Some retro happy hour ideas

 

Football and tailgating aren’t the only reasons that happy hour is such an easy way to entertain in the fall. It has to do with crisp cool afternoons and the new energy that fall and the start of the year brings. Lately I find I have all sorts of ideas for appetizers and snacks, some of them recipes I’ve resurrected from long ago.

Take for instance Jezebel sauce, a sweet and spicy sauce—yes, it gets its name from the Biblical woman. Years ago when I had huge Christmas parties, I used to serve Jezebel sauce on a brick of cream cheese, but somewhere along the way I lost the recipe I really liked. There are lots of versions of this southern staple online, but I never found one I liked until recently. I think what got me is that the base is apricot preserves—and I love apricot in any version. So here’s what  you do:

Jezebel sauce

Ingredients

1 8 oz. jar apricot preserves

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2-3 Tbsp. horseradish (not the stuff in a cream sauce, but plain horseradish)

Fresh cracked pepper to taste

1 block cream cheese

Crackers for serving.

Mix together the preserves, mustard and horseradish. Pour over cream cheese. Serve with crackers. The Jezebel sauce tends to disappear faster than the crema cheese, so keep a little back to refresh the dish somewhere along the way.

And if you’re serving blocks of cream cheese with topping for an appetizer, don’t forget some people like to top it with Pickapeppa sauce (not me). A real splurge to me is opening a can of flaked crab, spreading it over cream cheese, and tooping with bottled cocktail sauce. Today, you might try using the refrigerated faux crab (Krab). Caution: all these get messy and sticky quickly, so have plenty of napkins and be prepared to refresh the toppings.

Did your mom serve a relish tray for an appetizer or with a big dinner? Mine did, though she was noted for forgetting to put it out because she had so many other dishes. Next day, we’d find it in the outdoor refrigerator. But a staple of any relish tray was stuffed celery. I came across a recipe (who thought you needed a recipe to do that?) the other day and tried it, liked it a lot. Here’s what you need:

Stuffed celery

Ingredients

10 oz. or thereabouts of prepared cheese spread (I used a Pub Cheese from Trader Joe’s, but you could use two 5-oz. jars of Kraft Old English spread

1 heaping Tbsp. mayonnaise

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

½ tsp. horseradish

½ Tbsp. dried, minced onion

¼ tsp. cayenne (optional; I omitted it)

½ Tbsp. garlic powder

¼  tsp. celery salt

¼ tsp. black pepper

6-8 celery stalks

2 green onions, minced for garnish

Here’s the big deal: string the celery. Wash each stalk and pat dry, and then peel the strings from the back. Use a vegetable peeler or a paring knife. If you look, you can see the strings—and see when you’ve missed some. This is important, because it’s no fun to bite into a piece of celery and find yourself fighting with long strings.

Mix remaining ingredients except the green onion. You can make a pastry bag by cutting a corner off a bag, filling the baggie with cheese, and squeezing cheese into the inside of each celery stalk. Or you can wing it and spoon it in with an iced tea spoon—I actually used a marrow spoon and it worked great.

Cut each celery stalk into three- or four-inch pieces and place on plate, being sure to keep them upright. Sprinkle with green onion.

Note: The stuffed celery does not keep well, but the cheese spread does. You can also serve it is a spread in a bowl, with celery and crackers on the side. It’s that good, but I was initially attracted by the idea of stuffed celery which I hadn’t seen in years.

Many years ago a friend gave me this recipe for a sliced egg appetizer. I smiled sweetly, thanked her, and thought, “Well, I won’t be doing that.” It just didn’t sound right to me. For some reason, I got around to trying it—and it was not at all what I expected, and was wonderful!

Sliced egg and parsley

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, peeled

4 Tbsp parsley finely chopped

Salt and pepper

1/8 tsp. paprika

6 Tbsp. olive oil

5 hard-boiled eggs, thinly sliced crosswise

Grated carrot and sliced olives for garnish, according to your taste (that means I never use the olives but I’m wondering what anchovies would do)

Lay out the eggs on a plate and garnish with carrotd, olives, and whatever else you want. Sprinkle with salt. Make a sauce of remaining ingredients and pour over the eggs. Refrigerate until very well chilled. Will keep overnight but not much longer.

Watch for more happy hour recipes next week. It’s the mood I’m in. Salut! Slainte!  Santé! Prost!

Holiday entertaining on my mind …

 

Holidays to me mean lots of grazing food – cheeseballs and dips and spreads for all those buffets and happy hours you’re going to host. For years (probably almost fifty), I hosted some version of an annual tree trimming party. When I was a kid, my dad and brother put lights on the tree and walked away; Mom and I were left to decorate. It was not the jolly family shared experience Norman Rockwall would have us all envision. So I swore when I had my own home, tree the trimming would be festive and happy.

Most years I had anywhere from fifty to seventy guests. The price of admission was always the same: bring an ornament and hang it on the tree. As a result, I have a huge collection of unique ornaments, now stored in the attic, because I have only a small, tabletop fake tree. But I can still tell you the story behind many of my ornaments.

