The Essential James Beard Cookbook (4 page)

Swiss Cheese and Olive Spread

Compound Butters

Chutney Butter

Fines Herbes Butter

Garlic Butter

Hazelnut Butter

Mustard Butter

Roquefort Butter

Cocktail Sandwich Fillings

Buckwheat Blini

Carrot Blini

Cream Cheese and Pistachio Stuffed Bread Rings

The Highball Sandwich

Old-Fashioned Pickled Eggs

Clay’s Dill Pickles

Cold Ham Mousse

Pâté de Campagne

Chinese Ginger and Pork Balls

Rillettes or Rillons

Gravlax

Brandade of Cod

Seviche

Sautéed Marinated Fish Fillets (Escabèche)

Stuffed Oysters

Pâté of Pike and Salmon

Salmon Tartare

Soused Shrimp

Cocktails

Grammie Hamblet’s Deviled Crab

CRUDITÉS WITH ANCHOVY MAYONNAISE

MAKES ABOUT 12 SERVINGS

For the Anchovy Mayonnaise

12 to 14 drained anchovy fillets in oil, drained and coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

¼ cup chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped capers

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 cups
Mayonnaise

Thinly sliced cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, sliced onion, whole scallions, match stick carrots, thinly sliced raw beets, or other raw vegetables, for serving

To make the anchovy mayonnaise: Combine the anchovy fillets, garlic, parsley, basil, capers, mustard, and mayonnaise, and taste for seasoning. Use little salt in the mayonnaise; anchovies and capers have plenty. Arrange the vegetables on a platter; dunk in the anchovy mayonnaise.

CAPONATA

MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS

While this Sicilian dish is traditionally served cold as part of the antipasto course, on its own it makes a zesty, refreshing appetizer for a summer meal.

3 globe eggplants, cut into 1-inch cubes, unpeeled

Kosher salt

1 celery heart (about 8 ribs), thinly sliced

½ cup olive oil

1 large yellow onion, sliced

5 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and quartered, or one 28-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped

1 or 2 pinches dried thyme

1 bay leaf

Freshly ground black pepper

6 to 8 anchovy fillets in oil, drained and chopped

1 cup pitted and coarsely chopped Mediterranean black olives, such as Kalamata

3 tablespoons nonpareil capers

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Freshly grated zest of ½ lemon (optional)

Sprinkle the eggplant with 2 teaspoons salt and let it drain in a colander. Blanch the celery for 1 minute in a large saucepan of boiling water, then drain and plunge into cold water to stop it from cooking further. Drain and pat dry with paper towels.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender and golden, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, thyme, and bay leaf, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the tomatoes are tender and thickened into a sauce, about 20 minutes. Rub the mixture through a coarse-mesh wire sieve and discard the seeds and skin.

While the tomato mixture is cooking, rinse the eggplant cubes and pat them dry with paper towels. Heat the remaining 6 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the eggplant and cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is browned, adding more oil as needed. They should just cook through. Add the tomato mixture, blanched celery, anchovies, olives, and capers. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar and stir into the eggplant mixture. Add the parsley and lemon zest, if using.

CHILI CON QUESO

MAKES 8 TO 12 SERVINGS

Editor: When this recipe was first published in
Menus for Entertaining
(1965), corn chips, such as Fritos, were the norm, and mass-produced tortilla chips were waiting in the wings. The truth is, you can dip just about anything crunchy (including the suggested bread sticks and celery) in chili con queso, and it would be addictive.

For the Cream Sauce

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup
Chicken Stock
, heated

½ cup heavy cream

One 28-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Two 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies, drained

1 pound shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese

Corn chips, bread sticks, and celery sticks, for serving

To make the cream sauce: Melt the butter over low heat in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Mix the flour into the butter with a whisk or spoon and cook slowly, stirring all the time, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the roux is well blended and frothy. Gradually stir in the stock. Increase the heat to medium and cook, whisking all the time, until the sauce is smooth, thick, and at the boiling point. Let the sauce simmer, stirring, for 3 or 4 minutes. Stir in the cream and simmer for a few more minutes.

