Let’s take a closer look at simple starter recipes and find out what they are, when to serve them and how to present them. Starter recipes is the British term for appetizers, and these little treats can be easy to make and very tasty.
Smaller dishes can be served before a main course or when you want to make snacks instead of a more filling meal. You can serve them at parties, buffets, get-togethers, cocktail parties and more. If the occasion calls for finger food or a snack, rather than a heavy meal, you can serve such recipes.
Plan which ones you are going to serve by thinking about your guests and looking at the rest of the planned menu. You can’t go too far wrong if you are willing to mix creativity with classic dishes and perhaps add your own touches to our starter recipes, in order to make them unique and personalized. Match your snacks to the occasion and make something you feel your guests would enjoy.
Starters really don’t have to be difficult to make or overly elaborate. In fact, some of the best are the most simple ones – dishes which have successfully stood the test of time. You can serve starters hot, warm or chilled, arranged artistically on big plates with exotic garnish, or served simply. There are literally thousands of different dishes you can learn to make.
What are Simple Starter Recipes?
The definition of a starter recipe is a dish that is served before the main course. You might offer bread and butter with or before them or you might have a platter of different starters rather than giving each person their own helping. Perhaps you fancy offering a Spanish style tapas platter, in which case you would put a big plate of cheese, ham, olives and more in the middle of the table and people could help themselves.
Alternatively you could give each person a bowl of soup, a plate of salad or another appetizer. Starters should not be too filling because they are meant to whet your guests’ appetite for the main course. Other words for starters include appetizers, hors d’oeuvres and canapes. Amuse-bouche is another one and this literally means mouth-pleaser, although an amuse-bouche is often a tiny little bite served before the starter recipe, not instead of.
Examples of Classic Simple Starter Recipes
There are lots of classic ones which you probably already know. Take prawn cocktail, for example. In some ways this is a retro recipe which appeared on every dinner table in the 1970s but it is also a classic dish because the creamy prawn topping, crisp lettuce and garnishes work so incredibly well together.
Soup is another classic idea, and you can choose from brown Windsor soup, tomato soup, minestrone soup or another classic soup. Of course you might prefer to serve something more exotic like a chilled soup, a curried soup or a fruit soup.
Simple Starter Recipes: Which Appetizers Suit the Occasion?
Usually you need to use your judgement when deciding which simple starter recipes to make for which occasion. If you are having a formal dinner party you might want to choose some classic recipes, use your best crockery and cutlery and use classy garnishes.
If you are catering for a buffet for a teenager’s birthday party you might want to make quiches, sausage rolls, sandwiches, cheese on sticks and all the typical things that people will be wanting and expecting.
There are no hard and fast rules and you might want to serve an international appetizer with a traditional British main course, a hot starter with a hot main course or even serve an unusual dish. Be creative and imaginative and taste your recipes as you go, and you won’t go wrong. Easy starter recipes should be fun to make and delicious to eat.