Appetizer Party

We had an appetizer party for dinner last night, just the two of us.  We like to have a variety of things at one time, so it was a good Saturday night dinner.  I made roasted red peppers with garlic oil, sauteed mushroom and onion crostini topped with Gruyere cheese and a greek bruschetta.

For all the apps I toasted a thinly sliced baguette drizzled with olive oil in an oven preheated to 325 degrees F for 10 minutes.

Ingredients/What I did:

For the mushroom/onion crostini (makes 6):

                                         

• 1 cup of chopped mushrooms (I used a cremini/shitaki mixture)
• 1 cup of thinly sliced red onion
• olive oil for drizzling
• salt/pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup of wine (I used a rose)
• 1/2 cup shredded Gruyere cheese

Drizzle a pan with olive oil and heat to medium heat.  Add the mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes, then add the onion.  Cook for about 5 minutes, when the mushrooms are reduced in size and soft and the onions are translucent add the wine and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Top 6 toasted baguette slices with the mixture and add the Gruyere cheese evenly to each.  Place on a baking sheet and put under the broiler for 1-2 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and melted. 

For the roasted red peppers:

• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small clove of garlic, chopped

To roast the peppers, heat the oven to 450 degrees F.  Place the whole peppers on a baking sheet and bake.  Rotate the peppers about every 5 minutes, each side will look black in spots but that's good flavor.  It takes about 20 minutes for them to finish cooking, by the end the skin will look dark and the pepper will be soft if you press on it.  Place them in a bowl to cool and allow the skin to separate from the flesh.  Meanwhile, in another bowl add the olive oil and garlic, you can keep the garlic in the oil when you add the peppers or take it out before you add the peppers.  The garlic will flavor the oil if you just let it sit for 10 minutes or so.  Once the peppers are cooler, peel the skin off the flesh, and cut the flesh into slices discarding the seeds.  I topped the toasted baguette with the pepper slices and chopped Mozzarella cheese.

For the Greek style Bruschetta:

• 1/2 cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives
• 1/2 cup of chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup of feta cheese

Just put these in a bowl and mix, top the toasted baguette with spoonfuls of the mixture and eat.