Party Dips
The holidays have kicked into high gear. Nearly every household window in Astoria gleams with light, sparkling on strings or glowing from candlesticks, while yuletide emissaries from Santa and reindeer to choirs have taken up residence in small urban yards. Not to be outdone, each shopkeeper in the business district lets their personality shine as they set up displays to attract customers. The season's best salumi are proudly on display at the Italian grocery, while the Greek bakery next door is showcasing revolving displays of baklava, kourabeides, tsoureki. The take-out places seem to be competing with each other in the age-old war over the number of lights and their color scheme. Look up: the holiday lights have been hung across Ditmars Boulevard. Beneath them, the fresh-cut tree stall is doing a brisk business, while the florist offers evergreen wreaths, mistletoe cuttings, holly sprigs. The hardware store has an old-timey display of animatronic carolers presiding over an elaborate model train tooting through drifts of cotton batting.
People carry this festive air from the streets back to their homes. Invitations arrive in mailboxes post and electronic for tree trimmings, open houses, cocktail parties, dinner parties, brunches. This is the time of year when people drop in -- a rare pleasure in the city, where the culture usually precludes this old-fashioned pleasure. For those of us who enjoying welcoming guests into our homes, it is a good idea to keep the elements of an impromptu party tray in the pantry. Cheese and crackers are the classic and welcome response to visitors -- especially if you augment the tray with a stop at the aforementioned salumi counter -- but it is worthwhile to master the art of making party dips. Keep the ingredients on hand and you'll be prepared not just for visitors planned or spontaneous but for a family that gets the munchies during schlocky movie night.
Here are recipes for four party dips, offered with an eye towards the holidays but appropriate for any time of year. Every cuisine has dips and spreads, sometimes as party food, sometimes as dimensions of a meal. From hummus and dhal to black bean dip, a common ingredient is legumes; the dip below showcases flavorful cannellini beans. Taramosalata, brandade and bagna cauda are standards of fancy restaurant appetizer menus; below you will find a simple, spectacular goat cheese dip to compete with these classics. For both crudites and potato chips, nothing beat classic sour cream and chive dip.
If a brown stoneware crock of port-wine cheese spread is a holiday standard in your home, then meet its belle-mere: quatre fromages. In this dish, which was a staple not just in my Swiss grandmother's repertoire but in that of many old-country grandmothers, cheese, which is as ubiquitous to Alpine cooking as lemons are to Meditteranean, wallows in a bath of port while taking a compress of hot mustard. It takes some time to season, so it's not a dish to whip up for drop-in guests. But it is festive and traditional for the holidays so, as this is one of the few memories I have of my Swiss grandmother, and as it's a holiday memory at that, I've included it here. Quatre fromages may seem an oddity to some, but upon tasting they are usually converted. My guests last Thanksgiving certainly were.
One note: many of these recipes are written for the use of a stick blender
. This is an essential piece of equipment in my urban kitchen. If you don't have one, here is a good, inexpensive one -- ask Santa for it, and then ask if you can unwrap it early. If you don't have a stick blender, use a regular blender or food processor, adjusting the technique as warranted.
PARTY DIPS
White Bean Dip
This simple dip is easy to make from pantry ingredients. Truffle oil is a worthwhile indulgence for your pantry; here is a good one. If you don't have truffle oil, use extra-virgin olive oil.
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans
2 medium cloves garlic
1 sprig fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon salt (Greek sea salt works well)
Freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 tablespoons truffle oil
1. Place a colander in the sink. Open the beans and empty into the colander. It may be necessary to rinse the can with running water to get all of the beans. Rinse the beans under running water. Shake colander, and place on a kitchen towel to drain.
2. Peel the garlic and remove the root end. Half each clove; remove and discard any sprouting from the center.
3. Shake the beans dry and place in the bowl of a blender or food processor. Use a garlic press to press the garlic into the bowl. Add the salt and several grindings of black pepper to the ingredients in the bowl. If using dried rosemary, add that to the ingredients in the bowl.
4. Pulse several times to start mixing the ingredients.
5. Once the ingredients have started to mix, switch the setting to Puree. Puree the ingredients together, pouring the oil in a thin stream into the mixture as you do.
6. Remove the bowl from the machine. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the dip into a serving bowl. Garnish with a few grindings of fresh black pepper. If using fresh rosemary, strip the leaves from the stem and sprinkle the rosemary leaves across the top of the dip. Serve immediately with pita, toasts or crackers.
Sour Cream and Chive Dip
Rice-wine vinegar, which nicely accents the chives, is available in the Asian food section of the supermarket; be sure to use the unseasoned kind. If you don't have rice-wine vinegar, use white vinegar.
