FANDANGO Catering Offers Summer Food Ideas

FANDANGO Catering offers Part II of its 2010 Series, "Summer Food and Entertaining Ideas" with some delicious summer food ideas that take advantage of the best of the season and can be served indoors or outdoors.

Use these ideas as a starting point for your menus.

Beach Shrimp
Serves 6 to 8
An informal seafood fest that's a bit messy but great fun if you're a seafood lover!
Purchase a large disposable roasting pan for easy cleanup.

3 lb. unpeeled raw shrimp
1 16 oz. bottle Italian dressing
1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 lemons or limes, halved
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped tarragon
1/2 cup butter, cut up

Place first 4 ingredients in roasting pan, tossing to coat. Squeeze juice from lemons or limes over shrimp mixture and stir. Add lemon or lime halves to pan. Sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs and dot with butter. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes. Serve in pan.

Steak, Mushrooms, and Greens Salad
A wonderful way to highlight the season's produce.

Marinate a flank or skirt steak with olive oil, white wine or tarragon vinegar, Dijon, lime juice, and Worcestershire, then season with a prepared grill seasoning such as Montreal steak. Set aside at least two hours in refrigerator, then grill and slice thinly.
Meanwhile, brush yellow peppers, sliced mushrooms, and green onions with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Grill until tender and mix in a large bowl while still warm with halved very ripe cherry tomatoes and allow flavors to blend for around 15 minutes. Mix steak and veggies with torn Romaine pieces and serve. If you want a dressing, mix sour cream with a little prepared pesto and thin with a little Italian dressing, then drizzle over this salad.

Watermelon Cooler-Ritas
Makes 8 cups
A great way to get the most of summer's wonderful fruit.

8 cups watermelon cubes (no seeds)
1 1/2 cups ginger ale
1/3 cup water
1 6 oz. can frozen limeade concentrate

Place watermelon cubes in a single layer in a ziplock bag and freeze 8 hours. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes. Process half watermelon, ginger ale, water, and limeade in blender until smooth; pour into pitcher. Repeat process with remaining half. Stir and serve in glasses rimmed with lime juice, then dipped in lime zest or chopped fresh mint--prepare a trayful to greet your guests as they arrive!

Enjoy!

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.
Partner, Director of Sales & Operations
FANDANGO Catering
(281) 796-9841

FANDANGO Catering Offes 4 Summer Food Ideas

With summer now officially here, FANDANGO Catering offers 4 ideas for summer food entertaining this summer.

If pressed for time, order tapas, mezes, or other small plates food, preferably the kind to be served cold or room temperature, from a restaurant or caterer. We have seen too many friends' and neighbors' gatherings fall flat because they bought appetizers at Costco or Sam's (the kind you heat), with unfavorable comments out of earshot of the hosts.
Since these appetizers were frozen and heated, after a short time at an event they turn hard and lose any flavor they had to begin with. Better to order never-frozen food from a professional.

To make it easy on yourself, do as the Mediterraneans do for a BBQ or summer event--Concentrate on a great marinade or rub for your entree (preferably with fresh herbs) and accompany the entree with freshest-of-the-season marinated vegetables and, for dessert, sliced perfectly ripe fruit macerated with a liqueur such as kirsch or Gran Marnier (whipped cream optional).
We like sliced ripe tomatoes drizzled with best-quality olive oil and chopped fresh tarragon, basil, and/or mint (no dried herbs). There are all kinds of wonderful Mediterranean salads with only a couple of VERY fresh ingredients that taste fabulous in summer. Other favorites of ours are Italian cannellini and green onion drizzled with olive oil and fresh chives and Israeli tomato and watermelon with a fresh herb vinaigrette (we also like tomatoes and watermelon just chopped without any dressing IF the produce is at the peak of ripeness).

Easy sweet desserts include ice cream sandwiches made with cookies, Italian gelato served with cookies, or cupcakes dressed up with a scoop of gelato or ice cream instead of frosting.

For easy beverages, buy some wines or interesting beers (ask your liquor store for recommendations for your menu), or make a big batch of sangría, iced tea, or lemonade, served from decorative glass dispensers.

Enjoy!

Warmly,

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras
Partner, Director of Sales & Operations
FANDANGO Catering
(281) 796-9841

FANDANGO Catering Offers 6 Tips to Make Your Entertaining the Hit of the Season

Summer is here and for some that means entertaining of one type or another. Here are six tips to make your summer entertaining the absolute hit of the season.

1) Hang a wreath of blossoms on your front door--Or float flowers in a bird bath, at place settings, or in bowls scattered around.

