Easter, Food and Memories

When I was a kid, my family made a big deal out of every  holiday that came along.   On St Patrick’s Day,  we would sit down over a meal of corned beef  and cabbage, and  there was always  some  kind of  green dessert to help finish the meal.  We  weren’t Irish.  We just loved to celebrate.

Easter, as you can imagine, was huge.

My  sister and I were the oldest grandchildren, so we were accustomed to getting some pretty incredible gifts.  The local German bakery molded chocolates in all shapes for the holiday, and our great Uncle would purchase two of the largest chocolate rabbits the bakery had.  Each rabbit stood over three feet tall and believe it or not, my sister and I eventually ate every last bite. The other tradition we never tired of was the Easter Egg hunt.  My parents held it in our rather expansive yard, which includes an extensive terraced garden, or in inclement weather, we would have it in the small two story house where my grandmother had lived in since SHE was a girl.   There were an amazing number of places where treats could be hidden, and while I loved getting novelty candies and small toys, I think the part I still remember the most was listening for the adults to call out encouragement, depending on how close, or far away, we were to our goals. “You’re warm…no warmer….hot…now you’re boiling hot” they would cry as we got closer to each treat.  I still have one of my most cherished Easter finds.  It was a book on Clara Barton that my Dad had hidden with the rest of the books in the matching set of bookcases at the entrance to the living room, and every time I walk by that bookcase now, I am reminded of  just how blessed my childhood was.

I still love chocolate as much as I did when I was hoovering those chocolate rabbits with my sister, but  I’ve become much more aware of  the rich and  subtle nuances of chocolate (thanks in large part to the candy classes I’ve been teaching for years) as well as the quality of the chocolate that I eat and bake with. I would even go so far as to say that I have become very fussy about the kind of chocolate I use, but I will never be sophisticated enough to give up entirely on the fun of an Easter Egg hunt, and to this day, I find opportunities to hide gifts for the children in my neighborhood in my yard.

The cheesecake truffles  below make an easy to prepare in advance dessert for Easter, especially if placed in an Easter basket after being rolled in colored sugars!  Not your traditional Easter eggs for sure, but their cream cheesiness will delight your guess after a big meal AND a surprise chocolate truffle in the center is sure to please even picky chocolate lovers like me!

Can Someone PLEASE tell me why Red Velvet Cake is so terrific?

I’ve been working a lot on my next book about special occasion cupcakes, and in addition to creating decorating ideas that have both the “wow factor” and are easy to do, I have also thinking about the kinds of cake and frostings I want to feature.

It’s no secret that Red Velvet Cake is and always has been one of the hottest cakes around.  Jessica  Simpson and Nick Lachey had it at their wedding in 2002.  Oprah Winfrey put Doughboys Cafe and Carousel Cakes on the map with her swoonfest to this amazing dessert, and the New York Times called it “vampy” in an essay about which celebrity the cake would be if it were, in fact, a celebrity (Marilyn Monroe was the hands down choice).

With that in mind, I started to test recipes and frostings in the hopes of creating my own unforgettable cake, but each time I tried, I was disappointed in the results.  Don’t get me wrong….friends and neighbors LOVED the cakes, but I felt there was something missing; the cakes LOOKED pretty, but there was no flavor.  Or at least not the careful blend of ingredients I thought would really make the cake pop.  I used cocoa in the batter, but the finished cake didn’t taste like cocoa.  It was moist, which is good, but it lacked character.  Nothing about the taste of the cake stayed with me, the way I think good food of any kind should.

I also know to get that  red color, you need to use 1-2ounces of  red food coloring, and that really puts me off!  I have found a source for completely natural food colorings which I intend to use, but even so, what am I missing?  Could it be that the cream cheese frosting lulls us into thinking that the overall cake is good by default, or is it because the cake is such a gorgeous color that we sink our teeth into without noticing that its really just another cake mix?   I would hate think our taste buds were that shallow!

On another note, in a conversation I had at the most recent Houseware’s Show in Chicago, I found out that many restaurants use cream cheese flavoring (available from Lorrain Oils) instead of actual cream cheese because it doesn’t spoil as quickly…I’ll have to try it!

Keep a look out for pictures of some the photos from the cupcake book on my website. I’m very excited about this book and I believe I will deliver a book that is very, VERY easy to use with very sophisticated designs.

In the meantime, here is my recipe for Black Forest Cherry Boxes that will help bring a little color into YOUR life…..

