Layered Vegetable Paté

When it comes to party appetizers, I go for glitz.  Layers, garnish, a nice platter, fancy serving knife implement - I’m all about presentation.  (Remember the caviar pie?)  Especially on New Year’s Eve, party food should look elegant. 

I tried the original version of this vegetable paté several months ago.  It was lovely but plain, nice but not a “wow”  in my book.  This layered version adds color and flavor.  The layers hold together because you mold them and then refrigerate the finished paté for several hours.  The end result pleases the eye as well as the palate.

Many chefs and others I respect wax poetic over how much better home-cooked dry beans are than canned ones.  (Joe Yonan, when I make your dishes I do try to cook dry beans, honest, I do.)  But for this recipe, I used canned beans - with the other flavorings and the processing step that mashes the whole beans, I don't think it made a difference.

If you hate cleaning up, then this recipe should appeal to you; the loaf pan doesn’t get dirty and you can use the food processer twice without cleaning it in between by processing the cannellini or alubias bean mixture before the kidney beans.

Layered Vegetable Paté

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Brown Butter Spiced Plum Hand Tarts

September got away from me.  I turned around and the month was practically gone.  If I was going to do this month’s Baketogether, it had to be today.  No time for multiple drafts or lingering over how exactly to vary the recipe - this was going to be “real time” bake-and-blog, with almost simultaneous posting of the results.  At the end, we’ll know how it turns out.  But for now, I’ve got one batch of my tarts in the oven and another just about to go in. 

In Baketogether, we take Abby Dodge’s “master recipe” and vary it however we want, sharing our recipe and technique modifications in blogposts posted during the month for a particular recipe.  For September 2012, Abby posted Brown Butter Apple Hand Tarts, to celebrate her newest book, Mini Treats & Handheld Sweets ~100 Delicious Desserts to Pick Up and Eat! 

 

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No-Bake Russian Wafer Cake or Oblatne

Is it any surprise that my ideal adventure has nothing to do with camping or wild animals?  I’m a city girl, born and bred.  Roaming around a neighborhood filled with ethnic grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, and bookstores is heaven to me.  

On a recent trip to New York City, I explored Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.   The neighborhood is home to a large community of Russian immigrants and as we walked around, it felt as though we could have easily been in Eastern Europe instead of NY.  

With amazing dried fruits, fresh baked bread, deli and beautiful baked goods all around me, I browsed my way up one street and down anlther.  Shoppers and sellers all seemed to be chatting in Russian.  Though I’m sure I could have found someone to answer questions in English, I was content to wander on my own through store aisles and open-air displays crowded with food and people.

I could easily have bought lots of goodies.  However, my better half reminded me that transporting heavy bags by subway and on foot would be difficult.  Reluctantly I limited my purchases to 2 packages of the lightest and least expensive item I saw – these wafers.

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