Hors d’oeuvres.
Which are your favorite finger foods at a party? “Party”? What is that? So 2019!
Hors d’oeuvres, usually served in “the transition period between day and night” as Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso explain on page 3 of their 38-year-old The Silver Palate cookbook, should be not too filling so your dinner guests ruin their appetite, but not too bland so your guests have to hide their sincerity.
These are the ones in our repertoire: Guacamole finished with a bit of red onion and tomato slivers; pepperazzi stuffed with goat chese, eaten unabashedly in one mouthful; grissini (breadsticks) wrapped in prosciutto—a recipe we copied from our friends Jill and J-P. If I feel industrious I make tiny albondiguitas con azafrán (Look it up!) but I need to stock up on those precious threads at www.chiquilin.com, along with some Spanish pimentón. I always forget to ask my husband what kind of hors d’oeuvres they serve in Kentucky, where he is from. When I first came to this country, crudités were very popular at parties. I almost choked on an uncooked broccoli floret once. Thank God for the Heimlich maneuver. Did you know that this life saving technique was invented by a Delaware-born doctor around the same time President Joe Biden was becoming U.S. Senator of Delaware? A good time to toast! All hors d’oeuvres are well accompanied by a glass of Cava, a summer Chablis, or an Aperol Spritz, a refreshing libation with a fizz.
— New York City, 3/2/2021