Pastry Queen Parties: Entertaining Friends and Family, Texas Style

Chapter one\ Hill Country Garden Party\ Hill Country folks will seize upon the smallest of excuses to throw a party. Take Wurstfest, a ten-day salute to sausage held every October in the Hill Country town of New Braunfels. It starts when the town's dignitaries stand on stage and simultaneously bite on a long strand of linked sausage.\ Or the annual weekend party hosted at the Johnson City ranch of Texas tycoon Red McCombs, who built a fortune investing in oil, automobiles, and airwaves. It starts with a barbecue and ends with a lively auction of Texas longhorns, an impressive-looking but unpractical breed that has become a status symbol for wealthy weekend ranchers.\ Then there's Camey Stewart, who lives on a gorgeous spread just outside of Fredericksburg. Her annual Bluebonnet Bash to celebrate the splendid blossoming of the state flower every spring has grown into what must be one of the area's biggest potlucks. She sets up an outdoor table that stretches as far as the eye can see. Camey provides the meat, and guests–almost 200 showed up last year–bring a side dish and a chair.\ For many in the Hill Country, parties are an inevitable part of the landscape, much like the swelling hills, breathtaking vistas, and stands of old oaks that define the area. Perhaps our hearty appetite for entertaining grows out of the isolation of spread-out country living, where the closest neighbor often is far from shouting distance away. Maybe it's just that we are a hospitable lot–thriving on connections, a fine story well told, and good food shared. Whatever it is, my Hill Country compatriots party often, and I'm always impressed with the sense of fun and creativity that they bring to the table.\ Bobby Watson, who sells commercial kitchen equipment for a living, built his ranch home outside of Fredericksburg with parties in mind. "We wanted a great big kitchen with a bedroom attached," he says. Bobby and his wife, Linda, stage an annual Fourth of July celebration that starts July 3 with a well-stocked bar and a passel of friends to help decorate a float for the annual Fredericksburg Independence Day Parade. The party continues the next day when thirty-five or so of their closest friends squeeze onto the brightly festooned float and parade through the center of town, Bloody Marys and beers in hand. Then it's back to the Watson house for a down-home lunch with barbecue, pork and beans, coleslaw, and potato salad. It doesn't end there. After a nap and a swim, they head out to the fairgrounds for the fireworks display, grills, folding tables and chairs, tablecloths, and candles in tow. There, they enjoy an all-American cookout, with hot dogs, hamburgers, peach cobbler, and chocolate cake.\ Local ranchers aren't the only ones drawn into the Hill Country partying spirit. Art teacher Paige Conn, who lives near the center of Fredericksburg, joined a monthly supper club with twelve friends, and the results have been hilarious. Themes have ranged from Barbie and Ken, with Paige and husband, Blaine, showing up as Mermaid Barbie and Captain Ken; Survivor, with outdoor games in the couple's backyard; and a Pure Polyester Party, where guests came in vintage 1970s clothing. "We dress up, we have drinks and appetizers, and the evening takes its course," says Paige. The couples take turns hosting, and the hosts are in charge of the food.\ The Hill Country's mild year-round temperatures mean that outdoor parties aren't just for spring and summer. Even in the middle of December, evenings can be warm enough for alfresco entertaining.\ Navajo Grill chef-owner Josh Raymer recalls the two-wheeled progressive dinners he organized as a young bachelor. They started with bicycle barhopping and continued as he and his friends pedaled from one house to the next, feasting on a single course at each stop. Unlike much of the surrounding Hill Country, Fredericksburg's flat terrain and relatively small size make it ideal for bicycle entertaining.\ Mary and Marshall Cunningham host casual dinner parties just about every week at their Wild Rock Ranch, and they head out to friends' homes for dinner almost as often.\ "This is one of the friendliest areas I've ever seen," says Mary, who grew up in Louisiana and moved to Texas with her family seven years ago. In the Hill Country, regular entertaining begets even more.\ "At every party you get to meet new people, and then you want them to meet some people that you already know, and it goes round and round," she says. The parties are always casual, with guests likely to show up in jeans and boots, and everyone pitching in with cooking and cleanup. The food is simple at the Cunninghams', often grilled game and something from the garden. Mary asks what her friends have growing and tells them to bring whatever they have. Food is served buffet style and leftovers go straight to the animals (they have a menagerie that includes pigs and donkeys), so there's not a lot of cleanup.