Season's eatings

Bill Brady of Sonoma does cocktail-party tapas

Holidays are traditionally a time for eating and drinking in excess, so why not invite friends over and make it a party? Now anybody can break out a case of longnecks and fill a couple of bowls with chips and dip. Not that that's a bad thing. Some of the best hosts are casual to the point of neglect, and if you invite the right people, you can usually count on your guests to make their own fun. And for most occasions, the classic wine-and-cheese combo will be fancy enough to elevate the gathering above the level of frat party. But sometimes you want to do something special for your nearest and dearest and serve a spread that's destined to go down in your social circle's history. For that, you need the advice of an expert -- someone who impresses people with food for a living.

We asked Bill Brady, chef at Sonoma in Princeton, to provide us with a menu, recipes, and wine suggestions for a year-end cocktail party. Brady responded with a straightforward blueprint for a Spanish-style tapas spread. His recipes are short on kitchen time but long on originality, and include dishes to satisfy both your vegetarian and carnivorous guests. So for Christmas Eve or your Welcome 2001 bash, pull out the stops. You'll be a legend in your own time.

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Bill Brady sees no boundaries when it comes to the pursuit of flavor. So at Sonoma, his 50-seat restaurant in a Princeton storefront, he serves dishes from Morocco, New Mexico, Tuscany, the south of France, and other varied climes. "I call it global cuisine," he says of his wide-ranging cooking style. "And it's not something I picked out of the air. I do foods of different regions, and I try to be culturally correct when doing them. I don't want to just slap soy sauce on something and call it Chinese."

For five years, Brady's something-from-everywhere approach has been offering something for everyone. Sonoma has drawn high praise from local critics, prompting the Worcester Phoenix to call it the "Best Reason Not To Go to New York for Dinner" in our annual "Best" issue. The restaurant has only a handful of tables, but bigger isn't necessarily better; staying small allows Brady to have his hands in "everything from food to service." That leaves him more time to track down ingredients like quail from Manchester Farms, chèvre from Crystal Brook Farm, and produce from local farm stands.

If ever there was a time for bringing together friends with different tastes, it's the holidays. So we challenged Brady to come up with a menu that would allow for maximum guest interaction and minimal kitchen preparation. For him, the choice was obvious: a savory meal inspired by the tapas tradition of Spain. "I try to hold the line whenever I cook tapas," he says. "It almost doesn't matter what items are cooked. It's more about the feel of the event. It's a lighter eating style that's geared, like a holiday party, toward allowing conversation."

Shall we sample Brady's bill of fare? First there's garlic shrimp, a flavorful tapas staple. Then a potato omelet or "tortilla," a dish that Brady says is greater than the sum of its parts. "It's incredible the amount of flavor you can get out of those ingredients," he muses. Other Spanish classics get Brady's own spin. For his Cabrales canapés, he blends cream cheese into the mix to cut the ripe, pungent strength of this Asturian blue cheese. To round out the menu, Brady serves a plate of garlicky mushrooms, in which the meaty texture is key, and a dish of pork and clams in green sauce. Preparation for all these dishes is straightforward, so culinary stress should be low. And here's one more tip: try using lots of differently shaped and decorated serving vessels to make the feast a visual one as well.

GARLIC SHRIMP

1/2 pound of shrimp (21-25 per pound), deveined

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 dried red chili, seeds removed

Juice of one small lemon

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 ounce clam or shrimp broth

2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

Sea salt

In an earthenware pot, heat oil, garlic, and chili pepper. Just as the garlic starts to brown, add shrimp and cook over high heat for about three minutes, stirring constantly. To finish the dish, add lemon juice and broth, sprinkle with sea salt, and serve in the same dish. Serves six.

POTATO OMELET

1 cup olive oil

4 large eggs, beaten with a touch of salt

4 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 large onion, thinly sliced

4 ounces chorizo sausage, diced

Coarse salt

In a non-stick nine-inch sauté pan, heat 1/2 cup oil over medium heat. Add sliced potatoes one slice at a time, overlapping slightly, until bottom of pan is covered. Repeat this layering with one layer of sliced onions and an ounce of the diced chorizo. Then cover with another layer of sliced potatoes. Continue layering the potatoes, chorizo, and onions until ingredients are gone. Add egg mixture to the pan, poking layered potatoes to ensure that the egg mixture runs between all the layers. Cook until set, about 15 minutes. If brave, flip the "omelet" over to brown the second side; if not, slide the dish out onto a plate, invert a second plate over top, flip it over, and slide the mixture back into the pan. Cut into wedges and serve, either hot or at room temperature. Serves four to six.

CABRALES CANAPéS

4 ounces Cabrales or other strong blue cheese

2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

2 ounces cream cheese

8 slices of French bread

Pimento strips

Flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Combine cream cheese and blue cheese in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Spread mixture on toasted French bread and garnish with pine nuts, pimento, and parsley. Serves four to six.

SAUTéED MUSHROOMS

2-ounce slab bacon, diced

2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

2 ounces dry white wine

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 pound assorted mushrooms, cleaned

Sauté the bacon over medium heat. When the bacon begins to brown, add garlic, parsley, and wine to the pan. Reduce the wine by a third and add mushrooms. Sauté mushrooms for three to four minutes and serve at once. Serves four to six.

PORK AND CLAMS IN GREEN SAUCE

3 dozen littlenecks or mahogany clams

1 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic

3/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 cup clam broth

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

11/2 pounds pork loin, cut in 2-inch cubes

4 tablespoons chopped onions

4 tablespoons flour

1 cup dry white wine

Fresh-ground salt and pepper

Heat a large pot on medium high. Add the olive oil and heat until slightly smoking. Season pork cubes with salt and pepper and sprinkle with flour. Brown pork well on all sides. Add onions and garlic. When they start to soften, add wine, red-pepper flakes, and clam broth to the pot. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring often. When pork is cooked through, add parsley and the clams. Cover and continue cooking until the clams start to open -- about five minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serves six.

WINEIDEAS

Ever the traditionalist, Sonoma chef Bill Brady makes sherry his first choice to accompany his holiday tapas party. "For American tastes, undoubtedly a cream sherry from Emilio-Lustau," says Brady of this food-friendly fortified wine. The salty, earthy flavors of dishes like Cabrales canapés, sautéed mushrooms, lobster-and-goat-cheese frittata, and pork with clams demand versatile wine. If it's synergy you're seeking, something Spanish is the obvious choice, as wine and food often grow up together in style and taste. Seekers of a red drop should opt for something made from the tempranillo grape, which produces deep flavors like strawberry, leather, and spice. Torre do Rio and Rioja are fine choices. As for white, Brady likes Spanish whites for their dry, fruity qualities. Anything from the Penedès region will do, but New Zealand sauvignon blanc is a worthy player off the bench.