As I alluded to in my last newsletter, I’ve been gearing up to cater a 20-person cocktail party for my mom. When I private-cheffed my friend’s mom’s birthday brunch a couple of months back, and all of her friends were gathered around the dining table eating amazing food and chatting, I realized that my mom could have the same experience with all of her friends. All she needed was for me to make a trip down to Maryland to cook all the food.
I had originally envisioned this cocktail party as actually being for both of my parents and all of their friends. But when push came to shove, my mom and I realized that it would just be easier if my dad was simply cut out of the picture LOL (he has a tendency to overcomplicate food, drinks, vibes, etc.). So with him out of the house, I took full rein.
My mom, ironically, hates hosting. But with me essentially serving as the caterer, and my cousin Lily serving as the caterer’s assistant, there wasn’t much for her to worry about. A good symbiotic relationship: I use the lovely kitchen, she uses me to make the food.
My mom barely gave me any direction with the food menu. Every morning when we talked on the phone for the past like 3 or 4 weeks I would bring up the menu and try to hone in on it somewhat, which was always met with an immediate deflection toward another topic, leaving me quite in the dark as to what I was expected to make. The menu thus became whatever fun hors d’oeuvres ideas popped into my head in the span of us sending out the Partiful and me going to the Whole Foods in Maryland.
In the vein of my mom hating hosting, we decided to “have people over” for our “cocktail party” at 4pm on a Saturday. By setting the time at 4, we avoided any possible pressure to provide any sort of complete meal. Too late for lunch, too early for dinner. Hovering in this purgatorial time of day, I still felt the need to provide a couple bites of protein, a couple bites of carb, a couple bites of fiber, and a couple desserts.
The protein: tuna tartare endive cups. The simplest dish to make and without a doubt the most popular bite of the evening. People ofc go crazy for spicy mayo with fresh tuna. I had debated serving the tartare on top of fried rice paper. But I was worried the tartare would sog out the rice paper too quickly. And my priority for the event was actually to become a guest of the party eventually and not be stuck as the caterer / server / chef. So endive cups became a natural, more refreshing, and cleaner vessel. Plus, effortless. I’ll use the rice paper some other time.
The carb: arancini. Another huge hit. Throughout the “gathering,” people kept coming up to me saying: “oh my god, the arancini are incredible.” So relieving because I was actually pretty nervous serving them at room temperature. They are obviously incredible right out of the fryer, but somehow the arancini stayed surprisingly well for the next couple hours. I didn’t even bother re-heating them. Helpful tip: it’s completely fine to serve things at room temperature if it saves you stress and energy. Always.
The fiber: caprese skewers. A couple weeks ago I went to a pottery painting class at East Fork (one of my favorite ceramics brands) in Brooklyn. Even with me being so stressed about painting pottery for the first time in 15 years, I noted the venue had these delicious and retro-chic caprese skewers, coated in pesto and olive oil, visually striking and graphic. I adapted them for my own party but did in fact make way too many skewers. I think they were a bit redundant with the two massive crudité platters, but still great bites and easy enough to make. I recommend.
It ended up being a completely rainy weekend. So it was nice to have a kitchen party of sorts.
Hope you enjoyed the party mom since I know you’re reading <3
Ryan
P.S. If you're in the DC area, my parents’ kitchen designer is Sharon Dougherty Trifilo, and you can find her website here. She’s amazing!
[Note: Printable PDFs are also now available thanks to a subscriber’s recommendation!]
makes around 20 - 30 hors d’oeuvres
ingredients
for the spicy mayo
1/2 cup mayo
3 tbsp gochujang
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
for the tartare and assembly
1 to 1 1/4 pounds tuna (bought the same day at a high-end grocery store), cut into small dice
2 scallions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
4 to 5 endives, large leaves peeled off, small leaves and cores discarded
instructions
For the spicy mayo: Stir together all the spicy mayo ingredients in a bowl. Taste for seasoning. This can be made up to 3 days in advance.
For the tuna tartare and assembly: In a separate bowl, stir together the tuna, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Taste for seasoning. This can be prepared up to 2 hours before serving, covered in the fridge.
On a large platter, lay out all your endive petals. Use a small spoon to spread about 2 teaspoons of the spicy mayo inside each petal. Then spoon a bite-sized amount of tuna tartare on top. Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
makes around 20 - 30 hors d’oeuvres
ingredients
for the risotto
6 cups high-quality chicken stock, or 6 cups water + 1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large shallots, minced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
Kosher salt and black pepper
6 oz grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp unsalted butter
for the assembly & presentation
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, beaten
4 cups Panko breadcrumbs
Neutral oil, for frying
Flaky sea salt, for garnish
Chopped Calabrian chili, for garnish
Homemade or store-bought pesto, for garnish (optional)
instructions
For the Risotto: Add the stock to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once at a boil reduce heat to low.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the shallots. Season lightly with kosher salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are translucent, 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the rice and cook until it’s slightly translucent in color and starts to sound like glass as it hits the side of the pan, about 2 minutes. Add the wine and allow it to reduce until almost completely evaporated, another minute.
Using a ladle, add about ½ cup of hot stock to your risotto and stir until almost evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes (if it evaporates too quickly, reduce heat to medium-low). Continue stirring, adding stock every minute or so, until the rice is al dente and appears creamier. This can take as fast as 15 minutes but could take up to 25, so taste as you go to avoid overcooked, mushy rice.
Stir in the cheese, butter, and plenty of black pepper. Taste for seasoning. If the risotto feels a bit lackluster, stir in additional parmesan cheese or Better Than Bouillon. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dump the risotto onto the sheet and spread out. Cover with plastic wrap and let chill until completely cold and set, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
For the assembly & presentation: Add the flour to a shallow dish, the eggs to another, and the panko to a third. Use a 1/4-cup ice cream scoop and scoop out about a 3 tbsp-sized amount of risotto into your palm. Form lightly into a ball. Then coat in flour shaking off excess, then eggs allowing excess to drip off, and then pack on the panko. After the panko is on, you can more easily form it back into a ball shape. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining risotto.
Add enough neutral oil to a large Dutch oven or pot to come up 2 inches up the side of the pot. Preheat over medium-high heat until the oil reaches 360F on a cooking thermometer. Drop in arancini evenly spaced in the pot (about half of the balls). Fry for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Remove to a paper towel-lined wire rack and season with sea salt. Repeat with remaining unfried arancini. The arancini can be refrigerated or even frozen at this point and reheated from frozen in a 350F convection oven until hot again.
Plate the arancini by spreading pesto onto a large platter and garnishing with a teaspoon or so of chopped calabrian chili.
makes 20 - 30 hors d’oeuvres
ingredients
24 oz high-quality cherry tomatoes
16 oz “cherry-sized” mozzarella balls, drained
3 oz basil leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts or almonds
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnishing
2/3 cup + 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
Kosher salt
instructions
Skewer a tomato, mozzarella ball, and another tomato onto a large toothpick. Repeat until all tomatoes and mozzarella are exhausted. Arrange on a platter, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 1 day in advance.
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Set a bowl of ice water off to the side. Blanch the basil in the hot water for just 10 seconds, then immediately plunge into the ice water. Squeeze excess water out and then add basil to the bowl of a food processor.
Add the pine nuts, garlic, and Parmesan to the food processor. Pulse until everything is evenly combined. Then process and stream in the 2/3 cup olive oil. Season with salt to taste. The pesto can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Stir the remaining olive oil very briefly into the pesto, just enough to “break” the pesto and loosen it somewhat. Brush the pesto all over the skewers. Season the skewers with additional flaky sea salt and parmesan cheese and serve.
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