Peter Callahan's Party Food Read online

  Serves 8 as a first course; 4 as a main

  For the Quinoa:

  2 cups quinoa

  1 quart vegetable stock or water

  Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons

  For the Vegetables:

  1 bunch of asparagus, thinly shaved with a vegetable peeler

  3 heirloom carrots, 1 orange, 1 yellow, and 1 purple, thinly sliced lengthwise on a mandoline

  1 watermelon radish, thinly sliced crosswise

  6 baby candy-striped beets, cut in half and thinly sliced on a mandoline

  6 baby yellow beets, cut in half and thinly sliced on a mandoline

  6 jarred baby artichokes, cut into quarters

  1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

  ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

  Freshly ground black pepper

  Caramelized Shallot and Lemon Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

  Bibb lettuce, for serving

  QUINOA

  In a medium heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the quinoa and vegetable stock (if using water, add 1 teaspoon coarse salt). Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and cover. Once most of the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes, test for doneness and fluff with a fork. Add the lemon zest and juice.

  VEGETABLES

  Meanwhile, place the asparagus and carrot strips in ice-cold water. This will make them curl up, which creates a nice visual on the plate. Hold the sliced radish and beets in a separate bowl of ice water until ready to plate. In a medium bowl, toss the artichokes with the lemon zest, olive oil, and pepper to taste. Set aside.

  SERVE

  Toss the quinoa with some of the vinaigrette. Line the plate with lettuce leaves and mound some quinoa on top. Drain the vegetables and pat them dry with paper towels. Arrange them, along with the baby artichokes, on top of the quinoa. Dress with more of the vinaigrette.

  Caramelized Shallot and Lemon Vinaigrette

  Makes about 3½ cups

  3 or 4 shallots (about 4 ounces), peeled

  2 cups plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

  ½ teaspoon coarse salt, plus more to season

  Grated zest and juice of 6 lemons (about 1 cup total)

  ¼ cup rice wine vinegar

  2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

  Freshly ground black pepper

  Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a quarter-sheet pan with parchment paper.

  Spread the shallots on the prepared sheet pan. Drizzle with the 1 teaspoon olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and toss to coat. Roast the shallots until soft and golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.

  Put the roasted shallots, lemon juice, and vinegar in a blender or food processor. With the motor running, slowly add the 2 cups olive oil. Once the dressing is emulsified, transfer to a glass bottle and add the lemon zest, chives, and salt and pepper to taste. Shake well before using.

  BAGELS AND LOX STATION This is my interpretation of the classic deli case by Russ & Daughters, the generations-old smoked fish purveyor on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Three tiers hold the condiments, whole white fish and smoked salmon, and the bagels (which are stacked on dowels in the rear). This is a perfect buffet to serve before an early Sunday afternoon wedding or as part of a brunch-time event.

  RATATOUILLE

  I love the deconstructed, free-form look of this dish, as if everything was dropped into the bowl and just happened to fall in really nice places. It doesn’t appear fussed over by a chef, but is arranged in a pleasing, seemingly accidental way. The vegetables are all well caramelized to provide deep, rich flavor. The stems and roots are left on for a great farm-to-table effect. The polenta makes this a hearty first course that works equally well as a vegetarian main.

  Serves 8 as a first course; 4 as a main

  For the Polenta:

  1 quart vegetable stock or water

  1 cup polenta

  Grated zest of 2 lemons

  2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

  2 teaspoons coarse salt

  ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  Nonstick cooking spray

  Olive oil, for frying

  For the Tomato Broth:

  1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

  3 shallots, roughly chopped

  3 garlic cloves, crushed and roughly chopped

  ½ cup dry white wine

  1 14-ounce can tomatoes, diced or whole peeled

  1½ cups vegetable stock

  1 bunch of fresh thyme

  2 bay leaves

  Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

  For the Vegetables:

  4 yellow pattypan squash, halved

  4 baby eggplants, halved

  1 zucchini, cut into ½-inch rounds

  4 cipollini onions, halved

  8 maitake mushrooms

  4 baby tomatoes on the vine, halved

  4 ramps

  4 spring onions (red or white), halved

  Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

  POLENTA

  Pour the vegetable stock into a medium heavy saucepan (if using water instead of stock, add 1 teaspoon kosher salt). Bring to a boil over medium heat and stream in the polenta while stirring constantly. Continue to stir until the polenta is completely combined and no lumps remain. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to stir until the polenta thickens. Cook, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until very thick, 30 to 45 minutes.

  Add the lemon zest, thyme, and salt and pepper.

  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper sprayed with nonstick spray. Spoon the polenta, about ⅓ cup at a time, into free-form shapes on the parchment. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

  TOMATO BROTH

  Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté just until aromatic. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and continue to cook until the liquid is reduced by half.

  Add the tomatoes, stock, thyme, and bay leaves. Bring the broth back to a boil; reduce the heat to low. Simmer for about 1 hour, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium bowl, discarding the solids.

