New Year’s Eve parties are just around the corner. If you’re hosting, you’re probably on the hunt for some clever but (key word) easy canape recipes that can feed a crowd. So we tapped some local experts for inspiration, asking them to turn the humble hors d’oeuvre staple, the potato — in skin, chip and tot forms — into an appropriately festive finger snack.
Potato skins with smoked trout and horseradish
By Carl Dooley, chef at The Table at Season to Taste
Dooley knows how to pack big flavor into small packages. The “Top Chef” alum has only 20 seats at his intimate Cambridge eatery, The Table at Season to Taste, where guests get a front-row view of the open kitchen as he prepares eclectic and seasonal four-course prix fixe menus. A variation of this fun canape has been at his Table lately — now it can be on yours.
Potato skins with smoked trout and horesradish
15 small Yukon gold or fingerling potatoes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 c. sour cream
1 jar prepared horseradish
1 lb. sliced smoked trout or smoked salmon fillets
1 bunch fresh dill
Bake the potatoes at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or so or until tender and allow to cool slightly. Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the middle to achieve 30 skins.
Spread out the skins on a baking sheet with the skin side down. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put back into the oven, bake until crisp, about 20 minutes.
To serve: Fill each potato skin with a small spoon of sour cream, a pinch of horseradish and a slice of fish. Garnish with cracked black pepper and a few pieces of fresh dill. Makes 30.
Potato chips with scrambled eggs and caviar
By Jared Forman, chef-owner at Deadhorse Hill
Deadhorse Hill has helped breathe new life into downtown Worcester’s dining scene. The spot specializes in innovative New American cuisine made with farm-fresh ingredients and served with a sense of fun, an approach that makes even higher-end ideas feel accessible — like, you know, caviar served on potato chips. Hopefully, this same ethos will carry over to its team’s next venture, Simjang, a Korean-American restaurant coming to Wormtown in 2018.
Potato chips with scrambled eggs and caviar
1 russet potato
Salt and fresh ground pepper
2 eggs
1 oz. heavy cream (or milk)
1 t. butter
Small jar of salmon roe caviar
Small bundle of chives
Thinly slice the potato on a mandoline slicer and soak in salted water for 10 minutes. Remove from water and place in a colander to dry for 5 minutes. Fry at 350 degrees until golden brown and crisp. Toss in a bowl and season lightly with salt. Place on paper towels to remove excess oil.
In a small mixing bowl, crack eggs and add heavy cream, a pinch of salt and a few turns of fresh ground black pepper. Whisk mixture well. Place a nonstick frying pan on medium heat and add butter. When butter starts to foam and color, add eggs. Once eggs begin to set on the bottom of the pan, scrape with rubber spatula in long strokes. The idea is to have long ribbons of gently cooked eggs; do not brown and don’t break apart the big curds. Once eggs are solid but still look moist, empty into a bowl. Be careful not to overcook or eggs will become dry and chalky.
Scoop small mounds of eggs onto each potato chip and garnish with pepper, salmon roe caviar and finely sliced chives. Makes 12-24 chips.
For Dan Whalen’s recipe for Cheeseburger Tot Sliders, go to Fork Lift at bostonherald.com.
Cheeseburger tot sliders
By Dan Whalen, author of “Tots! 50 Tot-ally Awesome Recipes From Totchos to Sweet Po-Tot-O Pie”
Over the last decade, Whalen has created more than 1,000 recipes for his website, TheFoodInMyBeard.com, garnering thousands of social media followers and a rep as a man who knows how to funk-up comfort food with finesse. In May, he’ll release his second cookbook with Workman Publishing (available for preorder), a tome that uses the modest frozen tater tot as the foundation for dozens of flair-filled iterations — including this sneak preview he’s offered for bite-sized burgers with tots as buns.
Cheeseburger tot sliders
32 frozen coin-shaped tots
2 T. vegetable or peanut oil
1/2 lb. 85% lean ground beef
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
4 slices American cheese
Ketchup, for topping
Mustard, for topping
16 gherkins
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the tots on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle them with the oil. Toss the tots gently to coat evenly with oil. Spread them out in an even layer. Bake, undisturbed, until they are browned on the bottom, about 15 minutes. Flip the tots with a spatula and bake until they are browned and crisp on top, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, form and cook the burgers: Line a clean work surface with a sheet of wax paper and put the ground beef on top. Put another sheet of wax paper on top of the beef and press it down into a 4-by-6-inch rectangle. Remove the top piece of wax paper and season the meat with salt and pepper to taste. Cut the meat into sixteen 1-by-1 1/2-inch rectangles.
Break each slice of cheese into quarters, and fold each quarter over to make 16 pieces of double-thick cheese. Set aside.
Cook the burgers in a large nonstick frying pan over high heat, until browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Flip the burgers, lay a piece of double-thick cheese on each, and cook until the burgers are cooked through and the cheese has melted, about 5 minutes more. (You may have to do this in two batches if you don’t have a big enough pan.)
Remove the tot “buns” from the oven and top half with the cooked cheeseburger patties. Squeeze a tiny bit of ketchup and mustard onto each cheeseburger and then top with the gherkin. Finally, poke a food pick through the center of each of the remaining tot buns. Place one on top of a cheeseburger stack and stab the food pick all the way down through the center to make a sandwich. Repeat with the remaining tot buns, toppings and cheeseburgers.
Serve hot. If not serving immediately, reheat on a baking sheet in the oven at 200 degrees for 5 minutes. Makes 16 mini sliders.
