Entertaining
For summer gatherings, try afternoon informality

By Kaui Philpotts

Summer, for most of us, is a time for out-of-town guests — grandchildren and children visiting parents, students home from school and old friends who now live elsewhere. It's a natural time to plan gatherings. But make it easy on yourself. Don't get locked in the kitchen and end up tired and fussy. The whole point is to get together and reconnect.

One option might be to plan a party on a weekend afternoon. That way, you don't actually have to serve an entire meal, and if you want to include children of all ages and older people who hate to drive at night, everyone can come.

Invite people for 4 o'clock. Drinks and finger food are enough if you plan to have people for two to three hours. Any longer than that and you will have to serve "big food."

If you plan, plan, plan, you won't run around with last-minute surprises. First, call people and let them know that you're getting together for a special reason ("to see Auntie Lei and Uncle Nelson, who are here from California"). This gives the party a focus. If people want to bring something, have them bring things the honored guests love and may have missed about Hawai'i (their favorite rubber slippers, a new mochi cookbook, news and photos of friends and relatives they would be interested in).

These are people you know and love, so don't fuss. They will love you anyway (and they already know all about you). Pick a convenient place to set up the beverages. You may or may not serve alcohol depending on the tastes of your guests. Just upgrade the cans of beer from the cooler, OK? Buy bottles and ice them in tubs.

If you're going to serve sodas, look for something more interesting than cans of Coke and 7-Up. What about the bottles of colored sodas from Jones (available in bulk at Costco) in flavors like green apple, flu flu berry and blue bubble gum? Make pitchers of plantation iced tea. Or at the very least, buy ready-made iced tea and serve it from pitchers with fresh mint and pineapple spears.You want to have fun, not kill yourself (especially if you have worked all week).

Have one big food table, and banish anything that looks like aluminum foil. A day or two ahead, assemble trays and platters and decide what's going to go on them. Get plenty of pretty paper napkins in summer colors and prints. You are going to serve only food they can pick up with their fingers and down in a bite or two. Remember, this is not lunch or dinner.

The beauty of finger food is that it doesn't require lots of plates (although you may want to have small ones available on the table) and silverware. It doesn't drip, and children can grab bites as they like. Don't attempt to make more than five or six things if you are working alone. There is nothing wrong with ordering the rest, say a tray of deluxe sushi, sashimi, won tons and dim sum, or stuffed grape leaves from the supermarket deli.

Make everything ahead of time. You want to put it out and forget about it. If someone brings food (and they always do), just thank them and add it to the spread.

Here are some ideas:

• Broiled shrimp on bamboo skewers with mango salsa.
• Chilled asparagus spears with aioli.
• Roast beef and turkey sandwiches on mini-rolls.
• Chicken satay with peanut sauce.
• Curried nuts.
• Pan-fried onion dip with Maui chips.
• Baby quiches.
• Endive spears with hummus and dill.
• New potatoes filled with sour cream and tobiko.
• Mini Parmesan toasts with chopped basil and tomatoes.
• Guacamole and blue corn chips.
• Spicy poke on chips or crackers.

I had this pan-fried onion dip recently at a birthday party on Maui, and it's a wonderful step up from our old favorite soup mix version. This has been adapted from one in "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook," by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York) and it's the real thing.

Pan-Fried Onion Dip

• 2 large yellow or Maui onions
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher or Hawaiian salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (Best Foods)

Cut the onions in half and slice them into 1/8-inch half rounds. You will have 3 cups. Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet and saute the onions, cayenne, salt and pepper for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes, until the onions are browned. Allow the onions to cool.

Place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise in the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until smooth. You can also do this by hand in a bowl. Add the onions and mix well.

Taste for seasonings. Serve at room temperature with Maui-style chips. (You can cut calories by using fat-free cream cheese and sour cream and light mayonnaise.) Makes 2 cups.

This recipe is adapted from the same cookbook. Endive is found in the gourmet part of the produce section and makes wonderful "boats" for the hummus. If you run out of time, just fill them with hummus from the deli case and garnish with chopped chives or dill. A squeeze of fresh lemon juice into the commercial one will revive it a bit, as will a dash or two of Tabasco sauce.

Endive Spears with Hummus

• 2 cups chickpeas or garbanzo beans, drained with reserved liquid
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher or Hawaiian salt
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste found in health food section)
• 6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 2 tablespoons liquid from garbanzos
• 8 dashes Tabasco sauce

Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor or blender and process until coarsely pureed. Taste for seasoning. Serve either chilled or at room temperature on wheat crackers or endive spears. Garnish with chopped chives, dill or paprika. Don't substitute bottled for the fresh lemon juice; it can't be beat. Makes 2 cups.