3 Easy Party Foods for Fall

As cooler weather approaches and we organize our fall gatherings, it's good to know a few easy foods that can be served to groups.

When we lived in Europe there was (and still is) a wonderful fall culture of grilling at country houses, and the cool bracing air out in the country really worked up people's appetites.  In the spirit of this fall grilling, here a few easy and delicious ideas you can adapt.

Escalivada
This is a Catalán dish of grilled vegetables (traditional for this dish are eggplants, peppers, and onions), but our Chef Jesús tweaks the traditional recipe by marinating the vegetables in olive oil and chopped fresh herbs and then mixing the finished grilled vegetables with roasted garlic, which can even be prepared ahead--the heat of the grilled vegetables will warm the roasted garlic enough for your guests.

From "Simply Recipes"--How to Roast Garlic:
Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.


Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Mixed Sausage Grill
In Europe people often do a mixed sausage grill in the fall.  This is not hard if you stick with three or max four types of sausages and you know how many minutes to grill each type.  Just as with a cheese platter, try to have different types of sausages such as fresh and cured or more sweet and less sweet and maybe a spicy type. 

If you want to up the flavor you can marinade the sausages briefly with your favorite grilling marinade or use special woods or fresh herbs on the heat source, but this is not necessary.

Set out a nice chimichurri or salsa verde, an alioli, and a remoulade, or any three sauces you like for your guests--buy the sauces at a gourmet shop if you're pressed for time.  People love the interactive aspect of choosing their sausage type and trying each type with the different sauces.

Shrimp Platter with Trio of Sauces
Grill seasoned shrimp or boil it with shrimp boil.  Put a large amount of shrimp on a couple of large platters or in large bowls,  Set out next to this pile of shrimp a trio of sauces (amounts given make for about 4-6 guests; multiply accordingly):
Lime-Poblano Crema--One of our signature sauces/spreads.  Mix 1 cup Mexican crema or sour cream with 1-2 roasted poblanos, blended to a puree, and the juice of 2-3 limes
Red Pepper Mayo--Blend roasted red peppers (1/4 to 1/2 cup) with 1 to 1 1/2 cups mayo--depends on how much you like red peppers.  If too briny add a little fresh or dried dill or fresh basil
Asian Dipper--Mix wasabi mayo or miso and mayo with ginger and chopped chives

Enjoy!

Kristina

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

Creating Food Stations at Your Labor Day Party

As the Labor Day weekend approaches many are thinking of gatherings they're planning to celebrate Labor Day.  Today we offer ideas for adding pizzazz to your Labor Day outdoor party (works for indoor parties too) by using food stations.

If you live in an area that has not been either hit by a hurricane or burned under the merciless sun this summer and can still have an outdoor event this Labor Day, rejoice! And take note of how to make your gathering the most interesting in your neighborood.

Food stations continue to be trendy and can be elaborate, but it's not difficult to add the same interest factor to your Labor Day gathering by using the idea adapted to a more casual setting.

Here's all you need to know:

• Find or borrow (or buy) tables to equal at least three.  Can be any shape, really, and best if not very small.  If you want to make the tables look harmonious, cover them with the same type of tablecloths; or embrace their differentness as part of your decor (maybe using the same centerpiece or decorations on each of the tables to somewhat unify without dealing with tablecloths).
• Look over your outdoor (or indoor) space for your Labor Day gathering--where can you set these three tables so they aren't too close together? A triangle configuration works well.  Don't put more than one table close to the house or you defeat the whole idea. And keep the beverage table or bar as a separate thing.
• When you have your three tables (or more configured), divide up the food so that there is food on each table.  Yes, that's all there is to it, essentially.  You can make this work best by keeping the same types of food on one table.  For example, the appetizers or snacks on one table, the main course and sides on another, and the desserts on another. 
• Tell guests as they arrive something like: "Appetizers over by the X tree, main course will be over by the deck, and the dessert will be over next to the pool," or something like that, identifying by some marker or identifier and even pointing out each table.

What's the point of this?

Well, guests love this as it gives them something to do and they can "investigate" the yard, so to speak, which gives them something else to do, and they see and socialize with people coming and going from this or that station in the yard, so that's another thing to do, and it reminds people of childhood treasure or Easter egg hunts, which makes most people feel good. 

Some guests will even say, "Oh, I never realized how nice your  flowers/bushes/trees/lawn/pergola/gazebo is/are," even if they've been there before, because they never really looked at it in the way that food stations promote exploring a space.

We can almost guarantee that it will make for a more interesting Labor Day gathering.

Enjoy!

Kristina

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

Fandango Catering and Events to Provide Sustainable Catering at Discovery Green Event

We are honored to have been chosen to provide sustainable catering for an expected 1,500 guests at this year's Family Day event at Discovery Green on Sept. 10, 2011.

Family Day, sponsored by Houston City Council Member James Rodríguez in partnership with community organizations, is an annual event for families at the start of the school year with family and children's activities and educational booths highlighting career opportunities.

This year's career theme is "Green Careers."

Our sustainable catering for this event will reduce its carbon footprint by nearly 40%.  Our sustainable catering procedures for the event will include:

• 100% biodegradable packaging of box lunches and salsa station cups
• Recycled, non-bleached paper napkins
• Local produce used in box lunches
• Continuous refilling of box lunches from our downtown kitchen to avoid using electric generators at the park to keep food fresh
• House-made baked not fried tortilla chips

At Fandango we have long advocated for and practiced sustainable catering and we are honored to be able to demonstrate the use of sustainable catering methods at large public events as well as smaller private events.

On the menu:

• Turkey and Cheese Wraps with Chipotle Ranch Dressing
• Roasted Vegetables and Herbed Cheese on Ciabatta
• Pesto Chicken, Cheese, and Tomato Wraps with Herbed Mayo
• Santa Fe Chicken Wraps with Grilled Chicken, Tomato, and Lime-Poblano Crema
• House-Made Baked Tortilla Chips and House-Made Roasted Tomato and Jalapeño Salsa
• Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies
• Cookie Assortment

For more information on the event and Discovery Green see also: www.discoverygreen.org

Warmly,

Kristina

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