  Heat a 10- or 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat and fill it a quarter of the way with olive oil. Fry the polenta on both sides until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.

  VEGETABLES

  Season all of the vegetables with salt and pepper. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat and add the oil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and, working in batches if necessary, give the vegetable pieces a nice hard sear by pressing them down with a spatula. Do not flip until the first side is a deep golden brown. The ramps will take only a few seconds in the pan to soften; do not overcook. Sear the maitake mushrooms a few minutes longer than the rest of the vegetables.

  SERVE

  Return the broth to the saucepan to reheat. Place one piece of polenta on the plate and assemble the vegetables on top. Pour the broth around the bottom of the plate just before serving.

  FETTUCCINE WITH CRISPY GUANCIALE, WHITE TRUFFLE BUTTER, THYME, AND PECORINO

  This dish appeared on the same very glamorous wedding menu as the Burrata with Grilled Peaches, Duck Prosciutto, Mustard Greens, and Mâche (this page). The bride and groom gave us the recipe.

  Guanciale is Italian cured pork cheek or jowl, and it’s traditionally used in classic pasta dishes like spaghetti carbonara. It is typically sliced thick and then diced, but here we use thin slices and bake it to a crisp. If you can’t find guanciale, use pancetta or bacon instead.

  Serves 8 as a first course; 4 as a main

  16 slices guanciale (sliced just slightly thicker than prosciutto)

  1 pound fresh fettuccine

  3 ounces truffle butter

  2½ tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

  Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

  3 ounces pecorino Romano, sliced into 32 slivers

  Bring a large pot of salted water to
a boil over high heat.

  In a large skillet, working in batches if necessary, fry the guanciale over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

  When the water boils, add the fettuccine and cook until al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain.

  Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over low heat. Add the thyme leaves, salt and pepper, and stir to distribute. Add the pasta and toss to coat evenly.

  To serve, divide the pasta evenly among serving plates and top each with equal amounts of the guanciale and pecorino.

  MATRIX BUFFET Our matrix buffet is inspired by farmer’s market displays. We use individual square trays.

  This buffet is a very inexpensive way to create a big wow, as vegetables are reasonably priced and little labor is involved in this easy preparation.

  Vegetarian Should Not Be an Afterthought

  You have to offer a vegetarian option at any dinner. You may think none of your guests are vegetarians, but then you’ll find that someone’s doing a cleanse. We offer a vegetarian option for every course of every dinner. We have done an eight-course tasting dinner, and every course that was not already vegetarian had a vegetarian option.

  We call these “silent” vegetarian options because they are not listed on the official menu. More often than not, when we take the order at the table, asking, “Would you like the branzino or the short ribs?” someone will say, “Oh, I’m vegan.” So we always have the option available and we always make the dishes vegan. We try to make them gluten free as well, so that we cover as many bases as possible. If we do the branzino with toasted panko, it’s not gluten free. And you’ll often get someone who says there can’t be any oil, any salt, not a speck of butter, I’m allergic to shallots, garlic… You can’t be a short-order kitchen when you’re serving seven hundred people who all want their dinner at the same time. Welcome to my world.

  LIGHTLY BREADED BRANZINO

  This is our most popular fish entrée. Branzino is a delicious, light fish that is known by many names along its native Mediterranean coast, including sea bass and loup de mer. When cooking fish, the key word is moist, and this preparation is designed to deliver a perfect piece to every plate. It also makes serving fish to guests in your home super easy.

  First we double-stack the two sides of the fillet into a single piece. That gives us a thicker piece of fish to work with and makes it more practical to cook properly for a large group. We then coat the fish with panko, sear it on the stovetop, and finish it in the oven with a more gentle heat. We serve it with a selection of steamed summer vegetables, such as zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, and peeled, sautéed small tomatoes.

  The panko crumbs add a nice color to the white fish as well as crunch, and help to keep it moist. The tomato confit gives the dish a bright spot of color and flavor without adding any cream or butter.

  Serves 4

  Nonstick cooking spray

  8 4-ounce branzino fillets

  Coarse salt

  2 cups panko

  ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

  ¼ cup grapeseed oil

  Lemon-Ponzu Beurre Blanc (this page)

  Tomato Confit (this page)

  Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray.

  Place 2 fillets on top of each other—skin sides together—to make a thicker fillet; repeat with the remaining fish for 4 thick fillets. Season with salt.

  In a small bowl, mix the panko with the olive oil to create a slightly damp mixture that will stick together and to the fish but retain a crumbly texture. Press the panko mixture onto the top of the fillets.

  In a large sauté pan over high heat, heat the grapeseed oil until almost smoking. Reduce the heat to medium, place the fillets in the pan crumb side down and cook, without moving them, until golden brown, about 3 minutes.

  Place the fish, crumb side up, on the prepared baking sheet and bake until just cooked through, 7 to 8 minutes.

