To launch this year’s holiday season, chefs are doling out advice through television shows, cooking classes and on the glossy pages of new cookbooks.
Many of the menus and recipes are designed to help busy would-be hosts and hostesses plan meals that will wow their friends, yet are approachable and easy to implement.
Simple success
Peter Repak, executive chef of Fox & Obel Food Market, is teaching holiday-themed classes at the store. He advised keeping things elegant yet simple.
“Nobody likes it when the host is stressed out–that defeats the whole purpose of the party,” Repak said.
He suggests a menu of two to three canapes, plus country-style and foie gras pates, pre-sliced cured meats, cornichons (tiny pickles), marinated vegetables, olives and a cheese display, all of which can be purchased ready to serve.For a sampling of cheeses that will appeal to many different tastes, he recommends four distinctly different varieties. One example: white Cheddar broken into small pieces; a partly crumbled wedge of Tasmanian; slivers of Parmigiano-Reggiano; and a washed-rind cheese cut into wedges. One of his favorites is Old Chatham’s Shepherds’ Wheel, a soft-ripened sheep’s milk Camembert.
He serves cheese with grapes, dried apricot halves, roasted nuts, crackers, sliced baguettes and rye or wheat bread.
One of his recent classes showed students how to assemble delicious canapes quickly. Repak filled premade miniature tart shells with Bourbon molasses mustard, pieces of commercial pate and sliced duck and caramelized onions. A morsel of creamy ripe mango crowned each delicate appetizer and they were ready to be devoured.
Welcoming approach
Art Smith, Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef and author of the cookbook, “Back to the Table,” said that one of the most important aspects of a menu and buffet is that it bewelcoming.
“There should be lots of food in an accessible but unobtrusive locale, such as a sideboard,” Smith said.
It also is important, he added, to “be completely realistic about what you can do in the time you have available.” He counsels hosts and hostesses to design a bill of fare “that is not going to be overly taxing.”
Smith is not a huge fan of small portioned cocktail hors d’oeuvres. Instead he serves up savory foods that are more like miniature entrees. His Southern roots come through in one of his favorite menus: biscuits with homemade mustard and sliced duck or turkey, a sampling of French cheeses, jars of pickled vegetables and a Gulf shrimp stew with spoonbread served in small bowls.
He also like to place munchies, such as cheese straws and maple glazed pecans, on the bar and in strategic spots throughout the room.
Mediterranean influences
Sara Moulton, Gourmet magazine’s executive chef, teaches basic and advanced cooking techniques to thousands of viewers as the star of “Cooking Live” and “Sara’s Secrets” on Food Network cable station. When asked what she would serve at a holiday cocktail party, Moulton shared ideas for a Mediterranean-style celebration, complete with a Spanish tapas bar.
She also is a proponent of mixing homemade items with store-bought toppings to save time and enable the hosts to better savor the party mood.
Her self-serve appetizer buffet would feature grilled and flatbreads and a variety of room temperature toppings that guests could choose for themselves. Toppings include white bean dip, romesco sauce, tuna and olive tapenade and marinated grilled shrimp.
One of Moulton’s shows recently featured a menu of miniature goat cheese cakes; beer-battered zucchini with crushed olive dip; fresh fig and persimmon slices wrapped with serrano ham; pear slices topped with cabrales blue cheese and toasted walnuts; spiced almonds tossed with rosemary, olive oil, pepper flakes and lemon.
A fete at Moulton’s house usually includes a crowd that is too young for cocktails. “It’s nice to include kids,” she said. “Especially this year, I feel we should all be together all the time.”
Retro-style food appeals to the younger set, she said. Her kids menu include “fun foods like pigs-in-the-blanket, raw vegetables with ranch dip, chicken nuggets and Shirley Temples.”
Extra touches
To decorate the buffet area, all three chefs suggest candles and table runners. They suggest tiering items on the buffet by placing risers or books at different levels under a decorative cloth. In lieu of a traditional tablecloth and to add a home-style mood, Art Smith often uses quilts or throws on his buffets. (But he advises using quilts that can be washed.) Moulton is decorating her tables this year with miniature poinsettias and tabletop Christmas trees.
Smith believes that desserts have a place, even at a cocktail party. Toward the last hour of the party, he serves a tray of small sweets, such as pecan shortbread, peanut brittle, divinity and fudge.
