APPETIZERS - Recipes

Classic first courses for a gourmet dinner are:
Hors d'Oeuvres (French) Smorgasbord (Swedish)
Antipasto (Italian)

There are small but important differences between these, traditionally . . . and tradition is important in gourmet cookery.
Smorgasbord is an array of innumerable dishes, spread upon a separate buffet table, from which guests choose whatever they fancy and serve themselves on a salad-sized plate. It is served either as a first course, to be followed by meat-salad-dessert, or may be used as the main meal—in which case, guests are expected to return to the Smorgasbord table for second and third helpings, if they wish, and the meal is complete with dessert and coffee.

A true Smorgasbord offers a huge bowl of cold boiled shrimps, a whole turkey, and a large cold roast of beef, plus cole slaw, cucumber salad, potato salad, and a variety of molded fruit gelatines, flanked by dishes of cold salmon, herring fillets, tuna fish, all the usual garnishes of olives, pickles, carrot sticks, etc. There are usually also hot dishes of tiny boiled potatoes, meat balls, tiny frankfurters and baked beans.

A real Smorgasbord provides enough food for a small army! It is impossible to scale down a Smorgasbord for four—or even eight—people, but it can be presented to great advantage for the large buffet party.

Antipasto is prepared on individual plates in the kitchen, and served with a cruet of red wine vinegar and olive oil.

Hors d'Oeuvres, like the French who originated them, may go either way: served ready-prepared in the kitchen on individual plates, or in a series of dishes on rolling tea cart or Lazy Susan, from which seated guests select what they fancy.

The major difference between antipasto and hors d'oeuvres is that the latter are ready-mixed in their correct sauces, while Italian appetizers are plain and to be sprinkled at table with oil and vinegar. Salad-sized plates are used in all cases.

TRADITIONAL ANTIPASTO (for each serving)

Half a hardboiled egg
Tomato slice
1 slice of salami
Celery stalk
2 or 3 drained sardines
Radishes, green and black olives Greek olives
1/4 tin tuna fish, drained
and sprinled with lemon juice
Pimiento section, criss-crossed with 2 anchovy fillets
A cooked cold vegetable, asparagus tips, green beans, beets
Lentils or chickpeas (Garbanoz beans)1T drained


Arrange the components attractively, starting with a tablespoon of lentils in the center, covered with pimiento and anchovy fillets, and surrounded by sardines next to salami, and tuna fish next to tomato slice, with the egg, celery, and garnishes used for color accents, and so on.

HORS D'OEUVRES

Includes many of the same ingredients used in Antipasto, but each is varied by the sauce. A traditional hors d'oeuvres includes:
Hardboiled egg, masked with mayonnaise and decorated
with drained capers

Celery stalk and scallion, radishes, olives A small slice of Pate Maison Sardines and tuna fish, but put a dab of mayonnaise on
the tuna fish and decorate with a strip of pimiento Tomato slices
Haricots Blancs (white bean salad) Vegetable

Salads...any plain-cooked chilled vegetable,
coated with Vinaigrette dressing

Celeri Remoulade
Artichoke Hearts
Anchovy fillets
The essential dressings for an hors d'oeuvres are mayonnaise; and Vinaigrette, which is also the true French dressing used for salads.

For last minute preparation of hors d'oeuvres vegetables, a basic Vinaigrette is 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 3 tablespoons of good olive oil, plus salt and pepper to taste, and these may be sprinkled directly into a mixing bowl after which the gentle mixing and turning will suffice to combine the dressing.



HARICOTS BLANCS (2-Step Cookery because it needs overnight chilling)
A white bean salad, usually pea or Navy beans, but a quick substitute is chickpeas (also called Garbanzos beans).

Place a layer of chickpeas in a dish, cover with some of the sliced onions and parsley, and repeat until all ingredients are used. Pour Vinaigrette dressing over the dish, and mix very thoroughly. Chill overnight in the refrigerator

1 can chickpeas drained
1/2 cup vinaigrette dressing
2 white onions peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 cup finely minced fresh parsley

Place a layer of chickpeas in a dish, cover with some of the sliced onions and parsley, and repeat until all ingredients are used. Pour Vinaigrette dressing over the dish, and mix very thoroughly. Chill overnight in the refrigerator

LENTIL SALAD

1 can drained chilled lentils 1/4 cup vinaigrette dressing

Combine and mix thoroughly; serve 2 small tablespoons for each hors d'oeuvres plate.

VEGETABLE SALADES
All true hors d'oeuvres present one or more vegetable salades—which are simply a thrifty French way to use up leftovers!


Suitable vegetables are: cauliflower, asparagus tips, French-style green beans, beets, carrots, a mixture of peas-limas-corn, artichoke hearts.
All vegetable salades are simply cold cooked vegetables coated with Vinaigrette dressing . . . and for home presentation, there is nothing wrong with placing different single-portion leftovers on each plate.
Vegetable salades are equally good in a Remoulade Sauce (see below): 2 cups mixed cold leftover vegetables, to V4 cup Remoulade mixed with 1 T Vinaigrette dressing.

CELERI REMOULADE (2-Step Cookery)
Celeriac marinated in French dressing, and served with a mustard-mayonnaise, either by itself or as part of a typical French hors d'oeuvres plate.

1. Peel a celery knob and cut in julienne strips. Cover
with plain French dressing (1 tablespoon of vinegar to 3
tablespoons of olive oil, plus salt and pepper). Mix thoroughly
to coat every piece of the celeriac with dressing; cover tightly
and chill overnight.

2. Drain off the marinade, and replace with Remoulade
Sauce, mixing well until celery is completely coated.

REMOULADE SAUCE

2 cups mayonnaise
1 T prepared mustard
1/2 cup sweet gherkins
1 T each minced parsley, tarragon, chervil
3 T drained capers

Drain gherkins and capers; chop together finely and drain away any liquid. Combine all other ingredients and mix smoothly.
Variation:
Substitute 3 anchovy fillets for gherkins and a small tin of tomato paste for mustard. Substitute minced green pepper for 1 tablespoon of capers.

CELERIAC CHARPENTIER ( 2 step cookery)

1 celery root scraped and cut into julienne strips
1/2 tsp pepper
2 T tarragon vinegar
1 tsp salt

Mix, cover tightly and chill overnight

Sauce

2 T heavy cream
1 tsp meat stock (Bovril or equivalent)
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 T olive oil
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
3/4 oz brandy
1 egg yolk

Mix the sauce thoroughly. Drain the celeriac and add to the sauce, turning gently to coat each sliver.
To serve: place a lettuce leaf on each plate, top with a slice of ripe tomato, and cover with the celeriac. Dust with paprika.