HORS D’OEUVRES AND PARTY FOOD

We had a visiting French couple over for cocktails-this was in the '60s-and served sauteed pecans. It was marvelous to see them discovering this new taste sensation.

Melt butter in a frying pan and cook, stirring the shelled pecans just until they are lightly toasted.. Put into a serving bowl and lightly salt them. Serve hot.

This Greek restaurant standard was a family favorite. It is easy to make, but allow a couple of days to drain the ingredients.

• 1 1/2 cup of plain yogurt - not non-fat
• 1 large cucumber ( 1 cup drained puree)
• 1 small garlic clove, pureed
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 or 3 fresh mint leaves, optional

Put the yogurt into a fine sieve or a cheesecloth lined one. Place the sieve on a bowl, cover, and let it drain for a day or two in the fridge. Discard the whey and reserve the yogurt. This is now the expensive Greek yogurt, and you learned how to make it.

Peel and seed the cucumber and roughly slice it. Put it into a processor with a pinch of salt and puree it quickly, so that it is still a little grainy. A few seconds will do it, stopping to wipe down the sides. Drain this in the same way as yogurt. (The juice that drains out is good mixed with V8.)

Mix the yogurt with the puree and the remaining ingredients, put into a serving bowl, push the mint leaves halfway into the mixture and refrigerate - it will pick up some mint flavor. Serve with small wedges of toasted pita bread, or some kind of chips strong enough for dipping.

When buying yogurt read the ingredients list. It should list only milk, bacteria and possibly a preservative. If there is a long list of gums, thickeners, etc., forget it.

CC was fond of this. We had had the bagna cauda in Italy and liked it very much, so this became a part of the party repertoire.

Use any vegetables that are edible in the raw, such as carrots, belgian endive leaves, celery, scallions, thinly sliced young turnips, broccoli, fennel, cauliflower, daikon, sliced raw mushrooms, etc. Peel or clean, cut into appropriate slices, sticks, etc. Arrange on a platter with the bowl(s) of dip. Be sure to have plenty of paper napkins handy – it drips.

A vinaigrette, plain or ornamented with herbs or such things as blue cheese.

Home made mayonnaise either plain or with chopped herbs: parsley, garlic, celery leaves, tarragon, basil, thyme, oregano, etc. in any combination.

Bagna Cauda is a hot dip, so you will need a small sauce warmer or electric hot plate for it. It is made with ¼ cup of butter melted on a low fire. Add 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves and let them cook for a minute (do not let them color), then add 10 anchovy filets, mashed, and 1 cup of olive oil. White pepper to taste. Cook for 10 minutes on a very low heat, stirring, until it is smooth, then strain. Keep hot.

Italian Salsa Verde is a sauce of ancient lineage that was used mostly on fish. Chop the following: 1 bunch of parsley, leaves only, 2 or 3 arugula (or spinach) leaves, ½ of a garlic clove, 1 small scallion, 4 anchovy fillets. Place them in a food processor or blender with ½ teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and ½ cup of extra virgin oil. Process until well mixed and smooth. It can be thickened with boiled egg yolk or fine bread crumbs – if you feel the need.

See Stuffed Artichokes under “Vegetables”.

When I was quite young, we would have celery, scallions or carrot sticks on the table in iced water for holiday dinners. If the scallion tops are trimmed and cuts are made to quarter them for a couple of inches, they will fan out. Celery will also curl when cut and placed in the water. The salt for dipping was placed in small bowls of heavy glass, and the celery was in urn-shaped glass containers.

Many of the white-tablecloth restaurants had filled celery holders as part of the table setting. This is an easy amuse-gueule to occupy the diners waiting for their food.

Sapsago cheese is made in Switzerland, and it is sold in small, cone shaped pieces. The cheese is as hard as wood, intensely flavored and light green in color.

Grate about half the cone on a fine grater and mix the result with a stick of unsalted butter. The mixture will taste gritty at first, but cover it well and refrigerate it for a couple of days to let it develop flavor. Take it out and when it gets soft enough to spread, serve it with a crusty bread or a bland cracker. You will be amply rewarded.

We used this with great success in stuffed eggs. Just add the softened butter and cheese mix to the mashed yolks and a very little mayonnaise. Any upscale cheese shop or deli should stock Sapsago, or you may have to order it on line.

• 1/2 pound Liverwurst
• 4 oz. package of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup cream or sour cream
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 scant tablespoon of Worchestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon sherry, salt and pepper to taste.

Mix all together by hand or in food processor, put into a bowl and serve with crackers or toast points. If it seems too thick, add a little cream. This is best made the day before so that the flavors meld.