\ About four times a year, the Cunninghams throw big parties, with live music–they always hire local bands–and dancing on a stage glittering with lights hung from cedar poles. For parties big or small, Mary doesn't bother with a lot of extra decorating when she entertains.\ "In the spring we have the wildflowers, in summertime flowers are everywhere and we have a million stars in the sky. When the whole sky is lit up there's not a lot of need for decorating."\ Mini Okra Pancakes\ \ After handing guests a drink, I often like to offer them a special morsel of food to perk up their taste buds and to make everyone feel at home. My friend and Austin farmer extraordinaire Carol Anne Sayle shared this recipe, and it warmed my southern gal's heart. (For skeptics, these little pancakes do not suffer from the slime factor some associate with okra.)\ I served these at my annual garden party for chefs and friends, and people couldn't get enough. The trick is to serve them hot off the griddle, so make sure you have someone to fry them in a skillet, and someone else to pass them around while they're still hot. For this kind of job, I often enlist a shy guest or two. It keeps them busy, and frees them from the stress of having to make small talk. I've found that people will eat as many of these as they can get, but one or two per person is plenty and when they're gone, they're gone. (The recipe doubles easily if you're serving a crowd, though.)\ I have added a little touch of my own to Carol Anne's recipe. My garden was producing way more jalapeños than I could manage, so I decided to pickle them. I tossed a few chopped, pickled chiles into Carol Anne' s pancakes and loved the result. You can leave them out if you like.\ Serves 8 as an appetizer; about twenty-four 2-inch pancakes\ \ 3/4 cup cornmeal (preferably stone-ground)\ 1/4 cup all-purpose flour\ 1 teaspoon baking powder\ 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt\ 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper\ 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)\ 2 large eggs, lightly beaten\ 1 cup buttermilk, plus more if needed\ 1/4 cup olive oil\ 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard\ 2 cups fresh okra, stemmed and sliced into 1/4-inch pieces, or 1 (8-ounce) package frozen sliced okra, thawed\ 1/4 cup drained, chopped pickled jalapeño chiles (page 254, or use a store-bought version)\ 2 small onions, cut into 1/4-inch dice\ 4 cloves garlic, minced\ Mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and black pepper together in a bowl, along with the cayenne pepper if desired. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, the 1 cup buttermilk, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and the mustard. Sprinkle the chopped okra evenly with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add the okra, pickled jalapeños, onions, and garlic to the egg mixture and stir until combined. Add the cornmeal mixture and stir lightly until just combined. The dough should resemble a thin pancake batter. If it seems too thick, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of buttermilk.\ Add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to a large skillet set over medium heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, drop in 2 heaping tablespoons batter per pancake, leaving room between pancakes so they don't touch. Cook the pancakes, flipping once, until golden brown on both sides and cooked through, about 11/2 minutes per side. Serve immediately.

Introduction 1 chapter one Hill Country Garden Party 5 Mini Okra Pancakes 8 High’s Hummus with Pita Crisps 9 Sweet-and-Sour Lamb Ribs 11 Rebecca’s Table Caprese Salad 12 Sidebar: Party Tips from a Legendary Host 13 Fresh Corn and Pea Salad 14 Rustic Bread Salad 17 Sidebar: Artisan Cheesemaker Chrissy Omo 18 Roasted Beet Salad with Spicy Maple Pecans and Chrissy’s Fresh Chèvre 19 Watermelon Salads with Tequila-Lime Dressing 23 Avocado-Cucumber Soup 25 Grilled Quail Salad 27 Garden Tomato Lasagna with Pesto 30 Three Pigs Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Candied Carrots 33 Savory Smoked Tomato-Asiago Scones 35 Sidebar: Fred’s Party 36 Belted Galloway Ice Cream Sandwiches 38 Figgy-topped Pound Cakes 40 Plum Tart 43 Kimmie Cookies 45 Garden Party Cocktails 47 chapter two gulf coast beach bash 49 Chicken-fried Shrimp 52 Campechana 53 Marinated Crab Claw Cocktail 55 White Balsamic-Jicama Slaw 57 Seafood Gumbo 58 Farmstand Tomato Soup with Arugula Pesto 61 Sidebar: Gulf Coast Entertaining, Rockport Style 63 Cajun Catfish Tacos with Chipotle Mayonnaise 64 Champagne-marinated Shrimp Boil 67 Crab in Shells 68 Sidebar: Beach House Memories 70 Big Easy Whole Flounder 73 One-Pot Cajun New Potatoes 75 Lemony Artichokes au Gratin 76 Pineapple Bundt Cake 77 Sidebar: Beachside Frozen Pops 78 Cocoa Cloud Icebox Pies 81 Vanilla Sand Dollar Cookies 83 S’mores Cupcakes 85 Watermelon Mojitos 87 chapter three homecoming 89 Deviled Eggs 93 Layered Salad in a Jar 95 You Can Go Home Again Potato Salad 96 Curried Jasmine Rice Salad 97 Double-dipped Buttermilk Fried Chicken 99 Slow-baked Brisket with Bourbon