Adept at entertaining.
Marji Horvat has impressive cooking and entertaining skills.
She’s been cooking extensively for 48 years and estimated that she entertains at least once a month. But during the holiday season, between Thanksgiving and Jan. 15, she and her husband, Bob, host about two dozen parties.
She once catered a convention for 1,000 people and a wedding for 200, and says she has hosted more birthday parties and showers than she can count.
“Since turning 21, I have hosted so many ethnic-themed parties that we actually ran out of countries,” she said.
Horvat, who is retired, said that sometimes her guests number just two, but that it’s not unusual for her to have as many as 30 at her Mequon home.
For these events she enjoys making new and challenging recipes as well as tried-and-true favorites.
“For me cooking has been an all-consuming passion and gives me unabashed pure pleasure and joy,” she said.
Her signature dishes include an Italian stuffed beef tenderloin; scots bridies, a guest favorite that she said no one else would make because they are too time-consuming, and assorted chocolates, which include fairy food, butter toffee and coconut-chocolate macaroons.
She also makes calamari with an Asian apricot sauce, shrimp wrapped in prosciutto and basil with a garlic dipping sauce, and “a great German meatloaf.”
But every August, she gets back to the basics when she holds cooking classes for small groups of children.
“I’ve been doing it for different kids at every home we’ve lived in,” she said. “This is our third home and it goes back 40 years. The first one was for some neighborhood kids who were interested in what I was making.
“I think real cooking is becoming a lost art, and that’s a shame,” she continued. “I want to show these children that a recipe can be real simple. I teach them it isn’t hard to cook and that it’s easy if you take it one step at a time. If you screw up, just try it again.”
This year “Miss Marji’s Meals & Manners” included four young students, and the theme was “cocktail party foods.”
Isabella (Izzy) Pitre, now 10, was 5 when she first started attending the event and said she learned to separate an egg at the age of 6. Her sister, Elaina Pitre, 8, has been cooking with the group for the last three years.
Elise Schuman, 8, joined the group last year. All three are Horvat’s nieces.
Fiona (Fifi) Glorioso, 8, who is the daughter of a friend, came for the first time.
They arrived at her home early in the day. This year’s kid-friendly menu included Curry Beef Buns that required rolling out refrigerated dough to encase a meat filling, a strawberry fruit salsa and bacon cheese roll-ups.
“I also teach them things about balance in color, texture and flavor when they make foods, where the cutlery belongs and what dishes and glasses to use and how to position them.
Q. What do you love about entertaining?
A. It makes me happy to see people having fun and enjoying good food and conversation. I like knowing I had a role to play in helping people relax and enjoy themselves. Plus, let’s be honest — I do like getting compliments on the food!
Q. What kind of parties to you enjoy hosting most?
A. Cocktail parties. I feel my big strength is being able to serve my guests with enough food to carry them through the next two days, while at the same time being able to mingle and talk and have a good time myself with the ease and comfort of knowing that everything is under control.
I make sure that there is a table laden with a variety of cold appetizers and then intermittently serve hot appetizers throughout the party. All of the food has been prepared ahead of time, so I am not fussing in the kitchen at the last minute.
Q. What are your three favorite spices?
A. This is like asking a mother of 11 which three children are her favorites. I have a complete cupboard and 10 lineal feet of spices. I guess for me basil, herbs de Provence and curry are some of the spices I use the most.
Q. Do you remember the first time you entertained? What did you make? Was it a flop or a success and why?
A. My husband, Bob, and I were married at the age of 20 and two months into marriage I made a beef Wellington for New Year’s Eve. Up until I married I really did not cook. While we were in the living room we heard a giant explosion. Apparently, I had too tight of a seal on the pasty and it blew up. There was pastry and mushroom duxelle filling all over the walls of the oven and I was a puddle of tears. I remember my sister spooning the mess off of the walls of the oven and exclaiming that it really did taste good.
Q. What cuisines do you specialize in?
A. French, Italian, German, Asian, British/Scots, Croatian
Q. Do you cook everything or do you ever have potlucks?
A. For some of the holidays, we have each family bring a dish — but we know ahead of time what they are bringing. However, for dinner parties, I do all the cooking.
Q. What food celebrity influences you most and how?
A. Julia Child is my hero. She makes the most difficult French recipe appear easy to make.
Q. Do you follow themes for parties? If so, what have been some favorites?
A. A Revolutionary War Williamsburg dinner, Christmas in July, and fondue parties, which are the best for conversation and laughter.
Q. How do you like to dress your table?