For any holiday, birthday or New Year, business banquet, it is customary to serve snacks. Tomatoes are a great option for creating a vibrant snack from available ingredients that will brighten up a festive table. The recipes are easy to prepare. You can use not only fresh, but also canned, baked and pickled tomatoes.
Tomatoes are great for making homemade snacks from them. At the same time, you can vary the fillings, design and presentation option.
It is also a very healthy vegetable. It contains potassium and lycopene, which are good antioxidants. The redder the color of the tomato, the more lycopene it contains. This substance can lower cholesterol levels, strengthen the heart, the immune system, and reduce the risk of stroke and cancer. In addition, tomatoes contain alpha carotene, beta carotene and vitamin A, which together promote eye health.
It should be remembered that in addition to the fact that tomatoes are very useful, they also belong to the category of allergenic foods.
A simple appetizer of tomatoes with cheese and mayonnaise
It will take less than 10 minutes to prepare such a snack.
You will need the following products:
- 4 medium tomatoes;
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese (or other)
- a few sprigs of dill for decoration;
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 clove of garlic;
- 1 tsp lemon juice;
- ¼ tsp salt;
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper.
Cooking instructions:
Step 1. Slice the tomatoes into thick slices (1-1.5 cm).
Step 2. Make the dressing: pass the garlic through a garlic press, add mayonnaise, freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt and black pepper. Mix well.
Step 3. Put mayonnaise dressing on each slice, sprinkle with grated mozzarella, garnish with dill.
The tomato appetizer can be spread over lettuce leaves.
Stuffed cocktail tomatoes with egg and bacon
The total cooking time is 20 minutes.
For 8 servings:
- 8 pcs. cocktail tomatoes;
- 4 eggs;
- 3, 5 tbsp. mayonnaise;
- 1 tsp mustard;
- ¼ tsp salt and black pepper;
- 3 slices of bacon;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- 1/8 tsp dried paprika.
Step by step:
Step 1. Boil hard-boiled eggs, cool and peel. Use a fork to mash the boiled eggs in a separate bowl.
Step 2. Add mayonnaise, mustard, salt and black pepper to the eggs.
Step 3. Cut each tomato in half and core with a teaspoon. Fill with egg filling.
Step 4. Cut the bacon into small cubes.
Sprinkle the finished snack with bacon and dried paprika.
Caprese - Italian appetizer
Caprese came to us from Italy, from the island of Capri, and is traditionally made from tomato, mozzarella, basil and olive oil.
Required:
- sweet cherry tomatoes;
- fresh basil;
- mozzarella in small balls;
- olive oil;
- balsamic vinegar;
- ½ tsp dried basil, thyme, oregano;
- toothpicks.
How to cook step by step:
Step 1. Cut off the bottoms of all cherry tomatoes.
Step 2. Put mozzarella balls in a separate bowl, sprinkle with dried spices, pour with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, mix well.
Step 3. Divide fresh basil into leaves.
Step 4. Assemble the caprese: put on the cut cherry bottoms, put a basil leaf on top, then a mozzarella ball and secure the structure with a toothpick.
Place on a nice plate. Chardonnay is a wine that goes well with this appetizer.
Bruschetta with tomatoes and olives
This is another traditional Italian snack that was once served as a commoner dish. It looks like a sandwich, but the important difference is that the bread for bruschetta must be dried. For this recipe, fresh tomatoes can be substituted with canned tomato pulp.
Cooking time is 20 minutes.
For 12-15 servings:
- 1 baguette (or ciabatta, white bread)
- 1-2 cloves of garlic;
- 3-4 medium sized tomatoes;
- 1 jar of pitted olives (or olives)
- 1 small onion;
- 2 tsp olive oil;
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar;
- 5-6 fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp. dried spices.
How to make a bruschetta:
Step 1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees.
Step 2. Cut the baguette into thin slices and bake for about 10 minutes, until browned and crispy.
Step 3. Take out the baguette slices and rub them with the garlic cloves.
Step 4. Finely chop the tomatoes, olives, onion, basil greens. Transfer to a separate bowl, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and stir.
Place on the baguette just before serving. Put 2 tsp on one slice. tomato dressing.
Nutritional information per serving is 97 calories, 17 g carbohydrates, 4 g protein, 2 g fat.
Cocktail tomato appetizer with shrimps
This is a delicious snack that requires puff pastry to make. If not available, it can be replaced with store-bought tartlets, sliced white bread, crackers and even chips.
Required:
- 1 pack of frozen puff pastry;
- 10 pieces. cocktail tomatoes;
- ½ cup of herbal cheese cream (you can substitute another cream cheese and ½ teaspoon dried herbs at your discretion);
- 200 g shrimp or 20 pieces;
- fresh basil leaves for garnish (or dill).
Cooking instructions:
Step 1. Defrost the puff pastry. Roll it out and cut out small circles using a special shape or a glass.
Step 2. Put the dough circles on a baking sheet covered with parchment, bake at 200 degrees for 5-7 minutes until tender.
Step 3. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the pulp from the core.
Step 4. In each baked dough mug, use a knife to make a depression to place the cocktail tomatoes vertically.
Step 5. Fill a pastry bag with cream cheese and fill the center of each tomato.
Step 6. Boil the shrimp, peel if necessary. Garnish each appetizer with one shrimp and top with a basil leaf.
Baked cherry appetizer with avocado
You can use different colors of cherry in this recipe - red, yellow and orange. Avocado can be substituted with ricotta cheese.
The total cooking time is 30 minutes.
For 12 servings:
- 1 baguette;
- 36 pcs. cherry tomatoes;
- 1 tsp olive oil;
- ¼ tsp salt;
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- 1 PC. avocado;
- 2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice;
- 3 sprigs of basil.
Cooking instructions:
Step 1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
Step 2. Cut the baguette into thin slices, place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until golden brown.
Step 3. Increase the oven temperature to 220 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil.
Step 4. In a bowl, combine the cherry with olive oil, a pinch of salt and black pepper. Place on foil.
Step 5. Bake for 10 minutes. Pass the garlic through a garlic press, add to the cherry, and bake for another 8-10 minutes
Step 6. Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit. Scrape off the pulp with a spoon and place in a separate bowl. Mash the pulp with a fork, add lemon juice, salt, season with ground black pepper.
Step 7. Immediately before serving, place the avocado mass on the white bread slices and three baked cherry tomatoes on top. Garnish the appetizer with basil leaves.
Tomato and cucumber snack with filling
This is an easy and affordable recipe that will take 10 minutes to cook.
For 32 servings you will need:
- 2 long cucumbers;
- 16 pcs. cherry tomatoes;
- 1 package of cream cheese (can be replaced with another one);
- ¼ glasses of thick sour cream;
- ¼ cups chopped parsley leaves;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 1 tsp dried onions;
- ½ tsp dried paprika;
- 2 tsp chopped fresh dill;
- ½ tsp salt;
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese (or other);
- a sprig of fresh parsley for decoration.
Step by step:
Step 1. In a bowl, use a mixer to combine cream cheese, sour cream, parsley and dill, crushed garlic clove, dried onions, paprika, salt and grated hard cheese.
Step 2. Cut the cucumber into slices 1, 5 cm thick. With a spoon, make a depression in the cucumbers and put 1 tsp each. creamy filling.
Step 3. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half, insert vertically into the filling and garnish with herbs.
