Appetizers

 Appetizers

How oft en have you been faced with a

complicated menu when eating out

and wished you could just make a meal of several

delectable appetizers, forgett ing about the main

course? I oft en do just that, as long as the maître d’

will let me get away with it. I feel the same when

I am planning a special menu. I can think of lots

of tantalizing appetizers and soups that I love to

prepare, but the main course is another matt er entirely.

Th ere are some people, of course, who still

expect appetizers to be those silly canapés and

dips, which have been all but abolished from my

simplifi ed repertoire of entertaining food.

Of course, I could eat smoked salmon and caviar

every day for quite a long time, or the delicate

fl esh of the Adriatic spider crab, which I

tried one summer in Italy. It was simply dressed

with a fruity olive oil and lemon juice. When in

England, I like to feast on large prawns, or litt le

brown shrimps, crab, and scallops, and when I am

in New York, I like to start a meal with those unequaled

litt leneck or cherrystone clams as well

as crisp, metallic-tasting oysters—the fat, baggy

ones I fi nd unpalatable—with just a touch of

lemon and black pepper. None of that unspeakable

cocktail sauce or horseradish, thank you! It

was in Peru that I had the best scallops on the half

shell that I have ever eaten—the coral-colored

roe was still att ached—and they had been broiled

very briefl y with a litt le butt er and grated cheese.

Give me a good fi sh terrine, a warm boudin

blanc, a plate of well-made charcuterie, or quenelles,

and my meal is made. But those represent

the more exotic side of my life and tastes. Where

I am in rural Mexico, apart from a few delicacies—

you probably consider them staples—that

I hoard for special occasions (good fruity olive

oil, Parmesan cheese, canned truffl es, and wrinkled

black olives), I make satisfying antojitos with

the fi nest corn masa and fi ll them with seasonal

foods: quesadillas fi lled with stewed squash blossoms,

corn fungus, wild mushrooms cooked with

chile and epazote, or sopes and cazuelitas topped

with my spicy homemade chorizo. When the avocados

are ripe in the orchard, I make a guacamole

and serve it with hot, fl abby blue or deep

red corn tortillas. On the rare occasions that I can

fi nd fresh enough seafood, I mix shrimps, crab,

or clams with fresh tomatoes, chiles, coriander,

and lime juice, a la marinera. I can get charalitos

(very small fi sh) from nearby lakes and fry them

crisp or make a “caviar” from carp roe. But many

38 nothing fancy

of these recipes have already appeared in my earlier

books.

In my town, pork is killed locally and very

fresh, so I can make headcheese, pickled pigs’ feet,

and pork and liver terrine for the colder days.