.gif)
The most challenging dinners I cook all year are the ones I serve in the homes of people who bought my services at charity auctions. I'm flattered that they attract bids as high as they do, but a little embarrassed, too. I'm never quite sure that what I will cook will be worth what the people paid for it. So I get a bit extreme. For years, until Beluga caviar became endangered, I started these dinners with an appetizer of that rare, wonderful stuff, served over a traditional New Orleans lost bread, but made without the sweet elements (sugar and vanilla), and with a little onion in the custard. But you can use any kind of good caviar to make this convincing.
- Small French baguette, cut into round slices about 3/4 inch thick
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- Pinch nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- Pinch white pepper
- 2 Tbs. pureed white onion
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Sour cream
- 2 Tbs. finely chopped chives
- 4 oz. caviar
1. Blend the eggs, milk, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and pureed onions in a wide bowl. Soak the bread rounds until they're wet with the custard mixture all the way through, but not falling apart.
2. Heat about a quarter-inch of the oil in a skillet until it shimmers at the surface. Fry the bread rounds until they are quite a dark brown on both sides, turning once. Drain on a paper towel and keep warm.
3. Spread a little sour cream on each bread round. Sprinkle with chives, and top with a generous spoonful of caviar.
Serves eight.