By Request - My Alloette Party Recipes

Here are some recently discovered amazing recipes. I found these in the pages of my favorite magazine, Real Simple, and decided to test them out at my Alloette party on Wednesday night. I did make a few changes to a few of them and I made those notes below in blue font.

Peanut Chicken Skewers with Chili Mayonnaise
¾ cup salted roasted peanuts, finely chopped
½ cup panko bread crumbs
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley
Kosher salt and black pepper
2 8-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut crosswise into 24 thin strips
3 tablespoons canola oil
½ cup mayonnaise
1 to 2 teaspoons Asian Chili-garlic sauce
24 6-inch bamboo skewers

1. On a large plate, combine the peanuts, bread crumbs, cilantro, and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Thread each strip of chicken onto a skewer and coat with the peanut mixture, pressing gently to help it adhere.

2. In batches, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and cook the skewers until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate as they are cooked and add more oil to the skillet as needed.

3. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise and chili-garlic sauce. Serve with the chicken.
**I used cilantro in my chicken skewers. I also tried to cook the chicken as the recipes says to but I didn't have a big enough pan that allowed for the chicken to lay flat. So I just put the chicken skewers in a 13x9x2 baking pan and broiled the chicken until browned on both sides. I also wrapped the non-chicken ends of the skewers in tin foil to help keep the sticks from burning.
 
Hoisin-Glazed Shrimp Skewers
Shrimp
¼ cup Hoisin sauce
Sesame seeds
Bamboo Skewers

Thread the shrimp onto skewers, then wrap the skewer ends in foil. Broil, basting with ¼ cup hoisin sauce, until opaque, 2-3 minutes each side; sprinkle with sesame seeds.
** I used more than 1/4 cup of hoisin sauce, I always figure the more sauce when basting the better. I nearly used the entire jar of sauce.

 Potato and Rosemary Flat Bread
1 package pizza dough
2 thinly sliced red potatoes
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons rosemary leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper

1. Shape the dough into a large oval, place on a cornmeal-dusted baking sheet. In a large bowl, toss 2 thinly sliced red potatoes, 2 sliced cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons rosemary leaves, and 2 tablespoons olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Scatter evenly over the dough and bake at 425*F until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.
** I made my own pizza dough in my bread maker and that worked out just fine. The only change I would suggest for this recipe is to add a bit of olive oil to the baking sheet to lightly grease the pan prior to adding the dough. When I tried to remove the bread from the baking sheet, it was stuck to the pan in the center. Maybe I didn't put enough cornmeal on the baking sheet, but the bread was stuck. Other than that, this was amazing, and I can't wait to make it again!
 
Stuffed Tomatoes with Cucumbers and Feta
½ cup crumbled feta
4 beefsteak tomatoes
2 Kirby cucumbers, chopped
2 tablespoons Italian vinaigrette

1. Cut off the top of each tomato and scoop out and discard the pulp and seeds. In a bowl, toss the cucumbers and Feta with the vinaigrette and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper; spoon into the tomatoes.
**I wanted to make finger sized foods for the party, so I used Cherry tomatoes instead of the beefsteak. Also, I have no idea what Kirby cucumbers are, so I just used the regular cucumbers from the grocery store. I was out of Italian vinaigrette, so I used Garlic Expressions (an amazing garlic vinaigrette you can buy at Hagen's, Top Foods, or QFC). To remove the pulp and seeds from the tomatoes, I used the smaller end of a melon baller and this worked out great and made this step really easy.

Stuffed Mushrooms with Spinach
24 medium mushrooms (about 1 ½ pounds total)
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the baking sheet
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 5-ounce package baby spinach, chopped
Kosher salt and black pepper
¾ cup panko bread crumbs
½ cup grated Gruyere, grated (2 ounces)

1. Heat oven to 375*F. Remove the stems from the mushrooms; finely chop the stems and reserve. Coat a baking sheet with oil. Bake the mushroom caps, stem-side down, until just tender, about 10-12 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and chopped mushroom stems and cook, stirring, until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the spinach, ¼ teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook, tossing, until wilted, 2 to 3 minutes more.

3. In a bowl, combine the spinach mixture with the bread crumbs and cheese. Spoon into the mushroom caps and bake until gold brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
**I used a melon baller to remove the stems from the mushrooms. This worked great and made the prep work really quick!