Combine the tomatoes and garlic in a medium saucepan and season with salt and pepper. Cook down for 20 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally to break up the tomatoes. Add the chilies. Cook until the juices evaporate and the mixture is thick and pasty, about 15 minutes. Add the cream sauce and cheese, and stir well until the cheese melts. Place in a chafing dish or electric skillet over warm heat. Serve with the chips, bread sticks, and celery.

Anchovy-Parsley Dipping Sauce

Makes about 2 cups

Editor: As with
Anchovy Mayonnaise
, serve this with raw vegetables.

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

18 anchovy fillets in oil, drained

Freshly grated zest of 1 lemon

3 garlic cloves, crushed under a knife and peeled

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Kosher salt

Combine all of the ingredients in blender and whirl for 1 minute. Correct the seasoning with salt and more pepper.

SKORDALIA

(GREEK GARLIC SAUCE)

MAKES ABOUT 1¾ CUPS

Skordalia
is basically a mayonnaise with a great deal of garlic, further thickened by finely ground almonds (you can make these by chopping blanched almonds in a blender or food processor until they are pulverized to the consistency of very fine bread crumbs). Traditionally, the sauce is made with a mortar and pestle. First the whole garlic cloves are ground to a paste with the pestle, then raw egg yolks are pounded into the garlic with the pestle until thick and sticky, then the olive oil is pounded in drop by drop until it forms a mayonnaise. The other ingredients are then mixed into the mayonnaise.

I find it much easier to be less traditional and make the sauce in a blender or food processor. It is delicious with hot or cold poached fish, with fried fish, as a dip for shrimp, raw vegetables, or artichokes, and as a sauce for rather bland vegetables such as cauliflower and boiled potatoes.

4 to 6 garlic cloves, very finely chopped

2 large eggs

3 or 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup olive oil or half olive oil and half peanut oil

½ cup finely ground blanched almonds

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Put the garlic (the amount depends on your taste), eggs, 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, and the salt into a blender or food processor and blend or process until just mixed. Add the oil in a thin, steady stream, according to the directions for blender or food-processor
Mayonnaise
. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the ground almonds. Mix in more lemon juice to taste, and then the parsley. Chill before serving.

VARIATIONS

THICK SKORDALIA:
For a thicker sauce, stir in 1 cup fresh white bread crumbs with the ground almonds.

POTATO SKORDALIA:
Instead of ground almonds, mix 1 cup plain mashed potatoes (with no butter or milk added) into the sauce. After the mayonnaise is made, put the potatoes into the blender or processor and blend until just combined.

BRIOCHE EN SURPRISE

(ONION SANDWICHES)

MAKES 24 SANDWICHES

Some famous French hostess supposedly started the fashion for the recipe below and created a sensation in her salon. I am sure a reputation and a leading position in any town can be built up if you serve enough of them for they are as contagious as measles. A good friend of mine can eat a dozen of them at one sitting.

Not only is this delicious, but it is one of the most decorative canapés you can make, for an edging of brilliant green enhances the golden yellow of the brioche and makes a most appetizing tidbit.

Twenty-four ¼-inch-thick brioche slices, cut into 2½-inch-diameter rounds

¹
⁄
₃
cup
Mayonnaise
, or store bought

2 small yellow onions, cut into 24 very thin rounds

Kosher salt

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, patted dry

Spread the rounds on one side with mayonnaise and place the rounds mayonnaise-side up on the work surface. On half of the slices place an onion round, just the size of the brioche, and salt it well. Top with the remaining brioche rounds, mayonnaise-side down. Roll the edges of each sandwich first in mayonnaise, and then in the chopped parsley.

VARIATION

ANCHOVY CANAPÉS:
For a similar canapé, use the same process. Spread the brioche rounds with
Fines Herbes Butter
, and place fillets of anchovies on one half of the slices. Top with the remaining buttered brioche; roll the edges in mayonnaise and then in parsley.