Cold Christmas party food

athtrasna

I'm not a regular here apart from the slow cooker thread so apologies for needing to pick your brains again.

In having 14 people over to mine the weekend after next and I have a new oven that feels really small!

It's a drinks and hang out evening but I normally throw on a selection of party food, mixture of home made-ish and shop bought.

The plan at the moment is the old faithful garlic bread, honey, mustard and sesame cocktail sausages, spring rolls and wings started in the slow cooker but will need the oven at the end. One guest is very very allergic to fish so prawn stuff and smoked salmon are out.

The numbers have increased a lot this year so I'm mindful of the need to supplement that lot beyond crisps/chips and dips.

Other than quiche and salad options, are there any decent (non bank breaking) finger foods that spring to mind (not sandwiches) that can be prepared in advance and served cold? I'm blue in the face looking at recipe sites, would prefer suggestions that are tried and tested by Irish guests

BuffyBot

A few top of head suggestions:

* Cocktail sausage rolls. Use different sausage meats from good flavoured sausages (chilli, garlic basil etc etc)
* Antipasti platter - olives, cold meats, cheeses, pre-bought grilled veg etc on a bed of dressed rocket so folks can help themselves with, salami, crackers, bread sticks to accompany
* Upgrade the chips: baked pita chips. Home made hummus/bean dips/babaganoush/etc
* Frittata/Spanish omelette cut into bite size pieces
* Savoury pastry straws (cheese, pesto - lots of different kinds, and can be made with bought puff pastry etc)
* Devilled eggs
* Devils on horseback

Space Dog

Doesn't involve much cooking, but we usually offer some of these when we have people over for a Christmas party and don't have a proper dinner:
Charcuterie and cheese board with grapes, pears, pickles and quince jelly/fig compote, nice crackers
Pears and gorgonzola/ricotta/whatever cheese you like, wrapped in prosciutto
Guacamole with tortillas
Hummus with crackers
Olives
Quail eggs (quite annoying to peel though!)

pwurple

You say not sandwiches, but meat / cheese on cracker or bread is your basic cold canapé.

Ham or roast beef/spiced beef on bread. Schmear of wholegrain mustard with the ham, horseradish with the beef.

Either buy a pack of fancy crackers, or cut shapes from various breads (toast some), or prebake pastry.

Stick them on a slate or fancy plate and bob's your uncle.
The first one in the pic here might even be a slice of spud, blob of sourcream, dill and a red onion.

currants

Core and thinly slice up eating apples, crisp ones like Granny smith or those honeycrisp. Soak slices with lemon juice and water to stop them going brown then a nice small slab of mature cheddar on top. Cut the cheese up beforehand- Kilmeadan pre sliced are perfect for cutting in two if you're feeling lazy. Put cheese on apples half hour before people arrive. Guaranteed to disappear in seconds every time.

Buy a big 500grm bag of Manhattan peanuts, whizz them in the processor, stopping every few secs to scrape down the sides. After a few pulses you have home made peanut butter, pulse it chunky or smooth, serve with carrot, pepper and celery batons, you can buy ready made carrot batons but small fresh carrots cut up earlier in the day taste much better. Go for paler celery and leave the inner leaves on top of the PB. The salty Manhattan peanut butter is addictive and home made sounds like a lot more work than it is. Everyone expects it to be hummous and its a nice surprise.

Go retro and precook mini vol au vent cases. Make up a packet of nice mushroom sauce and dice some real mushrooms into it at the end and simmer for 5 mins. When you're getting the food out of the kitchen put the heat on low under the sauce for a few mins to warm and fill cold cases with teaspoon of warm sauce, sprinkle of parmesan over the top. Shredded chicken stirred in at the end will be even more filling. Everyone loves a vol au vent.

A punnet or two of redcurrants draped strategically around the plates makes things look luxe imo.

The cooking club's lemon possets in shot glasses would go down very well!

athtrasna

Dónal wrote: »

The cooking club's lemon possets in shot glasses would go down very well!

Bookmarked since they were a great success at the last party!