1/12 C (3 sticks) butter, softened

2 1/2 C sugar

4 eggs

2 t vanilla

1 C sour cream

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 C cake flour

1 C Dutch processed cocoa powder

2 1/4 t baking powder

1/2 salt

3 C fresh or frozen pitted cherries

1/2 C sugar

3/4 C cherry juice

1 1/2 plus 1/2 C sweet cherry wine

1 1/2 C heavy cream

Mint Leaves, as a garnish

Party Bag fitted with 3/4 inch star tip

Preheat oven to 325 degree.  Grease bottom and sides of a 9×11 inch baking pan.  Using an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until smooth.  Add sugar and beat at high speed for 4 minutes, then at medium speed, beat in eggs one at a time.  In a small bowl, mix vanilla into sour cream.  In another medium bowl, sift the two flours, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  At low speed and in three stages, alternately add to the butter the dry ingredients and the sour cream.

Spread batter evening into prepared pan.  Bake until the cake springs back when touched, about 50 minutes. Cool.

Trim cake edges and cut cake into a 5 x 7 grid of thirty five 1 1/2 inch x 1/12 inch squares.

To make the filling, combine cherries and sugar in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.  Add juice and 1/12 C wine and simmer until liquid id slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.  Strain out cherries and return liquid to saucepan.  Boil until reduced, about 3/4 C, about ten minutes.  Pour over cherries and cool.

Carefully scoop out a well in the center of each chocolate box using a grapefruit knife.  With pastry brush, dab all surfaces with remaining cherry wine.

In a small bowl, whip cream until thick and fluffy.

To assemble, gently spoon a little cherry filling into each carved well, mounding it a bit.  Fill pastry bag with whipped cream and pipe a little burst on the side of each cherry mound.  Garnish with minted leaf and sprinkle with grated chocolate.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with this Fabulous Pomegranate Caviar Canape!

When I think of Valentine’s Day,  or the month of February in general, I always remember the small but significant way in which my parents made the fourteenth special for my brother and sisters and I.  We would troop down the narrow staircase to the kitchen where the breakfast table was set with the every day china, and beside each plate,  a little box of candy,  or a Valentine’s Day themed Pez Dispenser.

It is funny how little things, little memories, little gifts, thoughtful gestures, are what we remember most,  sometimes even more than the  major events in our lives.   Maybe that’s why I am so passionate about small foods.  The unexpected surprise of discovering how ingredients blend together and what a delight it is to challenge my palate over and over again with new tastes and new smells has always been more appealing to me than eating the same plate of food until its gone.  Give me a hors d’oeuvres plate with four different appetizers, desserts, or main dish samples, and I am over the  moon! !

If YOU want to celebrate the “redness of the month” with a small but special treat of your own, why not try the simple and elegant Pomegranate Caviar Canape recipe from my Dessert Canapes book?  It is easy to make, and the deep red of the pomegranate fruit says Happy Valentine’s Day to all who taste these sophisticated little bites.

POMEGRANATE CAVIAR CANAPES

Yield 20 canapes

3 medium pomegranates

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 C heavy cream

2 C flour

Sugar

1 C honey

3/4 C sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated, as a garnish

3 inch round cutter

Score the rind of each pomegranate.  Remove the seeds and place them in a bowl lined with a paper towel.  Three pomegranates should yield about three cups of seeds. Set aside.

Cream the butter, heavy cream and flour in a medium bowl using a rubber spatula or hand mixer.  Cover and chill dough for about an hour or until firm.  Pour some sugar in a shallow dish and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Take 1/3 of the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut out 3 inch rounds from the dough.  Press rounds firmly into the sugar to ensure that it sticks, and place on parchment lined baking pans, 1 inch apart.  Prick each round with a fork a few times.  Repeat with remaining dough to yield 20 rounds in total.  Bake ten minutes until the bottom and edges are lightly browned.  Cool.

Combine pomegranate seeds and honey.  Spoon 2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds onto the center of each round and top with a sprinkling of grated cheddar.  Serve at once.

Who Needs a New Years Resolution When You Can Have Cheesecake Truffles?

