5 easy and delicious appetizers for warm weather

The nice weather is here at last! It makes you want to soak up the sun to recharge our batteries, take walks along the beach by the sea, and eat simple food, with menus based on light dishes and appetizers that take little time to prepare, but with that touch of joy and festivity that summer brings us.

So today that is what we are going to do: the recipes that are most successful at home, that we can have ready in the blink of an eye, and that also make us look like top-notch chefs. We’ll nail it with them!

To make it really easy for you, we’re going to prepare these five super-fast, very impressive recipes:

1. Pesto vegetable skewer
2. Bacon rolls with dressed olives
3. Mini corn skewers
4. Brie toasts with strawberry jam
5. Mini cherry tomato and mozzarella skewer

These five ideas are a real statement of intent. Taking advantage of seasonal produce, I promise you a great result with minimal effort, so you can enjoy the nice weather and some surprising appetizers without giving up on eating well. Are you up for them?

1. Pesto vegetable skewer

Ingredients

• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Tomato
• Mozzarella cheese or goat cheese log, whichever you like best.
• Oil
• Light pesto
• Skewers for assembling the skewers

Preparation

1. Put the grill or the griddle to cook the vegetables, and while it heats up, clean the zucchini, eggplant, and tomato and cut them into slices a little over half a centimeter thick. You can do this with a knife sharp or use a mandoline to make them even.
2. Place the slices on the hot griddle with a drizzle of oil and cook them to your preferred doneness.
3. While they roast, cut the cheese you have chosen into slices slightly thinner than the vegetables.
4. When the vegetables are almost done, turn off the heat and leave them on the grill so you can remove them as you assemble the skewers. This will help the cheese melt slightly when you assemble the skewer, without fully melting.
5. Assemble the skewers by alternating slices of vegetables and cheese to your liking: eggplant, zucchini, cheese, tomato, ... Arrange them however you like best and push the skewer in so that it sticks out a bit, making them easy to pick up.
6. Finally, pour a generous spoonful of pesto over the skewers, and enjoy!

Notes

• You can make the pesto at home. It will take you very little time, and the result is delicious. You can find the recipe for traditional basil pesto here and also two more variations, with arugula and walnuts and with sun-dried tomato, which will give your dishes a different twist.

2. Bacon rolls with dressed olives

Ingredients

• Bacon cut into strips
• Pitted dressed black olives
• Skewers for making the rolls
• Bread cut into slices (optional)

Preparation

1. Heat the grill or griddle to lightly cook the bacon.
2. Cut the bacon strips in half and drain the olives well.
3. Place the bacon on the griddle and when it is done, flip it so it is seared on both sides.
4. Remove the half strips of bacon, place an olive on each one, and roll up the bacon into a little bundle.
5. Close the rolls by piercing them with a skewer.
6. You can serve them as is or place a few rolls on a slice of toasted bread to accompany each bite.

Notes

• You can vary the bacon rolls with olives recipe by swapping the olives for dates. The sweet note pairs wonderfully with the flavor of bacon. You’ll see how delicious it is!

3. Mini corn skewers

Ingredients

• One cooked ear of corn or cooked corn kernels
• Melted butter
• Powdered Parmesan cheese
• Sweet paprika
• Hot paprika
• Skewers for making the mini skewers

Preparation

1. Remove the kernels from the corn cob if you have it whole. You can do this easily with the Chef'n corn stripper.
2. Thread several corn kernels onto a skewer, leaving only one end free so you can hold the skewer while eating the corn.
3. As you make them, place them on an oven-safe tray.
4. Make the "paprika" butter by melting the butter in a bowl, adding sweet paprika and a little hot paprika to taste, and stirring well. You can leave out the hot paprika if you like.
5. Brush the skewers with the "paprika" butter.
6. Sprinkle powdered Parmesan on top and grill until done.
7. Serve them with tomato sauce or barbecue sauce.

Notes

• If you have an air fryer, you can definitely make these mini skewers there with perfect results.
• You can make them without adding hot paprika if you prefer, but with just a pinch you won’t notice much heat and you’ll see how the flavor changes.

4. Brie toasts with strawberry jam

Ingredients

• Slices of sandwich bread
• Brie cheese
• Butter
• Strawberry jam
• Chopped pistachios (or whichever nut you prefer)

Preparation

1. Put the iron grill over medium heat and grease it with a little butter.
2. Cut the sandwich bread slices in half to form triangles and place them on the grill to toast. Turn them over when the grill marks are visible on the bread so both sides get marked.
3. Cut the brie into not-too-thin slices, about 1 cm.
4. When the bread is toasted on both sides, without removing it from the grill, place a slice of Brie cheese on each triangle, add a dessert spoonful of strawberry jam, and sprinkle some chopped pistachios on top.
5. You can serve it directly on the grill.

Notes

• If you want a homemade strawberry jam recipe, you can find it here, but if you prefer a store-bought one, I can’t help but recommend Tiptree strawberry jam.
• If you want to vary these toasts with different cheeses, you can use camembert, goat cheese, or even a blue cheese like roquefort.

5. Mini cherry tomato and mozzarella skewer

Ingredients

• Mozzarella balls
• Round cherry tomatoes
• Red pepper
• Yellow pepper
• Arugula
• A few fresh basil leaves
• Ground dried oregano
• Skewers for the skewers

Preparation

1. Let the mozzarella balls drain.
2. Wash and dry the cherry tomatoes.
3. Cut the peppers into squares the same size as the cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls.
4. Arrange a bed of arugula leaves on the platter where you are going to serve the skewers.
5. Prepare the mini skewers by threading on a piece of red pepper, a mozzarella ball, the yellow pepper, another mozzarella ball, and a cherry tomato.
6. Place the skewers on the bed of arugula, on a pretty tray.
7. Finely chop the basil leaves and sprinkle them over the skewers.
8. Sprinkle a little ground oregano on top, and enjoy!

Notes

• You can use only one type of pepper, or use green, but in this case I recommend making it exactly as you see in the recipe and in the same order they are threaded, because that way their sweetness will make all the difference. The skewer goes from sweetest to least sweet, ending with the cherry tomato, which should be round and gives the final acidic note.
• Starting with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella, you can make other mini skewers: alternating fresh basil leaves with olives, pickles, and cooked quail eggs... There are many possibilities!
• You can serve the mini skewers as they are, or you can also accompany them with a little traditional homemade pesto or something different. You can find the recipe here.