Try your hand at fine cooking with gourmet appetizers and swoon your guests with the delicious delicacies. Read below for some mouthwatering homemade gourmet appetizer recipes.

Gourmet Appetizers

Gourmet or haute cuisine is the art of fine food and drink. Not only does it involve extensive preparations, but it also focuses on presentation of the dishes. Such is the overall impact of the gourmet delicacies is that apart from satiating the palate, they also slake the visual and olfactory senses. It is due to this exotic nature that gourmet food is always associated with the best restaurants created by the culinary geniuses of master chefs. Fine cooking involves many ingredients of which the most important are love and passion. The rest depends on your expertise. Thus, if one wishes to get a taste of gourmet food, it is best to start with the appetizers. Compared to other courses, the appetizers are relatively easier to rustle up. With delectable gourmet appetizers, you can not only showcase your cooking skills, but also give the guests an idea of what wonders they can expect later. Traditionally, serving appetizers or Hors d'œuvre as they are known in French, was a way of introducing the main dish, and sharpening the appetite of the guests in preparation of the main course. Nowadays, the skills and creativity required for appetizers have taken the dimensions of the main meal itself. However, there is no need to get panicky. You can very well leave the extensive ones for the chefs, and concentrate on a few easy yet tasty ones that are listed below. With these appetizers, you can be sure to leave the guests guessing if the food is from a five star hotel or your own kitchen. Read further for some interesting homemade gourmets appetizer recipes.
 
Homemade Gourmet Appetizers Recipes
 
Almond-Sherry Mushroom Pate
 
Ingredients
  • ½ small Onion (quartered)
  • 1 small clove Garlic
  • ½ pound fresh Mushrooms (halved)
  • 2 tbsp Butter
  • ¼ tsp Salt
  • 1/8 tsp Tarragon (crushed)
  • 1 dash White Pepper
  • 10 oz whole Almonds (blanched and toasted)
  • 1 tbsp Dry Sherry
  • 1 tbsp Heavy Cream
Preparation
  • Roughly chop the garlic, onion and mushrooms.
  • Heat a medium sized skillet and melt the butter in it.
  • To it add the onion, garlic, mushrooms, salt, tarragon and pepper. Stir fry until the liquid evaporates.
  • Take one third of the almonds and roughly chop. Keep aside two tablespoons. Put the remaining chopped almonds in a blender and blend to form a paste.
  • To the blender, add the stir fried mushroom mixture, sherry and cream. Blend together until smooth.
  • Add the rest two third of the almonds in the blender and blend. Remove the pate into a bowl and set a chill.
  • Before serving, garnish with the remaining two tablespoons of almonds.
Baked Oysters With Egg
 
Ingredients
  • ¼ pound Butter
  • 2 cups Celery
  • 1 Onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 pint Oysters
  • 4 Eggs (hard-boiled and grated)
  • 2 cups Bread crumbs (toasted)
  • 1 cup Oyster Juice or Water
  • Parsley
Procedure
  • In a skillet, melt the butter. Add the onion and celery and cook till tender.
  • Cut the oysters and then add it to the skillet. Add a little oyster juice and cook for 5 minutes.
  • Remove the skillet from the fire and add the bread crumbs and grated eggs. Mix thoroughly and season with parsley.
  • Now add salt, pepper and oyster juice or water.
  • Grease a pyrex dish and put the mixture in it. Sprinkle cracker crumbs and dollops of butter on top.
  • Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Fresh Spring Rolls
 
Ingredients
  • 2 oz Rice Vermicelli
  • 8 Rice Wrappers (8.5 inch diameter)
  • 8 large cooked Shrimp (peeled, deveined and cut in half)
  • 1 1/3 tbsp fresh Thai Basil (chopped)
  • 3 tbsp fresh Mint Leaves (chopped)
  • 3 tbsp fresh Cilantro (chopped)
  • 2 leaves Lettuce (chopped)
  • 4 tsp Fish Sauce
  • ¼ cup Water
  • 2 tbsp fresh Lime Juice
  • 1 clove Garlic (minced)
  • 2 tbsp White Sugar
  • ½ tsp Garlic Chili Sauce
  • 3 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
  • 1 tsp Peanuts (finely chopped)
Preparation
  • Fill a medium-sized saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Add the rice vermicelli and boil for 5 minutes.
  • Take a large bowl and fill it with water. Dip a wrapper for one second and put it flat on a surface.
  • In the center of the wrapper place two shrimp halves. Then put a handful of vermicelli. Add basil, mint, mint, cilantro and lettuce. Leave two inches of the wrapper free on each side.
  • Fold the free sides and roll the wrapper.
  • Repeat the same with the other wrappers.
  • Take the fish sauce, water, lime juice, garlic, sugar and chili sauce in a bowl and mix.
  • In another bowl, mix the hoisin sauce and peanuts.
  • Serve the rolls with the two sauces.

How to Cite

More from iloveindia.com