With fall comes holidays and other various gatherings. And with holidays and various gatherings comes food! And that typically means one thing: potlucks.
I have attended copious potlucks in my day. There've been school potlucks, work potlucks, family potlucks, neighborhood potlucks, house-warming potlucks, bridal shower potlucks, charity potlucks, etc. etc. From these experiences, I have gathered important hosting and culinary data, which may be summarized in these Laws of Potlucks (sort of like the Laws of Physics, only more helpful):
#1 - There will always be too much chips and dip.
#2 - There is never enough tasty/healthy fruits and/or vegetables.
#3 - There is never be enough tasty protein.
#4 - There will be too many desserts.
#5 - Most of these desserts will be mediocre at best.
#6 - Any of the really good dishes will be brought in tiny quantities.
How is this helpful, you may be asking? Because it can help you plan. At the very least, you can plan to grab a sack before hand, of either the high-protein or high-vegetable variety, depending on your dietary needs. Better yet, you can plan what to bring based around the usual gaps, and be rewarded with lavish praise from grateful guests. For example: don't bring a cheap tray of deli meats--they only seem popular because of the lack of protein! Instead, bring a generous amount of chicken satay. Yummy, different, on a stick and therefore potluck friendly! (And a lot of quality grocery stores carry it in their deli section if you're too lazy to make it yourself.)
But best of all, if you have any kind of culinary ego (like me--I admit it) you can really shine if you make something from scratch that is a true people pleaser. Which is why I suggest the Tart Trio, which allows you to bring something tasty, plentiful, home-made, and - best of all - pretty darn easy. In fact, I'd say easier than making a single pie.
The trick is in the timing. To start, you need a batch of my pie dough, in three rounds--because you're going to make three free-form tarts. Now this dough can be made the day of if you give yourself time to let it chill. Or it can be made a few days in advance, since the dough keeps in the fridge the better part of a week. Or it can be made up to three months in advance, and kept in the freezer--just make sure you move it to the fridge a couple days ahead to let it thaw.
Next, you need a simple filling that can be given three easy, but distinctive twists. You could made a whipped cream cheese filling to spread over cooled crust, and then cover with three types of berries. Or you could spread with a chocolate ganache and apply three different chopped cookies/candy (for a Halloween potluck, try topping one with crumbled Oreos, one with chopped peanut butter cups, and one with chopped toffee)! For the potluck I attended last weekend, however, I chose apples. They're tasty, they're in season, and when you consider the Second Law of Potlucks, it makes you feel slightly better about eating extra dessert.
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| Can't go wrong with fresh fruit! |
Ingredients:
One batch of pie dough, in three rounds
About 8 large pie apples
1/3 Cups white sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Topping #1:
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
1/4 heaping teaspoon nutmeg
2 generous pinches ground cloves
1/4 Cup crystalized ginger
2 Tablespoons butter
Topping #2:
1/4 Cup caramel sauce (I like home made)
1 teaspoon good flaked sea salt
Topping #3:
2 Tablespoons apricot jam
1/3 Cup chopped pistachios (I like roasted and salted)
- Preheat your oven to 385º F, with two racks positioned to separate your oven space into even thirds. While your oven is pre-heating, wash, peel, and slice your apples. For this batch, I used Northern Spy apples, a varietal I'd never heard of before but which my farmer's market source assured me would have good shape, good flavor, and be a good balance of tart and sweet. And he was right! As always, wht really matters most about apples in pie is that your pieces be roughly uniform, so that they cook evenly.
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| It took me years, but I finally mastered peeling apples in one long strip! Not with that knife, though. |
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| Ta-daaa! Don't that look professional? |
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| I had apples left over, too, because mine were big! They went into my oatmeal the next morning. |
- Your tarts are done when the apples are tender, the crust lightly browned, and the lovely smell of apple pie is suffusing your home. Remove to a rack and allow to cool (these can be made the day before, but I would not recommend making them more than 24 hours in advance).
- Once cool, complete your remaining toppings. Strew the crystalized ginger over your spiced apple tart. For the second, warm the caramel slightly, drizzle over one tart, and sprinkle with sea salt. For the final tart, melt the apricot jam in a microwave and brush over the apples. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios over, and there you have it! Three distinct tarts, and they only took you the time for one regular apple pie.
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| Note the bowl of chips from the potluck and snuck into the picture. See the First Law of Potlucks. |
But the final step is always the same: impress. Once people see that you broke all the Laws of Potlucks by bringing something a) homemade, b) plentiful, and c) tasty, they will begin to admire you with a sincerity bordering on reverence. And you will receive many, many potluck invitations in the future.