By Liz
Shravan and I do a lot of entertaining. Inevitably, one of
us (usually me) is just getting out of the shower when the guests arrive, and
the other quickly pours guests wine and dives into the kitchen in a blizzard of
chopping. It’s a finely-tuned dining duet, which is make possible by our open
kitchen, easygoing friends, and free-flowing alcohol. When I’m on my own, however, I like to have things prepared
in advance. When John and Judy arrived for dinner to a quiet kitchen and an
elaborate array of prep bowls, they were slightly taken aback. Are you sure you
don’t need any help? Anything I can chop? When I pulled the perfectly-browned appetizers out of the
oven, their surprise was obvious (are we that notorious for being last minute?). The misapprehension was due, I
believe, to the fact that the puff pastry bites look really fancy, but in fact
are anything but. I had borrowed the recipe from my mother, who in turn had
snagged it from a neighbor. I thought I’d add some flair with fresh herbs,
but given the untimely demise of my herb plants due to well-intentioned
overwatering, I stuck with dried Herbes de Provence. For the trivia-inclined, Herbes de Provence is a mix of
savory, thyme, rosemary, basil, tarragon, and lavender flowers, which give the
mix a slightly sweet smell. It goes beautifully with the sweet onions and goat
cheese… and the whole assembly process takes under 10 minutes.
I can't wait to try this one when I'm not pregnant. Goat cheese is a "no-no" for girls who are knocked up like me!
Posted by: KaraAnne | January 04, 2009 at 09:29 PM
We weren't taken aback at all. The pastry bites were phenomenal!
Posted by: Judy | January 06, 2009 at 05:50 PM