Appetizer Party

We had the neighbors over to an appetizer party.  It's great for us, because we can cook beforehand then sit down with people and eat, drink and be merry for the party.  Otherwise, we're always in the kitchen working hard to get everything out.

Our menu?  The Deconstructured Easter Ham.  Each dish had pork or ham of some sort in it...

Onion Tart:  a butter-tart shell with a creme fraiche spread and topped with caramelized onions and bacon - thanks to Epicurious.com for the recipe which was originally from Bon Appetite.

Thai-flavored spare ribs: pork ribs marinated in a ginger, garlic, cilantro concoction which was just heavenly.  Now, the recipe - again thanks to Epicurious.com - just said to marinate in the sauce, but I poured the marinate on top of the ribs for cooking which gave it some great punch.

Ham BBQ on Polenta Squares: the concept here was to create a mini version of BBQ sandwiches complete with the coleslaw on fried polenta squares, but that became too much.  The BBQ was literally pulled ham with BBQ sauce.  The polenta squares were made by pouring fresh polenta on baking sheets on the thin side and then set up in the fridge.  I then cut them into squares, removed a couple of them, coated them in olive oil and baked them until they were golden brown on top.  Flipped them and continued to bake until golden brown.  I topped some with sauted mushrooms for the none meat eaters.  They were quite good.