Hearty Party Appetizers

"The party is Friday night - bring a hearty appetizer!"

"Hearty Appetizer?" Guess that doesn't mean potato chips and onion mix dip. What is a hearty appetizer, anyway? For our purposes, we'll say a hearty appetizer is any food that can be eaten with the fingers while carrying on a conversation, that does not actually do what appetizers are desined to do: it doesn't leave you hungry for something heartier anytime soon.

In the 80s, we combined cocktail weiners with cherry pie filling in a Crock Pot, or heated frozen meatballs with canned mushroom soup and Velveeta. But in this new century, we try to be just a bit more enlightened. So what qualifies as satisfying finger-food -- more than a cracker but not quite a meal -- that might originate on a farm instead of in a chemical factory?

My suggestion involves tiny new potatoes (you could call them natural 'tater tots) stuffed with spiced ground meat. Once you get the basic idea, the possibilities are endless and you can party hearty.



Recipe: Spiced Meat 'n Taters
---- Hearty Party Appetizers

Tater Shells
1.5 lbs tiny new potatoes (the size of small eggs)
olive oil
1/2 - 1 tsp. sea salt

Prick the potatoes with a sharp fork, then toss with olive oil and salt. As this will be an appetizer, you can be more liberal with the salt than you might with potatoes served for a meal. Microwave about 6 minutes, stirring twice during cooking, until the potatoes begin to "sing" and are barely tender. They will bake more later, so you want them to be rather firm at this point.

When potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice into halves and scoop out the center of each half with a small melon baller. Don't fuss over making a deep scoop; you only need enough of a divet to hold the meat in place.  Reserve the cut-out portions and any broken potatoes for potato salad (see notes.) Arrange in a single layer in an oiled baking dish, cover and chill.


Spiced Meat
1 lb. very lean ground meat
2 - 4 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium onion (about 4 oz.) minced
1/2 c. rolled oats
1/4 c. currants
1 tsp. salt (to taste)
1 tsp. each, ground: cinnamon, thyme, basil
1/2 tsp. each, ground: cloves, ginger, peppercorns, nutmeg

Combine well. Cover and chill at least 1 hour, to allow oats to absorb moisture from meat mixture.

Assemble:
Using the same small melon baller used to scoop out the potatoes, scoop up small balls of the spiced meat mixture and fill each 'tater cup. Cover and chill until ready to bake.

Glaze:
2 Tbs. brown mustard
1 Tbs. brown sugar
Blend well and brush over meatballs.

Bake:
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until meat tests done with thermometer:
Beef or Buffalo: 155 degrees
Pork: 170 degrees
Poultry: 185 degrees

Notes:
Hearty appetizers are meant to be entertaining, so be liberal with the spices. I began with the amounts listed here then cooked a bit of the meat mix to judge the taste. I ended up doubling the spices, but since I live in the Southwest where everything is spicy, you might not want to go quite that wild.

Thoughts about ground meat: 
Because we happen to live near a buffalo ranch, I use a lot of that lean, hormone-free, local meat in my cooking. The spice mix and currants in this recipe are nicely suited to buffalo or other game meats such as elk or venisen as well as to lean grass-fed beef. I also thought the cinnamon and cloves would be nice for an October party.

Ground lean chicken or turkey could be seasoned with the Simon & Garfunkel mix: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, which would be nice for pork as well. All the lean ground meats benefit from the addition of some fat. Olive oil provides the needed juiciness as well as additional flavor without additional saturated fat or cholesterol.

Seasoning:
You can really play with different combinations of herbs and spices with this dish:
Italian: oregano, basil, fennel seeds; substitute chopped olives for capers; add Parmesan
Southwest: chili powder, cinnamon, cilantro, a pinch of cocoa, chopped chilies instead of currants
Curry: cardamom, turmeric, cloves, fenugreek seeds, garlic, cilantro, ginger, keep the currants
Asian: good soy sauce, minced garlic, ground ginger, chopped water chestnuts instead of currants

Other Appetizer Cups:

My first idea for this recipe was stuffed apples, but tiny, appetizer sized apples were nowhere to be found.  But the possibilities are literally endless. The cinnamon-spiced meat would be wonderful baked in tiny pumpkins or in small zucchini hollowed out into pretty boats. Mushroom caps, sturdy Italian plum tomatoes and little eggplants (those that are actually the size and color of eggs) are all good choices.

If you need something more like a hearty meal rather than an appetizer, use full-sized white or sweet baking potatoes, partially cooked and hollowed out. Shape the spiced meat mixture into a long oval, tuck into the shells and bake the same way, testing for proper doneness with a meat themometer.

I can't help thinking that this spiced meat would taste really good with baked carrots, and there are carrot specimens plenty big enough to stuff. But I don't think I'd want to try to hollow out a huge carrot without power tools. Of course, one could shred the carrot and mold it into a little muffin tin . . maybe for our next party.

Before I forget, here's how you turn the leftover potato scraps into a nice potato salad:
Toss tater innerds and broken shells with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, green onions & parsley, then chill thoroughly before serving.  It's the perfect thing to serve on the day after the party along with any left-over hearty appetizers.

copyright Starr Luteri 2009