Like virtually everyone else on the planet, I own one of those cell phones that has just about every bell, whistle and wingding you can imagine.  I can text, send photographs, video natural disasters, find out when a movie is playing, order pajamas and update my relationship status, all while I wait for my train to arrive on the platform.The problem is, I don’t really like cell phones.  I LIKE keeping track of friends and loved ones through a good old fashioned date book, so every year I invest in these increasingly arcane journals so I can carefully transcribe all birthdays and any other important events that I’ll need to remember into one easy to reference document. There’s something really comforting about knowing that if I drop my cell phone in the toilet, I can dig up my datebook and find out who to call to get it replaced. Or at least let people know why they may not be hearing from me for a few days.  I also love how updating  my book helps me remember all the wonderful things that happened the year before; the new people I met, the new cooking classes I taught, the new recipe I developed or a some new ingredient I became thoroughly passionate about.When I’m done, as I have done for the past two years, I write on the last blank page of the book;

“Remember to be kinder to yourself and more demanding of others.” I do this, because after one particularly inspiring session with my therapist, she made me repeat this phrase, and then, told me to write it down.  Its easy for me to be hard on myself and make excuses for everyone else around me, but I have learned over the years that because I really drive myself to be the best that I can be, its okay to take care of myself sometimes and let others rise to MY occasion….So if I HAD a New Years Resolution, it would be this; “Be kinder to yourself and demand more of others”.  Because, as time goes by, life seems more and more difficult for the people I love,  and,  at times more challenging than I would have ever expected. Remember to be kinder to yourself, and to get you started, here’s a Cheesecake Truffle recipe I think you will love. They freeze very well, so you can reward yourself every time you keep your promise to yourself!

CHEESECAKE TRUFFLES

Yield: 60 truffles

2 1/2 pounds (five 8 oz package) cream cheese

1/8 t salt

1 1/2 C sugar

1/3 C sour cream

2 t lemon juice

1 t vanilla

6 large eggs and 2 egg yolks, room temperature

4 T butter

2 C ground Zwieback biscuits (or graham cracker crumbs)

1/2 C decorative sugar crystals

Preheat oven to 300F.  Mix cream cheese, salt, and sugar in large mixing bowl until smooth.  Add sour cream and beat at medium speed until combined.  Keep scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure the mixture is evenly combined.  Then add lemon juice and vanilla and beat until well incorporated. With the mixer running, add eggs and yolks.  Mix until batter is pale yellow and smooth.  Pour into an ungreased 9 x13 inch baking pan.  Bake at 300 degrees until mixture is set or internal temperature reaches 150 degrees about 1 hour.  The surface will be off white to beige, not golden brown.  Freeze for 2 to 3 hours.

While the cheesecake is chilling, melt butter in a small saucepan.  Remove from heat and add crumbs., mixing until well combined.  Stir in sugar crystals and set aside. Once cheesecake is firm, scoop out about 1/4 C at a time and roll into 1 1/2 inch balls.  This mixture is sticky, so you may need to dust your hands with flour periodically.  Roll each ball in the butter/crumb mixture to coat the surface.  Place in paper cups and serve. Truffles can be frozen for up to three weeks and thawed at room temperature.  The crumb coating will be a bit soft unless truffles are left uncoated until just before serving.

Yes, Cooks of the World, there IS a Santa Claus!

I have many fond memories of Christmases past, but I think my favorite Christmas ever was about fifteen years ago.  I had – I still HAVE – an enormous passion for childrens books. I love the feel of the paper, and how intensely beautiful the illustrations are, how the stories unfold so simply and yet with such elegance.  With just a few well selected phrases and some absolutely gorgeous images, a childrens book creates the magic – the lush fertility – of a child’s imagination.

My sister loved it when I read to her as a little girl, and so that particular Christmas, I asked everyone in my family to bring THEIR favorite childrens book for our annual Christmas party. After dinner, we gathered around the fireplace and, lit only by the light of the Christmas tree and the warm glow from the hearth, we took turns reading aloud to one another.  The memory of that evening is STILL one of the sweetest and most sentimental moments of my entire life.

Speaking of sweet, here is one of my favorite Christmas recipes, guaranteed to make Santa a regular at YOUR home every Christmas Eve!

Choco-Ginger Sandwiches

Yield 20 sandwiches

1 T freshly grated ginger

8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter room temperature

1/2 C dark brown sugar firmly packed

1/4 C unsulfured molasses

1 1/2 C flour

1 1/4 t ground ginger

1 t ground cloves

1/4 t ground nutmeg

1 T cocoa powder

7 oz semi sweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/4 C granulated sugar, for rolling cookies

2 C vanilla ice cream

4 t grated ginger

1 C semi sweet chocolate, finely chopped, as garnish

Preheat oven to 325F. Using an electric mixer, cream the tablespoon of grated ginger and butter until light and fluffy.  Add the brown sugar, then the molasses and beat until combined.