2) Use Light--Line a walkway with luminarias or use twinkling white Christmas lights draped over a fence, pergola, or outdoor area to illuminate the outdoors. BIG on both coasts!

3) For an evening party, make your backyard pool sparkle like those at chic hotels--Circle the sides in a border of lanterns or float multicolored glowing LED spheres in the water.

4) Add pizzazz to your table linens--For outdoor events, vinyl tablecloths can be wiped clean and reused. Vintage textiles (available at www.ReproDepot.com)
ensure that your event is beautifully unique AND green, since vintage textiles are being repurposed.

5) Make dessert a great ending--Dessert trends include multiple chocolate desserts, Latin-inspired exotic fruits in desserts, trios or quads of mini desserts, and dessert buffets with a menu or wine pairing suggestions

6) Choose interesting beverages--Some to try:
Non-alcoholic:
*Cosmo (lemon sour mix, simple sugar, lemon-lime soda or seltzer)
*Tequila Sunrise (orange juice, grenadine or cherry syurp)
*Long Beach Iced Tea (Orange, cranberry, and pineapple juices topped with grenadine)
Alcoholic:
*Southsides (lemon gin with fresh mint)
*Here Comes Summer (orange juice, lemonade, gin, tea, can be frozen to soft-freeze stage)
*New Orleans Hurricane (white and dark rum, orange and pineapple juices, grenadine)
*Mangoritas
*Infused Vodkas or schnapps

Enjoy!

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.

Partner, Director of Sales & Operations

FANDANGO Catering

(281) 796-9841

FANDANGO Team Cheers on Spanish Team Favored to Win World Cup '10

Our FANDANGO team is cheering for the Spanish national soccer team, favored to win the 2010 World Cup., as our Executive Chef, Jesús Lumbreras-Calvo, is a Madrid native and our other partner and principal, Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, had a Spanish father and lived in Madrid 10 years.

Best of luck to all the teams but we are rooting for Spain!

FANDANGO Catering Launches Latin Hors d'Oeuvres Menu

FANDANGO Catering has launched a new Latin hors d'oeuvres menu with cocktail foods from Latin America and Spain. As always, our hors d'oeuvres are made from scratch with local and seasonal ingredients.

Our new Latin Hors d'Oeuvres menu includes:

*Gazpacho Shooters (Spain)
*Sopa de aguacate y papa (Avocado Vichyssoise, Colombia)

*Mini Pizzas (Argentina):
-Mozzarella y tomate (mozzarella and tomato)
-Fugazza (caramelized onion and cheese)
-Jamón y queso (ham and cheese)
-Aceitunas, anchoas y huevo (olives, anchovies, and hard-boiled egg)
-Ananá (pineapple)

*Arrollados (Sweet and sour rollups of tomato, ham, cheese, tuna, and chimichurri spread, Argentina)
*Empanaditas (Mini Turnovers):
-Champiñones, queso y hierbas frescas (mushrooms, cheese, and fresh herbs in puff pastry, Spain)
-Picadillo (pie pastry, Argentina)
Tortilla Española (Potato Omelet, Spain)
*Tartaletas de choclo (Corn pudding tartlets, Argentina)
*Mini tortas (Combinations of meats, cheeses, refried beans, and poblanos on telera bread, Mexico)

*Marquesa de chocolate (Chocolate Mousse Shooters, Spain)
*Mousse de mango (Mango Mousse Shooters, Venezuela)
*Mini tartas de queso y lima (Baby Key Lime Cheesecakes, Mexico)
*Bizcochitos de chocolate y canela (Chocolate Cinnamon Mini Cakes with Citrus Cream Topping, Mexico)
*Alfajores (Dulce de leche Mini Sandwich Cookies, Argentina)

Our new Latin Hors d'Oeuvres menu is perfect for adding excitement to your cocktail parties and receptions this year--­¡Olé!

Need more info? (281) 796-9841 or chef@fandango-catering.com

Warmly,

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.
Partner, Director of Sales & Operations
FANDANGO Catering
(281) 796-9841

FANDANGO Catering Offers World Cup Dining Ideas

FANDANGO Catering is offering dining ideas to feed your 2010 World Cup gatherings.

Here are some fun ideas to feed a group of World Cup fans at home or at the office:

Set up a simple buffet with foods typical of the countries playing the match--e.g., Italian, Spanish, All-American, Mexican, etc. Purchase prepared food from restaurants, eateries, or gourmet supermarkets, and use disposables or earth-friendly biodegradable disposables (available at Whole Foods) to cut down on cleanup time. Or make preparing some of the food for your sports fans gathering part of the fun: prepare a couple of easy dishes typical of your teams' countries and buy the rest.

