Sticky Fingers
Sorry if this is a little sticky. I’ve got plum sauce everywhere.
It’s no surprise that my favourite thing about December is all the food that comes with it. Though it’s not the big Christmas dinner, as you might imagine. Or eggnog, fruitcake or Christmas pudding.
For the whole month of December, there are different kinds of celebratory events: family functions, dinner parties, work dos, meeting for drinks with friends and colleagues. And with each event come platters and bowls of little bites. They’re often highly filling and caloric but oh so tasty, so you can’t help but have just one more. Because it’s the holidays, the offerings are always a little more special than the usual party fare and you allow yourself to indulge just a little bit more.
I know that the majority of folks thrill over the tables of sweets: home-baked cookies, biscotti, tarts, pies and cakes from scratch, chocolate from floor to ceiling. But I swoon for the savoury bits: meats enveloped in puff pastry, patés spread on fresh breads and inexcusably expensive crackers. All the stops are pulled and the shrimp get a little more colossal.
Party food gets a little extra attention at this time of year. The Harveys Bristol Cream comes out from the back of the cabinet, caloric dips are whipping and pureed with hints of truffle and other pricey ingredients, and flatbreads are displayed on platters kept for “special occasions.”
Crostini with salmon and capers, meat lollipops, stuffed mushrooms, delicate leek tarts laced with fine herbs, potato puffs, duck confit samosas, antipasto platters, spiced-ham mini quiches, meatballs, tiny turkey pies, egg rolls – there is so much to choose from. Of course, this covers only one table of goodies. There are themes (Southern, Italian) and trends (charcuterie, Spanish tapas, mini everything), but what I find most exciting is having the opportunity to try so many different things.
Often I’ll like something so much, I try to replicate it and throw it into my own party-menu repertoire. I also like to take ideas from restaurant appetizers. (They tend to wow the crowd because they generally have a unique twist or ingredient.)
Some of my most recent successes include Almond and Chevre Cheese Balls from the site Serious Eats. I served these at a function a couple of weeks ago and got an overwhelming positive response. (Did it help that I renamed them “Hand-Crafted Artisan Almond & Chevre Balls” and tripled the amount of vermouth?)
Almond and Chevre Cheese Balls Recipe
Middle Eastern Bison Meatballs with Cilantro-Yogurt Sauce Recipe
Stephanie Dickison
Not only do I review restaurants and write about food for a living, but I’m spend much of my “free” time cooking, shopping for ingredients and basically thinking about what I’m going to make next. I figure if I’m thinking about this stuff, someone out there must be too. I can’t be the only one questioning whether next time I make roast lime chicken, I should finish it with grains of paradise or pepitas. Whether it is writing a restaurant review, chef profile, or a column about everything from asparagus to zinfandel, I am up for the challenge. After running my own catering business and creating original recipes and menus, and spending as much time in restaurants and cooking classes, I am ready to tackle any topic – how to make perfect eggs Benedict every time, the gadget that will change your life, and raw food – will it ever catch on? I am passionate about fresh food, local and international cuisines and anything that James Beard said, wrote or made. I bring that same passion to my food writing. A good portion of my book, The 30-Second Commute (ECW Press, 2009), is dedicated to my experiences in restaurants and with chefs. I am constantly asked about this in particular, so my goal was to answer those questions that you might have. Read all about what I’ve got to say about today’s menus – Will mini sliders continue to wow the crowd? Is shrimp still the top-selling appetizer choice? Should you offer 3 or 10 desserts? I have spent much of my career writing with one hand and eating or stirring a pot with the other. This is the life.