What makes a good light starter? Preferably without fish, beef or lamb.?

Question

I want it to taste nice, be quick to make and light.

Preferabbly actually recipes, not just an ingredient, I want something creative!

Answer 1

All these are easy and light - you could wrap a wedge of brie in layers of phyllo pastry, bake it and serve with fruit and some good crackers or baguette (it would be cute to do individual "blossoms" in a muffin tin with a couple layers of phyllo enclosing a lump of brie, one per person, baked until brown). Here's a soup I made this week that would make a nice light starter and leaves lots of room for you to get creative:

Pureed summer squash soup -
4 T butter
I lb summer squash
1 small sweet onion
1 small carrot
1 small Yukon gold potato, peeled
2 cups of a good mild vegetable or chicken stock (you can use a boxed broth if you have one you trust)
finely chopped flatleaf parsley (or other fresh herbs you think would be nice)

Slice all the vegetables thinly. They don't have to look pretty. Melt the butter over moderate heat and saute the onion until soft. Add the rest of the vegetables with the stock, bring to a boil, and simmer until soft (you want them very soft but not mushy). Cool until it's safe to put in a blender or food processor. Puree. You can refrigerate it at this point if you want to make it the night before, then reheat gently. Add the herbs just a few minutes before serving, simmer until wilted. You'll get about four servings, probably more as a starter.

Spanakopita:

I 8oz box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 T butter or olive oil
I clove garlic (or to taste), minced
Roughly 1 cup feta
Nutmeg
Salt, pepper to taste
Additional ingredients if you want - a little minced onion, fresh grated parmesan, flatleaf parsley, finely chopped pine nuts or walnuts
I box frozen phyllo dough, 9" x 14", thawed
1/2 stick melted butter

Melt the butter in a skillet, saute the garlic and optional minced onion until soft (don't allow to brown). Add the spinach and saute until, well, until it's done. :) Stir in the feta, nutmeg, salt and pepper, and other optional ingredients.

Open the phyllo and cover the stack with a sheet of plastic wrap. Cover with a damp towel (don't let the towel come in contact with the phyllo, it will get sticky). Brush one sheet of phyllo lightly with butter, cover with another sheet of phyllo. Brush with butter. Slice the phyllo lengthwise into three long strips with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. Put a lump of spinach at the end of one strip, fold the corner over with the spinach mixture enclosed, and continue to fold like a flag, down the strip, until you have a triangular bundle. Repeat with the remaining spinach and phyllo. You should have around a dozen triangles. Brush the tops with butter and bake on a cookie sheet at 375 for 15-20 minutes, or until golden. These also can be made in advance and refrigerated until you're ready to bake them.

Both those last two I adapted from recipes I found on Epicurious. I made them both for a get together this weekend and got a good response (none left).

Answer 2

I also enjoy having duck. I like turkey breast cut into thin slices and breaded and fried. A huge roasted turkey to me is only good when it first comes out of the oven, it gets so dried out as a left over and a whole bird is just too much for the 2 of us, even was too much for the 3 of us when our son was with us. I thought Thanksgiving was next week, living overseas has really messed up my holidays! This Christmas we are planning on having chicken soup, roasted goose legs with parsely fried potatoes and red cabbage, sweet/sour with grated apple inside. Goose is fairly reasonable here in Hungary, about $5.00 a lb. 4 huge goose legs are about 1 kilo or $10. worth of meat. Last Christmas in Las Vegas a frozen, not fresh goose was going for $75.! They sell T bone steaks here in the butchers but beef steaks are sort of a newer cut of meat here and they cost more then goose does. I haven't had a beef steak since I have been here, so many other great dishes to have. Yesterday we went simple and had homemade lentil soup and potaoe pancakes with sour cream. We bought some fresh from the farm sour cream at a market,I will only buy fresh from the farm from now on, it really made a huge difference. Never found any sour cream at any price at any store in the US that tasted that good.

Answer 3

Soup is great as a starter, on a cold day it warms you up and on a hot day you can make it chilled. Multi tasking my best.
Leek and potato is nice also smells good when cooking.

Boil some water and cut aout two leeks into small pieces and them to the boiling water with some black pepper for taste.
Also cut up some potatos into small cubes and add to boiling water. Leave on high heat for about half hour, it should go mushy. Add milk at this point and flour to thicken the soup. Simmer for another half hour and serve hot. No real additives or flavorings, very very healthy and tasty. If it tastes a bit bland at the end pepper always helps to give it abit of a kick. For colour at some extra leek whilst adding the milk and flour. Sorry I ca't give you quantities, it depends how many you are cooking for. Guess work works for me though. It should be a nice thick and warming soup no clear and runny.
Good luck and give a tr well in advance of your meal to know you have cracked it.

Answer 4

Pears with stilton dressing could be good!

serves 4, takes 10 mins to prepare, 10 mins to cook

2 Forelle pears, peeled, cored and halved
1fl oz single cream
3 oz stilton, crumbled
8 small bay leaves and 4 walnut halves to garnish
Walnut bread, to serve

Put the pear halves in a large saucepan with about 2in boiling water, cover and simmer gently for 5 minutes or until the pears are soft. Drain
Slice the pear halves lengthways and arrange the slices in a fan on a warm serving plate.
Meanwhile put the cream in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat, add the stilton and continue to simmer until the stilton has melted, stirring continuously.
Pour a little of the stilton sauce over each serving and garnish with bay leaves and a walnut half. Serve with warm walnut bread

Answer 5

Gazpacho is good. You can easily get recipes off the net; or use V-8 juice with finely-chopped onions, garlic, celery, tomato, chili powder, salt & pepper. No cooking necessary. A cup or half-cup is usually enough per person. Some people add beef consumme to the mix and that's good too.

Answer 6

Mixed salad leaves drizzled lightly with your favourite dressing (I like olive oil with some balsamic vinegar and a little wholegrain mustard), topped with chunks of brie and pieces of warm smoked bacon - delicious and really quick and easy to make.

Another one I like is garlic mushroom brushetta. Cook some button mushrooms in a little butter, add some black pepper crushed garlic and cream. Cook over a gentle heat for a minute or two to reduce the cream a bit and spoon over some lightly toasted french bread.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

It depends what you are serving as the main course - you want them to compliment each other but not use the same ingredients.

Go for simple...... How about asparagus, sauteed in butter & parmiganio, then wrapped in parma ham and served with a hollandaise?

Or, bruchetta? Or mozzarella & tomato salad, drizzed with olive oil?

Answer 8

Cheese Souffle

Answer 9

make your own chicken liver pat'e, fry livers add pinch of mixed herbs, sprinkle with brandy and add some double cream. mash lightly with a fork and place into small individual portion dishes or one large dish. Place in a tray of water , cover with foil and cook in oven on high for about 30 mins. ( fill the tray with boiling water as it speeds up the cooking ). When cool serve with a small salad and marmalade mixed with a little whisky. Im available to join you if your asking..............

Answer 10

The most awesome starter I have had is what I had at my wedding. Smoked chicken salad! MMMMM it was great! Also a good one, I don't know if you have heard of it - jalapeno slammers with sweet and sour sauce. They crummed potato with cheese and flecks of jalepenos on the inside. I am making myself hungry!!!!!!!!