Taste This! Sunday Potluck

Who doesn't love a potluck party?  You get to try a smorgasbord of awesomely yummy food without the hassle of preparing all of it.  So when my friend Gina suggested getting together with a group of friends for a supper potluck based on her latest cookbook, Taste This: The Delicious Sequel, I told her, count me in.  There was just one tiny detail -- we all live in different states.  So we did the next-best thing:  hosted a virtual potluck, with each person cooking and sharing her dish online.



Being the lazy person that I am, I immediately volunteered to be in charge of appetizers.  My party appetizers usually consist of chips and dip, sliced cheese and crackers, and if I'm feeling fancy, baked brie and apricot jam.  So actually devoting time to prepare appetizers is already a big step up for me. 

Fortunately, most of the appetizers in Gina's book are laughably easy.  My family loves olives, so I decided to make her Black Olive Tapenade.  Preparing it is as simple as throwing olives, capers, garlic, red onions, anchovy paste, lemon juice, olive oil and a touch of sugar, salt and pepper into a food processor.  Blend everything well, and you get the heavenly tapenade in the photo below:

I used mostly canned black olives, but at the last minute I decided to throw in 4 or 5 kalamata olives that I got from our local gourmet food olive bar. It's amazing how just that bit of good quality olives made such a difference in the taste!   The lemon juice, anchovy paste and garlic in this recipe reminds me of Caesar salad dressing, nom, nom, nom.  We ate this by the spoonful.

And because you can't have a party with just one appetizer, I also made Gina's Gorgonzola Cheese Ball.  This is even easier than the tapenade -- just mix cream cheese and gorgonzola cheese, mold into a ball, and roll in chopped walnuts.  It looks so professional, and tastes amazing. 

Cocktail hour at my house has just got a lot classier, thanks to Gina's Taste This: The Delicious Sequel!




Now that you've enjoyed my appetizers, hop on over to these other bloggers and get a taste of their potluck dishes:


Ilina: Cocktails
Stacy: Wine
Vanessa: Side/Salad
Gina: Main
Stacy L: Dessert





Enter to win a copy of Taste This: The Delicious Sequel on Bonggamom Finds!





Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of Taste This: The Delicious Sequel. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.