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Olive Canapes
1 large alligator pear 1/2 teaspoon salt shake of paprika 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 cup stuffed olives 1/2 cup sweet pickles Mayonnaise Mash the alligator pear and add seasonings. Add the chopped olives and pickles and sufficient mayonnaise to make a smooth paste. Spread on fried toast points or rounds of buttered bread. Garnish with olive rings. Serves 10.
A simple avocado spread from the era when avocados were still an exotic novelty. The one thing to get right is timing: the mixture browns within an hour or two, so mix and spread close to serving.
- Alligator pearThis is an avocado. One large fruit gives roughly a cup of mashed flesh; use a ripe Hass or similar that yields to gentle pressure. The variety on sale when this was written was more likely the smooth-skinned Fuerte, which is less oily than the Hass that dominates markets now.
- BrowningThe recipe includes no acid, which is why the paste dulls quickly. A teaspoon or two of lemon juice keeps the colour without altering the flavour balance, and the surface should be covered directly with wrap if it must stand.
- Stuffed olivesGreen olives stuffed with pimiento, sold in jars then as now. A cup, drained and chopped fine, is a substantial amount against a single avocado -- taste before adding the full quantity if your olives are aggressively brined.
- Sweet picklesSweet cucumber pickles of the gherkin type, not dill. Chop them fine and blot them dry, or the moisture will loosen the paste and defeat the mayonnaise.
- SaltHalf a teaspoon plus a cup of olives and half a cup of pickles is a lot of salt. Season at the end rather than at the start as written.
- Fried toast pointsBread crusts trimmed, cut into triangles or rounds, and fried in butter until crisp rather than toasted dry. They can be fried several hours ahead and held at room temperature; the spread goes on at the last minute or the bases soften.
- MayonnaiseCommercial mayonnaise is fine here and behaves predictably. Add it a spoonful at a time -- you want a spreadable paste, not a dip.
- YieldServes 10 as stated, which works out to two or three small canapes each. For a drinks party with nothing else on offer, plan on half again as much.