I find enticing and putting them in a notebook for future smokes. Thanks!

Me toooooooooooooo

[La Quinta]

Here is the recipe for the empanadas (the nice thing about these is the sky's the limit as to what you want to fill them with)
This recipe comes from a fabulous book that Martha Stewart wrote before she became a jail bird! The book is Martha Stewart's Hors D'Oeuvres Handbook. Seriously, if you do a lot of entertaining you should get this book. It's all "cocktail party" food. I have made a ton of stuff from it.

Dough:

3 and 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 TSP of Kosher salt
1 TBL of sugar
6 TBLS of veg shortening
12 TBLS of unsalted butter (cold and cubed)
1/2 cup plus 2 TBLS of ice water

As you can see this is almost a basic pie dough...if you don't want to go through making your own dough...buy the frozen pie dough from the market...works like a charm. So to continue...

In the bowl of your food processor, combine the first 3 ingredients. Pulse to combine. Add the shortening and butter and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal. (Don't overpulse or the butter will get too warm). With the machine running slowly add the water through the feed tube and mix until a ball of dough forms. Remove and make a disk about 4" around, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill completely. (Overnight is best) Ok, so now we have dough. Take the dough out of the fridge and let it warm up before you roll it out. I like to roll them to 1/8" to a 1/16" thick. You should be able to get 40-50 hors d'oeuvres size "emapanaditas". Re-chill the rolled out "dough sheet".

THE FILLING:  (The fun part) You can fill these little babies with what ever you want. I like to do a beef empanadita with a kind of Jamaican flair.

1/4 cup of pine nuts (toasted at 375F for about 4 minutes)
2 TBLS of olive oil
1 smallish onion, minced
2 TSP freshly grated ginger
1  LB ground sirloin
2 medium tomatos cubed into a small dice
1/2 TSP ground cinnamon
1/2 TSP ground cumin (I add more)
1/2 TSP ground corriander
1 TSP red chilli flakes
1 and 1/3 cups of tomato juice
4 TSP sugar
Salt and pepper

1 egg
1 TBL of milk

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat add the onions and ginger...cook about 2-3 minutes. Add the beef and cook until done but not carmelized (about 7 minutes). Add the balance of the ingredients thru salt and pepper. Cook for 12-15 minutes until it resembles say...really thick chilli. Now add the pine nuts. (they're already cooked/toasted so you don't want to cook them again)  Taste it now and decide what else you may want to add. I usually will add curry powder, raisins, and allspice. Whatever you add make sure to stir it through thoroughly and let the mixture cool completely.

Remove the dough from the fridge and using a 3 and 3/4 inch round cookie cutter, cut as many little rounds as you can get out (like I said you should get 40-50) If you don't...no biggie...increase the size of your cutter and make less. Just fill em up more!!

Mix the egg and milk together in a small bowl and set aside.

Put a very small amount of the beef mixture (if you use the smaller cookie cutter) into the center of each of your little dough rounds. (Remember if you over fill these little bad boys they'll kinda...explode in the over!!)  Brush the perimeter of the rounds with the milk and egg mixture (thats the glue)  and fold over into little half moons. Crimp the edges with the tines of a fork. Brush the tops of the empanaditas with the milk/egg wash.  Bake (on parchment paper or a silpat) at 375F for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.

So, you ask, where is the smoked part? You could do smoked chicken ones, smoked shrimp ones, substitute smoked sausage in the above recipe...you could fill them with pie filling and dust with powdered sugar, or dip in chocolate after they cool for desert. The nice thing is that they are filling and pretty inexspensive to make for a party!!! OK...I'm done...need a beer!! :)

[La Quinta]

PS....if you want to "kick it up a notch" if you use the raisins...plump those little suckers up in a bit of dark rum for an hour or so...drain the rum off and add them as per the recipe. :) Or just drink the rum instead!!!!!

[iceman]

PS....if you want to "kick it up a notch" if you use the raisins...plump those little suckers up in a bit of dark rum for an hour or so...drain the rum off and add them as per the recipe. :) Or just drink the rum instead!!!!!

Well you just scored a 10 with me LQ!!! :D ;)
Empanadas here I come  ;D

[Gizmo]

I was also considering doing some smoked salmon. I am not a smoked salmon fan ( I have tried it many times, in places like Vancouver where it is supposed to be the best, and have never cared for it. A little too fishy I think.) Anyway, I would like to make some for my Jan 5 party. It is a little more up-scale so I usually go all out with the fancy stuff for that one. I have read nothing on smoking salmon yet so I would love some ideas on that and how to serve the finished product. Gizmo, I would like your smoked salmon dip recipe if you don't mind. I saw some salmon at Sam's Club, would that be good to use? Hard to get good fresh fish hear in Nebraska. Thanks!

