Dispatch No. 19: late fall
A seasonal cocktail party: SIX hors d'oeuvres recipes! (TEN if you include the sauces! ;-)
Recently, I put a lot of thought, time, energy and love into a private cocktail party I was hired to make the food for.
I mean, I always do. I can’t help myself, which is why I am extremely picky about which cooking jobs I take on. This may sound like I am patting myself on the back or being virtuous, but the truth is, rather than lofty self-assurance, this voluntary intensity of mine to make it matter and get it right more likely stems from a mixture of insecurity, performance anxiety and a determination to showcase impeccable local ingredients in their best possible light. No pressure!
Sometimes, as at this recent event, I am asked to talk about the food. That’s easy, I just talk about the farmers who grew it, raised it or caught it, not so much about what I did with it.
But if I were to talk about how I get to the place of making the food I make, it would go something like this:
With every single gig I’ve ever done, the first thing I do is think about the season we are in; then what I feel like eating at this point in time; and finally what is out there for me to work with. Once I get a grasp on who has what in their farm stands, fish markets and meat cases (and boy are we lucky with the bounty here on the island), I create a menu that is initially a very rough draft, destined to change multiple times as my options do. I love this part, I love figuring out the bigger picture, the different in-season dishes that play off and balance one another, the yin and the yang. I also love inventing a new way to use an ingredient, so that even if a dish is reminiscent of one i’ve done before, i have never ever offered the same menu twice.
The other part of this work that I love is the sourcing (you probably already know this about me ;-). The gathering of ingredients, in person, from all the different farms and purveyors, whether it be from the farmers’ market or the farm stands or the docks, the laying of eyes and placing of hands on the goods I’ll be working with, takes easily as much of my time and as much of my attention as the actual cooking. Not to mention the interactions with the farmers and vendors themselves, getting to see the fruits (sometimes literally) of their labor displayed “just so” on a table or in a cooler, the inherent pride in what they’ve produced. It’s always, always, worth the “bother” of going to the source and making a thoughtful and inspired selection.
So when it’s finally show time, ideally all of this “attention” — from the grower and the shepherd and the fisher and the cook — comes through in the layers of the prepared food, beginning with the visual presentation and ending, hopefully, not just at the last bite but with the lingering sense of sustenance and the feeling of having been cared for.
Food for a party is, in the end, its very own performance, with the chef or home cook playing the role of director, producer, and designer. I am here to assist you with your production, in welcoming in the holidays with simple delicious hors d’oeuvres that honor the season, and give thanks to the farmers. I’ve already done all of the planning and the stressing for you — you can take it from here ;-).
thank you for reading — and cooking!
as ever,
x phoebe
p.s. mostly what i use here are humble ingredients, nothing overly expensive or hard to find. I only list specific varieties of vegetables because I am constantly fascinated by the diversity, not because I insist that’s what you should use. Substituting is welcome — in fact, that’s what i do all the time! — and i understand that not everyone has the perfect farm stand 10 minutes away ;-). Ideally, at least something you make from this lineup will come from a local farm, but if not, all I recommend is that you strive for the highest quality available to you.