It is too thick to be a dip, so put a couple of spoons or spreaders in the bowl to convey the idea. This is one that we made up.

This recipe is for a normal duck liver, not foie gras. (Although that probably would be delicious) It is intended to be used as an hors de oeuvre before a duck dinner, or on toast points as a garnish with the duck. It can be made with chicken livers when there is no duck in view.

• 1 large duck liver
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper
• 1 ounce Cognac or other brandy
• 1/4 cup beef consomme
• 1/4 cup Marsala wine.

Clean the liver and soak it in brandy, salt and pepper for 1/2 hour or so, then add the consomme and Marsala. Simmer on a very low fire for 1/2 hour. Strain and puree the liver in a blender and put through a fine sieve, or leave it whole and supply a knife. Serve with toast points or good crackers.

This is a favorite of grand daughter Em. The recipe is really not difficult, unless you go into decorating the top with vegetable cut-outs. It appears in many French cookbooks, and it is amazing that it is not more widely known. Duck livers work in this one.

• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 pound of chicken livers
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• 3 sticks of unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon of cognac
• ½ cup of whipping cream
• 1/2 envelope of gelatine softened in a half tablespoon of cold water.

The first thing to do is clean the livers. If the container of livers has a bright green cast because the gall has been left in it, take it back to the store. (The best chicken livers, like the best calf livers, are pale – sort of tan.} Grasp the liver by the center and pull one side to pull it from the “nerves”. Try to get all these tough fibers out, but this is not necessary if the pureed livers are later forced through a fine sieve. If you are squeamish, partially freeze the livers first. Then you will not squeam.

Slice the onion and put it into the 1 cup of stock, along with the livers. Bring to a boil and quickly turn down to a simmer. Let it cook for 10 minutes, skim the goop off the top, then rest off the heat for 10 minutes more. Strain into a bowl and save the liquid. The livers should be pinkish inside.

In a food processor, puree the livers and onion while warm. Add cognac, the butter and a good pinch of white pepper. Process until it is smooth. Taste and adjust for salt (remember that cold food requires a little more salt). Pass the puree through a fine sieve to make it luscious. Whip the ½ cup of cream and fold into the cooling puree (this is what makes it a mousse). Put it into an appropriate serving container, level the top surface, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. It will firm up because of the butter in it.

You may omit the next step and just strain the cooking liquid through filter paper or cheesecloth, add the gelatine, cool and pour it onto the chilled mousse.

Clarify the reserved poaching liquid by adding 2 egg whites, lightly beaten. Bring it to a simmer. Stir at first to prevent the egg from cooking onto the pan bottom , then do not disturb the egg “raft”. Let it cook at a simmer – never boil - for about 30 minutes. It should bubble up through holes in the egg crust. Ladle it out and strain through cheesecloth. Add the softened gelatine and be sure that it dissolves by spooning out some hot stock into it, stir well, then mix it with the rest of the stock.

When the gelatine mix is cool and beginning to thicken, pour it on the top of the chilled mousse. Refrigerate until firm. (If the mousse is not gelled or the stock is hot when poured on, it will result in liver soup.)

Definitely not a dip. Serve with Melba Toast, crusty bread or bland crackers, and a spoon for digging it out.

This works best if you have a gadget called a slice-a-slicer, or hold the bread down with a grater and use a sharp knife to split the slices. Toast sliced white bread, cut off the crusts and split the slice in half so that you have two thin slices. Cut the slices in quarters.

Put the bread on cookie sheets – untoasted side up, and lay wire racks on them to prevent curling. Cook about 6 inches from the broiler until it is lightly toasted, one or two minutes, vigilantly watched. Turn the pan around for even toasting.

It will be ephemerally crisp and light and is not for dips. Serve with mousses or other spreads, soft cheeses, etc.

The hard round things that are sold as Melba Toast ain’t.

These are simply a variation on the cream puff, and they are served with wine as a snack or appetizer. Before the food processor, the pâte a choux dough was a tedious thing to make. It required lots of beating of the stiff dough and gradually adding the eggs. Now we make the panade, cut it up, bang everything into the machine and it is done in a minute.

• water, 3/4 cup
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup bread flour, (or all-purpose)
• 3 large or 4 small eggs
• 4 ounces Gruyere cheese (or any firm, flavorful cheese)
• grated Parmesan cheese
• Kosher salt
• 1 egg yolk, beaten with a little water

Bring to a boil the water and unsalted butter and salt. When boiling, dump in one cup of bread flour all at once, and stir until it forms a ball. Let it cook, rolling it around for about a minute, until a white film forms on the pan This ball of dough is called a panade. Take it out and let it cool in a mixing bowl.

