Broiled Shrimp Cocktail

Served as an appetizer, fish course, main course or mounded on a buffet, ice cold shrimp with a spicy seafood cocktail sauce is loved by everyone. My apologies to those with shellfish allergies, but then those poor souls are probably not reading this recipe.

Polenta Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms at a restaurant always sound like they’re going to be great, and then you order them. What’s the big deal with breadcrumbs! (Sure there’s usually some garlic in there too, but all too often that’s it.) Now, Stuffed Mushrooms at home? That’s a completely different story! When you’re in complete control of what goes in and on your food, you can make some really exciting choices.

Spinach Ravioli with Mushroom Cream

Fresh Ravioli are not at all difficult to prepare and your guests never need to know that! The combination of Spinach and Mushrooms and Buttery Cream is classic and can be served as an appetizer, a pasta course or as a main course dish. And the variations possible by adding some type of seafood, poultry or meat are almost endless. (I’ll make some suggestions in the Tips and Trending section at the end of the recipe.)

Roasted Artichokes with Red Pepper Aioli

Artichokes have been bestowed with a wrapping of elegance for far too long. Even Julia Child, in 1995, referred to the Artichoke as a “luxury” (The Way To Cook by Julia Child). But now Artichokes are readily available at almost any time of the year and it’s time for them to shed that mantle of uppity-ness and assume their rightful position as the king... of finger food!  Let’s face it; there are no utensils better designed than your fingers with which to eat an Artichoke.

White Asiago Pizza-ish Food

Growing up on the south side of Chicago, “pizza” meant two things; either thin with a sweet sauce, fennel-y sausage and browned melted cheese on top from any number of store-front shops; or deep pan, one slice is a meal but I’ll take two with buttery crust cradling layers of cheese, garlicky sausage, and chunky tomatoes from downtown restaurants. We left the north siders to their thick-crust variety and would certainly eat it when visiting, if necessary to maintain cross-town friendships, but we’d talk about the winning advantages of our south side thin crust pies all the way home.

Fierce Garlic Prawns with Red Pepper Aioli

True Prawns have a few subtle variances that distinguish them from jumbo shrimp – different gills, more pincers and longer legs. But for our purposes here, i.e. eating good food, those differences are really moot because we’re going for big.

Mussels with Chunky Marinara

Mussels, like most shellfish, require virtually no additions other than some Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Garlic to make them a tasty treat. So why do we add other ingredients? To allow them to be flavored by the mussels!