The original recipe, which Susan still has on hand. Susan Stamberg/NPR hide caption
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Susan Stamberg/NPR
The original recipe, which Susan still has on hand.
Susan Stamberg/NPR
For the last installment of NPR's holiday recipe series, NPR founding mother Susan Stamberg lays out her special New Year's Eve recipe for caviar pie.
Here it is, so you can make it yourself.
Caviar Pie
6 hard-boiled egges, chopped
3 tbs mayonnaise
1 cup red onion, minced fine
8-oz cream cheese
2/3 cup sour cream
Mix the eggs with the mayonnaise. Spread on bottom of oiled 8-inch spring pan or pie pan.
Sprinkle with the minced onion.
Soften with the cream cheese.
Blend the mixture with the sour cream until smooth. Spread over minced onion with wet spatula. (Smooth it out with your fingers.)
Natalie Winston/NPR
Cover with wax paper. Chill three hours or overnight.
To serve:
Spread and cover top with black caviar. Knife around sides of pan. Lift off the spring belt or just cut into wedges and lift out with pie knife. Serve with lemon slices and good crackers.
I like eating it with a fork, like pie. Others spread it on crackers.
Makes about 10 servings.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Now it's time for the last in our series of holiday recipes from our colleagues here at NPR. We've heard about Christmas breads and Turkey tacos and mofongo and also to you, but the person who started it all joins us now. Susan Stamberg, who is the mother of Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish has a New Year's recipe for us. Mrs. Stamberg, thanks so much for being with us.
SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: Oh, well, it's such a pleasure. But I like the mofongo to you, too.
SIMON: And a special thanks because we prepared your cranberry relish recipe over the holidays with my family, and it turns out to be a wonderful purgative. Thank you very much.
STAMBERG: (Laughter) It's good for sinuses, too. You're so mean.
SIMON: So the recipe you're sharing with us today...
STAMBERG: Yes. this is a very elegant recipe, and I make it every year and bring to whatever New Year's party I'm invited to. You're not having one tonight, are you?
SIMON: No.
STAMBERG: Haven't asked me to it.
SIMON: No, as a matter of fact...
STAMBERG: Nonetheless, it's very chic and elegant. I think it's the kind of dish that Holly Golightly would take to a New Year's party.
SIMON: OK.
STAMBERG: It's caviar pie. And it's the simplest thing to make, but it's - really has a punch. It's got six eggs, and you have to hard boil them. And then you chop them a little bit. You mix them with three tablespoons of mayonnaise. You spread that on the bottom of an oiled 8-inch spring pan. I can't find mine, so I just use a plain old pie plate.
So you've got this layer of eggs with mayonnaise, and you sprinkle that layer with a cup of red onion which is minced fine. Now, I'm not much of a chef, and whenever I see the word mince in a recipe, I turn the page. But in this case, the work is really worth it because it's quite delicious so mince away.
SIMON: You just chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop...
STAMBERG: Chop, chop into smallish pieces.
SIMON: OK.
STAMBERG: Then you soften eight ounces of cream cheese, and you blend that with two-thirds of a cup of sour cream, get it all nice and smooth and then you spread that over the minced onion.
SIMON: And you have the ambulance on speed dial, but yeah...
STAMBERG: Yeah, you do. No, no, no. You spread it with a wet spatula, but that's kind of hard. So I...
SIMON: Spit on the spatula? What do you do?
STAMBERG: No, no, no. I put my hands under hot water and then I just use my very clean fingers - just spread all that. You chill it for three hours if you got the time overnight, but you don't have the time if you want to make it for this evening. And when you're ready to serve it, you take black caviar and spread that all over the top.
SIMON: What if you don't have a big Hollywood star in your family? Caviar is an expensive ingredient.
STAMBERG: I can't afford it. I have used red which I understand is less expensive and also more festive looking. So you just cut it into wedges the way you would a pie, and you serve it with thin slices of lemon just because that looks so pretty. And I like to eat - I'll eat it with a fork. But some people like to spread it on crackers. It's absolutely up to you, and it makes about 10 servings.
SIMON: Yeah.
STAMBERG: Or more of people detest it...
SIMON: (Laughter).
STAMBERG: ...Or less if they really love it and go back for thirds as I often do.
SIMON: Now, is this a family recipe or something you read in The New York Review of Books?
STAMBERG: I pulled it. I want to show you this. I think this must have been family circle. Look how old that thing is.
SIMON: Oh.
STAMBERG: It's yellow with a...
SIMON: Mercy, the caviar way of life for the holidays.
STAMBERG: You betcha.
SIMON: (Unintelligible) off a caviar ad from Teaneck, N.J. Oh, my word. Is that your handwriting that says fabulous?
STAMBERG: Yes, indeed, it is.
SIMON: Mrs. Stamberg, it's an honor to have you on our show, even under this thoroughly ridiculous occasion, so thank you very much. Have a wonderful New Year.
STAMBERG: You, too.
SIMON: One of the things I treasure about my life here is having the office down the hall.
STAMBERG: Oh, good heavens. How dear you are. Thank you. Happy 2017.
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