My dining table was extended and full of everything from pate and a caviar dip to bourbon-soaked cocktail sausages and cheeseball. The buffet on the side held cookies, a chocolate Bundt cake, and Aunt Reva’s sheet cake. I began cooking at least by early November, and the freezer was stocked. Some of the things I served are now considered passé, cheeseballs and dips among them, but my family and I still love them. Here are three I frequently served.

Caesar dip

If you love Caesar salad, as I do, this is the dip for you. It’s like eating the dressing.

1 cup mayonnaise

½ cup sour cream

½ cup grated fresh Parmesan

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 garlic clove, pressed or grated

1 anchovy filet or 1 tsp. anchovy paste

           Caesar salad was originally finger food—you dipped the base of a leaf of romaine in the dressing. I have had it served that way in restaurants, and at Fort Worth’s Pacific Table where the Caesar salad has uncut leaves, I eat it that way. So a great dipper for this would be small leaves from the hearts of a couple of heads of romaine (use the remaining leaves for a green salad). Other crudities would work well too—carrots, broccoli flowers, green pepper strips, cucumber slices. Baguettes slices and crackers are also perfectly acceptable.

Sherry cheese paté

8 oz. cream cheese

1 cup grated sharp cheddar

1 T. dry sherry (cooking sherry if you must)

½ tsp. curry powder

¼ tsp.

¼ salt

1 8 oz. jar chutney, any flavor you want – I am partial to apricot

2 green onions, chopped

Mix cream cheese, cheddar, sherry, curry powder, and salt. Spread on serving plate and chill. Spread the chutney on top of the mixture and scatter green onion bits for decoration. Serve with crackers and a cocktail spreader or knife.

Caviar Spread

This is the dish that people asked for year after year.

2-1/2 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 c. mayonnaise

1 small onion, grated

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Dash of hot sauce

1 4-oz. jar black caviar

3-4 hard-cooked eggs, finely chopped

Chopped parsley

Mix first seven ingredients with electric mixer until smooth. Spoon into shallow serving dish. Top with caviar, eggs, and parsley. Serve with small pumpernickel breads or party rye if you can find them. Crackers are good too.

You don’t have to wait for Christmas to serve these. They’d be great for that family Thanksgiving get-together.

          

 

 

 

 

 

Butter boards—a good idea or not?

 

Not my photo
Butter Board (TikTok Recipe) - Sugar and Soul

Six years ago, when I moved into the cottage, Jordan and I entertained almost every evening because people were curious to see my garage-turned-cozy cottage. We put several cheeses and a couple of sliced meats on a board and barely knew to call it charcuterie. Today, these boards may have reached their peak of popularity. They’ve gotten so complicated and elaborate that there are entire books on how to create them and you can take classes in creating spectacular arrangements of meat, cheese, and vegetables, the latter often shaped into rose blooms.

But there’s a new board that cooks and hosts are just beginning to explore: butter boards. I have to confess that good, rich, real butter is one of my favorite foods. To me, the perfect snack is a saltine cracker with a good-sized slice of butter. When they were little my kids used to say, “Have a little cracker with your butter, Mom.” I am convinced butter boards were designed just for me.

Whereas charcuterie boards seem to grow larger until they are often big and sometimes contain a full meal, butter boards are much smaller. It is just what the name implies: softened butter spread thickly on a small board, usually wooden though a plate could be used. A few years ago glass cutting boards were all the rage—I have two small ones and think they would be good for butter board.

What else goes into a butter board? You are only as limited as your imagination. Originally, the board featured herbs and microgreens. Some people added edible flowers. Then chefs and cooks began to branch out, exploring savory additions—garlic, spices, bacon, some of those charcuterie ingredients, like salami or other preserved meat, finely chopped. Want something sweet? Use jam, honey, fruit, nuts, or seeds. To scoop up the butter, offer crackers, baguette slices, even pretzels. I do think a butter knife would be useful to avoid messes.

An alternative to butter is cream cheese. The obvious toppings would be diced smoked salmon, chopped red onion, a bit of tomato, and capers. But cream cheese would make a good base for toppings like bacon, or cucumber and green onions.  Dream big!

The most important aspect of creating your board is the same as in arranging a charcuterie: arrange things in the most appealing manner. I frequently quote my mom: food is half eaten by the eye.

You probably would not serve boards, either with butter or meat and cheese, to large groups. These are dishes for a small group of three or friends gathered around a coffee table. You might be sure beforehand that your guests like butter.

Not all chefs are enthusiastic about the butter board craze. Some fear it’s unsanitary. They claim smearing butter on a porous wooden board means you can’t clean the board thoroughly and leaves too much room for contamination. I routinely prepare food on a wooden butch block surface, cleaning it thoroughly after each use. I’ve had that same table for years with no problems. Another charge is that a butter board is messy. A way around both of those objections is to place parchment paper under the board, perhaps trimming it around the butter for appearance’s sake. I will also protest that those crowded charcuterie boards are messy too, like a buffet with many hands in the food. That’s why I suggest limiting the size of your party. Finally, those not drawn to butter boards say they can imagine hair, dust particles, and other foreign material floating down onto the board. Doesn’t this happen with any food? Even your dinner plate? Granted, a stray hair is more likely to stick to soft butter, but I think some atmospheric contamination is possible every time we eat, unless we lock ourselves in a bubble. I would remind naysayers that large cheese and fruit boards have been standard at big receptions for years.

