Christmas party food & drink

Parties call for champagne, in my opinion. This year I made a champagne punch according to a recipe from Gourmet magazine, July 1992. You can get the recipe from epicurious.com (may have to register for free). Don't go spend big money for champagne (or sparkling wine, for any wine purists reading this) that will be going into a punch! Once it's in there with ginger ale and various other elixirs, no one will know if you used Dom Perignon or Frexienet.

We made a lot of food. Nicholas cubed a bunch of ham and cheese (cheddar, provolone, smoked gouda, smoked cheddar) for a platter. Matthew and I peeled and sliced a batch of kiwis and a pineapple, adding some grapes to make a big platter of fruit. These are great activities for kids to participate in.

The December 2004 issue of Gourmet inspired a couple snacks - olive & tomato toasts, and red pepper cheese toasts. For the former, slice some good firm bread and spread basil pesto on one side of it. Then cut the slices into bite-size pieces and toast them in the oven. Combine one part chopped kalamata olives and one part chopped sun dried tomatos (packed in oil). Mix that up with some chopped parsley, salt & pepper to taste, and put a bit on each of the toasts. Use good kalamata or similar olives for this - don't use canned black olives.

For red pepper cheese toasts, slice a loaf of good firm bread. Use a cookie-cutter to cut out bite-size pieces, and toast them in the oven. Finely chop some roasted red peppers and put some one each toast. Then, put a dollop of herbed boursin cheese on top of each - I used a pastry bag for this. Get the highest quality roasted red peppers you can find.

I ran out of time to make homemade cheese crackers - the dough is made and in the freezer, ready to roll & bake. The recipe is from the December 2004 issue of Saveur, my favorite food & cooking magazine.

Comments

[Talmida]

Tell us about the cheese crackers. Mine have rice krispies in them for crunch, Kraft (McLaren's) Imperial cold pack cheese and cayenne pepper. Are yours spicy?

[Jim]

Sounds like some good holiday "eatin" at your house, Steve. Wanted to say thanks for the Alfred Delp quote. I may just use it for our next visit to the Center. Maybe even the Mission. Have a great Christmas, my friend......

[Steve Bogner]

Hi Talmida - here's the recipe:

Whip 12 tbs butter in the mixer until light & fluffy, add 1.5 cups of grated sharp white cheddar and 1/4 cup grated parmesan-reggiano. Beat the cheese and butter together for a while. Sift 1.5 cups flour, 1 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper, then add that to the butter/cheese mixture. If the dough is too crumbly, add a bit of ice-water; form the dough into a ball, quarter it and form each quarter into a disc. Chill in the fridge for a few hours.

Roll the dough into 1/16 inch thickness, cut into cracker shapes and back in a 450 degree oven for 6 to 8 minutes, or until they are golden.

I haven't baked mine yet, but will probably do that later today. I used ancho chile powder instead of cayenne, and I put the chile and salt in with the butter instead of sifting into the flour.

[Talmida]

Those sound very good -- less greasy than mine, I think (which take 1 cup butter to 8 oz. cheese). I always end up cooling mine on paper towels, just to get rid of the extra fat. But mmmmmmmm are they ever great! I find that they improve with age too (assuming you can hide them from your family long enough for them to age).

[Steve Bogner]

Well, I baked them and... the family taste testers prefer store-bought cheese crackers. This recipe produces delicate crackers, not too spicy. You have to really pay attention to the crackers as they bake - they burn easily.

** update ** Once they cool down, they taste better and have a better texture. I'd make these again, and top them with something creamy, like herbed boursin or goat cheese.