About a month ago, K told me that she was throwing a Halloween party. So for the first time in years, instead of waiting in the house for trick-or-treaters, we were going to spend Halloween with some other adults. (That's exciting, isn't it? Yes, I know, my life is boring.) This party was what I looked forward to all week.
Right after trick-or-treating at Bell Square, (if you live in the area and don't know,
Bellevue Collections hosts a trick-or-treating and a number of other activities on Halloween that are quite exciting for little kids) we headed over to K's. Being a person whose world revolve around food, I always worry about if there were enough food at parties. You certainly don't want to have guests wondering what else they could nibble on after someone takes that last scoop of dip. So I brought along a
baked brie and some
Parmesan crackers. I used half of a wheel of brie from Costco. And since that was much bigger than what the recipe called for, I had to roll out the puff pastry quite a bit. The apple compote and the brie complemented each other perfectly. It was a big hit. I wanted to serve the crackers alongside the brie, so I omitted pepper and rosemary altogether. (Oh, who am I kidding? That's just an excuse. The real reason was that I didn't have any fresh rosemary.) I ended up with 36 crackers. I probably cut them a little thin, so the dough kept on cracking (haha, no pun intended) that I had to reshape them a bit. But I thought they were the perfect thickness, I wouldn't want them any thicker.
I also made a
French Onion Tart based on fellow seattlite Orangette's Molly's recipe. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the party (which was only 6:15), most people already had a fair share of the food, and the tart got a little cold. So not many people tried it, even after I reheated it in the oven. Lesson learned, next time, I should take things that still taste good eaten at room temperature or on the cold side of the temperature.
But I really shouldn't have worried about there not being enough food. K is a big food person like me. She often prepares way more food than necessary. There were tons of choices from the sophisticated crab dip to the Asian-influenced kalbi marinated flank steak to the very American hot dogs and tater tots to the various types of chips, AND desserts, such as cookies, dessert breads and rice krispy treats. I wouldn't bore you as the list went on, but you got the drift.
Everybody chatted and drank and nibbled while all the kids ran around the house and went trick-or-treating not once, but twice! We all went home happy and full. The only lingering thought on my mind was that I didn't realize it was a costume party. So now I have to start thinking about what I'd be next year. =)
. Instead of forming a large crust on foil, I made 8 mini-tarts. (Yes, yes, yes! I confess that I didn't make the edges like Jacques Torres demonstrated. When the tart pans are within reaching distance, I chose the easy way out.) I have tried this recipe before. What I've done differently today was to make the Pâte Brisée by hand like Torres said. It wasn't worth the effort! Use your food processor if you've got one. I also heated the apricot jam in the microwave. It didn't work as well as the stove. It might save you a minute or two, but it wasn't as smooth, and I much rather stand over a pot than getting the bowl in and out of the microwave multiple times. Now, onto the minor mistake I made. Since I didn't have any whole milk in the house, I used 2% for the pastry cream. As the result, the cream was a bit runny. It still tasted good, just missing that gelatinous look. Hey, nobody in this house noticed except me. =)