Hand method: Cut up the panade and add 3 to 4 eggs, one at a time, beating with a strong wooden spoon to incorporate each egg before adding the next one. When the dough is soft and smooth, add 4 oz of cheese, cut into very small dice: 1/8 inch or so. Let it all rest for at least 1/2 hour before using.

To use the processor: Cut up the panade, add the eggs and zoom away. Stir in the finely diced cheese by hand. This dough is soft and sticky. Let it rest in the fridge.

Bread flour works best, as it has more gluten. The dough may be made 2 days ahead and refrigerated. Let it rest for at least an hour before using. Place the dough in a zippered plastic bag, cut off a very small bit of one corner and use it like a pastry bag. A pastry cone can be put into the hole before filling,

On a buttered baking sheet, pipe or spoon 2“ discs for large, or 1” for small puffs. Paint with beaten egg and sprinkle lightly with grated Parmesan cheese and Kosher or other coarse salt. Bake at 375° for 30 to 40 minutes. Take out and cut a slit in each puff to let out the steam, then dry them in the turned off oven – with the door ajar. Serve hot.

These can be made ahead by piping the dough onto the baking sheet, then freezing it. Put into a 375º oven as above.

These are a great little cocktail party food. Make small puffs by the recipe above (omitting the cheese) and cut them horizontally – to make a lid and container. Dry in a turned off oven that is still hot. Hold the door ajar with a wooden spoon.

Fill with a mix that is not too wet, such as patés or smoked salmon in cream cheese or sour cream with a few capers – or whatever you can dream up. Cream cheese mixed with curry powder is an old French favorite.. Replace the lids and serve. The puffs get soggy if they are refrigerated. Try serving as a fill-it-yourself.

To make a pastry bag, use a zippered plastic bag – half fill it, zip it shut and cut a very small bit off one corner to form the cone. (or put a pastry cone in the hole before filling) Gently twist and squeeze the bag to pipe out the dough. No washing needed. Refrigerate in the bag.

• Mix blue cheese with sour cream, cream cheese, or whatever. Pull off the leaves of a Belgian endive. Place a little of the cheese mix at the root end of each leaf and arrange on a plate. Or invent other fillings, such as sour cream topped with caviar or perhaps just a soft goat cheese.

• Wash, clean and cut a green sweet pepper lengthwise into strips about ½” wide. Place a canned filet of anchovy, patted dry, on each pepper strip. That’s it. One of those wonderful flavor combinations.

• Wrap shelled and deveined shrimp in thin slices of prosciutto or country ham, brush with oil and bake on a rack over a pan in a single layer in a preheated 350° oven for 10 minutes. Obviously, large and small shrimp will have different cooking times. Test for doneness. Serve with toothpicks.

• If you are fortunate enough to find a real smoked beef tongue, cook and chill it, then slice it thinly. Cut to fit and wrap the tongue slice around a bite sized piece of avocado and garnish with a small piece of the juicy cells of lime. Toothpick together.

• Drain a jar of herring in “wine” and replace the liquid with a dry white wine, adding a teaspoon of peppercorns, three or four whole allspice and some dill. Let it rest for at least a week and serve with sour cream and crackers.

George Dureau’s family had a running joke about the in-law, originally from Ohio, whose culinary triumph was a slice of banana on a Ritz cracker. This was served with cocktails.

CC found this some time around 1960 and it was a succès fou as party food. Now all the hoi polloi serve it. Old hat but still good.

Here is the recipe that she settled on:

• 1 onion, minced; 1 garlic clove, minced; 1 tsp. oregano, minced. (or ½ teaspoon dried)
• 4 or 5 eggs, depending upon size
• 2 jars of artichoke hearts in oil and herbs
• 1/3 cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 8 oz. grated Swiss type cheese
• scant teaspoon of salt, pepper and Tabasco to taste

Drain the oil from 1 jar of artichokes into a frying pan and cook the onion, garlic and oregano in the oil until soft. Drain the second jar of artichokes but discard the oil. Coarsely chop the artichokes (remove any tough leaves) and mix in a bowl with the breadcrumbs, beaten eggs, the onion mixture, cheese, salt and pepper.

Pour it into an oiled baking dish (7” x 11”) and bake in a 325° oven for 30-40 minutes, or until it feels firm, but not dried out. Let it cool and cut into small squares, suitable for finger food, serve with wooden picks.