Mix flour, baking soda, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and cocoa together in a small bowl. Gradually add the butter/sugar  mixture until fully incorporated.  Stir in the chocolate and chill dough until firm, about 30 minutes

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place 1/4 C sugar in a pie pan and roll each ball in it. Place sugared balls on parchment lined baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.  Bake until surface cracks slightly, about 12 to 14 minutes.

Place ice cream in a medium bowl.  Soften with rubber spatula and stir in the grated ginger.  Freeze until firm but spreadable.

To assemble, spread enough ice cream on one cookie to create a layer about 1/2 inch thick.  Top with another cookie to create a sandwich.  Roll the exposed ice cream edges in chopped chocolate.  Sandwiches can be frozen until ready to use.

Happy Holidays to all….

Lady Apple Crisp and Fond Thanksgiving Memories

There is something about Thanksgiving Dinner, more than any other holiday feast I can think of,  that remains unchanged from the day you are old enough to know what is being served.   The food that relatives and friends prepare seems somehow sacred, and changing anything about that particular meals seems as if it as a denial of anything and everything you family has stood for, ever stood for, or ever will stand for.  You can have duck, goose, turkey or ham for Christmas, but change a single item on the Thanksgiving menu and it seems as though the earth has come to a screeching halt.

I have a friend who’s family refused to come to her home for dinner one year because she and her boyfriend had become vegetarians, and had announced there would be no turkey (thankfully, there would also be no tofurkey).   I have another friend who’s mother made a horrible concoction with raspberry jam, cottage cheese and whipped cream that everyone ate just to be polite, but God forbid that strange dessert failed to show up on the table. It was TRADITION!

My own family traditions were tested one year when my father decided to take it upon himself to try oyster stuffing with the turkey.  For some reason, the idea fascinated him, and so he set himself to the task of finding a recipe, gathering the ingredients, and preparing enough oyster stuffing for an army. I had to give him credit for not only taking the initiative to challenge the Thanksgiving menu that year, but for his creativity with respect to the kind of stuffing he chose.

We had such a huge crowd at the house that year that we set sawhorses up with wood planks on top to create extra eating space. Everyone sat down to the table and together, my father and I dove into the oyster stuffing with great anticipation. No one else would even consider eating such a foreign addition to the dinner table much less OYSTER STUFFING, so we swallowed a fork full….looked at each other….excused ourselves from the table and headed into the kitchen where we both spit our oyster stuffing into the garbage pail before erupting in laughter.

I hope this Thanksgiving recipe is met with a bit more pleasure and enthusiasm, since its become one of MY traditional favorites.

Enjoy…and Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Lady Apple Crisp

To me, apple crisp means Sunday dinner desserts at my grandmother’s when I was a child. I still use her recipe, written in her handwriting on a faded index card. This little version of my favorite dessert results in a much crunchier topping than in the original, but the wonderful honey taste is still there. I hope it helps bring back a favorite memory for you.

Yield: 24 lady apples

24 lady apples or small round apples about 2-inches in diameter

¾ cup oats (not quick style)

¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

½ cup flour

8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, cut into chunks

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons brown sugar

4 cups peeled, coarsely chopped (½ -to ¾-inch) firm apples (McCouns, Fuji, Gala)

Melon baller

Using a sharp knife, cut the top quarter off each apple and just enough off each base so that apples stand upright. Using a mellon baller, scrape out the interior, leaving ¼ inch on the sides and ½ inch on the base (it is important to leave enough walls so the sides remains firm when steamed). Scraps can be used for applesauce.

In a steamer bring 1 inch of water to a boil. Add apples, open side down, 4 or 5 at a time, and steam for no more than 1½ to 2 minutes. You want apples to soften a bit but not collapse. Cool.

Preheat oven to 350°F. To prepare the topping, place oats, brown sugar, and flour in a food processor and pulse several times to combine. Add butter chunks and process until butter is in pea-sized pieces. Add vanilla and pulse once more, making sure the mix remains rough and bumpy. Spread onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally until topping is lightly browned and resembles granola, about 15 to 18 minutes. Break up any large clusters and set aside to cool.

Melt remaining butter and sugar in a small frying pan. Add apples and sauté until slightly softened, about 6-8 minutes. They should still be a light golden color, not brown.

Mix ⅓ of the topping into the sautéed apples and fill hollowed apples to just below the rim. Sprinkle remaining topping on top (see photo) and serve at room temperature.

Filled apples can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature and add topping before serving.

Tips

If lady apples are not available, check with your local farm. Most people don’t want small apples, so they’ll be glad you do.

