A take on dumpling I have written about before are Tibetan momos. Different enough to get attention and familiar enough even for the faint of heart.
Matzo balls - small versions of what you’d use for soup eaten like cocktail meatballs.
On which note Swedish meatballs. I think people like mine as much for the tech as the meatballs. I bring them in a slow cooker powered off a motorcycle battery through a small inverter. Perfect for that dinghy run into a beach barbecue.
Shrimp cocktail, especially when you can get fresh shrimp from a fisherman. The effort and impression is from cocktail sauce.
Thai sticky rice and assortment of dips.
Potato chip nachos: homemade oven “fries” of potato disks topped like nachos.
Bacon-pastry twists.
Relish tray with contents decorated with knife work - olive bunnies, tomato roses, etc.
Candied nuts.
Homemade cookies.
Spinach dip.
Mini summer rolls.
Dried local or regional fruit.
Stuffed mushrooms.
As so often in cooking good knife skills make a lot achievable. From production (steak fries) to decorative (apple swans).
Lots of entrees and sides make good appetizers. Roasted Brussels sprouts, red beans and rice, chili, sliders, … Local takes on classics “sliders” from ground goat meat on biscuits as buns. Diced conch wrapped in bacon as a take on scallops, served in a conch shell. Kabobs with yak meat and onion. Stuffed peppers using mini peppers.
Basic tools, beyond knives, can ease burdens. A piping bag. A mandoline. Sheet pans and cooling racks. Muffin and mini-muffin pans. Bamboo steamers.
Impressive @Auspicious! Trying to wrap my mind around matzoh balls outside of soup. I take it they hold up? Do you need to moisturize them before serving? Am assuming once made, you cover and refrigerate? Do you serve at room temp, or?? Questions, questions!
I moisturize as part of cooking. Egg as binder. Not really a make ahead thing - cook and keep warm. A chafing dish is a natural, but I use my slow cooker rig above as a warmer.
I agree it’s confusing, but I have to say that @ipsedixit 's hamburger-patty analogy for this style of dumplings struck a chord with me - my first efforts at hamburgers got the Russian-masseuse treatment because I figured I should do a thorough job, and it took me a while to understand that my style of “thoroughness” wasn’t helping.
In the second photo I see a cheese with its wrapper, with garlic and herbs, on the board. In the first photo it appears to be the same cheese on a dark-coloured plate. What did you do with the cheese in the time between those photos?
(I think maybe the wrapper is actually baking parchment and it just spent a few minutes in the oven, but I like to ask in case it was something else.)
If the “party” is outdoors, it’s fun to take hard-boiled quail eggs. (They are inexpensive/reasonable at local Asian markets.) In a basket with dipping bowl of Malden or truffled salt or… Add a little spoon in the salt if you want to avoid questions of “double dipping”.
Alternatively, you can shell them at home and put in pickling brine for a day.
And a given for family get-togethers, tomato foccacia from Liguria Bakery or home made. Cut into 2" squares with cocktail napikins along side.
Photo 1 ) This is a bloomy rinded classic Brie from France and it was baked for a few minutes to produce the interior to be a bit “runny”.
Photo 2) This, cheese, on the otherhand is a Spanish Sheep Cheese, Torta del Casar, from Extremadura, and it was NOT baked, only served room temperature. This is why you do not see any “runny” cheese on the bloomy white rind. Then, the top of the bloomy white rind is sliced and you have a rich creamy white interior – much lighter than the brie in tone.
Both are sitting on some left over papillote = parchment baking paper …
So, there was never a problem taking the photographs as my dearest took the photographs as he is a professional photographer.
Oh! I thought from the similar looking garlic and herbs on top that they might be a “before” and “after” of the same cheese. I obviously didn’t look closely enough - thanks for clarifying!
To summer bbqs, I usually bring Nanaimo bars or strawberry rhubarb crisp/bars.
I’ve brought crack dip, made with Worcestershire sauce, sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon and green onions to some parties and potlucks. I don’t add the powdered Ranch dressing mix most recipes call for.
