Cocktail Party Appetizers

Posted on by Forest in Diet, General, Health, Opinion, Recipes & Food

If you are one of the lucky ones this holiday season hosting a cocktail party you may be wondering what earth you are going to serve. I am going to give you a few of my favorite Cocktail Party Appetizers that are easy to make and don’t cost the earth! Just as another tip you may want to make your cocktail party a potluck of sorts to ease the strain on you!

Easy Cocktail Party Appetizers

I don’t think it is important to always present the most pristine expensive food at a cocktail party, obviously I am not talking about serving frozen sausage rolls but some very interesting simple appetizers can be thought of with a little imagination.

Mini jacket potatos

People love these in my experience and they are super easy and a pretty good alternative to sandwiches. Get some new potatoes and boil them until cooked but a little firm. Cut a slit across the top and open up then fill with a small bit of filling like you would a large jacket potato. A few baked beans and some cheese in each one works great, spicy tomato sauce, cheese and herbs or anything you would put on a large jacket potato.

Eggplant slices with walnut pesto

Prepare you eggplants by slicing them into 1/4-1/2 inch slices and heavily salting them. Then place them on kitchen towel and put into the fridge for an half hour or so.

Then make the pesto. I do this by combining fresh basil, walnuts, garlic, olive oil and a little salt in a food processor. I think it’s always best to make pesto by taste but put in more basil than anything else and then gradually bring in the other ingredients and keep tasting until it is right. I also like to add a little chilli powder.

Take the eggplant out from the fridge and wash all the salt of, then pat dry each one. Heat up a pan or the grill and cook them in a little olive oil with a touch of salt and pepper (if needed) until they are tender.

Take the cooked slices and spread a nice layer of pesto on each one. Then place a whole walnut in the middle and pinch the sides of the eggplant around the nut securing in place with a cocktail stick.

Roasted beets with goat cheese and chopped nuts

Traditionally you serve this with just walnuts but I have found that mixed nuts work great too. First slice the beets about half an inch think. Put them in a pan with some olive oil lightly sprinkled over the top, seasoning and herbs of choice. I like thyme and basil. Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes or so turning half way through. You want them just undercooked. Then pull the tray out of the oven and put a block of goats cheese on each beet slice. Put back in the oven for 5 minutes, remove them from the oven again, sprinkle with chopped nuts and put it back in for another 5 minutes or so until the tops are nicely browned.