I was getting intimidated by the office potluck gourmets here: “Scottish salmon poached in white wine and court bouillon, glazed with sesame/citrus/apricot and decorated with approximately 217,593 sliced kumquat scales” indeed!
What about an ordinary guy who’s going to a party, and needs an easy-but-impressive appetizer or dessert? I’d like to make something special, but my culinary skills are intermediate on a good day.
Any help would be appreciated … by me and the other guests.
I used to make banana bread. Just mix and bake.
One of my favorite things to cook for a potluck is to buy a couple of the tubes of cinnamon rolls and wrap them around little smokey sausages. Crack open the tubes of rolls and one at a time, unroll the rolls and wrap the cinnamony dough strips around the little smokeys. Bake as directed and top with the included icing.
It sounds disgusting, and it is, but only slightly. Trust me, it’s very tasty in the greasy/sweet way most of us crave.
Deviled eggs. I guarantee they will be the first thing to go at a pot luck.
Pita chips and hummus. Sounds like a cheap cop-out, and it is, but it’ll be the only thing that gets entirely eaten.
This one went over big at our last potluck, and it requires no cooking skills other than stirring (and access to a chain store deli department): mix 1 container of spinach dip*, 1 container of artichoke-jalapeno dip* and some crab meat. Serve with crackers (chicken in a biskit works well).
*it’s really easy if your store has the pre-made versions
A quarter ounce. Then pretend you misunderstood the concept.
And anyone with a bleneder or food processor can make this from scratch pretty easily. Drizzle a little olive oil on top, dust lightly with paprika, and you might even get laid.
ETA: I mean put the olive oild and paprika on the hummus, not you,
I commonly bring a nice loaf of bread, some good cheese, olive oil and vinegar, and maybe some sliced apples if they’ll work well with the cheese. Very easy, very good.
Pita chips and hummus, as mentioned upthread, are always good standbys, as are tortilla chips and guacamole. Vegetarians and people on diets will appreciate a veggie platter, which is easy; you can buy them, or else just arrange some nice sliced celery sticks, carrots, and sweet peppers on a tray around a hummus bowl.
A platter of brownies or cookies is always good and usually fairly easy to make. No shame in brownie mix.
Goat cheese and tomato fondue in a bread bowl.
Buy a whole loaf of round bread. I like sourdough. Cut off the top and hollow out the loaf until it makes a nice little bowl. Eat the bread guts, because they’re delicious!
Meanwhile, in a big pot, mix a 28 (big!) can of crushed tomatoes with two sticks (about 7 ounces each) of soft goat cheese. Splash in some olive oil and a little red wine. Stir until blended and warmed through. Pour carefully into bread bowl. Serve with veggies or more bread for dipping.
Looks amazing and complicated, tastes great, not hard at all.
I made quesadillas once. Super easy - just shredded cheddar and chihuahua cheese, mild jalapeno slices and some black olives sandwiched between lightly-browned tortillas. Microwave and slice like a pizza. Five big ones yielded 30 slices, and they disappeared in minutes!
You can make pretty patterns on top of the plate of hummus in paprika and chopped parsley too … looks fantastic =)
I don’t know what in the world you are talking about but am anxiously waiting for an invitation to your potluck. I should probably bring a big bag of Doritos, right?
Does your grocery store have an “olive bar” where you can buy different kinds of olives and various marinated items by the pound? Buy a couple pounds of that stuff. My advice is go for varieties of olives that are pitted.
Plates and Napkins? And soda?
Go get a crock pot - you can even find decent ones in thrift stores. In the crock pot, mix the following:
Stir until all that is well mixed. Now add:
Stir until they are all coated, put the crock pot on low for an hour or so, then take the whole thing to the party and put it back on low. Stir once in a while. You will be amazed at how quickly these will eaten. Plus, you get to have the fun of telling people what exactly was in that “homemade” barbecue sauce.
Thanks, all, but holy crap – how am I supposed to choose? These all sound like great ideas.
And now I’m hungry, too. Why isn’t there an “appetizer restaurant” I can stop by? (I’ll start one and call it “American Tapas”)
I’m off to get invited to a couple more holiday parties… how shameless do you think I should be? Oh, I know, I’ll just let drop that I have a great artichoke-jalapeno-hummus-sausage-in-cinnamon-roll-tomato-olive-bread-bowl recipe, and wondering where I could possibly use all that goodness, and people will suddenly plan parties just to get at my appetizers!
Baked beans do pretty well in a crockpot, and the smell of them all day will have folks mouths watering. Anything you can do in a crockpot works well, too many people trying to get at the microwaves at once at the beginning of many potlucks taught me that.
Desserts? What do you normally feel confident about making?
You had not the problem milking the chihuahua?
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:eek: Is this what I’m imagining it is?