Twists

For raw, healthy version, brush carved apples with lemon juice to prevent browning. Mix chopped apple with thick yogurt, almonds or sunflower seeds and honey.

Tastefully Small Bites Makes the Perfect Holiday Gift!

I don’t know what it is about things you roll up and stick toothpicks in, but with the holidays right around the corner, I thought I would share this recipe for Beef, Apple and Watercress Spirals.  They are easy to make and just one of many fun and exciting recipes in my Finger Sandwiches cookbook.

I’ll admit that I have an ulterior motive for sharing this with you; in case no one has mentioned it before, the holidays are right around the corner.  The Tastefully Small series of cookbooks make the PERFECT gift for any holiday occasion, and if you order now, your signed copy of Kim Hendrickson’s books will arrive in plenty of time for your next party, or your next seasonal event.

Act now and you will receive special pricing through the Salvia Press website; www.salviapress.com

So here’s to the holiday season, may it be ever so bright!

BEEF, APPLE AND WATERCRESS SPIRALS

Yield 30

1/2 C plain low fat yogurt

2 T creamy horseradish sauce

1 1/2 t lime juice

1/2 t fresh ground black pepper

1 apple, cored and sliced into small matchstick sized  pieces

1 T lemon juice

1 bunch watercress, thick stalks removed, chopped

6 slices roast beef, sliced medium thickness

15 slices firm wholegrain bread

Round cutter measuring 1 1/2 inches

In a small bowl, toss the apple pieces with lemon juice. Set aside.  Combine the yogurt, horseradish sauce, lime juice and pepper in a small bowl

Cut 2 rounds from each slice of bread for a total of 30 rounds.  Wrap in plastic to keep from drying out and set aside.

Spread a thin layer of the yogurt horseradish sauce on a slice of roast beef.  Sprinkle the surface with the chopped watercress, then carefully place the apple sticks in a line across the narrow bottom edge to create a beef roll. Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into 5 equal slices.

Place 1 slice of beef roll on top of each bread circle (you may need to anchor it with a dab of the yogurt spread).  Top the slice with a few watercress leaves and serve.

Tastefully Small Finger Sandwiches A Staff Favorite at Southwest Books

Staff Favorite for November

Review by Marian Tworek, Owner, Southwest Books   Tastefully Small Finger Sandwiches: Easy Party Sandwiches for All Occasions, Retail $16.95, by Kim Hendrickson.   If you sell beautiful teacups or teapots, or if like me, you have a fondness for little fancy foods, high teas, or like to reminisce about grandmas and aunties, this cookbook is for you.  Finger Sandwiches, the first in a beautiful series of entertaining books by Kim Hendrickson, contains gorgeous watercolor illustrations mingled with color photos of inspiring, creative sandwiches that are rolled, sliced, cones, checkerboards, and so on.  Whenever I have lady friends over for bunco or cards, I like to make sure the snacks are something very special so all my guests feel like I made an extra effort just for them.  These appetizers are easy to make, but will have all the compliments coming!   Note: Kim Hendrickson has two other books in her Tastefully Small Collection:  Dessert Canapes–Bite-Size Sweets for Easy Entertaining and Savory Bites–Easy Sophisticated Hors D’oeuvres for Every Occasion.

Halloween is for Grown Ups Too….

• I love Halloween stories.  Oh sure, everyone can remember their favorite Christmas, or the perfect birthday present, or even their first visit from the tooth fairy, but ask someone to tell you about their best costume, someone they went trick or treating with,  or how dad handled the annual “candy sorting”and EVERYONE has a story to tell. I have one friend who’s favorite memory involves the green stamp costume her brother wore, or how her father went through the candy every year to make sure “nothing was wrong with it” by sampling his way through the chocolates before deciding the candy was okay to eat. Then there was another friend who was going to be away from home one Halloween night, so he asked a friend to do the honors on his behalf, only to come home to find an empty bowl sitting outside the front door step.  I always wondered what that first kid thought when he came up the walkway and found an entire bowl of unattended treats ripe for the taking!

• One of my favorite memories of Halloween involved the  costume I decided to make one year when we were living on a seven acre parcel outside of town.  You couldn’t just go to the store and buy something; back then, you had to make everything, which was really part of the fun. I decided I wanted to be a feed bucket, and with great excitement I put together a costume I thought would be the hit of the annual Halloween parade.   I used a length of pipe on my head to hold up the “bucket”, hung rope from either side to support the handmade burlap “basket”, then used with newspaper to fill it out.  The problem was, as I marched proudly down Main Street with my brother and sister on either side, I began to notice that the bucket had come apart and there was a trail of newspaper behind me littering the street.  By the time the parade ended, the newspaper was gone and I looked like an idiot with a stick on my head and a length of burlap sack hanging sadly around me.

