By Sara Pitzer
For The Salisbury Post
Here’s a nice bit of irony. High-priced restaurants have popularized the Spanish appetizers, tapas, which can be almost anything the chef decides, served in small amounts on small plates for big bucks. And part of the deal is ordering a wide variety. This same approach makes a lighthearted, budget-friendly way to eat at home.
And it’s not like the Spanish have a lock on the concept. Italian antipasti, French hors d’oeuvres and American appetizers are similar.
I can’t prove it, but I’m betting each of these small-portion offerings originated with some cook’s need to economize and use every bit of food available, wasting nothing.
Now it’s our turn.
With escalating prices, it makes sense to find ways to use all the food we prepare, and to enjoy something besides steaks and burgers and chicken in massive servings. The challenge is to avoid the big “L” ó leftovers.
I remember an old story about a minister having dinner with his family.
After asking the blessing, he said to his wife, “It seems to be that I’ve blessed a good bit of this food before.”
Sometime in the 1970s, one of the women’s magazines tried to introduce the concept of “planned over.” OK, it was a great idea, but it never really caught on. So let’s try the little plate concept and count on the diversity of what we serve to make it fun.
To illustrate how the idea can work with even our most common foods, let’s start with leftover mashed potatoes. Early editions of “Joy of Cooking” offered some recipes for leftover potatoes as “rather sorry bargains.” My mother took offense because a favorite in our house was what she called “haystacks.” These were mashed potatoes mixed with egg and grated cheese, shaped into little mounds and baked.
Here’s a slightly jazzed-up version of the notion. I used a small pastry bag, the inexpensive kind you can buy in the grocery store baking division, because I was showing off for photographs. It was actually fun, but you can certainly skip the pastry bag and just shape small mounds on a baking sheet.
My version differs from my mother’s with the addition of some fresh, chopped herbs, and I like making the “haystacks” small.
Haystacks
For each two cups of mashed potatoes, allow about:
1 egg
3 Tbsp. grated cheese
1 Tbsp. chopped herbs
Pinch of cayenne or paprika
1/4 tsp. baking powder
Mix all the ingredients very well, into a smooth consistency. Pipe or spoon onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake in a 350-degree oven until the haystacks are cooked through and lightly browned.
Serve hot or at room temperature. If you have any left, freeze them to warm up on a griddle for another time.
Number of haystacks depends on the size. Small ones will make more than a dozen.
Tuna Mousse with Egg
Let’s suppose you have a 6-ounce can of tuna in the house and two hard boiled eggs that didn’t get used in the potato salad.
1 6-ounce can tuna, preferably in olive oil
1 Tbsp. more olive oil
2 Tbsp. soft butter
1-2 Tbsp. lemon juice
In a blender, combine the tuna. If it was canned in olive oil, do not drain.
If it was in water, drain and add a second tablespoon of olive oil. Add the soft butter and lemon juice. Blend until smooth. Serve with small wedges of hard boiled egg and thin slices of bread. If the bread isn’t fresh, grill or toast it lightly.
Makes about 8 small servings.
Goat Cheese with Herbs and Black Pepper
This is inspired by an offering at Sweet Meadow Café.
1 small round of goat cheese, cut into half-inch slices
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Ground black pepper
Chopped fresh herbs
Heat the olive oil on a flat griddle to medium-high. Dust the cheese slices with pepper and herbs to taste and grill, turning once. The cheese will soften and tends to stick to the pan, but it’s easy to scrape up the brown coating with a spatula. Serve warm on salad greens or slices of bread.
1 small round makes about 6 servings.
Tapenade
A jar of sliced salad olives, the least expensive way to buy olives, makes a nice relish for toasted bread rounds.
1 jar sliced salad olives (store brand is fine)
2 flat anchovy fillets, rinsed (or an inch of anchovy paste from a tube)
1 small clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. capers (optional)
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
Mix all ingredients in the food processor and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. DO NOT OVERPROCESS. This should have the texture of a relish, not a puree.
Makes about 1 cup.
***
Here are a few more suggestions based on ideas for small servings that I’ve gleaned in reading.
* Any bean salad, dressed with olive oil and wine vinegar.
* Red lentil or thin split pea soup served in small cups.
* Small pieces of cooked fish with capers, chopped green onion and a dressing of lemon and vegetable oil.
Visit Sara Pitzer at www.planetpitzer.com.