Gathering Around the Table

December is here, and that means it’s holiday season for most of us, a time of year that often involves welcoming guests and spending more hours in the kitchen than we may be used to. If you’re already feeling stress because you believe you can’t gracefully pull off all that’s expected of you, it may help to remember that serving a holiday meal is not a performance, and your guests are not coming to judge or measure. These are people you love, who love you. We all long to eat homemade meals with family and friends, especially when the meal is a celebration, so you can be sure your guests will arrive feeling anticipation and gratitude.

One way to take the pressure off yourself as cook, and to shift some of the emphasis away from the meal, is to give your guests an ample welcome by offering starters to nibble on and to take away hunger’s edge. Try beginning with a loaf of hearty whole grain bread; then add a plate of olives or tapenade, a bowl of bean spread, marinated goat cheese, and pickled red onions for crunch and color. If these don’t measure up to your idea of holiday fare, how about mixed baby greens tossed in a vinaigrette; miniature potato pancakes with spoonfuls of applesauce; or whatever is traditional in your family? The point is to provide starters that are good tasting and easy to prepare in advance, and that don’t cost a king’s ransom–and their purpose is to begin satisfying your guests before they formally gather around the table. If you follow these with a main course that has some depth, a salad or some simple side dishes and a refreshing finish, you’ll have a meal to remember and one you can pull off. What’s more, even if you buy the main course, side dishes or dessert, your starters will earn you the credit and reward for having served up a home-cooked celebration.

Take a deep breath and internalize the belief that h0liday meals don’t need to be complicated or require days of fuss, and that good home cooking is always possible and surely worthy of your guests. There can be real satisfaction in making a meal to share with those you love, especially one that manages to be both nourishing and celebratory. And the time spent preparing it, when seen in anew, can begin to feel worthwhile. So go out and buy a beautiful loaf of bread. Then pull out your nicest serving bowls, put on some holiday music, and take up your wooden spoon. This will be fun, I promise.

Italian White Bean and Roasted Garlic Spread

Makes about 2 cups: Prepare up to 5 days ahead

This spread is especially good with slices of bread, crackers, or a platter of fresh vegetables for dipping. If you cook extra beans, you can combine all the same ingredients into a nourishing bean salad by simply skipping the puree step. And if you’re pressed for time, you can make this spread with two 15-ounce cans of white beans. In this case, eliminate the first five items on the ingredient list, and use vegetable broth instead of bean broth in Step 4. You may also need a bit more roasted garlic, lemon juice and sea salt than the recipe calls for.

Ingredients

1 cup dried cannellini, great northern or navy beans, soaked for at least 6 hours
1 piece kombu
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt*
1 sprig each fresh rosemary and thyme, or 4 fresh sage leaves
8 whole garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon more for roasting the garlic
1/4 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1-1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt, plus extra for seasoning to taste

*I use coarse sea salt to season the cooking water because it’s less expensive and works beautifully. But fine sea salt, if that’s what you have, will work just as well.

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Drain the beans and discard the soaking water. Then put the beans into a medium-sized lidded pot and cover with 5-6 cups of cool water. Bring the beans to a boil and skim any foam that rises to the surface. Then add the kombu, bay leaf, sea salt, fresh herbs, and 2 unpeeled cloves of garlic. (If you cut the cloves in half before putting them into the pot it releases the garlic’s beneficial compounds into the cooking water.) Lower the heat and simmer the beans, partly covered, until they are consistently tender–about 1-2 hours. The cooking time will vary depending on the age and size of the beans. When the beans are finished cooking, remove the kombu, garlic cloves, herb stems and bay leaf. Then drain the beans and reserve the broth for later use. (If you plan to make the spread another day, store the beans in their broth and refrigerate.)

3. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil over the remaining 6 unpeeled cloves of garlic. Wrap them in parchment paper and then foil and roast them in the oven for 30 minutes. Then unwrap the garlic and set it aside to cool.

