Foreword
The best party advice I ever received came from two of the most fabulous wild women I have ever known. The first was from the beloved Sweet Potato Queen Jill Conner Browne who swears that you should “never wear panties to a party.” The other is from Lynette Rohrer Shirk, author of this book and a co-author of the fabulous Wild Women in the Kitchen, who wisely told me: “Always make sure the cooking wine is good enough to drink.” Once you know what to wear (or not) and what to drink (or not), the only things you need to get the party started are some trusty recipes and a shot of inspiration. That's where Wild Women Throw a Party comes in.
This book is the ultimate good-time muse. With its sassy attitude, iron-clad recipes, and inspiring themes, it never fails to get me excited about planning a get-together. With parties like Peggy Guggenheim's Art Gallery Opening, Dorothy Parker's Cocktail Party, and Women of the Senate Poker Party to guide you, you'll be sure to offer an experience that's as intellectually and creatively stimulating as it is fabulously fun and delicious.
Forget polishing the silver, timing the soufflé perfectly and mastering napkin origami. In this book, Lynette shares something that other cookbooks and entertaining books fail to understand—the best soirées do not spring from overly orchestrated labor or insane attention to detail. Good parties—great parties—spring wildly from unexpected combinations of interesting conversation, festive spirits, and delicious food simply prepared.
While Wild Women Throw a Party bursts with attitude and joie de vivre, make no bones about it, Lynette is no slouch in the technique department. She's got all the snooty qualifications—world-class culinary training, 5-star restaurant experience, legions of A-list and celebrity fans—without any of the “I can cook better than you” condescension. Lynette appreciates a fine, hand-made French cheese, but you'll be just as likely to find a stick of Velveeta in her cupboard. And with her help you could make something delicious out of either.
With Lynette's easy-to-follow methods and down-to-earth voice, Wild Women Throw a Party is like cooking alongside your best girlfriend with a glass of wine and an 80s mix tape playing in the background. She makes entertaining feel the way it should—effortless and fun.
I confess that for my endorsement of this book, I was buttered up. Wild women know how to get what they want and in this case Lynette knew exactly how to curry my favor. I was plied with irresistible creations—dinner plate-sized almond torte cookies frosted in bittersweet chocolate, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies, and homemade nut brittle spiked with coffee beans, to name just a few of the treats that secured my commendations.
—Ame Mahler Beanland
In the Beginning, There Were Wild Women
This celebration of Wild Women is more than just another cookbook; it is a book full of women's history, stories, biographies, party themes, recipes, ideas, inspirations, tidbits of information, and fun. Wild Women of notoriety are explored, explained, and paired with a party theme and recipes related to their unique stories. Sophia Loren's Pajama Party is a tribute to the diet of pasta that created a legend. Joan Crawford's Mother's Day dishes about the actress and her eccentricities while dishing out such recipes as What Ever Happened to Baby Back Ribs and Mildred Pierce's Roast Chicken. The Women of the Senate's Poker Party lets you know when to hold ‘em and Dorothy Parker's Cocktail Party will help you pretend the Volstead Act never passed! The darker side of Wild Women is exposed in The Bacchae Halloween Party, complete with omo-phagia (raw flesh-eating); and murder and obsession are entangled with a famous turn-of-the-century restaurant in A Florodora Girl's After-Hours Dinner Party. Occasions include the Oscars, New Year's Eve, Mardi Gras, and Halloween while a Picnic, a Pool Party, or an Ice Cream Social are themes to celebrate any occasion such as a birthday, holiday, or shower. You can turn anything into an occasion to celebrate, with the right attitude and a few great recipes. Here's a recipe the original Wild Woman (Eve) could have used to throw a garden party with her fig leaves; and one hundred more party-worthy recipes.
Original Sin Halibut
SERVES 2
INGREDIENTS:
2 large fig leaves
2 six ounce filets of halibut
1 teaspoon olive oil salt and pepper to taste
METHOD:
1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2 Wipe fig leaves clean with a damp towel.
3 Dip fingers in olive oil and smooth some on each fig leaf.
4 Sprinkle the halibut filets with salt and pepper and place one on each fig leaf.
5 Fold and tuck the sides of the fig leaf up and around the halibut and place the packet seam side down on an oiled baking sheet so the leaves don't unwrap.
6 Bake for 15 minutes.
7 Remove from the oven and turn the packets over. Carefully open the leaves and transfer the halibut to plates.
Chapter 1
Party Girls
The Mistress of Modernism's Art Gallery Opening
Peggy Guggenheim
Peggy Guggenheim was a twentieth-century patroness of the arts, most notable for bringing together the European Surrealists with the American Abstract Expressionists. She opened her New York Gallery, Art of This Century, in December 1942. A partial inventory of the opening works includes pieces by Arp, Brancusi, Calder, Chagall, Duchamp, Ernst, Kandinsky, Klee, Magritte, Man Ray, Miro, Mondrian, Picasso, and Vail (her first husband).
Art of This Century was comparable to the Armory Show of 1913, with its scandalous modern content that rocked popular imagination and drew large crowds. Peggy's gallery was interactive, making art fun and accessible to a general audience rather than just to elite wealthy buyers. It was a highly democratic experience, with the idea that it would be an art center where ideas would be freely exchanged. Its goal was to show that art was not static. The mission of the gallery was to serve the future, not to record the past, and its greatest contribution was that it showed unproven artists.
Peggy Guggenheim was one of only two female gallery owners in New York at the time of opening Art of This Century. She exhibited an all-women's art show, “Exhibition by 31 Women” in January 1943, with the works of Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Meret Oppenheim (who had shocked MOMA viewers with her fur-lined tea set). She has said that her single greatest discovery was Jackson Pollock, whose career she launched with a one-man show.
A Bohemian Painter's Party
Peggy Guggenheim's discovery, Jackson Pollock, is credited with the invention of “action painting.” In action painting, Pollock used sticks instead of brushes to drip and fling paint onto a giant canvas, which was not upright on an easel but laid out flat on the floor of his barn studio. He hovered over the canvas and became part of the painting. The recipes below take off on the painting theme to create an artist's palette for your guests' palates!
The recipe for Paint “Brushes” with Paint Pot Dipping Sauces mimics Pollock's technique because the “brushes” have no brush, just the stick part. The different colored dipping sauces are arranged to resemble paint pots. The sauce flavors are honey-mustard, lemony ranch, zesty barbecue, olive-marinara and sesame-soy. The Modern Art Tart is an eggplant pizza with Asian flavors. It is garnished like an abstract modern art piece with various forms and vibrant colors. For dessert, the Jackson Pollock Ice Cream Canvases give your guests a chance