Fandango Catering Offers 6 Ideas for Cool Hors d'Oeuvres Presentations

As summer winds down many are either having end-of-summer bashes or planning for fall and beyond gatherings.  Either way, today we offer 6 ideas for cool hors d'oeuvres presentations. 

Shrimp cocktail martinis--so cool and really easy to do.  Just rent martini glasses from a rentals company, prepare or buy shrimp for cocktail, and put cocktail sauce or remoulade in the bottom of the glasses, then one whole shrimp either on the edge of each glass or on the top of the sauce in the bottom of the glass
Verrines and parfaits--These have been hot for the past couple of years in everything from savory to sweet food.  Here's how they're cool: You can fill wine or parfait or hurricane glasses with a salad, just layer the ingredients, or chunks of cake or crumbled cookies and whipped cream, or chunks of ham and cheese and mascarpone...the idea is to layer. 
Easy cocktail purses--these are usually too much trouble, but one way to make them that's not too much work is to buy Parma ham, fill each slice with herb cheese, twist up like a little purse or pouch, and tie each with the long green piece from a scallion.  These are best for small gatherings as they ARE a bit more work (unless you hire a caterer to do them for you).
Mirror--We love Martha Stewart's idea of serving slices, pre-cut, of terrines spread out in rows on a mirror.  A mirrored tray is even better, as is a Lucite tray with sides (the kind without compartments)--sometimes you can find Lucite trays with sides meant for cosmetics or jewelry, just use them for your parties! If you don't like terrines, any small bites look cooler on a mirrored surfacr or Lucite tray.
Sticks--The trend of skewers, sticks, and picks continues unabated.  Make your hors d'oeuvres of the moment by serving them speared on sticks or picks.  Many hors d'oeuvres shapes lend themselves to this (round, oval, small bites).  For example, you can buy small fresh mozzarella balls, cut off a slice so they'll sit flat on a tray, lay the flattened balls on sticks out on a tray, then put a cherry tomato on each skewer too, and they'll stand up like little soldiers.  So fun.  People like this more than small bites served in cones, for some reason.  If you're feeling ambitions cut bell peppers in small dice, which we call in the catering profession "pepper confetti," and scatter it on your serving pieces.
Buy an ultra-cool serving piece--This is the easiest of all! You can find this type of ultra-cool serving pieces at www.gretelhome.com  --We like Babell XL, their white mod tier stand with gradually bigger tiers--any small bites you put on this tier stand will look so cool!  For a more traditional look rent a large stainless tier stand (some have swinging arms) at a rentals company and put your small bites on that.  Anything with height adds a lot of oomph to a food presentation.

Warmly,

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
www.fandango-catering.com

Fandango Catering Offers 5 Hors d'Oeuvres Presentation Ideas for Spring & Summer

As so many spring and summer parties are now being planned, today we offer 5 (really 6) ideas for hors d'oeuvres presentation ideas for your spring and summer parties.

First, use cool trays--With a cool tray as your starting point, half the work is done! If you're looking for cool trays, look for a tray in an unusual shape or color or something mod elegant like chrome.

Next, put a touch of color in the corner(s) or the center--We most often use flower blooms as our brand is eco-friendly and this trend has been big for the last few years, but it's surprisingly easy for even non-professionals to use flower blooms for their hors d'oeuvres presentations. 

If your food is not colorful--and let's face it, so much food isn't colorful (a few years ago in the Saveur 100 issue it said that most food is brown(ish) and so what if it is?).  If you use pale or white blooms, they should be large or else they won't make a statement (large blooms are always better to make an hors d'oeuvres presentation statement than small flowers).  So think a strong or bright color in large-ish blooms, especially for spring and summer events. Or smallish fruits or vegetables in the corners--we like crabapples, passionfruit, or figs for spring and summer trays.

Then put the food in rows on the tray--If you don't want to refill trays, put more food (just make sure it doesn't look crowded); if you plan to refill or have the trays refilled by a helper, than put less food on them (but again, in rows).  Even get creative with your rows: geometric, lines, X lines...And put any dipping sauce in a corner of the tray (we prefer that to putting it next to the tray, though you can also put the dipper in the center of the tray).

 Now your tray is ready! Stand back and see the whole effect, maybe move an hors d'oeuvres or two or adjust the corner decorations.

Looking for something retro trendy and really unique? Ice sculptures are back but in unique shapes like mermaids, cowboy hats, or a signature building.  The hors d'oeuvres set on tables with ice sculptures are set off, even if the tray decoration itself isn't unsusual, in light of the uniqueness of the ice sculpture.  Or a cool mod statue or statue hand holding a tray of hors d'oeuvres--unique!

Warmly,

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
www.fandango-catering.com