Why have I never written about these before in a post?  These are a family favorite as an appetizer and are a snap to make.  They are also - bonus - something you can make when you need an appetizer and have nothing available.  Because if you always keep frozen puff pastry sheets in your freezer (you should) and you always have a hard grating cheese in your fridge (I bet you do), you can totally make these in about an hour and a half from start to finish.   You can also make these ahead of time and stick them in the fridge before baking.  They hold all day in the fridge until you're ready to pop them in the oven. 

See the quilt in the opening photograph?  I made that.  A lot of you probably know that I like to make things.  I cook, of course, but I like to knit and sew. I've started writing about what I'm sewing (mostly quilts) for fun and if you are into that sort of thing, I hope you will jump on over to Beech Tree Lane Handmade and follow me there!

If you have plans in the future to visit San Francisco and wonder where to eat, let me recommend a couple of restaurants to you that are really exceptional - A16 and SPQR.  They are sister restaurants, with the same owner, Shelly Lindgren, at the helm.  They are both Italian restaurants and serve outstanding food and wine.  I guarantee you will not have a bad meal at either place.  A16 focuses on the food and wine of the Campania (Naples) region of Italy.  A16 is the name of the road that runs through that part of Italy.  SPQR, if you have ever been to Rome, are the initials that are stamped into everything in the city - from manhole covers to coins. It means "The Senate and People of Rome".  Tip: if you go to SPQR, sit at the Cook's Counter and watch them prepare the food. 

I made these for my son's graduation open house this past spring and they were such a big hit. So many people wanted the recipe that I thought I would go ahead and share it here.  These are outrageously tasty and crunchy and very easy to make.  The phyllo is brushed with good mustard and sprinkled with Asiago cheese and then rolled up with asparagus. The best part about these is that they can be assembled a day ahead, refrigerated and then just baked the next day right before serving - my kind of recipe!  And you don't even have to precook the asparagus - I just use them raw in the assembly.  I even made a video to show you how fast and easy these are to whip up. 

ceramic plate from Fifty One and a Half

Have you seen these little mini peppers that the grocery stores are stocking now? Well, I've become a big fan of these and I always have a bag in the fridge. They make the nicest little appetizers. I even like them better than the large bell peppers for stir fries.  But one of the best things to do with them is to cut them in half, stuff them and bake or grill them.  

When we were on the Amalfi Coast last year, one of the best food memories by far was eating the fresh mozzarella that is so famous in that area of Italy. It’s soft and creamy and was on every pizza we ordered. That’s the kind of mozzarella cheese you want to use. Years ago, you were out of luck if you wanted anything close to that kind of cheese at home. But now we have Galbani® Mozzarella Fresca™ in the grocery stores and it’s what I use when I need fresh mozzarella.

Galbani Mozzarella Fresca is made right here in the United States and is made in the traditional fior di latte method that they use in Italy. This mozzarella is soft, moist and melts perfectly on top of pizza. It was listed by the editors of Saveur Magazine as one of their favorite fresh mozzarellas. I use it in this delicious Two Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta recipe. I use it in my pizza-making classes. And, of course, I use it for the traditional Caprese salads in the summer. They have two types of fresh mozzarella: in tubs, packed in water and vacuum sealed without water. The kind in water is softer and the kind that is vacuum-sealed is a little firmer.

I dare you to eat just one of these amazing homemade beet chips.   They are just downright addictive. This is healthy snack food that you can feel good about eating.  They are super easy to make and only take about an hour in your oven. You don't even have to be a beet lover to love these chips.  I've had a couple of people try them who loved them and were totally surprised to learn they were beets. 

My appreciation for the wonders of puff pastry knows no bounds. If you keep a package of puff pastry in your freezer you can do all kinds of delicious things with it.  You can make a savory palmier or a sweet palmier.  All you need is a sheet of puff pastry and a little filling of some kind and you can have a plate of these in 30 minutes.

My farmer's market is just chock full of eggplant right now so it's the perfect time to make this dish from Sicily - Caponata.  It's an eggplant stew or relish that can be used in a variety of ways.  It does make a great vegetarian main dish, but it's mostly used a side dish, especially for fish.  I like to spread it on some good, crusty bread.

I'm making an appetizer for this dinner - gougeres.  They are delicious little cheese puffs that are traditionally made with shredded Gruyere cheese but I've changed them a little - I made them with grated Parmigiano Reggiano instead.  If you've never made gougeres, don't fret.  They are so simple to make.  You mix up the batter in a saucepan on the stove, dump it into a food processor and add eggs. Then you pipe it or spoon it onto baking sheets.  Now that doesn't sound hard, does it.  And the best part?  You can actually make these ahead and freeze them in ziplocks.  When you need them, just take them out and pop them on baking sheets and reheat.  An appetizer at a moments notice!  With a little glass of wine and some olives, they're hard to beat.

These just scream Christmas, don't they?  I wanted to show you this recipe to give you plenty of time to include this in your holiday entertaining.  I love cranberry desserts at the holidays - they are so pretty, with the cranberries looking like little jewels. These phyllo baskets are simply scrumptious and you can make the components of these ahead of time, making it a breeze to assemble right before you want them.

Puff pastry is your friend.  And if you don't know that yet, let me introduce you by making this quick and easy summer appetizer.

