Appetizer ideas please?

Our wine group meets on Sunday and the theme is wines from Washington State. We are to bring a white or red of our choice and I'm kicking around bringing a Columbia Crest Chardonnay--a nice "everyday" wine I've been enjoying since I first had it while visiting a friend in Washington this past August. I may come up with something different, but it will probably be a Chardonnay.
We are to bring an appetizer that will pair nicely with our wine of choice. Since we are talking about Washington, I'm thinking apples. I used to make a pork tenderloin dish that was sauteed with granny smith apples and a sauce made with cider and a hint of cream. These are the flavors I'm toying with for an appetizer but looking for a vehicle for them or a twist on the whole thing.
Any ideas?

Hey Carrie,

Your pork/apple idea sounds delicious.

Maybe you could make a pork/apple mini meatballs cooked with your sauce.

Or a thin slice of pork tenderloin with your apple and sauce served on puffed pastry.

Other suggestions that might be different are little toasts with goat cheese or brie and fig jelly, or sausage in puffed pastry with a spicy apple dipping sauce. A shrimp or lobster appetizer might be nice with the chardonnay too.

Let us know what you make...can't wait to hear about it!

Carrie, here's some ideas
Crostini with goat cheese, roasted garlic, thin sliced apple and apple chutney
Baked butternut squash stuffed with apple and maple syrup
Bratwurst with sauerkraut, apple and onion
Chicken or pork sausage patties with apple and sage
Spinach salad with apple, bacon and avocado
And since it's Washington, here's some salmon appie ideas
Cocktail pumpernickel with salmon spread with cream cheese, sliced cucumber and dill
Pasta shells filled with good canned salmon, and minced celery, bell pepper, onion, mayo and hard-boiled eggs
Salmon roll for spreading on crackers consisting of canned salmon, cream cheese, horseradish, minced onion, parsley and maybe some chopped walnuts for crunch

[Jenise]

I kind of think Shel's on to something with his suggestions of smoked salmon--Washington wines are fairly ripe, and CC's chardonnays are on the smokey side. One way to take a good salmon spread out of the box would be to use chive crepes as your wrapper--crepes can lend themselves to a number of dramatic presentations. Make smaller ones that would be individual, finger food servings, or make larger ones you can cut in half on the diagonal and serve standing up on a platter, like a bunch of pipes of uneven lengths. If you plate them as individual appetizers, two or three can be nestled into shallow cups or served on some lightly dressed greens.

You guys all have such good ideas!
I love Maria's ground pork, apple meatball idea; Shel's bratwurst, apple, onion, saurkraut idea, and Jenise's salmon crepe idea--the latter especially because Len will miss our wine group due to traveling, and he can't stand salmon. I always look for opportunities to have it/make it when he's not around. However, I don't have a crepe pan. Still mulling this over....I'll report back again.
Thanks everyone!

[Jenise]

However, I don't have a crepe pan.

I don't either! I make them in a small non-stick skillet.

[Jenise]

Btw, if you end up going that route, here's a recipe for the crepes--with higher egg content, it's a bit more substantial than most crepe batters, hence the ability to slice and stand up if you like that presentation.

RCP: Green Onion Crepes

Combine in a large measuring cup:

2 eggs
1/2 c low fat milk
1/4 c whipping cream
1/3 c flour
2 Tblsp rice flour
pinch salt
1 tsp coarse black pepper
1 green onion, finely chopped

Whisk until smooth.

Heat a crepe pan or nonstick skillet until very hot. Rub the surface of the pan with a piece of paper towel that has been dipped in a little vegetable oil. Pour in enough of the butter to coat the bottom of the pan thinly. Let the surface of the crepe dry out a little, moving the pan around the burner to dry any very wet spots. This will take about 20 seconds.

Loosen the edge of the crepe from the pan to flip it. Let the crepe cook another 5 seconds to dry the uncooked side, then slide onto a plate. Stack the rest of the crepes on top, they won''t stick together. Makes 4 crepes.

Jenise, I'm liking that idea more and more. These wine gatherings are stand-up affairs. People just sort of nosh all evening. I assume these are meant to be served room temp or cold? Could I do them ahead of time and keep them in the fridge?

Now, Salmon spreads... I'm thinking something along the lines of shredded smoked salmon, cream cheese, green onions, parsley, lemon juice. Am I on the right track? Any perfect recipes out there?

I love the way that green onion crepe sounds, Jenise. Thanks for posting that.

[Jenise]

Jenise, I'm liking that idea more and more. These wine gatherings are stand-up affairs. People just sort of nosh all evening. I assume these are meant to be served room temp or cold? Could I do them ahead of time and keep them in the fridge?

Now, Salmon spreads... I'm thinking something along the lines of shredded smoked salmon, cream cheese, green onions, parsley, lemon juice. Am I on the right track? Any perfect recipes out there?

[Jenise]

Jenise, I'm liking that idea more and more. These wine gatherings are stand-up affairs. People just sort of nosh all evening. I assume these are meant to be served room temp or cold? Could I do them ahead of time and keep them in the fridge?

Now, Salmon spreads... I'm thinking something along the lines of shredded smoked salmon, cream cheese, green onions, parsley, lemon juice. Am I on the right track? Any perfect recipes out there?

That's kind of what I understood, and that's why I reccomended this prep. You're definitely on the right track with your spread--I don't have a recipe, I just wing this, but a little mayo in combination with the cream cheese will lighten the spread in a good way as well as make it a little tackier for holding the rolls together, and the addition of some finely diced water chestnuts will add a positive textural crunch. You could swing it even more Asian by subbing cilantro for the parsley.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/smoked-salmon-spread-recipe3/index.html

Okay, I figure you can't go wrong with an Ina Garten recipe. I just found this online. Based on the reviews, I'm going to increase the amount of salmon. I will make the crepes to roll it up in. This will be fun!

