party food

[Guest guest]

Hi Sherri,

 

i too have been thinking about what to do for finger foods over

christmas. I'm going to stay with my family but they all eat meat

so i thought i'd take along a few things of my own to help with the

catering and ensure i'd have something to eat! Hope these ideas

help:

 

Chicory and houmous bites

(makes 16 - 18)

 

2 large heads of chicory

1 carrot

175g houmous

16-18 pitted black olives

 

Seperate the chicory and trim the ends, saving the smaller inside

leaves (perhaps to be used in a salad). Peel the carrot and then,

still using the peeler, peel thin strips off the acrrot until you

have 16-18 of them. Drop a spoonful of houmous onto each chicory

leaf. Add a carrot curl and an olive to each.

 

These will keep in the fridge for a few hours.

 

A variation would be: Red pepper and houmous bites, using red

chicory and red pepper houmous and substituting the carrot and

olives for pecans and a dusting of paprika.

 

 

What i tend to do at these types of gatherings is to make lots of

big bowls of salad. Eg:

 

Rice salad - cook a bag of rice as normal. Add some peas and

sweetcorn in the last few minutes to cook. Drain and add a large

hanful of sultanas. Stir and allow to cool, then refridgerate.

 

Pasta salad - cook a large portion of pasta. Cut some cherry

tomatoes in half and place in a large bowl. Add some ripped up

basil leaves and a couple of balls of mozzarella torn into small-ish

pieces. When the pasta is cooked, drain and stir into the other

ingredients. Allow to cool and refridgerate.

 

Couscous salad - cook a bag of couscous. In a bowl mix salt,

pepper, cumin and some turmeric. Stir fry some choppes peppers,

mushrooms and courgettes. Add all the ingredients together and

stir. Allow to cool and refridgerate. (This turns a gorgeous yellow

colour).

 

These are obviously just rough recipes. You can alter the

ingredients, and serve them hot or cold. Just remember to stir each

bowls before you put it out. It sometimes helps if you drizzle a

little olive oil into the pasta one when its still warm to stop it

all sticking together. I find that this is a good way to fill lots

of people up easily, especially if you're on a budget... and its far

less fiddly than alot of recipes for party food.

 

Hope this has helped,

 

Laura x