Fandango Catering Offers 4 Tips for Serving Small Hot Plates at Events

Small hot plates are trendy this year for cocktail-type events, and today we offer 4 tips for serving this type of food successfully.

Small plates of hot food are a bit heartier than room temperature hors d'oeuvres, and are popular now for cocktail events that run through the dinner hour, say, 7 to 8pm or 9pm.  So a cocktail event that starts at 5pm and runs until 8pm, or one that starts at 6 and runs until 9pm, would be good candidates for this type of food.

Small hot plates are popular at corporate or work-related events, where many of the guests (typically young single professionals) will pretty much make of what's served their dinner, or if the guests include many people with heartier appetites.

Examples of small hot plates include meatballs, mini chicken parmigianas, sliders, crab or other seafood cakes, small hot pastas, or other hot dishes served in small portions.

There are a few things to keep in mind when including small hot plates in your event planning:

The food should not be too difficult to eat--Avoid bright red sauces (too messy, can stain clothes), long pastas like spaghetti, foods that are very saucy or soupy, etc.  Do not serve any small hot plate that requires a knife; only a fork should be necessary and it should be possible to eat the small hot plate standing up.
Keep in mind that hot food served away from a heating source becomes cold in about 1 minute--So ditch any idea that requires serving hot food in unusual containers that don't retain heat.  For instance, say you're planning a teen's party and the guest of honor wants sliders but wants them served in Chinese takeout boxes, lined up in rows.  Served this way, the sliders become cold immediately and lose flavor and juices--though the box presentation is certainly unusual.  We suggest to clients a mix of hot and cold foods (and saving the unusual presentations for foods that do not taste best hot).  There are now very modern chafing dish subsitutes for those that dislike chafing dishes.  But the fact remains that hot small plates or any hot food not served in a heat-retaining container will just not be (as) good.  If you like the idea of a mashed potato bar, make sure you have sufficient help to keep bringing out the bowls of hot mashed potatoes for guests, or that you're using some heat source to keep the potatoes hot on the station.  If you don't, then you may want to rethink your menu.
Keep plates small, 7" or less--Or you may run out of food quickly. People can always go back and serve themselves more.
Choose a menu that mixes small hot plates with a few cold ones--If you handle your own event, this is easier on you.  If you pay someone to handle it, it will cost more if you serve all or mostly all hot dishes, so this is a consideration for some people.

Serving small hot plates can be a great idea as long as you keep in mind a few things they require to do successfully.

Warmly,

Kristina

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

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 9 Summer Dessert Ideas for Entertaining

Today in our continuing blog series, "Summer Entertaining," we offer 9 ideas for easy desserts for summer entertaining. 

 In the heat of summer it makes sense to offer a cool/hip dessert, something your guests may not be expecting and that's easy to accomplish, even without help.

 Below, 9 ideas.

• Fruit fool--These English desserts are so cool to serve in summer.  Mix pureed fruit, whipped cream, and sugar in a blender.
• Sorbet or gourmet ice cream--Dress these up by serving with nice cookies (bought if you have no time).  Or use add ins--we like to add cheesecake to ice cream, or tiramisú cream or crushed cookies.  To sorbet you can add a tiny bit of vodka (serve to adults only, please)
• Pour ice cream or sherbert into popsicle molds--Serve on interesting trays for passing or in bowls in larger bowls on ice
• Create a nostalgic ice cream station--In large bowls filled with crushed ice, put bowls of ice cream sandwiches, fudgesicles, creamsicles, Dove bars, etc.
• Macerate fruit in wine or liqueur--Very popular in Europe in summer.  Try berries with kirsch or Cointreau or peaches with red or white wine or Prosecco.  Add a bit of sugar if you like more sweetness
• Watermelon with balsamic vinegar--We love this idea from José Andrés: Cut seedless watermelon in cubes, cut a small hole in the side of each cube, and fill with balsamic vinegar.  Or serve the cubes alone, without the whole, and enjoy summer's fruit!  Use a minimalist tray.  Add lollipop sticks if you want a stunning presentation.
• Serve cupcakes with ice cream--Buy cupcakes from a reputable source and serve with ice cream, which you can pre-scoop and put on cookie sheets in the freezer, then take out the sheets at serving time and put one scoop and one cupcake on each dessert plate. No cutting cakes, pies, or tarts necessary!
• Chocolate lava cakes--This takes only 10 minues prep and 15 minutes in the oven and is so good hot, cooled, and/or with whipped cream.  See www.famousfrenchdesserts.com for a recipe
• Bourbon Cheesecake Shots--This is the big hit at our events this year! To serve 16 shots: 3/4 cup half and half, 2 tbsp. bourbon, 1 tub whipped cream cheese, and vanilla wafer cookies, crushed.  Just blend all ingredients in blender until smooth, then put the cream into shot glasses or dessert dishes and top each with wafer crumbs.  Make ahead and put in the fridge, then take out around 1 hour before serving time (again, as it has alcohol, it's best for an adults gathering)

Delicious and they add distinction to your summer gathering.

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

Fandango Catering Offers 4 Ideas for Your Spring & Summer Outdoor Parties

As warm weather approaches many of us are planning outdoor events--not only grilling parties but also, very popular this spring, outdoor or indoor/outdoor cocktail parties and dinners.  Today we offer 4 ideas to make your outdoor event more interesting and look better.

Choose a theme--A theme can be a particular type of food or cuisine or it can also be created around a signature drink, such as an outdoor tasting of wines, whiskey, specialty vodkas, etc.  Outdoor food themes are things like paella parties, Italian grilling parties (e.g., Florentine-style steaks grilled with lemon and/or rubbed with pesto, grilled vegetables, panzanella, Italian desserts, an Italian red wine), Texan or other style of BBQ, or, on a lighter note, Mediterranean tapas or small bites.

Unify outdoor tables--If you use a variety of outdoor tables, unify the look by renting heavy duck (or another heavy cotton fabric as wind will lift a light fabric tablecloth).  This looks better than a hodgepodge of tables.

Make the bar look nice--If you have a bartender use a heavy tablecloth, even one made of vinyl, and make sure that the bar tablecloth goes to the ground as the legs of tables usually used for bars are generally ugly.  Also make sure the bartender puts the extra bottles and coolers under the table--tha't why you need a tablecloth to the ground! You'll be amazed at how much better it looks than using a short tablecloth exposing ugly table legs and having extra bottles and coolers in sight!

Candles should be in containers that don't tip over--If you use candles on your outdoor tables, put them in candleholders or weighted luminaria bags heavy enough so they won't tip over, especially if you use tealights.  Along the same line, put paper napkins in something that will keep them from blowing away--loosely rolled in a heavy glass, for example.

Warmly,

Kristina

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