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions. I'm keeping the other ideas in my back pocket for when we have a Riesling tasting.

[Jenise]

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/smoked-salmon-spread-recipe3/index.html

Okay, I figure you can't go wrong with an Ina Garten recipe. I just found this online. Based on the reviews, I'm going to increase the amount of salmon. I will make the crepes to roll it up in. This will be fun!

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions. I'm keeping the other ideas in my back pocket for when we have a Riesling tasting.

I just looked at her recipe, and you will DEFINITELY have to ass a lot more salmon--just think of the ratio of fat (cream cheese, mayo or sour cream) you mix with tuna for a tuna sandwich. That's about the texture you'll be looking for in these--enough to make it soft enough to spread and hold together. Hers, as shown in the picture (not that these pictures always tell the truth, but it looks like that one does), basically makes a dip-like texture.

I just looked at her recipe, and you will DEFINITELY have to ass a lot more salmon--

Er....... typo?

I just looked at her recipe, and you will DEFINITELY have to ass a lot more salmon--

Er....... typo?

One would hope...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/smoked-salmon-spread-recipe3/index.html

Okay, I figure you can't go wrong with an Ina Garten recipe. I just found this online. Based on the reviews, I'm going to increase the amount of salmon. I will make the crepes to roll it up in. This will be fun!

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions. I'm keeping the other ideas in my back pocket for when we have a Riesling tasting.

I just looked at her recipe, and you will DEFINITELY have to ass a lot more salmon--just think of the ratio of fat (cream cheese, mayo or sour cream) you mix with tuna for a tuna sandwich. That's about the texture you'll be looking for in these--enough to make it soft enough to spread and hold together. Hers, as shown in the picture (not that these pictures always tell the truth, but it looks like that one does), basically makes a dip-like texture.

I agree with you about the consistency. It looked too "dippy" to me. BUT, you don't have to call me an ass.

[Jenise]

I agree with you about the consistency. It looked too "dippy" to me. BUT, you don't have to call me an ass.

Oops! That's what I get for allowing them to put the 'd' next to the 's'.

Okay, so far so good. The spread is made and just finished the crepes. (See below.) Had I known how easy and forgiving crepes are, I would be whipping them up all the time. I LOVE them, but always assumed they were a pain in the neck. Not at all so!

So, my questions are...
The gathering is in five hours. The spread is chilling and the crepes are covered on the counter. (I think I will put them in the fridge as well.) Should I assemble them right before bringing them to the tasting? When I assemble, I assume I should cover the whole surface of the crepe with some spread and then roll up like a pinwheel, right?

crepes 003.JPG

Ok, since I know all of you are on the edges of your seats , they came out perfectly. Jenise, do you ever tire of being called genius? If not, I will tell you what a fantastic (perfect finger food) appetizer this was. People loved it. The water chestnuts were a brilliant addition. I didn't add them at first (I did a trial roll-up) and it seemed to be lacking texture, so I finely chopped some and added them. (I rolled them right before I left for the gathering.)

Only one little roll was left at the end of the evening. We had tons of good food. Someone made the homemade ricotta, fig and carmelized onion crostini's from last month's (or this month's?) Bon Appetit. Very good! The host made marinated, grilled top sirloin that was out of this world. We all hounded him until he made copies of the recipe for everyone. Oh, and the wines were wonderful too.

And, as a side note for the "coincidence" file. Earlier in the day yesterday, some girlfriends and I went as guests to a special afternoon shopping event at one of the posh clubs here. A chef was making some wonderful little finger-foods to nosh while we browsed. Would you believe, he made crepes with smoked salmon? What are the chances? Especially since I had just made my crepes and spread and put it all in the fridge to roll later. His actually had a nice twist. He layed out the crepe, spread a cream cheese mixture over the whole thing, placed thinly sliced lox-style salmon over that, then placed an asparagus spear on one end and rolled it all up. After that he made lobster quesadillas with citrus salsa. Unbelievable.

They weren't as "creamy" as the photos make them look.

chive and salmon crepes 001.JPG

chive and salmon crepes 004.JPG

Oh WOW Carrie...Those look fantastic! Jenise is a genius! I am so glad it went well and the apps were a hit. Thanks for sharing the pics too...they look so good!!

[Jenise]

Okay, so far so good. The spread is made and just finished the crepes. (See below.) Had I known how easy and forgiving crepes are, I would be whipping them up all the time.

Several years ago, probably on FLDG classic, I lamented that crepes were probably the best thing American cooks never make. I'm thrilled to welcome you to the small world of converts.

Your instincts were right about waiting to roll them--this is a moister and thicker crepe than typical and more forgiving of holding a wet filling for awhile (which is why it's perfect for this application), but still, you don't want to test it's limits if you don't have to.

I'm glad these worked out so well for your event. And yes, rolling asparagus spears in them is great. Did you get essentially four rolls from each crepe? Looking at your picture, I'd think you did. Well, another thing you can do is cut each crepe in two, then roll each with a clum of radish sprouts sticking out either side so when they're cut in half and up-ended, you have that lovely little spicy frill peeking out over the top of the salmon. Or you could just dip each cut end in some chives...but you get it, there are a lot of ways to add color and texture.

Wow! I hope you two don't mind if I steal this.

I am invited to join some friends for Christmas Day and wanted to bring something special. This is definitely it! What a lovely looking appetizer.

Wow! I hope you two don't mind if I steal this.

I am invited to join some friends for Christmas Day and wanted to bring something special. This is definitely it! What a lovely looking appetizer.

I think I can safely speak for Jenise as well and say that of course we don't mind! You can't go wrong!

Thanks!

I've never made crepes, so I think I'll practice over the weekend.