Cocktail Party Food

Last night we had a great time visiting with old friends and getting to know some new ones. It's nice to feel connected to our neighbors and the parents of our kids' classmates.

Jessica put out quite a spread of delicious food and drinks and many of the guests brought tasty treats. I contributed two appetizers: pepperoni bread and crab empanadas.The pepperoni bread is quite easy to make (especially if you use frozen pizza dough). The empanadas take a little more work, but I found a few shortcuts that made a big difference in preparation time without sacrificing taste or presentation. The biggest shortcut is using frozen puff pastry, rather than making the traditional empanada dough (a combination of flour, salt, butter and water). My other trick is to doctor up jarred salsa in place of a from-scratch mango relish.

Pepperoni Bread
1 package frozen pizza dough, defrosted and risen
1/4 lb. sliced pepperoni
1/4 lb. sliced mozzerella (you can use shredded cheese)
1/4 lb. sliced provolone
2 Tbs. grated pecorino romano
egg wash

Roll out the dough to form a rectangle. Spread half of the pepperoni and cheeses over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Lightly wet the edges and roll up the bread into a loaf shape, folding under the ends to help seal in the cheese. Repeat with second dough. Place onto baking sheet, brush with egg wash and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, repeating the egg wash after 15 or 20 minutes.

(forgive me, the poor quality of this photo is because it's from my phone)


Crab Empanadas with Mango Salsa
2 packages frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalepeno, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
1 lb. picked lump crab meat
8 oz. goat cheese
big handful chopped Italian parsley
1 tsp. thyme
a few splashes of Tabasco (I used the garlic flavored version)
salt and pepper to taste
Mango Salsa*

Heat olive oil and saute onion and jalepeno over medium heat for about 5 minutes to soften, adding garlic in last minute. Set aside. In mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients (except salsa) with the onion and pepper mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Working with one sheet at a time, roll out puff pastry, sealing any tears with water. Using 3-inch cookie cutter, cut circles. (I was able to get 9 circles from each sheet of pastry). Fill each circle with approximately 1 Tbs. of filling. Moisten edge and fold over pastry to form a half-circle, pressing together edges to seal. Place on baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Bake for about 20 minutes, until starting to brown.

Serve with mango salsa.

* I purchased a mango-habanero salsa that was quite spicy. To sweeten it up a little, and play up the tropical flavors of this dish, I added some diced mango.

Note: This makes more filling than needed, even for 4 sheets of puff pastry. For a tasty treat, try tossing the remaining crab mixture with pasta.