Butter boards aren’t for everyone. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to try serving one, but it’s on my bucket list. Here are a couple of combinations that I think sound good. Another hint: be sure to use a rich butter, possibly European. I prefer Kerrygold. And be sure your butter is at room temperature. Then when you put it in the board, give it some swirls and curls for eye appeal.

Basic herbal board:

           Spread your board with 1/2 cup unsalted butter. Sprinkle lightly with kosher or sea salt and a tiny bit of black pepper. Decorate with two tsp. lemon zest, three Tbsp. assorted fresh herbs, chopped; drizzle with one Tbsp. honey.  

Dried cranberry board:

           Spread your board with one-half cup butter. Salt it lightly and drizzle a bit of lemon juice over it. Spread evenly over butter: one Tbsp. chopped walnuts, 2 tsp. diced chives, 2 Tbsp. fresh basil; 2 Tbsp. dried cranberries.

Italian board:

Spread butter and season with salt and lemon zest. Chiffonade five or six basil leaves and spread over butter with two Tbsp. finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes, and one-fourth cup Parmesan or Pecorino.

Be the first to wow your friends with this new trend.

Simplifying charcuterie

 

To me, this is overdone, too crowded.

Six years ago, when I first moved into the cottage, everybody wanted to come for happy hour so they could see my new digs. We had guests every night, and it was fun and, indeed, happy. Jordan and I put out a cutting board with a couple of meat or salami choices and two or three cheeses—a wonderful cheddar with blue cheese layered in or sometimes cheddar from the Cotswolds. We didn’t call it chaucuterie because, if my memory is correct, that term has only become popular since then.

Today, charcuterie boards are all the fashion. There are books about how to do them, and you can take classes in constructing them. Hostesses seem to be in fierce competition to see who can have the most elaborate, the most innovative board. Frankly, I think it’s gotten out of hand. For one thing, those elaborate, overflowing board may be beautiful, but they’re not practical. How do you pull out a piece of cheese or a pickle spear or whatever without touching all the food on the platter? I was raised to believe if you touched it, you ate it. I want a little space between items—and a pickle fork.

If you can shop at a store with a good deli counter, you’ll have a much wider range of choices. You really need three things on your board:

Meat – figure 2 to 3 ounces per person and try for variety of taste and texture. Cured meats are usually used, and pork is traditional, but you can include other meats. Salami is always a good choice—either soft or hard; I like mortadella—a fine, soft Italian meat (think bologna) with little pockets of pork fat; you can use prosciutto, bresaola, chorizo, ham, pepperoni. I love a good pate. Most people think pate is duck or chicken liver and those are most common, but pâté can be made of beef, game, fish, even vegetables. It is usually richly seasoned with herbs, spices, and either wine or brandy. Often, they are made in a loaf or terrine pan, chilled, and sliced. A pate is smooth enough to spread. Ingredients in a terrine are coarsely chopped.

Cheese – again, 2 to 3 ounces per person. Use a soft cheese, like brie, goat cheese (chevre) or camembert – if the cheese will be messy on the board, place it on a small plate or coaster or piece of parchment; add a semi-soft or hard cheese – cheddar, gouda, manchego; to add interest to your board, choose an unusual cheese—like blue or gorgonzola. Slice the cheese before arranging the board—if people have to slice their own pieces, your board will soon be a mess.

Bread – you can hardly go wrong here with anything from lavash to Ritz crackers. Try cocktail rye or baguette slices. Sometimes we use sesame rice crackers but be aware they break easily. Try Melba toast or water wafers. Most groceries have a wide selection of crackers.

Some hosts consider a meat and cheese board ample enough; others like to add fruit and what I call garnishes:

Fruit – grapes are the standby and easiest, but you can do chunks of melon in season, strawberries (halve them if large), figs. Avoid soft fruits, like bananas and raspberries, and blueberries which roll around. You can also offer a tiny pot of jam or chutney. In winter, dried fruits may be your best choice.

Garnishes – again, let your imagination rule. Add anything from cornichons and olives or tapenade to nuts or dips; smoked shellfish or mild white anchovies are nice but put them in a small dish so they don’t touch the non-fishy items. How about tiny cherry tomatoes or pickled onions. Bits of fresh herbs tucked here and there add great eye appeal.

Note: you can do vegan and gluten-free boards if you or a guest have special needs.

Covid really changed our attitude toward charcuterie because we were all so conscious of sanitation. Boards faded from our happy hour about that time, at least in my cottage. You may still be leery of the communal aspect of charcuterie, but there are options: Cone charcuterie is layered in pre-made cones (no, I don’t know where to get them). Some hostesses layer ingredients in small Mason jars, preferably wide-mouth, and call it jarcuterie. Or you can do charcuterie kebabs. With these alternative forms, it might be good to provide small plates and a fork to each guest—or a lot of toothpicks.

The good thing about these boards is that you can tailor them to your taste and the specific situation. Let your imagination run and have fun with it. And take pictures.