I'm hosting a bunch of sorority sisters at one of our networking events. Wine and appetizers are the order of the day. Here's the draft menu in no particular order:
Bloody Mary grape tomatoes
Caesar salad leaves
Lucca style roasted olives
Salsa de Parmigiano
Spuma di tonno
Stuffed apricots
Crispy salami rolls
Buffalo chicken egg rolls
Muffuletta dip
Loaded baked potato dip
Shrimp and artichoke heart dip
Baked tex-mex pimento cheese dip
Sausage, bean and spinach dip
Wrapped waterchestnuts
Rumaki
I'll have to eliminate a few because of the time it'd take to prepare everything. Since only six of the appetizers are recipes I've made before tonight, it'll probably be some of the newbies who get kicked to the curb.
One newbie won't get kicked to the curb. It's the spuma di tonno. Remember when Connie and I went to the Midland Arts and Antique Mall and I found The Best American Recipes, 2002-2003? Well, I also found Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking. The Best American Recipes was SO good that Casual Cooking got put aside. I finally had an opportunity to visit it and found loads of great recipes. Included were three that I've got on the menu. The parmesan salsa, the roasted olives and the tuna pate - aka spuma di tonno.
I'd not intended to do a trial run of the tuna pate tonight. But, life happens. I was in the midst of a meeting with a wholesaler this morning when I saw my necklace on the floor. Now, I don't like jewelry. (I know, I'm weird!) But, I do wear a thin gold chain with a crystal my brother and sister-in-law brought me from their honeymoon cruise and my mom's original wedding ring. The necklace was on the floor but the crystal and wedding ring were nowhere to be found. They're not worth much money but they're two of my most precious possessions. My wonderful assistant, Stephanie, must've crawled the entire office. At about 3000 square feet, that's a LOT of crawling. I shook rugs, dug into my briefcase and purse, even went in the kitchen and closed the door and took off my clothes and shook them out. Nothing. So, Connie and I walked the path from his car to our office. He checked his car. Now, why I trusted the man who lost his cell phone in his car for a week to check for my jewelry, I have no clue. But, I did. Nothing. I was beyond upset but at that point there was nothing I could do but get back to work. I was on a really long conference call so Connie was a sweetheart and brought some lunch in for me. No interest. No appetite.
I did want to cook down some turkey broth tonight so we left the office early and I brought a packed briefcase home. Immediately on arriving home, we started hunting. Yes, I found them, upstairs on a rug. Now, they're safely hidden away until such time as I can get to a jewelry store where a client works and buy a new gold chain with a safety closure. WHEW!
As you might have guessed, my appetite returned as soon as I found my treasures. I decided it would be a great idea to test drive the tuna pate. Oh, my. I had to leave the bowl in the kitchen and get up and walk from the computer to the kitchen when I wanted another cracker. Or, I'd have inhaled the whole bowl-full. My goodness that was good!
Spuma di Tonno
Ingredients:
1 can tuna packed in oil, drained
2 t lemon juice
2 t soy sauce
2 t balsamic vinegar
1 T unsalted butter at room temp
salt
1 T heavy cream
Directions:
Put the drained tuna in the bowl of a food processor.
Pulse until it's broken up. Keep the processor running and add the lemon juice, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar
then the butter.
Process until the mixture is smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl, then add the cream. Process just until the cream is incorporated. Serve at room temperature with crackers, crostini or vegetables for dipping.
adapted from Casual Cooking