One can, of course, modify the ingredients or even make it in a frying pan, like a real frittata. The oven is easier.

This is also out of style, but somehow devoured quickly at parties. It is important to cook the eggs properly so that they do not have rubbery whites. This is for 6 eggs. (Boil seven, something always happens) Use the medium eggs, the larger ones are messy to eat without knife and fork.

Pierce the shell at the large end with an egg piercer, map tack, or whatever will make a pinhole. Put the (room temperature) eggs into a generous amount of boiling water, bring back to a boil and immediately remove from the fire. Cover and let the pot stand for 12 minutes (10 minutes if the eggs are small), stirring now and then - to promote even cooking and a centered yolk.

Peel and cut one egg to test for doneness. Drain the pot and fill it with cold water and ice to stop the cooking (this will prevent the yolks from getting greenish). The whites should be tender and the yolks bright yellow. Peel under running water and cut the eggs in half, remove the yolks to a bowl, and put the whites on a serving dish.

Mash the yolks and mix with about a tablespoon of softened butter, 1 scant tablespoon of mayonnaise and a scant teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Use your judgement – add the binders a little at a time. This is the basic deviled egg mixture. It can be added to with pickle relish, chopped olives, capers, anchovies or chopped salmon with fresh dill, among the many possibilities. This is where you get creative. The additions should be dried out by pressing between paper towels as necessary.

Curry powder is a good simple flavoring, mixed with a little chopped scallion and topped with a dab of chutney.

Philadelphia cream cheese is a useful binder, with a little mayo, when you need to keep them from getting too soft when warm – such as picnic fare.

Taste and adjust the seasoning. Fill the whites, using a pastry bag or a teaspoon. Chill to firm them up. Do not keep them more than over night – they get soggy.

Plain devilled eggs with remoulade or cocktail sauce are really good. To make the cocktail sauce, mix ketchup, a little horseradish, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and a little Tabasco. Good on boiled shrimp or raw oysters, also.

To puree garlic, mince it fine, add a pinch of salt and mash it by sliding and pressing the side of a knife on it and smearing it.

A small avocado half. Pour a teaspoon or two of a good tequila in the cavity and sprinkle with a coarse salt – like kosher. Serve as a sit-down first course, with lime quarters. Very muy.

This is another goodie that we were introduced to by Alice Craig.

If you can find Mexican “sangrita” (not sangria), get it - it is delicious used as a chaser with a sipping tequila. It is made of (my guessing recipe) 2 parts tomato juice, 1 part orange juice, 1/4 part grenadine liqueur. Lime or lemon juice to taste, and a few squirts of Tabasco. It is sweet, sour and hot. We made it often using this recipe and it tasted good. Let it rest in the fridge for a couple of days before using it.

A touch of orange juice and a minute amount of grenadine in a Bloody Mary provides a slightly sweet note that enriches the flavor.

If you often eat cheese, save the trimmings and edible crusts of soft cheeses in a plastic bag in the freezer. Cheeses such as Brie, Roquefort, Pont Leveque, etc. All soft. When you have a good handful, thaw in the fridge. Mash with a fork and thoroughly mix with a teaspoon of cognac or similar, and fresh or sour cream. Adjust the amounts after tasting. Puree a garlic clove and add to the mix. Let it rest overnight. Make it a spreadable consistency and spread some on a toasted bread slice. Place on a baking sheet under the broiler until the cheese is bubbling and browned in spots.

We learned this during a visit to the Moles at their house in Normandy, near Pont Leveque. The French name for this is “fromage fort”

When making an open faced broiled cheese sandwich, we spread the toasted bread first with cream cheese, then laid the cheese on top of it, giving the sandwich a better texture. A thin slice of fresh tomato laid on the top and cooked under the broiler is a tasty addition.

CC knew a good little thing made with cubed Cheddar cheese, served with toothpicks to be used for dipping the cheese in brown mustard, then into chopped caraway seeds. She may have learned it in Mexico or, more likely, in Houston.

While staying with Maggie in Durham, I bought some Souse to see what it was all about. It turned out to lack any complexities of flavor, shall we say. In fact, it tasted just like a boiled hog and nothing more. The only thing to do was to melt it and add some chopped scallions, thyme, bayleaf, garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes and simmer it on a very low fire. Take it off to cool, then taste for seasoning and adjust. Add a generous amount of chopped parsley and pour all into a loaf pan or bowl. Refrigerate for a day, unmold, then serve with crackers and some Creole type mustard. It makes a quite good Fromage de Tête.

