ISO: Appetizers with a French Flair

[Leanne]

I'm doing Chicken Francais for supper club & wanted an appetizer with a French flair.

We're having zucchini & blue cheese mashed potatoes as sides, and probably the raspberry white chocolate cheesecake as a dessert.

No escargot please! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[lorilei]

This delicious, simple dip would be a great (and healthy) addition to your dinner:

Yogurt Dip with Crudites

1 1/2 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
herbes de Provence
1 tablespoon nonfat chicken broth (optional)
fresh vegetables (your choice)
chives (optional)

Blend the yogurt with a spoonful or two of Dijon mustard. Add some herbes de Provence (usually a blend of tarragon, rosemary, chervil, thyme, sage and lavender), crushing them between your fingers to release their flavor and aroma.

Whisk everything together, adding broth if you want to thin the dip. Serve your dip with a mix of celery, carrots and some bright red pepper. Sprinkle a few snips of fresh herbs – chives would be great – over the top of the dip for color.
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Baked brie would not be the "lightest" solution, but this recipe is sure delicious! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

BAKED BRIE IN PUFF PASTRY

1/2 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
8 ounces wheel of Brie cheese
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C). Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan.

Slice the wheel of Brie in half, horizontally, so that the halves are two, flatter wheels of Brie. Lay the puff pastry in the pie pan. Place half of the Brie (rind-side down) onto the pastry dough. Sprinkle almonds evenly over the top. Place the other half of the Brie (rind-side up) over the almonds. Bundle the pastry dough around the Brie.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
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Or how about serving a simple Tapenade with crackers or bread?

Herbed Tapenade

1 clove garlic, chopped
1 3/4 cups whole, pitted kalamata olives
1 (2 ounce) can anchovy fillets, rinsed
2 tablespoons capers
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons olive oil
Combine garlic, olives, anchovies, capers, thyme, rosemary and lemon juice in an electric blender. Slowly drip the olive oil into the blender while you are blending the ingredients together. Blend until a paste is formed. Serve with crackers, bread or pita triangles.

[Grace]

Here's one:

CookWare(tm) from Cooking Light(r)

Country Chicken Pate

SOURCE: Cooking Light YEAR: July 2000 PAGE: 140

INGREDIENTS FOR 10 SERVINGS:
1 teaspoon butter or stick margarine
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 ounces chicken livers
2 tablespoons port or other sweet red wine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of ground cinnamon
Dash of ground allspice
1 tablespoon low-fat sour cream
1 pound boned, skinned chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, cubed and softened
Cooking spray

INSTRUCTIONS:
We kept the creamy texture of this lightened classic by using low-fat sour
cream and fat-free cream cheese instead of butter and heavy cream. Serve this
rich appetizer with a French bread baguette, coarse-grained mustard, and
gherkins.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Melt butter in a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and
garlic, and saute 4 minutes. Add chicken livers; cook 2 minutes or until
livers lose their pink color. Add port, and cook 3 minutes or until most of
liquid evaporates. Cool.

3. Place chicken liver mixture, salt, and next 5 ingredients (salt through
allspice) in a food processor or blender; process until smooth, scraping sides
of bowl occasionally. Add the sour cream, chicken breast, and cream cheese;
process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Spread chicken
mixture into an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325
degrees for 1 hour or until a thermometer registers 170 degrees. Cool; cover
and chill 8 hours. Serve at room temperature. Yield: 10 servings.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
CALORIES 95 (16% from fat); FAT 1.7g (sat 0.7g, mono 0.4g, poly 0.3g); PROTEIN
15.9g; CARB 2.4g; FIBER 0.2g; CHOL 82mg; IRON 1.4mg; SODIUM 297mg; CALC 76mg

[lindrusso]

Are you looking for CL recipes only?

[Leanne]

Originally posted by lindrusso:
Are you looking for CL recipes only?


No - I'll take anything. Ours isn't a CL supper club. We make whatever - uaually at least one CL recipe shows up b/c we all get it!

[KValley]

Leanne,

Any excuse for chevre!

THis is a simple recipe, but it's important to use a high quality goat cheese.

From THe New Basics Cookbook

Herbed Chevre Bites

11 ounces chevre, preferably Montrachet
1 tablespoon heavy or whipping cream
1/4 finely chopped walnuts
1/4 finely chopped fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsely

1. In a bowl, mix the chevre and cream thoroughly. Shape into rounded teaspoon size balls, about 3/4 inch in diameter

2. Combine the walnuts and parsely in a shallow dish. Roll the cheese balls in the mixture, and chill, loosely covered, 2 to 3 hours before serving.

I serve them with fresh baby vegetables and thinly sliced bread.

Oops- this recipe make 12. No nutritional info available, but then that takes the fun out of eating cheese and cream!

[This message has been edited by KValley (edited 04-12-2001).]

[foodiedelite]

What about a pate? Trader Joe's has a few to choose from.

You could garnish the pate with cornicon's fanned and thinly sliced tomatoes quartered.

I did this for a French dinner party and it worked out fine. Everything else was made from scratch, so it was a great time saver.

[lindrusso]

Since it doesn't have to be CL, puff pastry lends itself well to a variety of fillings. I make a recipe for Palmiers from Martha Stewart. They are very easy but take a little time because of the chilling process. I've made them with goat cheese, tapenade and pesto - yum! They can also be made ahead and frozen.

Basically all you do is roll out the puff pastry at least 8 inches wide and 1/8-inch thick. Then you just thinly spread on your "filling" of choice. Then, starting at the long ends, you roll the dough toward the middle - you do this on each side so that you get double spiral - does that make sense?? You can also just roll from one end and end up with a larger, single spiral. Then you chill the rolled dough well. Once it is chilled, you slice the dough into 3/8-inch thickness and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill for one hour. Then bake at 450º for 6-7 minutes, turn them over and bake for another 4-5 minutes.

If any of this is unclear, just holler and I can type up the recipe from Martha - I'm just going from memory here. These Palmiers probably don't do well with a filling that's too wet. I have some pesto and some tapenade Palmiers in the freezer for this weekend..yum....

[Leanne]

Thanks you all - great suggestions. And yes lindrusso - I understood what you were talking about! I'll be deciding this weekend.