Appetisers

Deb’s Pizza Pinwheels

4 sheets of puff pastry
tomato paste
diced bacon
cream cheese

Spread the frozen puff pastry with tomato paste. Then spread cream cheese over it. Sprinkle diced bacon over the pastry. From the bottom edge roll pastry up into a roll. Cut into slices about an inch thick. Place on greased oven tray and bake untill the pastry is puffed and golden

REVIEW: This is such a simple appetiser, very popular at parties! My sister in law makes these alot and they are very popular.

Flavour: 9/10
Price: 9/10
Ease: 9/10

Chicken Wings with Pineapple salsa
3tbs white wine
2 tbs soy sauce
1/3 cup pineapple juice
2 tbs oil
2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
SAUCE: 2 x 500g cans crushed pineapple in nautural sauce
1/2 cup honey
1 tbs cornflour

1 kg chicken wings

In a big bowl, marinate the chicken wings in the pineapple juice, oil, ginger, garlic and wine for 1 hour. Place on trays with the marinade drizzled on top, and bake at 220 C untill cooked. Baste the wings occasionally with the marinade during coooking.
In saucepan combine all sauce ingredients and cook over medium heat untill slightly thickened.

Serve chicken wings on a large place with a bowl of the salsa in the middle.

REVIEW: To make this recipe cheaper, buy 2 x 500g cans of chopped pineapple in plain wrap and crush it yourself in the food processor or blender. This is a great dish when entertaining or having a BBQ, and pretty simple to make. Chicken wings are a fairly cheap meat, but if you wanted to make this a meal, you could cook drumsticks instead.

Flavour: 8/10
Price: 8/10
Ease: 7/10

Gourmet Wedges
1 pack of frozen potato wedges
250g grated cheese
250g diced bacon, cooked
1/3 cup of spring onions, sliced
sour cream to serve

Cook wedges according to package instructions. When cooked, immediately sprinkle with cheese, bacon and shallots. Place back in the oven and let it cook untill the cheese melts. Serve with sour cream.

REVIEW: This was a favourite Sunday lunch when we were busy in the morning and afternoon. It’s quick to make and easy. I cook my diced bacon in the microwave. It literally takes a few minutes!

Flavour: 7/10
Price: 8/10
Ease: 8/10

Cob Loaf Dip
300ml Lite Sour cream
4 spring onions, finely sliced
100g spinach, sliced finely, steamed and cooled.
150g diced bacon, cooked until crispy
¼ cup sweet chille sauce
1 cob loaf (I prefer the ones from Baker’s Delight)

Cut the top off the cob and pull out the soft bread on the inside, creating a “bowl”. Break the soft bread up into bite sized pieces. Arrange on a baking tray so the bite sized pieces are in a single layer around the cob. Bake in a moderate oven until the bread is warm and crispy and the bite size pieces look toasted. In a separate bowl combine remaining ingredients. Pour into the cob and serve immediately with the toasted pieces (which you dip into the sauce) As the sauce goes down, you start eating the “bowl”.

REVIEW: Yum! I love this appetiser for a casual dinner. The dip itself can be made in advance to save a bit of time at the end. The dip is more work than the rest, but well worth the effort I say.

Flavour: 8/10
Price: 7/10
Ease: 7/10