At the end of the evening, Repak presents a memento for each guest to take home. At recent parties he has handed out goodie bags filled with a CD of the evening’s music, recipe cards of the appetizers that were served and a small bottle of his favorite olive oil.
“It is unexpected and a wonderful way to send your guests off,” he said.
Chili-garlic shrimp on prosciutto-mascarpone bruschetta
(This recipe as published has been corrected in this text.)
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Marinating time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Yield: 60 appetizers
Adapted from chef Peter Repak at Fox & Obel Food Market.
4 ounces each, softened: cream cheese, mascarpone cheese
3 green onions, green part only, sliced thin
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh marjoram, chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 ounce thinly sliced prosciutto or other ham, cut into slivers
1/4 cup chili-garlic sauce, see note
1 cup vegetable oil
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, tail removed, deveined
1 baguette, cut into 60 slices
1. Combine the cream cheese, mascarpone, onions, olive oil, lemon juice, marjoram, 1 teaspoon of the salt, garlic and pepper in bowl of electric mixer. Beat until well combined. Fold in prosciutto; reserve. (Can be made to this point up to 1 day ahead so the flavors have time to meld.)
2. Combine chili-garlic sauce and vegetable oil. Add shrimp; marinate 1 hour. Remove shrimp from marinade; season with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook in large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, turning once, until cooked through, about 3 minutes. Cool or chill until serving time. Split horizontally.
3. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place baguette slices on baking sheet; toast in oven 5-7 minutes. Cool. Spread with a generous amount of prosciutto-mascarpone mixture; top each with a shrimp half.
Note: Asian chili-garlic sauce can be found in Asian food markets or some supermarkets’ Asian food sections.
Nutrition information per serving:
50 calories, 58% of calories from fat, 3.1 g fat, 1.1 g saturated fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 2.7 g carbohydrates, 2.4 g protein, 105 mg sodium, 0.2 g fiber
Miniature goat cheese cakes
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 18 minutes
Yield: 18 cakes
These goat cheese cakes can be baked a day ahead, unmolded and cooled. Cover and chill overnight, and reheat on a baking sheet in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes or until hot. From chef Sara Moulton.
1/2 cup each: fresh bread crumbs, finely chopped toasted walnuts, see note
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon each: salt, freshly ground pepper
5 ounces soft goat cheese, room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon snipped chives
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 18 mini-muffin cups. Mix the bread crumbs, walnuts, butter, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper in a small bowl. Stir with a fork until thoroughly combined. Place 2 teaspoonfuls of the mixture in each cup; press down into the bottom to form a crust.
2. Beat goat cheese and cream cheese in bowl of electric mixer until smooth, light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, chives and remaining salt and pepper. Divide the mixture among the cups; smooth the tops with a knife.
3. Bake until puffed, about 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack 5 minutes. Run a knife around the rim of each cake and carefully unmold.
Test kitchen note: To toast walnuts, place on baking sheet in 350-degree oven until lightly brown and fragrant, about 15 minutes.
Nutrition information per cake:
85 calories, 71% of calories from fat, 7 g fat, 3.2 g saturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 2.9 g carbohydrates, 3.5 g protein, 140 mg sodium, 0.3 g fiber
Spiced maple pecans
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 cups
Adapted from “Back to the Table,” by Art Smith.
1 pound pecan halves
1/4 cup each: light corn syrup, pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons each: ground cumin, sweet paprika, chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread the pecans in a large roasting pan. Place the pan on the center rack; bake until lightly toasted, about 8 minutes.
2. Combine the syrups. Pour over the nuts; toss to coat well. Bake, stirring occasionally, until the nuts have absorbed most of the syrup, about 10 minutes.
3. Mix the sugar, cumin, paprika, chili powder, salt and red pepper in a small bowl. Pour the hot nuts into another bowl. Gradually add the sugar mixture, stirring constantly, until the nuts are well coated. Cool slightly; break away any nuts that are sticking together. Pour onto baking sheet to cool completely.
Nutrition information per 1/4 cup:
235 calories, 73% of calories from fat, 21 g fat, 1.8 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 14 g carbohydrates, 2.7 g protein, 155 mg sodium, 3 g fiber