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon unseasoned rice wine vinegar
1 large bunch fresh chives or 4 tablespoons dried chives
Salt (Greek sea salt works well)
1. Measure out the sour cream and the mayonnaise. Use a silicon spatula to scrape each into a large bowl.
2. Add the vinegar to the sour cream-mayonnaise mixture. Use a stick blender fitted with the whisk attachment to incorporate the ingredients together.
3. Add the chives and a shake of salt to the mixture. Use the stick blender to blend until smooth and glossy.
4. Use a clean silicon spatula to scrape the dip into a serving bowl. Serve immediately with potato chips or crudites.
Goat Cheese Dip
Use your favorite goat cheese logs or buttons for this recipe.
6 ounces goat cheese
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Crumble the goat cheese into a bowl.
2. Add the mayonnaise and vinegar to the goat cheese. Use a silicon spatula to mash together.
3. Use a stick blender fitted with the whisk attachment to mix the ingredients while pouring olive oil in a thin stream into the mixture. Stop pouring when the mixture is thick and white but spreadable.
4. Use the silicon spatula to scrape the dip into a serving bowl. Top with several grindings fresh black pepper. Serve immediately with pita, crackers or crudite.
Quatre Fromages
This dip requires a day to season, so prepare it the night before you're expecting guests, or on Friday for nibbling over a busy weekend.
6 ounces Gruyere
6 ounces sharp cheddar
6 ounces assertive bleu, such as Roquefort or Stilton
2 ounce button goat cheese
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons tawny port
1/2 teaspoon dried cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt (Greek sea salt works well)
1. Measure the mustard and port into a large bowl. Add the cayenne pepper and salt. Use a whisk to combine the ingredients until smooth. Set aside to season while you prepare the cheese.
2. Use the large holes on a box grater to grate the Gruyere and cheddar into a large bowl. Being careful of the blades, use a stick blender fitted with the blade attachment to finely grind the grated cheese. Unplug the blender. Remove the blade attachment and set aside for cleaning.
3. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the seasoned mustard-port mixture into the ground cheese mixture. Fit the stick blender with the whisk attachment. Plug the blender in and use whisk attachment to incorporate the cheese and mustard-port mixtures.
4. Use the silicon spatula to clean the whisk attachment and to scrape down the bowl if necessary.
5. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 24 hours to season.
6. After 24 hours and 1/2 hour before serving, remove the bowl from the refrigerator. The mixture should have gotten very thick.
7. Crumble the bleu and goat cheeses into a bowl. Use a silicon spatula to mash together.
8. Use the silicon spatula to scrape the blended cheeses into the bowl containing the cheese-port mixture; blend just until combined.
9. Use the silicon spatula to scrape the dip into a serving bowl. Serve immediately with toasts, rustic bread or crackers.
People carry this festive air from the streets back to their homes. Invitations arrive in mailboxes post and electronic for tree trimmings, open houses, cocktail parties, dinner parties, brunches. This is the time of year when people drop in -- a rare pleasure in the city, where the culture usually precludes this old-fashioned pleasure. For those of us who enjoying welcoming guests into our homes, it is a good idea to keep the elements of an impromptu party tray in the pantry. Cheese and crackers are the classic and welcome response to visitors -- especially if you augment the tray with a stop at the aforementioned salumi counter -- but it is worthwhile to master the art of making party dips. Keep the ingredients on hand and you'll be prepared not just for visitors planned or spontaneous but for a family that gets the munchies during schlocky movie night.
Here are recipes for four party dips, offered with an eye towards the holidays but appropriate for any time of year. Every cuisine has dips and spreads, sometimes as party food, sometimes as dimensions of a meal. From hummus and dhal to black bean dip, a common ingredient is legumes; the dip below showcases flavorful cannellini beans. Taramosalata, brandade and bagna cauda are standards of fancy restaurant appetizer menus; below you will find a simple, spectacular goat cheese dip to compete with these classics. For both crudites and potato chips, nothing beat classic sour cream and chive dip.
If a brown stoneware crock of port-wine cheese spread is a holiday standard in your home, then meet its belle-mere: quatre fromages. In this dish, which was a staple not just in my Swiss grandmother's repertoire but in that of many old-country grandmothers, cheese, which is as ubiquitous to Alpine cooking as lemons are to Meditteranean, wallows in a bath of port while taking a compress of hot mustard. It takes some time to season, so it's not a dish to whip up for drop-in guests. But it is festive and traditional for the holidays so, as this is one of the few memories I have of my Swiss grandmother, and as it's a holiday memory at that, I've included it here. Quatre fromages may seem an oddity to some, but upon tasting they are usually converted. My guests last Thanksgiving certainly were.
