We all know just how challenging it can be during the holidays, to come up with a few great appetizers or hors d oeuvre ideas, whether it be for a casual get to get together, a pot luck “bring-a-dish”, or for a fancy dinner party.
Good news! We’ve got 3 great recipes ideas to share with you and they’re not all that difficult.
And since it’s the holidays, if you do take one of these pickle pleasing recipes to a party, why not go the extra-mile and gift a few pickle pouches for your host as well!
For these recipe ideas, we’ve chosen to use the “baby” or petite cucumbers that are so popular nowadays.
They go by many different brand names but collectively, they are approximately 1 to 4 inches long, and give you the opportunity to serve them whole, as bite size halves, or, cut them on the bias for another unique look.
As they say, “a picture says a thousand words”, and as such, these ideas don’t really need a formal “recipe” because they’re pretty common to most everyone’s basic cooking expertise.
Sometimes, a little inspiration is all you need and comes in handy during the holiday season when you have so many other important thing on your mind.
When coming up with recipes for your Great Lakes Pickling pouch pickles, it’s always good to remember where you most often see pickles used in every day dishes, or, what kind of other ingredients are usually paired with pickles.
Spicy fried chicken for example.
Having said that, one of the more fashionable presentations for pickles, are on the very popular Charcuterie Boards you so often see in magazines, upscale grocery stores or, in “fancy” restaurants.
Simple Charcuterie Platter
Charcuterie (shar-Koo-to-ree), is the art of specialized meat preparations such as sausages, pate, terrines and other cured and smoked meats.
Typically, a charcuterie board has an arranged assortment of these meats, accompanied by cheeses, mustard or jam, maybe some grapes, assorted nuts, some crackers, AND of course, pickles or pickled vegetables!
The choice of all these ingredients is totally up to you, but the best charcuterie trays are arranged quite attractively and show off each item you’ve chosen.
In this example here, we’ve strayed away from the typical style arrangement and placed each item in its own petite dish. We’ve also chosen less expensive meats and cheese which, of course, you can upgrade as you desire.
It’s a small platter which would be fine for a pre-dinner nosh, for about 4 to 6 people.
Our presentation here includes: Our Great Lakes Pickling Company petite Spicy Garlic Dill Pickles, Smoked Kielbasa, Salami, Asiago and Smoked Cheddar Cheeses, Whole Grain Mustard, Crackers and some Grapes.
The next recipe idea is one which you certainly know well, and that would be “sliders”.
Our sliders feature the slightly larger baby pickle which we have pickled in the Great Lakes Pickling Company Spicy Garlic Dill pouch and then cut in ¼ slices on the bias.
Quartered Grilled Beef Sliders with Cheese & Pickles
The spicy garlic and dill from these pickles marries especially well with these petite burgers and is also a good partner for a mild cheddar cheese.
We’ve sweetened this slider by using Hawaiian Rolls and also added some steamed grilled chopped onions.
If your buns don’t come pre-sliced, you’ll want to remove them from their package, separate them into individual squares and then slice them in half (through the equator) to ready them for later.
Leaving these small square sliders “in-tact” is one choice, or, you can cut them in half or quarters using a small frill pick or thin bamboo pick to keep them together while also making them easier to serve.
As far as how to make them, we suggest you make 1 ½ inch size meatballs from your raw hamburger and then smash them into a ¼” thickened patty.
Chop a white onion into ¼” size pieces and sauté them over medium low heat with a tablespoon or so of butter until softened and JUST about to color.
Spread the onions out over the entire surface of the sauté pan and place your raw burger patties on top.
Turn the heat up to medium to medium high and sear-steam the patties.
After a minute or so, and when you feel that the patties are about half cooked, turn them over and add some cheddar cheese on top of the patty.
While the burgers finish cooking, the cheese should be just be beginning to melt.
Have your Hawaiian rolls near and as you remove each finished patty from the pan, place it on top of the bottom half of each roll, add your pickles, a small quirt of yellow mustard and place its top half of the roll on.
From there, you can serve them “as is”, OR, cut them into smaller, bite size pieces.
Our last suggestion pays homage to the popular craze of spicy hot chicken.
Whether you prefer Chick-fil-A, Popeye’s, Church’s or any one of chains serving what is also well known as Nashville Hot Chicken, pickles, in some form are often an essential garnish.
The spicy chicken paired with the sour pickles just are better together.
This recipe idea is no different, but we’re going to fry them BOTH together, side by side, and then, add a dipping sauce.
Panko Crusted Pickle & Chicken Pops with Spicy Mayo Dip
Begin by skewering a 1-inch piece of boneless, skinless chicken breast, and a similar size piece of your pickle at the end of an 8-inch-long bamboo skewer.
You can find these bamboo skewers in almost any super market.
Next, you’re going to bread them by starting with a flour mixture to which you will add a decent amount of hot spices.
For about 1 cup of flour, add about 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. ½ teaspoon of ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon of dry, ground mustard. 1 tablespoon of sugar and about 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.
In another separate bowl, beat 1 egg with quarter cup of milk or water. And in a third bowl, just a nice amount of panko bread crumbs.
After you have assembled your chicken and pickle skewers, roll each one in the flour mixture, shake off any excess but make sure that they are well coated, then dip in the egg mixture and finally roll in the panko bread crumbs.
Place each breaded skewer on a plate covered with plastic film. From there, you can deep-fry or pan-fry them in 350 F vegetable oil or, bake them at 375F or lightly spray them with vegetable oil and air-fry them.
For the Spicy Mayo Dip.
If you love the Chick Fil A sauce which tops many of their chicken sandwiches, this is a Copy Cat recipe. One of which you can find numerous renditions of. All slightly different.
Stir together the following:
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
2 teaspoons Sweet Baby Ray/s BBQ sauce
½ teaspoon liquid smoke
½ teaspoon paprika
Pinch of salt
Recipe courtesy of: www.theanthonykitchen.com
So, there you have it.
These 3 rather simple recipe ideas are wonderful and delicious ways to show off your Great Lakes Pickling pouch pickles this holiday season.
