Ah, the Curse of the Potluck and its familiar dilemmas that grip and nag — what to bring, what to bring?
Something sweet, something savory? Something indulgent that will please everyone who doesn’t know how much butter went into it, or something healthful so your friends will live longer with a healthy heart and glowing skin?
An old favorite that won’t let you down but won’t electrify anyone either, or a new recipe that has great potential but involves a non-negligible risk of failure, mortification, and the glare of disgrace cast upon your offspring for seven generations?
Add to the equation the need for something that will require neither silverware nor last-minute prep and that will travel well in the basket of your vélib during the cross-city ride, and you’ve got yourself one big-mama quandary.
And yet, in the murk, the gleam of an idea that would tie all those loose strings together: bite-size scones, flavored with aged Parmesan, carrots, and home-grown rosemary.
Savory yet so caressing in texture as to be almost sweet, indulgent but not damnably so (hey, there’s carrots in there!), they would be built as a riff on this time-honored recipe. Safely wrapped in foil, they would be transported to their final destination, where they would be stacked on a serving plate I would also bring, so my friend the hostess wouldn’t need to rummage for one and I would earn brownie points (she makes really good brownies) for being so provident.
Everything went as planned: I did not burn the scones, I managed to fend off hungry fingers for most of the afternoon (a few specimens had to be sacrificed to appease the gods of the 5 o’clock munchies), and the scones soon found a comfortable spot in which to settle, cozying up to the marvels produced by the other contributing cooks.
The one thing that did not go as planned had nothing to do with the potluck party, or my scones. It stings nonetheless.
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Speaking of which — have you noticed the little French flag floating around in the upper right-hand corner of this page, and at the bottom of some entries? It links to the brand-new French version of C&Z, where I will, from here on in, publish a translation of the recipes with an abridged intro.