One note: many of these recipes are written for the use of a stick blender
. This is an essential piece of equipment in my urban kitchen. If you don't have one, here is a good, inexpensive one -- ask Santa for it, and then ask if you can unwrap it early. If you don't have a stick blender, use a regular blender or food processor, adjusting the technique as warranted.PARTY DIPS
White Bean Dip
This simple dip is easy to make from pantry ingredients. Truffle oil is a worthwhile indulgence for your pantry; here is a good one. If you don't have truffle oil, use extra-virgin olive oil.
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans
2 medium cloves garlic
1 sprig fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon salt (Greek sea salt works well)
Freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 tablespoons truffle oil
1. Place a colander in the sink. Open the beans and empty into the colander. It may be necessary to rinse the can with running water to get all of the beans. Rinse the beans under running water. Shake colander, and place on a kitchen towel to drain.
2. Peel the garlic and remove the root end. Half each clove; remove and discard any sprouting from the center.
3. Shake the beans dry and place in the bowl of a blender or food processor. Use a garlic press to press the garlic into the bowl. Add the salt and several grindings of black pepper to the ingredients in the bowl. If using dried rosemary, add that to the ingredients in the bowl.
4. Pulse several times to start mixing the ingredients.
5. Once the ingredients have started to mix, switch the setting to Puree. Puree the ingredients together, pouring the oil in a thin stream into the mixture as you do.
6. Remove the bowl from the machine. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the dip into a serving bowl. Garnish with a few grindings of fresh black pepper. If using fresh rosemary, strip the leaves from the stem and sprinkle the rosemary leaves across the top of the dip. Serve immediately with pita, toasts or crackers.
Sour Cream and Chive Dip
Rice-wine vinegar, which nicely accents the chives, is available in the Asian food section of the supermarket; be sure to use the unseasoned kind. If you don't have rice-wine vinegar, use white vinegar.
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon unseasoned rice wine vinegar
1 large bunch fresh chives or 4 tablespoons dried chives
Salt (Greek sea salt works well)
1. Measure out the sour cream and the mayonnaise. Use a silicon spatula to scrape each into a large bowl.
2. Add the vinegar to the sour cream-mayonnaise mixture. Use a stick blender fitted with the whisk attachment to incorporate the ingredients together.
3. Add the chives and a shake of salt to the mixture. Use the stick blender to blend until smooth and glossy.
4. Use a clean silicon spatula to scrape the dip into a serving bowl. Serve immediately with potato chips or crudites.
Goat Cheese Dip
Use your favorite goat cheese logs or buttons for this recipe.
6 ounces goat cheese
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Crumble the goat cheese into a bowl.
2. Add the mayonnaise and vinegar to the goat cheese. Use a silicon spatula to mash together.
3. Use a stick blender fitted with the whisk attachment to mix the ingredients while pouring olive oil in a thin stream into the mixture. Stop pouring when the mixture is thick and white but spreadable.
4. Use the silicon spatula to scrape the dip into a serving bowl. Top with several grindings fresh black pepper. Serve immediately with pita, crackers or crudite.
Quatre Fromages
This dip requires a day to season, so prepare it the night before you're expecting guests, or on Friday for nibbling over a busy weekend.
6 ounces Gruyere
6 ounces sharp cheddar
6 ounces assertive bleu, such as Roquefort or Stilton
2 ounce button goat cheese
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons tawny port
1/2 teaspoon dried cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt (Greek sea salt works well)
1. Measure the mustard and port into a large bowl. Add the cayenne pepper and salt. Use a whisk to combine the ingredients until smooth. Set aside to season while you prepare the cheese.
2. Use the large holes on a box grater to grate the Gruyere and cheddar into a large bowl. Being careful of the blades, use a stick blender fitted with the blade attachment to finely grind the grated cheese. Unplug the blender. Remove the blade attachment and set aside for cleaning.
3. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the seasoned mustard-port mixture into the ground cheese mixture. Fit the stick blender with the whisk attachment. Plug the blender in and use whisk attachment to incorporate the cheese and mustard-port mixtures.
4. Use the silicon spatula to clean the whisk attachment and to scrape down the bowl if necessary.
5. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 24 hours to season.
6. After 24 hours and 1/2 hour before serving, remove the bowl from the refrigerator. The mixture should have gotten very thick.
7. Crumble the bleu and goat cheeses into a bowl. Use a silicon spatula to mash together.
8. Use the silicon spatula to scrape the blended cheeses into the bowl containing the cheese-port mixture; blend just until combined.
9. Use the silicon spatula to scrape the dip into a serving bowl. Serve immediately with toasts, rustic bread or crackers.
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