To make Hogshead Cheese, use the feet. Sounds odd, but one cannot buy the heads. Simmer 6 or 8 split pigs’ feet, along with a pork or veal tongue, a pound or so of pork shoulder. 2 or 3 cut onions, garlic, celery, thyme, bay leaves, peppercorns and parsley. If you want it peppery, add some red pepper flakes. (careful) Do not salt at this point or you may cook it down to brine. Cover with water and cook for two hours, always at a low simmer, or until the feet are beginning to fall apart. (Remove the tongue and pork after 1 hour.) Take the feet out and let the liquid cook down.

Bone the feet when cool enough to handle and coarsely chop the meat, tendons and skin. (there is no end to the number of tiny bones) Trim and skin the tongue and dice it, along with the shoulder meat. Strain the liquid, boiling it down if it seems to be too much, then salt it. There should be about equal parts of solids and the liquid gelatine. Add minced scallions, pepper and parsley, and pour it all into a loaf pan, mold or whatever you have, chill. It will jell, no commercial gelatine necessary. Taste for seasoning and stir when it jells somewhat, in order to spread the solids throughout the loaf. Turn it out to serve it.

Freezing ruins the gelatine.

When adjusting the seasoning for something that will be served cold, remember to overseason it a bit. Cold dulls the flavors. But you already knew that.

We usually had Fonduta as a lunch, and when Maggie and Jim were young the bowl would be wiped clean by them. It was served to us as an hors d’oeuvre once in Turin, on what can only be described as a sheet of pasta. It was about 3×9 inches and completely covered with the fonduta and shaved white truffle. It was good. None of this ‘al dente’ foolishness, they cook pasta until it is done.

• 2 cups of Fontina cheese, cut into small dice
• ½ cup of half and half, scalded
• 2 egg yolks beaten with 2 tablespoons of the hot cream
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• a pinch of salt and white pepper.

Place the cheese and cream in a double boiler over simmering water. Stir with a whisk, just until it melts. Add the egg yolks in cream, butter, salt and pepper, and whisk it all until it is just shiny smooth. Do not cook it for long, or the cheese will get stringy.

Serve in the cooking pot, a heated bowl, or serve over cooked lasagna strips on heated plates. Just keep it warm. (Of course, it should be covered with micron-thin slices of white truffle.) Accompany with toast or crusty bread.

This is more of a melting than a cooking job. If you don't have a double boiler you can use a large saute pan or similar to hold the simmering water. Place the saucepan in it and use it as a double boiler.

The Fontina cheese should be from Italy and marked ‘val d’Aosta’. Cheeses from Wisconsin or Denmark have no flavor when melted.

When using gelatine, sprinkle the contents of the envelope slowly into 2 tablespoons of cool water and let it absorb the water for 10 minutes or so. Dip out about ¼ cup of the hot stock then stir it into the gelatine until it is all dissolved and add it slowly to the remaining stock, stirring all the while. The gelatine must be liquified before adding, or it will sink and burn.

• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1/2 lb. sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
• 1¼ cups flour
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (your choice)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Mix the butter and grated cheese, add all the other ingredients and mix well. Make 2 rolls and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill until very firm.

Unwrap and slice thinly. Place the slices on a baking sheet (they will not spread) and bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Do not brown.

• 1 pound to 1 & 1/2 pounds button mushrooms, cleaned and rinsed.
• 2 cups water
• 1 stalk of celery, sliced
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 1 teaspoon powdered coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered rosemary
• salt
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns
• juice of one lemon

Bring the water to a boil, then add all of the remaining ingredients. Simmer on a slow fire for 10 minutes. Remove from fire and let cool, then pour all of it into a bowl and chill it overnight or more. Drain and serve with toothpicks. Minced fresh cilantro looks and tastes good on this.

Baby artichokes can also be cooked this way.

• 1 can of California pitted black olives, drained
• Pitted Kalamata olives or similar, about one cup
• 8 or 10 oil cured Italian black olives, pitted
• a sprig of fresh thyme, leaves only
• olive oil
• 3 tablespoons drained capers

This can be made with any kind of olive. The California canned type is cheap and extends the really flavorful (expensive) ones. The oil cured black olives provide a nice bitter note and olive flavor. Green olives work in this recipe, use your judgement.

Feel each olive to be certain there are no pits. This is from bitter experience.

Make a rather coarse puree of the olives and thyme in a processor or blender. Add the capers. Add drops of olive oil as needed to adjust the consistency and process until it is almost a puree. Taste for salt and pepper.

Serve on crusty bread or some kind of bland cracker. Too thick to be a dip, use a spoon.