Spontaneous Small Plates

Here’s one of my food fantasies: No more than two hours before dinner, I go into the kitchen and begin effortlessly preparing a lavish array of “small plates” from leftovers
and ingredients I have on hand--no last-minute trips to the grocery store.

After about an hour of prepping, I casually pick up the phone and invite a couple of friends to join us, and, miraculously, they just happen to be free and just happen to have a bottle of good red wine on hand.

With fifteen minutes to go, my husband walks in the door whistling and is delighted by the prospect of spontaneously entertaining. He gets out the wine glasses and cues up a great playlist of unobtrusive jazz just as our guests ring the doorbell.

Then gathered around my casually elegant table setting (worthy of Ina Garten), my husband and guests savor each bite and compliment each dish. We have witty conversation, and then, at the end of the meal, I set down a small plate of organic truffles and a few homemade cookies, that I just happen to have on hand, and a few bottles of after-dinner liqueurs.

Last night that fantasy came true.

It all began when I was halfheartedly straightening up the freezer and spied a box of chopped spinach on top of a rolled pie crust. That they were meant for each other in the form of Greek-inspired mini spinach pies was a no-brainer. Then the half-package of puff pastry seemed to cry out to be joined with some frozen bacon in small quiches.

By the time our dear friends and neighbors, Jan and Dennis, arrived I had made:

• Greek Spinach Pies
• Black Bean and Corn Salad
• Onion, Bacon and Swiss Cheese Individual Quiches
• Simple Tilapia Ceviche

I also served crostini topped with purchased sun-dried tapenade and Asiago cheese, smoked almonds, and an embarrassingly easy cheese ball I had made a few days earlier.

All in all, the evening was better than I imagined! Well, except for the part where we walked our guests to the edge of the driveway only to discover we had locked ourselves out of the house, and my husband had to stand on a lawn chair to crawl in the only (thankfully) unlocked window. I’m sure the same thing has happened to Ina. Really.

Maybe some day I’ll fulfill another food fantasy in which I have a great house in East Hampton where I cook wonderful food for my cuddly, sweater-clad husband and my dear friend Miguel prepares gorgeous tablescapes . . . . How good is that!

Greek Spinach Pies

Source: original recipe

Yield: about 30 small pies

Ingredients:

1 10-oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
¼ c. grated mozzarella
½ c. plain yogurt
¼ c. sour cream
1 tsp. oregano
½ c. chopped Kalamata olives
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
2 rolled frozen pie crusts, thawed
1 egg

Process:

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients, except the pie crust and egg, with a fork. Unroll the pie crust on a lightly floured pastry cloth. Using a 2½- or 3-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut circles from the pie crusts. Re-roll the scraps to cut additional circles.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. To assemble the pies, place the half of the pastry circles on each pan. For each pie, place a teaspoon of the spinach filling on half of the pastry circle. Dip your finger in a small bowl of water a lightly moisten the edge of the pastry. Fold the circle in half and press the edges together. Turn each pie over and lightly press the tines of a fork around the edges of each pie, about ¼-inch in from the edge. Lightly beat the egg with 1 T. water in a small bowl. Brush each pie with the egg mixture. Bake 15-20 minutes or until the crusts are golden brown. Serve immediately or at room temperature.

Turning the pies over before you “tine” them lets you hide any mess or imperfections. Feta cheese would have been a good addition to these for a tangy taste, but I didn’t have any so I used the sour cream instead.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

Source: original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1-15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1-15 oz. can corn, drained (or 1 cup thawed and drained frozen corn)
1 cucumber, peeled, cored and chopped
½ medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
¼ c. chopped cilantro

Dressing:

1 T. honey
2 tsp. honey mustard
Juice of one lime
¼ c. cider vinegar
1/3 c. vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Process:

Combine all salad ingredients in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, mustard, lime juice and vinegar. Slowly whisk in the oil. Add the dressing to the salad. Salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Onion, Bacon and Swiss Cheese Individual Quiches

Source: original recipe

Yield: 12 individual quiches

Ingredients:

6 slices bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, thinly chopped
1 sheet of puff pastry (from a 17.3-oz. box), thawed
1 c. grated Swiss cheese (about)
4 eggs
½ c. half and half (or whipping cream)
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

Process:

Preheat oven to 375°. In a medium sauce pan or skillet, cook the bacon until brown. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels. In the bacon fat in the pan, sauté the onions on translucent and golden. Remove the onions from the pan and drain on paper towel.

On a lightly floured pastry cloth, roll the puff pastry dough into a 9” X 18” rectangle. Cut the dough into 12 squares. Spray 2 regular-sized muffin tins with cooking spray and place a dough square in each muffin cup, pulling edges up if necessary to line each cup.

Sprinkle the bacon, the onion and the cheese evenly on the bottom of each muffin cup. Whisk the eggs, cream and seasonings together in a small bowl. Pour some of the egg mixture into each cup until ¾ full. (You might not use all the egg mixture.) Bake the quiches for 20-25 minutes until a knife inserted in the center of the quiches comes out clean. Cool the quiches in the pans for about 10 minutes. Using a fork or spoon, carefully remove the quiches from the pans and cool on a wire rack. Serve immediately or at room temperature

Simple Tilapia Ceviche

Source: original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

3-4 very thin frozen tilapia fillets (about ½ of a pound), thawed, and cut into ¾-inch square pieces
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of ½ lemon
½ c. chopped tomatoes
½ c. chopped onions
¼ c. chopped cilantro
¼ c. finely chopped jarred pickled jalapeño peppers, optional
Flour or corn tortillas, warmed

Process:

Place the fish in a glass bowl. Pour the lime and lemon juice over the fish and stir gently with a fork. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until the fish “cooks” in the juice. (Many ceviche recipes say this should take about 4 hours, but with the very thin fillets I used, this only took about 2 hours.) Before serving, sprinkle the fish with the tomatoes, onions, cilantro and jalapenos (or serve the jalapenos on the side). Serve with tortillas.