The Appetizers

My first large scale completely gluten free Thanksgiving was a resounding success. Of course I had the luxury of taking the three days before Thanksgiving off of work to spend time with my family in California. This gave me more time to shop and prepare for the big event. As much as I love Manhattan, it was great to be able to go to a grocery store in a car, fill up a cart and not worry about how I would carry everything back on the subway.

Recipes and photos of the rest of the meal will be posted next week, but today here is a look at the appetizers. Of course there were plenty of the rosemary roasted cashews I posted about on Thanksgiving. I always have a crudite platter at my parties – this was also one of the few things I was able to ask someone else to bring without worry of cross-contamination. I just made sure to serve a gluten free dip to complement the fresh cut veggies.

I had a great time tasting cheeses at Whole Foods before selecting the four for my cheese platter. I served a smoked gouda, aged gruyere, a goat’s brie (Guilloteau Florette), and my favorite: Kings Isl Seal Bay Triple Cream. To accompany the cheese, there was a quince paste and Dr. Schar’s gluten free crackers - they have a similar consistency to a Ritz cracker and work particularly well with the soft cheeses.

Finally, a party isn’t a party at my family gatherings without this chili sauce platter. It’s Homade brand chili sauce (Heinz will not work) served over softened cream cheese with tortilla chips. This chili sauce was the first item about which I called a manufacturer to check on it’s gluten free status. I was quite relieved to know that as long as I bought gluten free tortilla chips and cream cheese, I could continue to participate in the family tradition.

It’s back to New York tomorrow. Home sweet home.