Terry

The smoked salmon dip I have done is a salmon substitue for the crab dip.  WCK hopefully will show up and give us his as it was much different and very good.

The salmon I made was with Kummok's recipe on Old's website.
8 oz. cream cheeze
1/2 cup sour cream
1 package knorr vegtable soup mix
12 oz. bottle of Heintz Seafood C0cktail sauce.
Crab or Salmon amount desired (around 8 oz)

Soften cream cheeze and mix with sour cream and soup mix.  Spread mixture over a serving tray, cover with plastic wrap and Let this sit for a couple of hours in the refrigerator if possible for the mix flavors to blend.  Spread sauce over the top of the cream cheeze mixture spread and then sprinkle the salmon over the top.  The crab dip version has been a holiday staple in the family for many years and the person that is responsible for bringing it better not forget!

[La Quinta]

I went to a Christmas party last night and they served quesadillas filled with melted brie, carmelized onions and cranberry sauce!! They were to die for. Easy to make that's for sure!!

[La Quinta]

Ok...another party...another diddy...little sausage balls. Bisquick, hot Jimmy Dean sausage and chedder cheese...I called them stomach grenades...forgot about those...made them years ago. As luck would have it Paula Deen made them today on her show...they are too simple to make and great as an appetizer. You can get the recipe from the food network. They are ridiculously easy to make and good!!!

[Habanero Smoker]

Keebler makes a cracker called Toppers. They are oval shaped and have a rim so you can add toppings in the center. They come in regular and Garlic & Herb flavors. What I did was to lay the crackers on a cookie sheet, and then sprayed them with a butter flavored cooking spray. I sprayed them with the oil to prevent the crackers from getting soggy. Add what ever filling you want in the center, top with a thin slice of smoked cheese and place under the broiler until the cheese is melted. Some of the fillings I've used under the cheese was pulled pork, various pickled vegetables, but the ones that most people liked where the ones that had sliced olives under the cheese. If you run out, it is very easy to make up another batch. I also use the crackers to make pizza bites.

The olives I use were stuffed with either jalipeno or garlic. I happen to see them when I was at Sam's Club.

[La Quinta]

Good tip about spraying the crackers Habs. I've ruined many a cracker by piling it up with stuff and then "soggy city". Another really good sturdy cracker is Carrs Cheese Melts. I have been disappointed by the Tablewaters as they DO NOT last very long. Tend to go stale quick. The Cheese Melts have more fat in them...longer shelf life...loaded with poppy seeds and alot of other "stuff". Very nice if you can get them where you are.

[Habanero Smoker]

I'll keep my eye open for Carrs Cheese Melts crackers. I'm always looking to try new products.

[bigredsmoker]

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you all sooner, but my party was a big success and a lot of the thanks goes to this board. I made LaQuinta's empandas which came out great. Loved the jamaican flare of the spices used. I did kick it up a little with cayenne pepper, but not a lot. I also made the crackers with the olives and melted smoked cheese. I found the Carr's cheese melts at Super Target and they worked great, not soggy at all. I really liked those crackers and will use them again. The rest  of the menu consisted of smoked Salmon (actually Steelhead trout, but no one knew the difference), Pulled pork, smoked and camalized sweet peppers and red onions and icemans sauce in crescent pockets. Prosciutto wrapped pork tenderloin bites, prosciutto and asperagus in a mini parmessean taco, vegetable tray and fruit pizza. Oh, and I made smoked onion dip that everyone said was the best they have ever had. Top the food of with an open bar, and my signature choice of red or green martinis and the last guest (we had 26 total) finally left around 3:00am. The Mrs. and I then took a dip in the Hot tub to unwind and crawled into bed around 4:00. Thank God I don't do those party's often. Don't think my liver could handle it. One of my friends called the next day and asked if I had found his liver yet and would I send it to him if I did. I got a laugh out of that one.

Anyway, In the rush to get everything ready I forgot to take pictures so sorry, I will do better next year. Thanks again for all your help. I couldn't have done it without you all!!

[Gizmo]

One of my friends called the next day and asked if I had found his liver yet and would I send it to him if I did. I got a laugh out of that one.

Should have told him to don't worry, no one has come up with a good smoked liver recipe yet so it still must be laying around somewhere.  ::)