• Hopefully these delicious  Halloween inspired sandwiches will make YOU look like a genius when all your little ghouls and goblins put on the feed bucket THIS All Souls Day!

• Nutty Carrot Rounds

These sandwiches are so appetizing that kids will hardly know they are eating healthy ingredients. If open-faced sandwiches are too messy, this spread goes well between bread slices, too.

Yield: 24

1 package cream cheese (8 ounces), softened

1 cup shredded carrots

⅓ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

½ cup toasted pecans, chopped

¼ cup raisins

¼ cup parsley, chopped

12 slices raisin bread or any kind of firm bread

Extra grated carrot, as garnish

24 pecan halves, as garnish

Round cutter measuring 1½ inches

Combine all ingredient, except bread and garnish, in a medium-sized bowl. Chill until ready to use. Cut 2 circles from each bread slice. Mound filling on top of each circle and sprinkle with extra grated carrot. Place pecan half on top for garnish.

Photo Credit Trish Solyn

“Go Small” for your next tailgate party

When I was a little girl, I loved watching my grandmother and her friends gather in her parlor once a month dressed in their Sunday finest to discuss important (and not so important matters) over tea and finger foods. I loved the sounds of the chairs scrapping up to the table on hardwood floors, the gentle smell of brewed tea clattering in china cups, and the delicious murmur of female voices punctuated by occasional bursts of laughter.  I often pictured myself  as an adult, enjoying the companionship of a leisurely afternoon with my own friends over a good bottle of wine, with food as the centerpiece of our conversations.

But life, as they say, had other plans.  My passion for cooking has never waned; in fact, it has lead me to create my own line of cookbooks, inspired by the lessons I learned at my grandmother’s knee. The “Tastefully Small” line of cookbooks is motivated by the idea that cooking doesn’t need to consume an entire day to create amazing meals,  and that old eating habits can be changed with a minimum of effort.   Small foods  are fast, delicious AND fun to prepare. Tapas (small dishes of Spanish food); dim sum (small servings of Chinese food typically served for brunch), chai pani (traditional Indian street food) can fill you up just as fast as a steak and potatoes, but unlike steak and potatoes, small food cooking provides an endless variety of tastes and textures, and they are  often the most praised part of a meal.

Small foods and tailgate parties may sound like an contradiction in terms, particularly since wasn’t that long ago that Ball Park Franks, a bag of hot dog buns, and a bowl of chips topped off by a case of beer, WAS the menu.  Baked beans and relish were as close as anyone came to  incorporating vegetables as part of what I would generously call “football cuisine”.  And while the concept of finger foods goes somewhat against the American tradition of super-sized portions,  with a little practice, the ease with which these satisfying meals are created,  your family and friends will be clamoring for something new and different with each bite.

Try this recipe at your next tailgate party to see what I mean…

SUNDRIED TOMATO TRIANGLES

I have used this filling for bruschetta and as an hors d’oeuvre topping, but the olive bread framing this sandwich makes it an original: a sophisticated flavor combination in a unique sandwich presentation.

Yield: 32 sandwiches

1 cup oil-packed sun dried tomatoes, drained

12 ounces roasted sweet red peppers, drained

1 packed cup fresh basil leaves

½ cup walnuts, toasted

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 large garlic cloves

1½ teaspoons grated lemon peel

1 loaf olive bread, unsliced

Salt and black pepper

Round cutter measuring ¾ inch

Pastry bag fitted with a plain tip about ¾-inch wide

Chop all ingredients (except for the bread) in a food processor to make a course paste. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set the mixture aside.

Cut the loaf into a crustless rectangle measuring 3½ x 3½ x 11 inches. freeze the loaf to make slicing easier.

Standing the loaf on the square end, cut the loaf in a “X” pattern into 4 triangular loaves. Cut each loaf into 12 triangles, each ¾-inch thick. Cut a circle out of the center of each triangle using the round cutter.

Fill a pastry bag, fitted with the ¾-inch round tip, with the tomato mixture. Lay the bread triangles on a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap and pipe the filling into the holes you have just created. The filling will cover any ragged edges, making a round red center. Once filled, these sandwiches can be frozen in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Photo Credit:  Trisha Solyn