Mustard Barbecue Sauce 101 Ralph’s Six Rivers Tuna with Honey Grain Rolls 104 Sidebar: The Six Rivers Ride 106 Gangy’s Spoon Bread 109 Butternut Squash Bread 110 Walnut Baked Beans 113 Butterscotch Brownies with Brown Sugar Butter Icing 115 Peach-Almond Bars 117 Hostess-with-the-Mostest Cupcakes 119 Sidebar: Tailgating 121 White Chocolate Cake with Spiky Meringue Frosting 122 Peanut Butter and Jam Cake 124 Syrup Cake 126 Graham Cracker-Pecan Crunch 127 Grandma Olfers’s Malted Mocha Bars 128 Homecoming Iced Tea 131 chapter four San Antonio Tex-Mex Fiesta 133 Pork and Tomatillo Quesadillas with Ancho Dipping Salsa 135 Queso 138 Rosa’s Red Posole 140 Lime Soup 143 Fiesta Chiles Rellenos 145 Sidebar: Fiesta 147 Chicken with Banana-Basil Mole 148 Beans a la Charra 150 Cheese Enchiladas with Chile Gravy 152 Rib-eye Fajitas on the Grill 155 El Rancho de la Reina Casserole 156 Puffy Tacos with Bison Chili 158 Rosa’s Mexican Rice and San Antonio Refried Beans 161 Sidebar: Loncito’s Food Salon 163 Cinnamon Crescents 165 Pequeño Chocolate-Pecan Tartlets 166 Chubby’s White Pralines 168 Key Lime-Coconut Cream Cake 171 Corona Sorbet 173 Silver Bullet Margaritas 175 White Sangria 175 chapter five Big-City cocktail party 177 Savory Double Cheese Slice-and-Bake Cookies 179 Polenta Rounds with Cheese, Chive Pesto, and Red Pepper 181 Sidebar: Soignée soirees 182 Tuna Spoons 183 Party-in-a-Shot-Glass Oyster Shooters 185 Wild Mushroom Turnovers 187 Sidebar: Better All the Time 189 Lemon-Ginger Chicken Canapés 190 Homemade Potato Chips 192 Cheddar Soup Cups 195 Avocado Pancakes with Crème Fraîche and Trout Roe 197 Mary’s Crayfish Pies 199 Sidebar: The Buddy System 201 Lemongrass-skewered Quail Sausage 203 Lemon-Chip Cookies 205 Chile Crinkle Cookies 206 Chocolate Mousse Cookies Two Ways 207 Black-and-White Bars 208 Big-City Cocktails 211 chapter six West Texas dinner party 213 El Rancho Chopped Salad with Cornbread Croutons and Creamy Poblano Dressing 217 Iceberg Wedge with Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing 219 Mary Jane’s Bean Pot Soup 220 Not Really Son-of-a-Bitch Stew 221 Beer-braised Short Ribs 222 Blue Javalina Grilled Lamb with Quinoa Pilaf 225 Chicken-fried Steak 227 Stuffed Bandera Quail with Pepper Glaze 229 Green Tomato Macaroni and Cheese 231 Sidebar: Party Maestro Don Strange 233 Achiote-seared Chickpeas 234 Butter Beans and Mixed Greens 237 Sweet Potato Biscuits 239 Bud’s Mashed Potato-Creamed Corn Casserole 240 Jalapeño Cornbread with Cheese, Corn, and Arugula 241 Giant Chocolate Cake with Cowboy Coffee Frosting 243 Sohnne’s Mama’s Double-Decker Blackberry Cobbler 247 Drunken Brandy-Peach Bread Pudding 248 Maple-Pecan Butter Thins 251 Top-Shelf Tea 252 Smoke Old-Fashioned 253 Basics and Sources 254 Acknowledgments 256 Index 258

\ From Barnes & NobleThis stand-alone successor to Rebecca Rather's Pastry Queen offers a fresh batch of over 100 appetite-inducing recipes, from sizzling Honey-Lavender Rack of Texas Lamb to refreshing Peach Daiquiri Likkercicles. Pastry Queen Parties is organized around the clever concept of six location-based events, ranging from a high-society Houston soirée to a West Texas artist-and-musicians' bash. This generously illustrated party menu planner also contains helpful tips and entertaining secrets from "Pastry Queen" Rather.\ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyA former caterer, Rather (The Pastry Queen) knows how to entertain, explain and keep things fun and manageable. This entertaining title for home cooks by the Texas native is full of creative and fun dishes that span the state. The six chapters are broken down by region and event and include Gulf Coast Beach Bash; San Antonio Tex-Mex Fiesta; and West Texas Dinner Party. Recipes for appetizers, mains, side dishes, desserts and cocktails showcase seasonal produce and include designated “Party Express” selections that can be prepared in an hour or less. Southern classics such as spoon bread, seafood gumbo, chicken-fried steak and sweet tea are balanced with Mexican and Mexican-inspired dishes such as posole, fajitas and chiles rellenos. Kitschy selections like hostess-with-mostest cupcakes, Corona sorbet and layered salad in a jar add to the mix. Color photos and essays on Texas traditions, residents and life give readers a feel for not only the big, bold flavors but the unique spirit of the Lone Star state. (Oct.)\ \ \ Library JournalTexas Hill Country caterer and chef Rather and Oresman's previous cookbook, The Pastry Queen Christmas, won the 2008 IACP Cookbook Award. Here, she shows cooks how to entertain Texas-style with more than 200 recipes organized in six location-themed chapters (e.g., "Hill Country Garden Party" and "Big-City Cocktail Party"). Rather includes party ideas for every occasion, whether it's a casual or formal affair, and a few recipes for kids (such as S'mores Cupcakes). Dishes that can be prepared in 60 minutes or under are indicated by a crown icon, and each recipe has a "Do It Early" section. This lively cookbook is sure to awaken the inner host in us all.\ \