Sociable snacks for friends and family

Press, 4 December 1985, Page 17

Sociable snacks for friends and family

Alison Holst’s

Food Facts a

Whenever I make this dip I am reminded that some of the best recipes are also the easiest! Until I taste this again, I forget how good it is. I usually make this dip when we have friends coming in for drinks, but 'I invariably use it up, spreading or dipping bread rolls and chunks of raw vegetables — in other words, using the dip, bread rolls, and raw vegetables as a light meal, in their own right. If you feel that this is not enough for a meal, you could add a container of marinated mussels, a more formal salad, with sliced cold meat. Remember this recipe

when you want to serve a meal of especially New Zealand foods. The blue vein cheese and the fresh vegetables are both New Zealand specialties. Blue cheese dip 1 wrapped wedge New Zealand Blue Vein cheese 1 250 g carton cream cheese 1 small onion 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce */« cup (dryish) sherry If you have a food processor put everything in it. Break or cut the blue vein cheese into small cubes, put the cream cheese in on top in dessertspoon sized blobs, cut the onion into quarters or eighths before adding it, then add the sauce and sherry. Process until smooth, using the metal chopping blade, wiping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula when necessary. Thin down the mixture with more sherry, cream or milk, if necessary. The mixture always thickens on standing. If you don’t have a food processor, mash the blue vein cheese into a large bowl with a fork. Add the cream cheese and beat with a wooden spoon or rubber scraper until smooth. Grate the onion or cut it in half and scrape until smooth. Grate the onion or cut it in half and scrape the cut surface with a teaspoon to get onion pulp and onion juice. Add to the cheese with the Worcestershire sauce and sherry. Thin as necessary. Variation If you do not add any extra liquid, this mixture is firm enough to form into a ball or a sausage shape. Tip it out of the food processor (or other) bowl on to a piece of plastic on which you have spread toasted sesame seeds, toasted flaked almonds, finely chopped walnuts, or toasted sunflower seeds. Lifting up the edges of the plastic, roll the cheese mixture in its coating until it is the shape you want.

Although a ball looks lovely the first time it is served, it is hard to serve attractively a second time. A sausage or log shape is more practical, especially if you can persuade your guests to attack it from one end! If you want a “kitchen gift” you can make and give away, fill a small glass or pottery container with dip, or make an attractively wrapped, cracker-shaped ’“blue cheese log.” Make sure you include instructions • to tell your “presentee” to refrigerate it until serving time. You might also mention that

the refrigerator life of this product is about 10 days. Nearly Nachos I’m very pleased that we can now buy corn chips in New Zealand. When we lived in California, a number of Mexican foods were popular, and relatively cheap. We bought corn chips and learned to make our own firmer version using uncooked tortillas. If you can get uncooked tortillas here, in a delicatessen, you might like to do this too. You cut the tortillas across into 6 or 8 wedges and fry them until lightly

browned, in hot oil. Make sure you use clean oil, have it about 2 cm deep, and remember that the oil must be very hot before the tortillas are added, or they soak it up. To make nachos, spread bought or homemade corn chips evenly over an oven tray. Grate cheese (any type you like) evenly and thickly over the whole surface. Sprinkle with a liquid (which is as close as I can get to an authentic Mexican sauce and flavour) made by combining ¥2 teaspoon tabasco sauce, ¥2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cider or wine vinegar, and 1 teaspoon of water (this is a very hot sauce). Put under a grill until the cheese bubbles and the corn chips brown slightly. Serve immediately on a large flat plate. It is nice to put the hot nachos into a layer of coarsely chopped (dry) lettuce and garnish with tomato wedges, and serve them with beer. Because everybody likes them so much I give everyone an individual serving so there are no fights! The combination and contrast of crisp chips, hot chewy cheese, the spicy hot chili topping, and the cold, crisp lettuce and tomato wedges is excellent.

In North America I often order a platter like this for a first course, at restaurants which serve it Note Tabasco sauce comes in little glass bottles. There is another sauce available, with a misleading label, in red plastic bottles. This sauce is not at all like tabasco sauce, and is not nearly as hot.