g. Appetizers

Apparently, appetite is not a sure thing. It is encouraged verbally in many languages from the French “Bon appétit” to the Spanish “Buen provecho”. The other way is to start eating, so that you begin salivating, developing this wonderful feeling of need for which only more food can bring a resolution.

As usual, the French have developed myriads of solutions, from amuse-gueules to mise-en-bouches, which have sometimes increased to such an extent that in some French restaurants, you are satiated before starting your meal.

This being said, a few appetizers are a wonderful way to start a meal before sitting down at the dinner table, leisurely and gracefully, around a bottle of champagne or some other beverage, while the cook multitasks in the kitchen with his or her finishing touches.

Hummus

This middle-Eastern dip is well known now and very easy to make, provided cooked chickpeas are available (or canned ones if you have not planned ahead) along with tahini, the miracle ingredient. Tahini (sesame seed paste) can be found in most natural foods stores. (1)

You will need:

×           2 cups of cooked chickpeas (see Vegetables for the cooking process)

×           3½ tbsp. of tahini

×           1 garlic clove

×           Juice of 1½ lemon

×           Salt and pepper

×           1 tsp. paprika

×           1 tbsp. olive oil

Purée the chickpeas, using a vegetable mill. (2)

Mash the garlic in a mortar. Pour the juice of 1 ½ lemon over the garlic and stir so that garlic permeates the juice discreetly. Pour the juice on the mashed peas.

Add the tahini and mix well. Enjoy the subtle change in color of the mix.

Add some tbsp. of water until the mix is smooth and almost creamy

Add salt and pepper. Mix again.

Taste and adjust seasoning. With experience, you will know if you have reached the requested balance of lemon juice, salt, pepper and sesame that creates the “addictive” taste, which makes you dip again compulsively, what we call in our family “le goût de revenez-y” which would translate as the “come back to it” taste.

Serve in a medium-sized bowl, finishing up the presentation by drawing your favorite doodle on top and pouring some paprika (sparingly) and a ribbon of olive oil over it.

Cut up some fresh vegetable sticks: carrots, celery, green onions, green pepper.

You can also, at the last minute, lightly toast some good pita bread cut in fourths.

Enjoy dipping!

Guacamole

This dip symbolizes Mexico the world over. It is very easy and very quick to make it fresh from scratch at the last minute. It will be much better than any other ready-made solution found in supermarkets. I never tire of it.

You will need :

×           1 large ripe avocado

×           ¼ small sweet onion cut into small dices (3 Tbsp)

×           6 to 8 tbsp. fresh coriander (also called cilantro)

×           Juice of ½ lime

×           A pinch of Chili powder or Cayenne,

×           Salt and pepper

Just mash all ingredients together and mix quickly. Taste and adjust seasoning at will. Dip fried tortillas in. You can also add some diced ripe tomato if you like it sweeter. (3)

Tapenade

If you like olives, tapenade is for you. This mix is readily found in French markets but less easily in the US. This is all the better as it is easy to make, exactly to your taste.

For a basic recipe I would recommend the following:

×           ¾ lb. black olives

×           5 pickled capers

×           3 anchovy fillets,

×           ¼ garlic clove

×           Juice of ¼ lemon (at most)

×           Olive oil and pepper

Pit the olives (by just crushing each olive with the bottom of a glass and removing the culprit).

Mix with the capers and anchovies

Mash the garlic in a mortar. Pour the juice of ¼ lemon over the garlic and stir so that garlic permeates the juice discreetly. Pour the juice on the mix.

Mince the mix with a cleaver on a board or in a mortar.

Add 1 tbsp. olive oil and pepper.

Taste and season according to your preference. Normally, salt should not be necessary. 

This is best spread over a crostino or a crust of sorts.

Crostini

Take a slice of bread, toast it, add a topping of your choice, you have made a crostino, the easiest and most satisfying appetizer. You can vary the toppings at will:

×           Olive oil and prosciutto

×           Pork liver paté

×           Olive oil, mozzarella and anchovies

×           Tapenade

×           Cheese

×           Olive oil and herbs

×           Ratatouille,

×           Roquefort cheese and crispy apple

×           etc…

Some of those can be put back into the oven for a second toasting. For example, spread sautéed eggplants (see Vegetable section), sprinkle parmesan cheese, put into the oven for 5 to 10 minutes: you have just made an Eggplant Parmigiana crostino.

