The Best Hors D’Oeuvre I Ate This Year

Saturday night I was lucky enough to be at a very happening Gastown party. It was for Kaili Zevenbergen, a gorgeous designer and artist and Mike Fraser, the wildly talented multi instrumentalist with the band Fur Bearing Animals. The dress code ordered guests to rock looks from 1977(Kaili’s birth year) to 1988(Mike’s birth year). Your reporter began the evening in a cream 70′s dress with gold and cream ostrich feathers on the sleeves and ended the evening in men’s acid wash jeans, rose-tinted specs and a day-glo yellow t-shirt.

Andrew Clements, Kaili’s boyfriend and Mike’s bandmate, hosted the party. His spare ground level space is in a heritage building and had been kitted out to groove. Birthday boy Mike cranked out deeply satisfying 70′s and 80′s dance tunes from a small built-in stage. A disco ball spun serenely overhead, while Kaili taught us moves on a stripper pole. Man! Those Sagittarians know how to party.

The food table was perfectly excecuted house party fare: large chunks of good-quality cheese, hot pickled carrots made by yours truly, the ubiquitous Lesley Stowe crisp, rich espresso brownies cut the size of truffles, AND, drum roll please, Mushroom and Onion Tartlets. These sturdy, earthy handhelds are made with left over brown bread They’re easy manage while sipping Champagne and shaking your booty, and are a substantial stop-gap for a missed dinner. Perhaps best of all, they maintain their loveliness till the last party guest goes home(in this case 4am).

Kaili served her tartlets with some hot chili jelly we made in the Okanagan last summer but pretty much any chutney would be delightful. Not sure of the origin. All I know is it came from a recipe card with teeny-tiny writing. Enjoy.

Mushroom and Onion Tartlets

2tbsp olive oil
1 large onion chopped
1 ½ cups of finely sliced mushrooms
1tbsp sugar
leaves from 2-3 sprigs of thyme
12 slices regular brown bread
2/12 cups of Gruyere or sharp cheddar, grated
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Gear: 2 non-stick muffin tins

Directions: Heat olive oil in skillet, add onions. Sauté until softened and golden.
Add sugar, season with salt and pepper. Add mushrooms and thyme cook over high until mushrooms soften.

Using the top of a glass stamp out circles of brown bread spread lightly with Press firmly in place, butter side down. Put teaspoonfuls of mushroom mixture in bread cup, top with grated cheese. Bake at 425 for about 10-15 minutes or until golden and bubbling. Serve hot or eat cold at 4am. Makes 24

By Jasmine Pahl - The Food Reporter