You're invited to a potluck. They want you to bring the very type of dish that you never make.
Don't panic, and don't turn down the invitation. Instead, get a copy of "Bring It!" by Ali Rosen.
This potluck cookbook covers every base, even how to get the food to the event. Badges indicate dishes that take 30 minutes or less, that can be prepared a day ahead and that can go directly from the fridge to the table, without any awkward heating up at the party site.
Want an example? Consider this tomato, roasted corn and feta salad. "It will take you 10 minutes, and everybody will be raving about it all night," Rosen said.
The salad was on the menu when Rosen appeared at Melissa's Produce to sign books, talk about potlucking and demo a couple of dishes from the book.
She's a genuine potluck specialist, known for the TV series "Potluck with Ali" in New York, where she lives, and for her website, "Potluck."
Bored with tired casseroles and other potluck staples, she set to writing "the book I felt I wanted that no one had written." The recipes are easy, distinctive and showy. "No one is going to pick your dish if it doesn't look good," she said.
Here's an example, prosciutto wrapped asparagus.
And a snap pea salad with Parmesan and bacon.
And a shaved carrot salad made without lettuce, which could grow limp and soggy as it stands.
Sometimes it's a little thing that sets a dish apart, such as adding shrimp to deviled eggs.
Pasta with bolognese sauce? You can do this in a jiffy, adding umami flavor with a couple of "secret ingredients" rather than simmering the sauce for hours. (You'll have to buy the book to get the secrets.)
The subtitle of "Bring It!" is "Tried and True Recipes for Potlucks and Casual Entertaining," the latter meaning dinner parties where you offer to bring something. And if you're told not to? Rosen covers that with flavored popcorns and cookies that the hosts can eat later.
"Tried and True" sounds dull, but it's accurate. Rosen tried out everything at tasting dinners and discarded the duds. "Everything in the book is real," she said, meaning no styling artifices were employed to make the dishes look better than what you would make at home.
The recipes are easy but punchy with flavor. And they're certainly not the same old thing. On a trip to Japan, Rosen learned about strawberry sandwiches, and here they are, the berries sandwiched with whipped cream between slices of fluffy white bread. This may sound weird, but it was one of the biggest draws at Melissa's.
As were these spectacularly good snowy chocolate cookies.
"The whole idea of the book is about looking good and not being difficult," Rosen said. Nature gave her the perfect quip to sum up her demo. As an earthquake mildly shook the room, she said, "This food makes the earth move."
TOMATO, ROASTED CORN AND FETA SALAD
From "Bring It!" by Ali Rosen
3 ears corn (about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of kernels)
2 cups diced tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup diced basil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
If you have a gas stove, turn a stovetop burner to medium heat. Place the corn directly on top and turn approximately every minute until the corn is charred all the way around.
If you do not have a gas stove, you can place the corn under the broiler in your oven, but be sure to turn every 10 to 20 seconds to avoid overcooking it.
Allow the corn to fully cool and then cut the kernels from the cob. Combine the corn with the tomatoes, feta, basil, lemon juice, olive oil and a dash each of salt and pepper.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
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