Frozen puff pastry is one of the greatest things you can keep in your freezer.  You can make last minute appetizers with it, desserts, breakfast pastries and use it to top pot pies.  You can certainly make your own puff pastry, but it is very time consuming and the commercial version in the grocery store is very good. I like making these very easy appetizers with puff pastry.  You just lay out a sheet of the pastry, top it with cheese and a vegetable and bake.  

We sure bake a lot of bread in this house.  I used to make focaccia bread a couple of times a week, but lately this incredibly easy artisan bread has been on our dinner table most nights.  I wanted to get out of that rut and thought I'd make these easy herbed flatbreads for a change.  I hadn't made these in ages but they are easy and fun to make and can be also used as an appetizer.

This delicious bread is sort of a cross between a cracker and a bread.  It's a great excuse to break out your pasta rollers, if you have them.  The dough is divided into small pieces and passed through pasta rollers to make a nice flat bread.  If you don't have pasta rollers, just roll them out by hand but the pasta rollers make it so much easier and faster.  These little breads don't have to be a uniform size or shape - it's kind of rustic anyway if they are not.  

I love puff pastry.  If you keep some in your freezer, you can make a lot of great things with very little notice. It only takes about 30-40 minutes to thaw and is so versatile.  Napoleons are usually desserts made with squares or rectangles of puff pastry and layered with pastry cream and fruit.  I'm going to show you how to make savory asparagus napoleons but you can make napoleons with any filling you like.  Get creative.  I'm using asparagus because it's in season here now.

Arancine are one of the most traditional foods in all of Sicily.  These fried rice balls resemble oranges - the Italian word for orange is arancia.  They can be stuffed with a variety of mixtures, but a meat sauce, or ragu, is the most traditional.  In Sicily, they are sold everywhere and we loved to see them sold on the street by vendors, in the airport or even gas stations.  How different from the sad hot dogs and pretzels you buy in an American gas station! They are great picnic fare and are often eaten just held in a paper napkin.  Arancine are made by forming balls of risotto, inserting some kind of stuffing, rolling them in bread crumbs and then frying. They are best served hot but can be eaten room temperature.  

This may well be our favorite appetizer.  I think a close second are these parmesan crisps, but these crostini are just amazing. The combination of the prosciutto with the luscious fig jam is so good and then the creamy goat cheese - well, you just have to make these.  And (shhhh...) they are so easy!

All you need for these little wonders are a good fresh baguette, a jar of fig jam, some salty prosciutto, plain goat cheese and some fresh basil.  The fig jam is an item which is now found in any grocery store.  You just have to know where to look for it.  Some stores carry it with the jams and some carry it with the international foods.  I know Whole Foods has this brand of jam and they always have some tucked in with all the cheeses. This stuff is incredible - if you've never had it, you'll want to eat it with a spoon.  Or put it on toast.  Or make a sandwich with it.  Or put it on scrambled eggs.  Okay, you get it.  For the prosciutto, make sure you buy a good quality prosciutto - because there are so few ingredients, this appetizer is only good as the quality of your ingredients.

It's artichoke season and I know a lot of people don't know what to do with them. These thorny little devils contain succulent insides and it's just a matter of trimming away all the inedible parts.  Once you get the hang of it, trimming an artichoke goes very quickly.  Don't believe me?  Observe from a master in Campo di Fiori in Rome:

If you look for recipes for the traditional Italian Easter Pie, you will find many variations.  Some people call it a pie and some call it a cake.  Some have meat inside and some do not.  There are so many different ways to make it, but they are all savory.  This recipe is one that I have had for twenty-five years.  It comes from a very authentic source - Anna Teresa Callen, who is now in her eighties. She is a very well known cooking teacher and author who lives in New York City. She is from the Abruzzo region of Italy.  She says this pie is traditionally made with 33 layers of dough, one for each of the years that Christ lived.  But she makes this with twelve - for each of the apostles (and a whole lot easier!)

This bread is one of my favorite things to serve as an appetizer with some wine, cheese and olives.  It's a pull-apart bread that is scented with cinnamon and cardamom and is slightly sweet, made with a little milk and sugar. It's really delicious.  I got the recipe several years ago out of one of my favorite all time books, "Love by the Glass" by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, the long time wine writers for the Wall Street Journal.  Their column, which ran for twelve years, was called "Tastings" and Brian and I religiously read it.  In addition to writing about wine, John and Dottie always snuck in little bits about their own life and children and if you were a long time reader, you got to feel like you knew them a little.  After I read their book, which is really a memoir of their life together, their love of wine and some favorite recipes, I really felt like I knew them.  I've read "Love by the Glass" three times over the last few years and it's more charming and funny every time I read it.  So we were stunned this past week when we read, at the bottom of their column, these words:

"This is our 579th—and last—"Tastings" column. The past 12 years—a full case!—have been a joy, not because of the wine but because we had an opportunity to meet so many of you, both in person and virtually. Thank you."

Huh?  We couldn't believe it.  No explanation, nothing.  I haven't been able to find any information on what happened or what they are going to do now.  Their Facebook page is just full of people expressing good wishes to them, but no word from them.  Hopefully, they will resurface on the web somewhere with their excellent writing.  Until then, I think I'll curl up with their book again and reread some of their fun stories.  This bread was their most requested recipe.