All I want for Christmas is my caviar pie. Which is a jolly good thing, since it's the only dish I take joy in creating.
Born without the cooking gene, my talent was always for producing and managing parties, until Brent Power, my best friend from grade school served up a delectable dip Christmas Eve 1982 at my wedding shower and I was hooked. I actually broke down, copied the recipe (my first ASK ever) and have been serving it and bringing it as my pot luck contribution ever since to ooh's and ahh's.
Ina Garten’s Roasted Eggplant Spread
Pesto, Olive, and Roasted-Pepper Goat Cheese Torta
Rebecca’s Simple Ricotta Spread with Garlic Bruschetta
Sun-Dried Tomato Goat Cheese Spread
Don't let the name scare you, you CAN use caviar if you're feeling flush, but a jar or two of cods roe will fool even the most discriminating foodie. Red or black depending on your mood and the time of year, but I swear by basic black and let my paprika provide the rouge. I promise you, it's fool proof, if I can pull it off, so can you. Prepare to take a bow and dig in.
Holly's Foolproof Caviar Pie
1 glass 9” pie plate
2 small jars or 1 medium jar of cod's roe (red or black)
1 tub of whipped cream cheese
1 small Vanilla Yogurt – (you can use plain yogurt if you must, but why would you?)
1 small sour cream
3 hard-boiled eggs
1-bunch scallions
Paprika
1 lemon for juice
In a bowl, mix the sour cream, cream cheese and yogurt in equal parts. Spread the mixture in the pie plate and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
Boil the eggs and refrigerate, so they're easy to chop.
1 hour before serving
Spread the cods roe/caviar over the cream cheese sour cream yogurt mixture in the pie plate
Then the chopped eggs
Then finely chop the stalks off the scallions and spread over the eggs
Dash of paprika
Then lemon juice - not too much
Decorate with lemon slices
Set the pie plate on a serving dish
Serve with your favorite crackers around the rim of the dish
(Plain ones like Carr’s water crackers are the best.)
Holly Palance has been a columnist for BUZZ Magazine, The Editor-in Chief of
Santa Barbara Magazine and Editor-in-Chief of Distinction Magazine at the LA
Times. She is now President of PALANCE et Al, a media consulting firm - he
clients include Direct Relief International, The Santa Barbara Vintners Foundation
and The Santa Barbara Film Festival.