Not a lot of time on your hands to make your starters snacks and dips. Assuming you already have all the ingredients required, you can make Baked Brie with Chillies, Devilled eggs, Bruschetta, Gaucamole, and Jalapeno poppers ,all within one hour. All will take is to be organised and follow a logical procedure that will allow you to do a lot simultaneously. Multitasking is the name of the game.
To get a good start, you will need a little homework to determine how much you will need of each ingredient. To do this, you will need to pro-rata the quantities given in the individual recipes to arrive at what you will need for your particular party. For example, if a recipe calls for 6 pieces of bread and 200 grams of Feta cheese (as in the Brushetta recipe) for 6 portions, to cater for 10 will require 10 slices of bread and 333 grams of cheese to cater for ten people. This of course, you only want to cater for a single portion for each guest. If you want to cater for more portions, do the calculations accordingly.
Once the calculation has been done, take everything out (with the exception of refrigerated items) before beginning. This will save time in the end
Now follow this procedure
- Switch on the oven to preheat to 200 degrees Celsius.
- Half fill a pot with water and place it on the stove. Set the stove to high heat to bring the water to boiling point.
- While waiting for the water to boil and the oven to heat up, cut the Jalapenos for the poppers in half and remove the seeds. Cut the bread for the Roasted pepper Bruschetta
- Heat the olive oil for the bread in a frying pan. Fry on both sides. Set to one side
- Add the eggs (for the devilled eggs) to the boiling water and set the timer for 10 minutes.
- Stuff the Jalapenos with cheese and keep to one side
- Using the pan to fry the bread, begin frying the bacon for the Jalapeno poppers
- While the bacon is frying, top the fried bread with roasted Italian pepper salad and feta cheese. Garnish with basil leaves, place in the refrigerator
- When the bacon is half fried, take it out of the pan. Keep to one side
- Remove eggs from the pot and run under cold tap water. Place in refrigerator to cool
- Wrap the bacon around the Jalapenos and place it in the oven. Set the timer for 10 minutes.
- Cut the avocados in half. Using a spoon, remove the pip and then scoop out the flesh. Chop the tomatoes, onions and garlic
- Make the guacamole according to the recipe. Place in the refrigerator
- Once the ten minute timer for the Jalapenos goes off, add place the Brie topped with Chilli flakes into the oven with the baking Jalapenos Set the timer for another ten minutes.
- Peel the eggs and start making the devilled eggs according to the recipe. Once finished, place in the refrigerator
- At this time, the jalapeno poppers and Baked Brie should be ready. Remove from the oven and keep warm
And finally
All that’s left is to warm the Pita bread in the microwave. Now take out any cold meats, cheese, olives, etc. you wish to serve with the dishes you’ve made, and you are ready to go.
Well done. You now have a great selection of starters, snacks, and dips. Your guests and family are going to love you!