  Top the fish with a dollop of tomato confit. Serve with the beurre blanc and a selection of vegetables in season, simply prepared.

  HOW MANY CHOICES SHOULD I OFFER?

  There is always a question as to whether guests should be offered a single entrée or given a choice, to be ordered when they are first seated for dinner. You always need a vegan option. But beyond that, my response to the “how many entrées?” question is: What is your first instinct? If it’s “I am serving lamb to all my guests,” that’s what you’ll do. If you say, “How could I ever offer my guests only one entrée?” then there’s your answer. In addition to a vegan option on request, you can always have a few fish or beef options for silent requests (in other words, the guest needs to ask if there is an alternative), depending on what the main entrée is.

  SEARED CRISPY HALIBUT

  Halibut is a versatile and almost universally liked fish. It holds up well for large groups because it is thick. The trick with halibut, like a lot of fish, is to do less to it. Starting at our own kitchens, we just marinate it in a lot of olive oil and then sear it over superhigh heat—it gets a nice caramelized brown crust, but is still raw in the middle. Then the fish is reheated at the party to cook through right before it’s served. And that’s something you can do with fish at home, too—sear it over high heat on the stovetop earlier in the day, then finish it in the oven just before serving your guests.

  There’s an incredible amount of thought behind the plating of this dish, yet it’s all very simple. Sautéed greens form a base for the fish—they will keep the fish warm and moist as the plate travels from the kitchen to the table. A little lemon-ponzu beurre blanc is spooned to the side. We slice fingerling potatoes into coins instead of roasting them whole; it makes them look fancier. Carrots are available in beautiful colors now and we leave the tops on to emphasize the “farm-to-table” freshness of the food. Serving the peas in their pods looks great, but eating them makes extra work for the guests, so we use only two pods. The accompaniments are simply steamed or roasted. Choose the best of what’s in season to accompany your fish.

  The halibut is topped with one of my favorite ingredients. Tomato Confit (this page) is a home run on almost any plate. Just a spoonful adds incredible flavor, color, and texture. I can’t say enough about this—make a batch and keep it in your refrigerator; you’ll use it all the time.

  Grapeseed oil has a very high smoking point, so you can get the pan hot enough to sear the fish. When placing the fish in the pan, make sure you’re searing the “pretty side” by placing the fillets skin side up.

  Serves 4

  Nonstick cooking spray

  2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

  1½ pounds skinless, boneless halibut fillets, in 4 pieces

  Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper

  Lemon-Ponzu Beurre Blanc (this page)

  Tomato Confit (this page)

  Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray.

  Heat the grapeseed oil in a 10- or 12-inch sauté pan over medium heat until hot. Generously season the fillets with salt and pepper and place carefully in the pan, skin side up. Cook without moving until golden brown and crispy, about 3 minutes.

  Place the fish, browned side up, on the prepared baking sheet and bake until just cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes.

  Top the fish with a dollop of tomato confit. Serve with the beurre blanc and a selection of vegetables in season, simply prepared.

  MY THREE FAVORITE SAUCES FOR FISH

  Our clients eat out almost every night and one of the most common remarks we hear during the menu planning is that they don’t want to feel heavy at the end of the meal. There may be dancing or a program of speeches after dinner, and they want their guests to be full, but not ready to go to sleep.

  Guests who choose fish are especially looking for a lighter meal, and that’s why it’s important to pair fish dishes with sauces that are full of flavor, but not a lot of fat and sugar.

  Salsa Ver
de, a combination of herbs, garlic, lemon juice, and a touch of red pepper, also adds color and flavor, but it’s a light sauce, with very little oil.

  We have three sauces for every guest and place setting. One client liked all three sauces at a tasting, so we made plates to hold the sauces.

  TOMATO CONFIT

  Makes about 2 cups

  4 large, meaty tomatoes (such as Roma), about ½ pound

  Extra-virgin olive oil

  3 garlic cloves

  1 tablespoon coriander seeds

  1 tablespoon white peppercorns

  Coarse salt

  Preheat the oven to 250°F.

  Halve the tomatoes, core them, and remove the seeds. Place cut side down in a baking dish just large enough to hold them (about 8 inches). Add enough olive oil to come two-thirds of the way up the tomatoes.

  Make a cheesecloth sachet containing the garlic, coriander, and white peppercorns and place in the dish. Sprinkle the tomatoes generously with salt.

  Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 2 hours. Remove from the oven and discard the foil. Pull off the tomato skins and let the tomatoes cool in the dish, about ½ hour.

  If not using the confit immediately, transfer the tomatoes to a lidded jar and pour in the oil from the pan. Add more oil to cover the tomatoes, if needed. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

  LEMON-PONZU BEURRE BLANC

  Makes about 1 cup

  2 shallots, thinly sliced

  ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

  ½ cup dry white wine

  ¼ cup heavy cream

  ¾ pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter