Appetizers - Alan's Cookbook

Appetizers 

a chapter from 

Alan’s Cookbook 

Alan G. Yoder

Appetizers 

Appetizers are a staple of food parties. Unless you go to or 

have a lot of those with all the same people, a fairly small 

repertoire will suffice. Mine has, anyway.

Seared foie gras 

The king of appetizers. The queen being, of course, beluga caviar. 

Whole duck fat liver 

Duck fat 

Salt in a grinder 

Bread 

Parsley 

Reduction sauce 

Good luck finding this stuff, thanks to the 

Hollywood PETAphiles and their hypocritical 

campaign against it. A French specialty supply 

store is your best bet. Fortunately, fresh foie gras 

(pronounced fwah grah, swallowing the r a little) 

can be frozen without harm. I buy one whole, cut 

it into quarters, and freeze the quarters 

separately. Thaw what you need gently, in the 

fridge, and set it out several hours before cooking 

to bring to room temperature. 

If you don’t have duck fat, use a bland olive oil. 

Butter burns too easily. 

Most any rich beef-based reduction will do for the 

sauce. Port wine and pomegranate reductions 

(page 27) are particularly good. 

Serves 6 per 1/4 lb. 

Cooking time: 90 minutes 

Make the reduction. This is where all the time 

goes. You can do that step a couple days before if 

you like. Actually searing the foie gras only takes 

a couple minutes. 

Make little toasts from the bread and set aside. 

Get a chefs pan nice and hot and swab with oil or 

duck fat. 

Cut the foie gras into wedges with a sharp wet 

knife, cleaning it after each pass. Place the 

wedges on the pan and fry for about 45 seconds 

on a side. Some fat will express out of them. Your 

goal is to not turn them completely into melted 

fat, so they will be a bit rare in the middle, which 

is why you want them at room temperature to 

begin. 

To serve, swab a bit of reduction on each plate 

and place a piece of foie gras on it. Garnish with a 

parsley leaf and a couple toasts to the side. 

- 38 -

Fried Bread with Tomatoes, Pesto and Olive Tapenade 

Rich bitefuls of heaven. 

Bread 

Tomatoes 

Olive Oil 

Pesto 

Olive tapenade 

Parsley 

Use a good rich bread. I prefer a whole grain 

ciabatta or pugliese with nuts and raisins and 

cranberries. Grace Baking makes a loaf called 

“Fred Bread” that is an especial favorite. 

The tomatoes need to be as ripe as you can get 

them. I especially love the yellow varieties. 

The olive oil should be a high-grade fruity oil. 

This is also a good use for slightly stale bread, as 

the frying brings it back to life very wonderfully. 

Cover the bottom of a chef’s pan with about 

1/16” of the oil and place over medium high heat. 

There should be just enough oil to bubble up 

through the holes in the bread. Slice the bread 

and place the slices in the hot oil. Turn as soon as 

it starts to smoke a little. It should be done on 

both sides in about a minute. Take off and drain 

on paper towels. 

Slice the tomatoes and place them on the hot 

bread. On some, put a spoonful of pesto; on 

others, some tapenade. 

If you want, garnish with a parsley leaf. 


- 39 -

Bruschetta 

Bruschetta, pronounced broos-ket’-tuh, is a very old Italian 

afternoon snack 

Pugliese bread 

Fresh tomato 

Garlic 

Fresh basil 

Salt and pepper 

Any good hearty Tuscan bread can be used for 

this. 

Vine-ripe tomatoes are by far the best, so this is 

really a summer dish. 

An expensive, very fruity olive oil will pay great 

dividends. 

Lightly toast slices of bread, over hot coals if 

they’re handy, and gently rub with a cut clove of 

garlic. Follow this by rubbing with a half tomato, 

then paint each slice with olive oil. 

Combine coarsely chopped tomatoes, minced 

garlic, coarsely chopped basil and more olive oil. 

Mix gently and season to taste with salt and 

pepper. If this has time to sit for an hour, so 

much the better, as the flavors will blend. Serve 

with the bread. 


- 40 -

Figs and Stilton 

Fresh figs are so delicious and versatile it’s hard to praise them 

enough. As they are not available year round, this is a seasonal 

treat. 

Fresh figs 

Stilton cheese 

Either green or black figs will work, though we 

generally use black. 

If Stilton is too pricey for you, other blue cheeses 

can be substituted for it. Try to use a dry one, as 

otherwise the cheese will just turn to butter and 

run out on the pan. 

Wash and cut the stem off the figs. Cut a deep 

but not wide cross into the top where the stem 

was, to make an accommodation for the cheese. 

Jam a small (3/8” square) piece of Stilton down 

into the resulting cavity. 

Place the figs into a baking dish, cheese up, and 

put them in a hot broiler for a few minutes, until 

the cheese is just melting. Remove and serve 

immediately. 


- 41 -

Figs and prosciutto 

Ah, prosciutto! This noble relic of the pig, pronounced proshyoot’-toe, 

is to ham, on the culinary scale, what wine is to 

grape juice. 

Figs 

Prosciutto 

Olive oil 

Optional 

Have the prosciutto sliced very thinly when you 

buy it. You can get by with domestic varieties, but 

good Italian prosciutto is the best. Spanish 

Serrano ham has a subtly different taste, but will 

also work very well here. 

Wash the figs and cut them into quarters or 

halves, lengthwise. Wrap each piece in a small 

piece of prosciutto. 

Place all on a baking dish. If you prefer, drizzle 

them very lightly with olive oil. Broil very briefly, 

until warm. Serve immediately. 


- 42 -

Prosciutto and orange on crackers 

Simple and exquisite. 

Crackers or toasts 

Fresh orange 

Prosciutto 

Olive tapenade 

Kiwi 

Optional 

Good fresh water crackers or toasts are essential. 

If you have time, warm them in a 275° oven for a 

few minutes before assembly. 

Cut the orange into very thin slices (a mandoline 

is handy here), and trim off the peel. 

If you’re using kiwi, peel and thinly slice that as 

well. 

To assemble, place an orange slice on each 

cracker, a kiwi slice on top of that, and a folded 

piece of prosciutto about 1” by 3” in size originally. 

Garnish with a tiny amount of a good Provençal 

olive tapenade. 

Cooking time: 20-30 mins. 

- 43 -

Bread and cheese 

The French generally save the cheese course for near the end of 

the meal. But Californians like to begin parties with great fresh 

bread and a variety of wonderful cheeses, to temper their 

appetites and soften the wine. 

Bread 

Cheese 

Wine 

Optional 

Pears and apples 

Grapes 

Lemon water 

Use whatever bread you prefer with cheese. 

For cheese, try 

• a decent size soft cows-milk cheese, such as 

Brie, Camembert, or Colommiers. St. André 

and Pavé d’Affinois are also wonderful, if a bit 

common these days 

• an equal quantity of good soft goats-milk 

cheese 

• a small amount of Gouda, cheddar or other 

harder sharper cheese 

• optionally some hard sheeps-milk cheese 

such as Manchego 

• a small amount of Roquefort, Stilton or other 

blue cheese 

Well before your guests arrive--several hours is 

not too much except on a very hot day--unwrap 

the cheese and place on a wooden serving plate 

or cheese platter. Cover lightly and let set in a 

warmish place to bring the cheese up to room 

temperature. 

Warm the bread in a 300° oven for a few minutes 

before serving. 

Pears and apples, sliced to bite sizes and kept 

fresh in lemon water, go very well to the side of 

the cheeses. So do grapes. 

Serve with wine. White wines, especially citrusy 

wines like Sancerre, Pino Grigiot and Sauvignon 

Blanc, and the lighter reds such as Rhones and 

Pinots, go well. 

Prep time: 2-3 hours 

- 44 -

Fried garlic 

Not nearly as deadly as their less cooked cousins, fried garlic 

cloves are gummy, almost sweet, and are wonderful on crackers 

or a good country-style Italian bread. 

Garlic cloves 

Olive oil 

Peeling your own garlic cloves is the best and 

most virtuous course of action, of course, but I 

usually wimp out and buy a jar of peeled cloves 

from the grocery, and just trim off the ends. 

Use a decent grade of olive oil, but not a high-end 

one. When you are done you will have most of it 

left over, but now with a nice garlic flavor. 

In a chef’s pan, heat 1/2” of oil until it is threatening 

to smoke. Add garlic cloves until they’re 

just covered by the oil, and reduce the heat. You 

want a low “boil” throughout the cooking process. 

Roll the cloves about every 5-10 minutes. After 

about a half hour or 40 minutes, the garlic should 

be dark brown over at least half of the total 

surface area of all the cloves. 

The cloves are done when they are gooey, 

gummy and yummy. Remove them from the oil 

to a paper towel, and then serve, or use them to 

make canapes on water crackers or toast. 


- 45 -

Avocado and balsamic vinegar 

This is more of a restaurant-sized appetizer than a canapé. But 

it’s a wonderful way to show off that new amazing balsamic 

vinegar you found. 

Avocados 

Balsamic vinegar 

The better the balsamic vinegar, the more superb 

these will taste. I currently use a very expensive 

($55) 10-year-old Modena vinegar, which means 

this is a fairly pricey treat. A good fig or fig-anddate 

balsamic, if you can find one, may cost less, 

and is also quite good. 

Avocados generally need to be bought ahead so 

they can ripen at home. If they’re already ripe at 

the store they’re likely to be bruised. Try to find 

them still a bit green but definitely turning black, 

and just a bit giving but not soft to the touch. A 

day or two ripening on the counter and they’ll be 

perfect. 

Halve the avocados. To get the pit out, chop 

sharply into the pit with a good knife and give a 

sideways twist, and out it will come. 

Put about a teaspoon or so of vinegar in each half 

and serve. Your guests should mix the vinegar in 

with the avocado flesh, to taste, as they spoon 

the flesh out of the shell. 

Serves 2 per avocado 


- 46 -

Yam slices with caviar 

One of the less ordinary but still easy things you can do with 

caviar 

Salmon caviar 

Creme fraiche 

Yam 

Optional 

Black olive 

Yam, with its dark orange flesh and stronger 

flavor, works better than sweet potatoes here, 

but sweet potatoes can be substituted without 

worries. 

Salmon caviar is not as highly valued as some 

other kinds, but is quite good and reasonably 

affordable as these things go. A caution: it is 

quite salty. I find it advisable to only buy small 

quantities, as one tires of it before too long. 

Given the expense, this is probably a good thing. 

Other kinds of caviar may be substituted. 

Be sure to use real creme fraiche. Sour cream will 

overcompete with the other tastes. 

Bake and peel, or peel and boil the yam, about 40 

minutes. Slice into nice pieces, about 1/4” thick. 

Spread with a dab of creme fraiche and anoint 

with a small spoonful of caviar. Garnish with a 

cute little sliver of black olive. Arrange on a 

platter and serve. 

Serves 6 per yam 


- 47 -

Crackers and caviar 

An old standby 

Wheat Thin brand 

crackers 

Creme fraiche 

Salmon caviar 

Optional 

Black olive 

Other combinations are certainly successful, but 

the lineup at left is known and tested. The Wheat 

Thins have a robust taste that pairs with the 

strong flavor of this caviar very well. 

Salmon caviar is one of the least expensive of the 

caviar family. I obtain mine at a Russian deli in 

San Francisco. 

Spread a dab of creme fraiche on each cracker. 

Place a small spoonful of caviar, garnish with a 

sliver of black olive (or not), and serve. 

Serves: 1 per 4 crackers 


- 48 -

Mushrooms stuffed with feta and pesto 

Another very easy yet delicious finger food treat, courtesy of my 

daughter Kathryn 

Mushrooms 

Feta cheese 

Basil pesto 

Olive oil 

I prefer brown Crimini (button) mushrooms for 

this, but white ones or baby portobellos should 

also yield excellent results. 

Use a nice crumbly feta and a neutral olive oil, so 

as not to overpower the pesto. 

Break the stems out of the mushrooms and 

discard them or save for another use. Place the 

caps closely in a well-oiled baking dish, cavity 

side up. Crumble feta cheese in to almost fill the 

cap, and spoon on enough pesto so that some 

remains on top. 

Bake at 375° for about 30 minutes, or until done. 

I like them baked less than this, almost raw, 

myself, but getting the mushroom caps more 

soggy through continued baking seems to suit 

the general population better. 


- 49 -

Tomatoes with mayo and basil on toast 

Another seasonal treat featuring dead ripe tomatoes 

Ripe heirloom tomatoes 

Petit pain 

Mayonnaise 

Fresh basil leaves 

Olive oil 

You can of course enjoy this year round, but 

when the heirloom tomatoes are in the stores in 

late summer is when this goes from merely good 

to divine. Shop around. Amazingly, Safeway has 

had the best selection of good ripe heirloom 

tomatoes in my area the last couple years. 

You’ll want a high quality grassy flavored olive oil 

for this. Other types are okay but not as good. 

I love using “petit pain” (small short country style 

French batards, essentially), but a reasonable 

Italian bread such as Ciabatta will do just as well. 

Make your own mayonnaise (page 32) if you can. 

Good store bought is fine though. 

Cut the bread into toastable slices and toast it 

very lightly. Don’t even turn it brown, just crisp it 

and warm it up. 

Cut the toast slices into sizes ready for a tomato 

slice. Put them on plates and drizzle them generously 

with olive oil. Slice the tomatoes fairly 

thickly (say 4 slices per tomato), and place them 

on the toasts. Place a dab of mayo on each, and 

drizzle with coarsely chopped basil leaves. Serve. 


- 50 -

Appetizers - Alan's Cookbook

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