Please give me some ideas for adult party food - preferably quick, easy but impressive looking! Ta

[MamaG]

Its my nephew's surprise 21st birthday party on teh 5th and SIL (his mum) has just has 2 very nasty operations - she's an absolute whizz in teh kitchen and whenever you offer tot ake any food to her parties, says "oh no, thank you" but this time she nodded furiously and said "oh yes please"

SO - what do you suggest? I've roped MIL in to being my slave, but I want to do LOADS as SIL is not really up to it.

TIA

Not carrot cake then! Happy Christmas to you m'dear. I will put my thinking cap on. You after buffet style stuff?

Sliced up ciabatta, crisped in the oven if you wish, with olive oil brushed on, mozzarella slices, tomato slices and a basil leaf on top. You can put smoked salmon on them too, with a little creme fraiche and dill topping.

Get some ready made pastry, roll out into a rectangle . Spread all over with pasta sauce, bought or made, or pesto. Sprinkle with cheese, parmesan, grated cheddar. Roll up in the manner of a swiss roll, cut into little slices. Bake. Little savoury swirls.

Have a look in any cook book under appitizers, there will be a few there.
You can get impressive anywhere, what you will need is food that takes the minimum amount of time to prep. Taking 2 minutes to do a fantastic looking canape means you will take 1 hour to do 30 bite fulls.

Firstly is it finger foods only or will it be forkable food as well. In other words could you have bowls of rice or would they end up as a mess on the floor because people have to scoop it up with their fingers.

Secondly, how many is it for.

Thirdly, any alergies.

Get back and I will rack my brains (cooked for 250 at times) and my sons ( he's a chef).

I get tortilla wraps and put things like carnation chicken, salmon, cheese and onion roll them up and cut them into 3rds and stand them upright on a plate people love them and they look good to

Oh and i get plain tortilla chips and put a little blob of cream cheese plain or with chives or with pepper then hals a grape or olive on them they look nice too

Very funny Mo - happy christmas to you too, luv

Right - how many? Not sure yet (I know) - if I can have a "this wll make 10" recipe, I can adjust accordingly.

Allergies - not that I know of, but wlil double check

Thinking buffet style finger foods, rather than hot stuff - tis in a village hall type place and whilst it has a well equipped kitchen, I will h ave an 8 year old girl and 3 year old boy in a state of high excitement

Was thinking, so far:-

chipolatas wrapped in bacon ( cook and serve cold?? )

Squares of filo, brushed with butter then a blob of brie & a blob of cranberry, wrapped up and baked (again, ok served cold??)

Are blinis difficult? Thinking blobl of cream cheese, bit of smoked salmon and a sprinkling of dill?

(please, nobody mention farking ICeland - MIL muttered something about Party Trays and I glared at her - am not KErry farking Katona)

blinis are not difficult as you can buy them from most supermarkets and top with creme fraiche and that fake caviar stuff

another good one is smoked salmon pinwheels

big bowls of crudites and dips as well - houmous etc

can you do a big cheese board - loads of grapes, celery and crakers?

mini tartlets are good as well with veggies

rice salad

Dips and crudities buy the cheap dips and put them in pretty bowls or lazy susan's. Have breadsticks, crudities and crackers on the side.
Mini pizzas with extra toppings.
A bowl of cold rice with diced ham and diced pineapple mixed in. Other varieties to suit your imagination.
Plates of sliced (rolled) meats.
Pineapple and cheese cubes on a stick (were all the rage when birthday boy was born).
Sandwiches, If doing ordinary sarnies, dont do them individually create a production line. Clear a worktop as large as you can. Lay out sliced bread a loaf or two at a time. Butter all the bread with a large spatula (just slap it on), then top half with various toppings, then flip other half of slices on top and cut and display.
Think of the salad bar at Pizza Hut.
French bread sliced into rounds or ovals, make them into open sandwiches.

We make a rather interesting looking dip, which is spinach & cream cheese and served in a hollowed out ciabatta loaf.

You need 250gms philly cheese
250gms spinach
1 glove garlic
1 packet of dried onion soup
small pot of dbl cream
same amount of mayo
1 lemon (juice)

wizz it all up in a mixer and pour into hollowed out bread of your choice. Ciabatta is good, because its quite easy to take the middle out. It looks really different and it tastes fab. One guest once said, 'how can something this green, taste this good!'

I would do nice pizza, cold rice dice with chorizo, tandoori chicken, french bread, poppadoms, samosas, and then a potato salad, honey chicken wings, pitta breads for those who didn't ;ike the spicier stuff. Its all dead easy and less faffy.

also, get ready to roll puff pastry and then spread with pesto, tapenade or feta cheese and then roll up and cut into discs

bake in the oven - they are lovley and really quick and easy

Brilliant so far, thank you

keep 'em coming please

hmm.. on Christmas Eve we had these spicey salmon skewer things from m&s; they were scrummy, and quite easy to copy I should think.. they were little skewers with 2 pieces of salmon on each one and needed 10 minutes in the oven. You could easily make the marinade with soya sauce, sugar and chili flakes (or indeed, pop into m&s and check the box!)

homemade humous and breadsticks/pitta?

Toasted pumpernikel cut in little squares with smoked salmon and sour cream?

My mum always does a big bowl of black olives marinated in her own mixture of garlic, coriander, chilli, lemon juice and olive oil. Always a big hit.

She also makes tiny pies filled with fried minced beef, onion, garlic and coriander made with shortcrust pastry (they look like mini cornish pasties). She makes dozens really quickly then pops whole trays of them in the oven, they don't take that long. Serves them with a tomato and chilli and coriander dip. Heavenly.

hmm like the sound of those, thank you

MamaG, COV had some good ideas in a Christmas nibbles type thread quite recently - mini crab cakes with a chili dipping sauce for example.

I'll see if I can find it.

Thank you

I considered suggesting we do a huge pot of chili/curry with rice, and a huge pot of mash with cumberland sausages, but think it could be a nightmare on the night.

Think anything that can be made in advance is best

Sandwiches... Do them at home, leave whole. But to transport them , stack them up and roll the bread bag back over them, seal and transport. Do the slicing and displaying once there. Less mess. They will keep for some hours in their bags.

Gataux's. Cheesecakes, proffiterols, big jug of cream. (will need little paper plate and fork obviously)

Does anyone you know have a cash and carry card, you can get a lot of stuff in catering size quantities there.

Have you thought of asking other members of the family for help... Asking Aunty Jill to provide a plate of cocktail sausages wont break the bank or put her out.

Some ideas here

Brilliant thanks

quiches and tarts eg blind baked shortcrust pastry case, sweat red onions in butter until soft add splash of balsamic vinegar and season allow to cool. Artistically arange jar of roasted red peppers across the top in a cross shape fill gaps with slices of firm goats cheese eg capricorn. toss over a few black olives, season, drizzle over a little honey if you like it and bake in oven until case is crisp and golden and goats cheese is browning. This would also work in mini bun tin size portions but layer the cheese on top of the pepper.

Here is a thread from the summer.

great thread bree - yes, will defo do the onion tartlets

All

Are dads allowed on here?!

I'm planning my wife's 50'th birthday party in may, and love some of the suggestions for 'finger' food on this thread.

Any more ideas?

Ash