Bruschetta

This is really a type of crostino where you rub the toast with a garlic clove, add some puréed raw tomato with olive oil on top and may be some herb. Enjoy! It’s summertime!

Every cook in Italy thinks he invented the best bruschetta, but you can find similar preparations everywhere around the Mediterranean. Although the Pa de Coca enjoyed in Barcelona is also considered to be a local invention, you will have a hard time telling the difference.

Mini Pizze

You can replace toast by pizza dough. Typically, in a domestic oven, you would pre-cook the following pizza dough for 10 minutes, garnish it, and cook it for 20 more minutes.

To make a last-minute “instant” pizza dough, you would need the following:

×           1 ½ cup flour

×           ½ tsp. salt

×           ½ package of active yeast

×           ½ cup warm water

×           1tbsp. olive oil

Mix flour and salt in a bowl.

Add the yeast to the warm water, then pour the water and a ribbon of olive oil into the bowl.

Mix and knead.

Stretch the dough (by gravity as any pizzaiolo does, with your fingers against the baking sheet, or even a rolling pin.

Toppings could include prosciutto, chorizo or cooked sausage, partly cooked onion, mushroom, onion, or green pepper slices, roasted eggplant. Parmesan and mozzarella are the top cheeses. When ready and out of the oven, sprinkle with oregano, thyme, cilantro or arugula. A ribbon of olive oil… it’s ready to serve.

Quiche Lorraine

Even real men will eat quiche, provided they have taste buds. Before becoming an American fad eaten the world over, there was an original model, developed in Lorraine, a specific French province long contested by France and Germany and not only because of that dish… It was at first a peasant recipe, using local leftovers and was gradually enriched to its present form. 

You will need:

×           1½ lb shortcrust pastry dough (pâte brisée, see Desserts)

×           ½ lb lean bacon or pancetta

×           ¼ lb cooked ham (French style or Italian rosemary; try to avoid ham processed with sugar)

×           4 eggs

×           1 pint crème fraîche (heavy cream)

×           Salt, pepper, and some grated nutmeg

Fry the bacon in a pan for 2 minutes, so that it is slightly cooked. Remove the excess fat. Cut into small pieces.

Cut the cooked ham in small pieces as well.

Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them. Add the cream. Salt, pepper, and grate a tiny amount of nutmeg. Mix again.

Roll out the dough and place in a buttered pie pan, making sure the edge is high enough to keep the contents from overflowing.

Spread the bacon and ham over the dough . Pour the egg/cream mix on top.

Place in the oven at medium/high heat for 25 minutes.

You will know it is cooked when the top starts sporting warm brown tones and the sides shrink away from the pan and appear “crusty” (indicating that the bottom part is cooked too).

Allow to cool a little bit before serving. Quiche tastes better (and less rich) when it is not hot. Enjoy the alliance of warm custard with flaky crust. This is a meal in itself. Quick! Let’s have a salad now!

If the crust is well cooked, you can also successfully serve it later, at room temperature.

You can keep your quiche in the refrigerator, under plastic film protection, but the crust will never be as good. In any case, take it out enough in advance, for the flavor only comes out at room temperature. 

Leek Pie (Tarte aux Poireaux)

There are a variety of similar savory pies coming out of the French provinces. Many are vegetable-based, from the Alsatian onion pie to the Northern flamiche, a specialty which honors the modest leek we like so much.

You will need:

×           1½ lb. shortcrust pastry dough (pâte brisée, see Desserts)

×           2 leeks

×           4 eggs

×           1 pt. crème fraîche (heavy cream)

×           Salt, pepper, and some grated nutmeg

Chop the leek into small pieces

Let them sweat slowly in butter or oil in a pan on low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.

Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them. Add the cream. Salt, pepper, and mix again.

Roll the dough and place in a buttered pie pan, making sure the edge is high enough to keep the contents from overflowing.

Spread the leeks over the dough . Pour the egg/cream mix.

Place in the oven at medium/high heat for 25 minutes. 

(1)   Chick peas are also called garbanzo beans in the USA.

(2)   Actually if you mash it with a fork, the purée will not be as smooth, with some small chunks of peas remaining. This makes an even more complex tasting experience.

(3)   Yes! You can avoid industrial tortilla chips! If you can find good fresh tortillas or have time to make some yourself from masa, cut them in 6, thus making triangular chips, fry them in some peanut oil for 5 minutes and salt slightly. The harmony with guacamole will be untiringly satisfying.