4. Into the bowl of a food processor, place the beans, olive oil, lemon juice and 1-1/2 teaspoons of fine sea salt. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of its peel and add that to the food processor as well. Then puree the mixture, adding as much of the reserved bean broth as you need until the consistency is as you like it.

5. If the flavor needs brightening, add additional sea salt or fresh lemon juice to the puree.

6. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate for up to five days.

Kalamata Tapenade

Makes about 1-1/2 cups: Prepare up to 5 days ahead

There are so many ways to serve this tapenade, which is a stroke of good fortune for us. It’s delicious on hearty bread slices or bruschetta, with or without soft cheese. And if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, try using them inside a frittata, on a salad or over pasta–or, frankly, as a dollop on a spoon when no one is looking!

Ingredients

2 cups kalamata olives with pits, or about 1-1/2 cups pitted olives
2 medium garlic cloves, peeled
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons capers, drained
3-4 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon organic lemon zest, optional

Recipe

1. Pit the olives by pressing on each one with the side of a knife. Then you can easily remove the pits.

2. Place all of the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and coarsely chop.

3. Serve immediately, or store in the refrigerator for about 4-5 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Note: I have found that tapenade sometimes becomes too strong if the garlic is left to sit. If you’re making this several days in advance, it might work better to wait until the day you’ll serve the tapenade to add 2 cloves of minced garlic.

Marinated Goat Cheese

Serves 8: Prepare up to 5 days ahead

I’ve adapted this recipe only slightly from one served at the White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia. It’s beautiful served on a platter or over crisp salad greens. And if you happen to make it in the summer some year, it’s perfect served alongside heirloom tomatoes. But then what isn’t?

Ingredients

12-ounce goat cheese log, chilled
1 organic lemon, sliced into thin rounds
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs: chives, or leaves of fresh parsley, basil, thyme, rosemary or sage
heaping 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
heaping 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
pinch hot red pepper flakes

Recipe

1. Cut the goat cheese log into about 16 slices and smooth the edges so that each slice is a neat round. Arrange the rounds in a single layer in a glass or ceramic dish that has sides. Then scatter the lemon rounds on and around the cheese.

2. Mix the olive oil, herbs, pepper, salt and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Then pour the mixture over the cheese and lemon slices.

3. Cover and marinate the cheese for at least 6 hours, or up to 5 days. If you are making and serving this on the same day, you can marinate the cheese at room temperature. If you are making this ahead of time, marinate the cheese in the refrigerator and then bring it to room temperature before serving.

“Pickled” Red Onions

Makes 1-1/2-2 cups: Prepare several weeks ahead

This recipe was published in Gourmet Magazine a couple of years ago, and you can cook it up in minutes. Pickled onions are a tasty condiment with a vibrant pink color, and they provide an ideal visual and textural contrast to the bean spread, tapenade and goat cheese. If you find yourself with leftovers, try adding them to a sandwich or to a roll-up with the bean spread, or tossing them into any sort of salad.

2 medium red onions
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt, divided*
1 cup apple cider vinegar

Recipe

1. Slice each onion in half from the root end to the stem end, and peel each half. Then cut off the root and stem ends, and slice each onion half with the grain into thin 1/8″ slices. This is called a “saute slice.” (If you don’t know what I mean by the onion’s “grain,” look down at the onion and you will see fine its fine lines. These lines are the grain and you should cut the onion in their same direction.)

2. Fill a 2-quart saucepan with 4-5 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Add the onion slices to the boiling water and cook them for 1 minute. Drain the water and place the onions back into the saucepan.

3. Add the remaining teaspoon of sea salt and the apple cider vinegar to the saucepan, and add just enough cool water to barely cover the onions. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer uncovered for 1 minute. Then remove the pan from the heat.

4. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes. Then transfer the onions and brine to a glass or ceramic bowl and allow  the mixture to cool to room temperature.

5. Cover the onions and refrigerate them for up to several weeks. The onions will turn a beautiful shade of pink and they will crisp as they cool.

*As above, I use coarse sea salt to season the cooking water because it’s less expensive and works beautifully. But fine sea salt also works.