Michael Odom wrote:
>
> On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 01:55:27 GMT, Dog3 > wrote:
>
> >I have a party to go 2 Friday night. I have to take something. I'm
> >completely jaded on things to take.

Spears of raw jicama dusted with good mild chile powder and lime juice.

1 1/4 lb THIN sliced yam or sweet potato, marinated
overnight in 3 T rice vinegar, 1 teas toasted sesame oil, 1 1/2 T
sugar,
1 teas salt. I put in a sealed container and shook a few times during
the rest. Just before serving add cilantro....I added quite a bit,
whole
leaf.

Really good hummus, made delightful by the addition of plenty of
dry-toasted cumin seeds coarsely crushed after toasting. I dust mine
with smoked Spanish paprika.

Bake some good bread. If you aren't a sponge type bread baker, make a
quickbread like apple bread. Beard on Bread has several real winners.

Or Focaccia. Here is an old post of mine, from a meal with Ardi Butler
and
Relaena, from 1998, when I was young and childless, still. I still make
this focaccia and it is ripped up and devoured whereever I take it.
<begin paste>

For the focaccia, I used one of the recipes from
Secrets of a Jewish
Baker for the dough:

2 Cups warm water
1 package yeast
2 T good olive oil
5+ cups of flour (I mix all purp and bread
flours)
1 T salt.
Mix, knead well, keeping the dough soft, let
double, punch down,
rollout, let rest, roll out again, place on
greased cookie sheet (olive
oil) and coax out to the edges. Grease the top
with olive oil. Bake at
400 F for 25 minutes, cool on wire rack.

For topping, I did one which I think if from
James Beard: poke some
garlic slivers in the dough and place liberal
amounts of fresh rosemary
sprigs on the top. Remove the rosemary and
garlic before serving. The
garlic gets too dark, but the flavours of both
infuse the bread!
The other topping I swiped from somewhere....
Mix one part roasted red pepper, one part cream
cheese and 1/3 part
balsamic vinegar in a blender. Smear on unbaked
focc. dough. Bake. The
last few minutes, add a dry cheese...I did a bit
of parme, but myzithra
is what the original recipe called for.