Radish Pepperoni Appetizer

I got a fun and tasty appetizer for you today! These little Radish Pepperoni Appetizers are a delicious work of art. I love an appetizer that is fun to eat. Open wide, tilt your head back and enjoy!

All the ingredients works so well together in this recipe. The radish and the fried onions provide the crunch. The pepperoni, fresh grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese, and rosemary add a savory bite. Finally the creamy onion & chive cream cheese holds it all together. YUM Right?!

One thing we found when making these little apps is that they don't do well when made in advance. We saved a few in an air tight container to have before dinner and here are some lessons we learned.
1. You can make these a head of time up to one hour. No longer. The radishes contain a lot of water so you need to place them on a paper towel. Keep in the fridge.
2. Don't add the fried onions until they are ready to serve. We found that the fried onions lose their crunch.

Are you ready to make these awesome appetizers? First thing I want you to do is pour out that canister of fried onions and find the biggest and oddly shaped fried onions. You will want these for your appetizers.
You should be able to get 4-5 slices out of a nice sized radish. Keep this in mind when you are at the market shopping. Radishes are so cheap that they will cost you less than a box of crackers.
Let's talk about pepperoni. For this recipe you want a good quality spicy pepperoni freshly sliced from the deli.

Radish Pepperoni Appetizer

Ingredients
1 bunch of radishes. Cleaned and sliced
4 oz. onion and chive cream cheese.
4 slices of quality pepperoni, cut into strips
2 Tbs dried rosemary
1/4 cup Parmesan-Reggiano cheese freshly grated
1 cup fried onions

Directions
With a paper towel pat dry both sides of the radish slices.
Spread a 1/2 tsp of onion and chive cream cheese on the radish slices.
Press pepperoni strip into cream cheese.
Sprinkle about a pinch of Parmesan-Reggiano cheese on top.
Insert fried onion into the cream cheese.
Place one dried rosemary leaf on top. If your dried rosemary is chopped then sprinkle a dash over the top. Fresh rosemary works well too!

Serve and enjoy!