New Year's Appetizers

 The W's have had a very good holiday season except for the lack of snow.  Little do they know that tomorrow we are having a party, their favorite thing!  They will be so excited to have the house filled with guests.

 I'm doing a large buffet table laden with all kinds of finger foods.  I made some new recipes which I think will be enjoyed by all.  This is pickled pineapple and my daughter said it's one of the best condiments she's ever tasted.

ingredients

2 cups fresh pineapple, cut into 1" pieces

³⁄₄ cup fresh lime juice (from about 6 limes)

1 tbsp. fish sauce

1 tsp. Sriracha sauce

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Instructions

Pack the pineapple into a 1-pint glass jar with resealable lid. Whisk lime juice, fish sauce, Sriracha, and garlic in a bowl until combined; pour lime mixture over pineapple to completely cover the fruit. Seal jar with lid and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

This will be served with carved ham.

 I also made pate's.  This is my country pate'.  Onions are diced and sauteed with aromatic spices then cooled.

Beef and pork is mixed with the cooled mixture along with breadcrumbs, spices and parsley.

I line my pate' terrine with bacon and add bay leaves.

 The meat is packed in tightly.

 The bacon is overlapped to cover the meat.

 Cover and bake in a Bain Marie.

Voila!

 After it cools, I let it chill and then remove the fat and bacon.  Some people leave this on but I don't like doing that.  The bacon has added it's flavor at this point plus when serving it on a buffet, it's hard for people to pick it off when standing with a plate in their hand.

 I love making pate'.  To buy a very small country pate' I would have to shell out about 10.00.  The ones I've bought in the past seriously lack flavor.  This recipe makes one large pate' over a foot long and one smaller one.  Both of these for about the same price of the store bought one.

The recipe:  http://octoberfarm.blogspot.com/2015/09/irresistible-pate_22.html

 These Lit'l Smokies are the most downloaded recipe on my blog.

 I've been making them for years.

 They are the first appetizers to disappear.

 Once people taste them, they can't stop eating them.

 Make a lot of them because there are never any left.

 Use thin sliced bacon to make sure the bacon is crisp.

http://octoberfarm.blogspot.com/2012/03/litl-smokies.html

These Buffalo chicken meatballs are new this year and they just might blow all the rest of the appetizers out of the window.  My kids are going to flip out over these.  You can make these as hot or as mild as you like depending on the hot sauce you use.  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

•  2 pounds ground chicken (or turkey)
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon onion powder

FIRECRACKER SAUCE:

• ½ cup hot sauce (I recommend Franks)
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼-½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (depending on spice preference) I used a sprinkling.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 475ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
2. In a saucepan, combine the ingredients for the firecracker sauce over medium high heat, allow to come to a boil, reduce the heat so it simmers. Let simmer for 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow the sauce to cool. The sauce will thicken as it cools so don’t worry if it looks thin.
3. In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, garlic, salt pepper, eggs, panko, paprika, and onion powder. Use a mixer to combine all the ingredients together.  DO NOT OVERMIX, it will result in drier meatballs.  Just mix enough to combine.
4. Shape the meat mixture into ball. You can also do this with an ice cream scoop. Place shaped meatballs on prepared baking sheet. bake for 11-13 minutes or until the meatballs are completely cooked.
5. Using 2 tablespoon, dip each individual meatball into the sauce. Alternately, you can brush each meatball with the sauce. Place back on the baking sheet and bake for an additional 1-2 minutes. Drizzle or brush with additional sauce as desired. 

 Okay, enough of this typing!  I am back to cooking and baking.  I have lots to do before tomorrow.  I'll post pics of the table before I unleash the guests on it.