Party Appetizer Recipes

With a summer full of Patriotic holidays here is a great idea for serving your appetizer veggies, American style.

You will need:

A large rectangular-shaped platter

A smaller rectangular-shaped serving bowl

Approximately 2 cups of Ranch style dressing

blue food coloring

2 or 3 cucumbers sliced in strips lengthwise

2 or 3 red peppers sliced into strips lengthwise

2 scallions sliced horizontally to form small circles ( bottom portions only)

Directions:

Pour the ranch dressing into the rectangular-shaped serving bowl. Add a couple drops of blue food coloring and stir. Repeat until you have achieved the shade of blue you desire.

Drop the scallion circles on top of the dressing, to appear as stars.

Place the bowl in the upper, left-hand corner of the rectangular-shaped serving platter.

Arrange the vegetables in neat lines, horizontally across the platter by alternating the red peppers with the cucumbers.

This platter can be used for Memorial Day, Flag Day, The Fourth of July or any time of the year that you are feeling the call of the red, white and blue!

Be creative! Try designing a platter that matches the flag your ancestors pledged allegiance to. Simply affiliate the vegetables, food coloring, and bowl, used above with others that match the colors and style of that particular country's flag.

Using the right garnish can turn an everyday dish into an appetizing masterpiece.

Radish Rosettes are easy to make and create an impressive, edible garnish for salads and cold vegetable platters. Once you get the hang of cutting them, you'll find hundreds of uses for these dainty decorations that are guaranteed to impress your friends and family.

The trick to making them bloom is simply to place the cut radish into a bowl of ice water for about 15 minutes.

Always start with clean, fresh radishes.

Ingredients and Utensils Needed For Radish Rosettes or Fans

A sharp paring knife

A bowl of iced water

Several radishes

How to Cut Radish Rosettes

Work slowly making careful cuts. Don't worry too much about making mistakes because you can always just chop the radish up for use in a salad and start over with a new one.

Lay your radish on a cutting board and slice off the stem section of the radish. (As you become more expert at cutting radish rosettes you may prefer to leave a leaf or two, from the stem, to add to the rose effect but for beginners I recommend removing the entire section to make it easier to maneuver your knife.)

Slice the root section off, leaving as much of the radish intact as possible.

Carefully cut petals into the radish by making thin slices.

Start from the root section and cut downward, along the edge of the radish almost to the bottom of the stem section, leaving the red skin intact.

You can make anywhere from 4 to 6 petals. (Start small at first, work up to fancier designs later)

Now, repeat the slices inside of the cuts you've already made being careful to leave a strip of red skin intact on each petal. Do not make this row of cuts as deep as the first row.

Place your rosettes into a bowl of ice water and soak them for about 15 minutes to make them bloom.

Drain the water and use your rosettes for decorating.

As you become more expert in the art of making radish rosettes, you might want to round off the centers or make more intricate designs.

Make your rosettes on the day you will be using them for best appearance.

How to Cut Radish Fans

You can make this garnish using any type of radish but the elongated shaped ones work best.

Start with clean, fresh radishes.

Carefully, using a sharp paring knife, slice off the root and stem sections, leaving as much of the actual radish intact as possible.

Lay the radish on a cutting board, on it's side, and make about 8 parallel slices 3/4 of the way through your radish.

Immediately place the radish into a bowl of iced water for about 15 minutes until the radish fans out.

Drain the water and your fans are ready to be used.

Always make radish fans shortly before using them for best appearance.