I don’t normally cook for myself. Let me rephrase that. I cook, but nothing special that I would serve to anyone else. A chicken breast with some marinade. Maybe a salad?
Caught somewhere between apathy and lazinesses, we never seem to treat ourselves to fun dishes when we’re alone. At the holidays even more so. Scrumptious bites take on a magical flare when you think of serving them to a crowd while twinkle lights glisten in the background. Make them for ourselves? Never!
With parties scaled back to an invite list of zero this year, don’t miss out of some of the season’s most delicious bites. These appetizer recipes are fun to make by yourself, with your partner, or even over Zoom with the girls. Fun for wine and tapas, or a few made as a meal on their own, dig into these three dishes for a festive eve.
Stuffed Mushrooms
Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2) Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.
3) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.
4) After cooling, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Using a spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.
5) Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.
Stacked Gratin Potatoes
Ingredients
Oil spray
2 lb potatoes
2 tbsp / 30 g butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup heavy
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper
1 cup grated melting cheese (cheddar, gruyere, swiss, mozzarella)
Fresh thyme leaves for garnish, optional
Directions
Garlic Shrimp
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter
1 lb large shrimp I use 16-20 count size, peeled, deveined and tails removed (if desired)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
2-3 teaspoons minced garlic
juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Directions