Gourmet Cookie Bouquets Recipe Blog

Banderillas (also known as Palitos) are long toothpicks laden with bits of colorfully combined delicacies. For example, a Banderillas might be made up of pickled vegetables (carrot, cauliflower, and onion) alternated with slices of hot pickled peppers and pitted green olives. Anything that can be threaded on a toothpick and eaten with cocktails can be used. Some of the foods suitable for banderillas are ham, cheese, smoked fish (trout, eel, and salmon), capers, anchovies, pitted olives, shrimp, mussels, clams, pimiento, sausages, and cold meats.

Fritos - Fried Appetizers

Fried appetizers are served warm or hot in bite-size pieces to be eaten with toothpicks. Shellfish are particularly popular: clams, mussels, shrimp, and scallops. Some of these can be partially prepared in advance.

Fried Clams

Rinse small fresh clams under running water and soak 1 hour in a bowl of cool water to eliminate sand. Drain and put in a pan with enough white wine to cover the bottom of pan to depth of ½ inch. Season with wine and ground pepper. Heat over moderate fire until clams open. Shake pan occasionally during cooking so that the shellfish heat evenly. Once all have opened, allow them to cool in the liquid. (All the preceding can be done hours before you plan to serve.) Remove meat from shells, roll in flour, dip in beaten egg, and fry in hot olive oil deep enough to cover the shellfish. Serve hot on toothpicks.

Fried Mussels

Substitute mussels for clams in the above recipe.

Fried Shrimp

Cook shrimp for 3 minutes in boiling salted water. Strain, let cool, and remove shell. With a knife, remove the alimentary canal or black line along the back of the shrimp. (This much can be done hours in advance.) Shortly before serving, roll shrimp in flour, dip in beaten egg, and fry in enough hot olive oil to cover the shrimp.

Fried Scallops

Remove scallops from their shells, cut in slices, dip in dry bread crumbs, then in beaten egg, and fry in enough hot olive oil to cover the scallops.

Fried Clams in the Shell

These can be prepared in 2 or three minutes (after the clams have been rinsed and soaked in a bowl of cool water for 1 hour to eliminate sand). Small clams are best for this recipe. Drain clams and fry in a small quantity of hot olive oil (just enough to cover the bottom of the skillet). Sprinkle clams with salt as you fry and remove them as soon as all are open. They are delicious eaten off the shell, but you can remove the meat and serve it on toothpicks if you prefer. Serve hot.

I'm sure it surprises you to find delicious meal ideas here, instead of cookies, but we're all about sharing!

For more seafood recipes, try these:

• Easy Crab Scramble Brunch Recipe
• Bunuelitos De Bacalao - Cod Fritters
• Fish Kugel
• Clams and Vegetables in Soy Sauce - Hamanabe
• Fish Chowder - Sinigang Na Isda

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