Spelling Appetizer Is Easier Than Spelling Hors d’oeuvre

Roasted Beets, Feta Cheese and Candied Walnuts with Mixed Greens (photo by Andy Mills)

I first heard the word ‘appetizer’ when I was a kid, helping my mother set up a card table in the living room.  We’d put out a pitcher of tomato juice and a plate of Ritz Crackers.  The red and gold color combo worked for me.  I felt very grown up with my glass of TJ and a cracker, waiting for dinner to be served.

My next encounter with appetizers came a few years later on New Year’s Eve.  My friend Lynne was visiting, and our task was making appetizers for my parents’ friends.  We used a gadget that looked like a miniature cookie press—a 2-inch-long metal tube with a plunger at one end.
  The idea was to press the open end into thin slices of cheese, ham, cucumber and salami until the tube was full.  Then we would insert a toothpick through the slices, and push the plunger.  Out popped a 2-inch cylinder of sliced stuff.

Lynne and I had great fun varying the order of the slices.  Years later she got a job in the New York test kitchen of a major food company.  Were these appetizers the beginning of her career?

Over the years my tastes became more sophisticated.  I discovered brie cheese, pate, stuffed grape leaves, taramasalata, seven-layer dip, guacamole, tapenade, samosas, spinach dip and stuffed mushrooms.  The appetizer list is endless, and my appetite for them is endless as well.  I could make a whole meal out of appetizers. 

Here is one of my favorites, first eaten in a restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Roasted Beets, Feta Cheese and Candied Walnuts with Mixed Greens – serves 6-8 

4 medium-size raw beets
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 5-ounce bag mixed greens
Vinaigrette Dressing
Candied Walnuts 

Scrub beets and wrap them tightly in foil. Place foil package in a pan (in case it leaks) and bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours.  When cool, rub the skin off the beets and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. 

Combine the beets, feta and mixed greens in a large salad bowl, toss and add vinaigrette dressing.  Sprinkle on the candied walnuts or serve on the side. 

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