Ten easy hors d'oeuvres from Seattle farmers markets

Chimichurri from Sound Bites (Photo by Carole Cancler)

These hors d’oeuvres are easy to prepare from local, seasonal products purchased at your Seattle farmers market. You will impress your guests and they will never know how easy it was!

An assortment of three to five items also make a nice dinner for a warm, summer evening when you would rather not cook.

1. Fresh radishes and salad onions. Serve with a dish of plain sea salt or flavored salt for dipping. Flavored salts are available from Secret Stash Sea Salts, (http://www.secretsalts.com/) at the Ballard market.
2. Roast potatoes with rosemary. Serve with yogurt-herb dip.
   Quarter round potatoes or cut oblong potatoes into long wedge, toss with a tablespoon or two of olive oil (or bacon fat or melted butter), and then sprinkle with salt and freshly chopped rosemary. Roast in a 400°F oven until tender, 30-45 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature with a dip made of yogurt seasoned to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.
3. Semi-soft cheese and hazelnuts. Serve at room temperature on crackers or slices of bread, sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts.
4. An assortment of 2-3 cheeses (soft, hard, blue). Serve with crackers or bread and seasonal fruit such as strawberries or cherries.
5. Smoked salmon. Mix with cream cheese, yogurt, or yogurt cheese and freshly snipped chives. Serve with crackers or bread.
6. Cooked fresh or canned salmon. Serve on rye or pumpernickel bread with a dab of fruit chutney.
7. Oysters broiled with bacon, also known as Angels on Horseback. Wrap an oyster with a ½ slice of bacon. Fry or broil about 3 minutes per side or until bacon is crisped. The oysters may be marinated with white wine and garlic before wrapping with bacon, or served with a squeeze of lemon juice or a dash of hot sauce.
8. Ham and cheese finger sandwiches. Layer sliced ham, gouda or cheddar cheese, and leaf lettuce on well-buttered white or wheat bread, trim crusts, and cut into wedges or fingers.
9. Sausage, potato, and pickle skewers. Cook sausage (Italian, Andouille, etc.) and potatoes. Arrange small cubes of sausage, potato, and pickle on toothpicks.
10. Meat skewers with chimichurri sauce. Beef, pork, or lamb steak or roast, cubed, skewered and broiled. Serve with chimichurri sauce from Sound Bites (http://eatsoundbites.com), at several markets.