Match beverages to your teams' countries also--sangría from Spain; Californian, French, or Argentine wines; Italian prosecco; Brazilian capirinhas, and so on. For non-alcoholic beverages, try Perrier or Orangina from France or one of the fruity sodas available from Latin America and Europe.

Decorate with colors to match your team colors--in tablecloths, dishware, or with small flags.

World Cup Packages
FANDANGO Catering will be offering on a limited basis World Cup delivered packages of picnic foods from Spain, Argentina, and Mexico to enjoy while watching the matches. Picnic foods will include:

Spain
Gazpacho
Tortilla española (cold potato omelet)
Emparedades de jamón y queso (Spanish croque monsieurs)
Bocadillos de jamón serrano y queso (Prosciutto and cheese baguettes)

Argentina
Empanaditas (mini savory turnovers)
Sandwiches de milanesa (breaded cutlet sandwiches)
Alfajores (dulce de caramelo mini sandwich cookies)

Mexico
Tortas
Guacamole
Pico de gallo or Roasted Jalapeño Salsa

For more info please call (281) 796-9841.

Warmly,

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.
Partner, Director of Sales & Operations
FANDANGO Catering
(281) 796-9841

FANDANGO Catering Executive Chef to Teach Spanish Cooking at Fiesta July 22

FANDANGO Catering's Executive Chef, Jesús Lumbreras-Calvo, will teach three Spanish cooking classes at Fiesta Cooking School this year.

The first class, "A Spanish Summer Dinner," will be held July 22, 2010.

The menu for this class is:

• Gazpacho
• Ensalada de patatas y salchicha con vinagreta de mostaza/Salad of Potatoes and Sausage with Dijon Vinaigrette
• Pescado a la mallorquina/Mallorcan Baked Fish with Vegetable Medley, Sweet Spanish Paprika, and Pine Nuts
• Marquesa de chocolate/Chocolate mousse

Following up on his highly successful Spanish cooking class at Rice University on May 8, Chef Jesús will share with a wider audience at the Fiesta Cooking School two of his signature dishes from that class that are traditional to Spanish cuisine but with his own touch, the red Gazpacho drizzled with creme fraiche and the chocolate mousse garnished with coffee cream rosettes and chocolate shavings.

Chef Jesús will also teach "A Spanish Tapas Party" in September and "A Spanish Autumn Harvest Dinner" in November at the Fiesta Cooking School, dates TBA. ¡Olé!

All classes will include brief commentaries on Spanish regional cuisine and culinary history in a fun interactive style, besides the demonstration of recipes and cooking techniques.

For more info: chef@fandango-catering.com or (281) 796-9841

Look for more details in upcoming blog posts.

Warm regards,

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.
Partner, Director of Sales & Operations
FANDANGO Catering
(281) 796-9841

FANDANGO Catering Offers Summer Event Ideas

FANDANGO Catering offers 4 ideas for your summer events. Today we'll concentrate on the setup and decor, since these are just as important to a successful event as great food.

Decorate a buffet table from Nature--with miniature fruits, fresh herbs, organic greenery garlands, or fresh flower buds. Or try a pretty bowl filled with water and floating flowers, or a wine goblet or two filled with two or three large roses (cut the stems to fit inside the goblets and put the roses facing in opposite directions). Roses inside wine goblets are also nice for seated events, one goblet at each place setting.

Try a summer color for your event table(s)--Plain white can be boring, while a color can instantly lift moods. We recently did a surprise birthday party where the honoree's husband chose our pale yellow damask tablecloth with green glass footed compote bowls from Italy filled with organic lemons, which looked great with their yellow-striped dining room chairs. Any of the pastel colors or French Provencal patterns look wonderful for summer events, and this year brights are also popular. But beware anything too bright or the effect will be more garish than festive.

Use cake stands covered with linen napkins as risers--This will add height to a buffet table and you can even wind greenery around the pedestals of the cake stands for an added touch

Rolling beverage carts are great for outdoor events--Use them as self-serve beverage or hors d'oeuvres stations, to roll food out to guests at an outdoor seating area for serving, or they can be manned as a food or beverage station by a bartender or event helper. If children will attend your party, a fun touch for them is a red wagon with their food and/or beverages.

Next time: Food ideas for summer events

Warmly,

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.
Partner, Director of Sales & Operations
FANDANGO Catering
(281) 796-9841