Starters are what you serve people before their main meal. You can also serve starter recipes at buffets and other types of gatherings and parties. There are many different types of starter recipes – you can combine a couple of ingredients to make a basic starter, or spend hours tinkering with complicated recipes. Classic starters including dishes like prawn cocktail, vol au vents, sausage rolls and more. But these are not healthy options.
If you’re watching your figure or just want to make healthy choices about starter recipes, you have plenty of room. How about making a soup recipe or a chicken salad?
buffet starters
If you’re catering a buffet rather than dinner, you’ll want to make snacks, but there are plenty of options, too. You can make a fresh fruit salad, a rice salad with vegetables, guacamole or salsa with vegetable crudités and much more.
If you are serving chopped vegetables for dipping, you can make homemade hummus or a spicy Mexican sauce. There are many easy salsa recipes that you can make. Simply combine mayonnaise with mustard, curry powder or tomato puree and you have a delicious sauce. If you are adding tomato puree you can also add some Worcestershire sauce to make a marie rose sauce (this is great for fish starters).
How to make turkey melt
This is a good example of how to make a delicious starter that is healthy but full of flavor.
Ingredients:
10 slices of toasted bread, cut into 20 triangles
110 grams (4 oz) shredded low-fat cheese
10 thin slices of turkey breast
Preparation:
Put half a slice of turkey breast on each toasted bread triangle, then put the cheese on top. Cook turkey melts under broiler until cheese melts.
You can also add a bit of red currant sauce if you like, between the turkey and the cheese, before grilling. This recipe makes 20 canapés.
You can adapt this recipe however you like. Try using chicken breast instead of turkey or ham slices. You can use any type of cheese you like and you can try gherkin instead of red currant sauce or even some piccalilli or seasoning.
Hot and Cold Starters
Turkey melts are best served hot, straight from the grill, while the cheese is still soft and melted. If you want to make cold starters, there are also many options for you. Early beginners save time if you have a lot to do.
Top some cucumber slices with some cream cheese and caviar or stuff some celery ribs with cream cheese. How about a nutritious recipe for Catalan mussels?
Make deviled eggs by boiling eggs and mixing the yolk with curry powder and mayonnaise, then placing the yolk back into the eggs. Cold entrees like these are best kept in the fridge under a layer of cling film until you’re ready to serve them. Obviously, hot entrees should be served hot, or at least warm so your guests don’t burn their mouths.
There are many healthy starter recipes that you can make. Depending on the occasion you may want to make a selection of healthy starters and not so healthy starters. Although some people may opt for the healthy options, not everyone will!