Potato Nest Appetizer

  Posted on October 26, 2011  by Leslie Blythe  1 comment

Step 1 – Open a bottle of wine….

I have been testing a lot of new hors d’oeuvres lately to get ready for the holiday parties ahead.  This one was a huge hit.  How could potatoes, bacon and sour cream not be a home run?  It did not look like it was going to work while I was making it, but miraculously, it did! You should use a wine cork to help make the nests, which means you need to open a bottle of wine before you start.

Potato Nest Appetizer

Makes 12 appetizers

½ lb frozen shredded hash brown potatoes thawed
¼ cup onion, finely diced
1 egg, beaten
Salt and pepper, to taste
12 cup mini-muffin pan
butter to grease muffin pan
¼ cup sour cream
5 bacon slices, cooked crisp, crumbled, divided
2 tsp chives, sliced thin, divided
Salt, as desired
Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a medium bowl mix together potatoes, onion, egg, salt and pepper. Generously butter a mini-muffin pan. For each nest spoon 2 tablespoons mixture into the palm of your hand, squeeze out excess liquid, form into a ball and fit into a muffin cup pushing mixture up the sides forming a basket, I use a wine cork to help with this task. Repeat this process until all 12 muffin cups are formed.

Bake potato nests on bottom rack of oven at 400 degrees F. for 40 minutes. Remove from heat and cool on a rack.

In a small bowl mix together sour cream, salt, pepper, crumbled bacon, chives (reserve some for garnish). Spoon 1 teaspoon filling into each nest, garnish and serve.

NB – Potato nest baskets can be made ahead of time; put them in the oven at a low temperature to crisp up before filling them.