The weekend has come and gone way too quickly. I keep thinking how much I do not want to go back and sit in my office and try to sell some houses tomorrow. I want to still sit outside getting tan and eating way too many carbs. I promised myself I would reactivate my gym membership after the amount of food and wine I had this weekend.
I am exhausted after this weekend though. It’s actually funny because I am sitting in my kitchen right now because I was having writers block. I literally lived here for two days in this kitchen but clearly it is somewhere I can find some inspiration. I prepared the food for Diana’s party Thursday and Friday and was so happy when Matthew came to town and gave me a helping hand. It was a relief having someone in the kitchen with me who knew how I liked things done. He was literally my other set of hands and kept me calm and collected. I owe him so much.
But to the main point of this post. Diana’s graduation party catering was a huge success. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I made some kick ass, finger licking good food. I got raves all night and even asked to try out some recipes so that they could be served at another party. The menu included a mango, avocado, shrimp salad, an orzo pasta salad, a goat cheese tart with pears and walnuts bite sized crab cakes, rosemary grilled chicken, Thai chicken satay skewers with an amazing peanut sauce, a “green flatbread”, roasted rosemary nugget potatoes, and scallops wrapped in bacon. For dessert I cooked up some mini chocolate cheesecakes with a salted caramel whipped cream and a pretzel crust and also my olive oil lemon thyme cupcakes.
The thing that made me so happy and know that the food was such a success was that there was not one thing that got a negative review (and I told people to be completely honest). Everyone liked everything but two thing that I really found were the crowd favorites were the scallops wrapped in bacon (everyone loves bacon!) and the mango, avocado, and shrimp salad. Then I had other that said my crab cakes and cupcakes were the best. The chicken and peanut sauce was my absolute favorite and they were so easy to make. Anyway I am going to give you the recipes for everything because I liked it all so much and want to share all that I shared with my family and friends with you.
First, I will share with you the recipe for this Thai chicken skewer with the most amazing peanut sauce ever! There are lots of ingredients but it is so worth it. The sauce is spicy (just the way I love all my food) so if you have a sensitive palate exclude the spicy red pepper.
What You Need for the Sauce:
3 shallots chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
3 tablespoons of chopped spicy red pepper
1 tbsp. canola oil
4 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tsp. ground coriander
3 tbsp. palm sugar (or brown sugar, that is what I used)
1/4 cup boiling water
2 tsp. soy sauce
3 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/4 cup coconut milk
How You Make It:
1. Place the chopped shallots and garlic in a small sauce pan with the canola oil for about 3 minutes till they are nice a fragrant.
2. Then add your ginger and after a minute or two add in your peanut butter and stir as it melts.
3. Next add your coriander, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, and coconut milk and stir it together until it is completely melted and combined.
4. Next, pour your mixture into a blender and add your boiling water as it pureed together.
What You need for the Chicken:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch strips
3 shallots
5 garlic cloves
3 tbsp. palm sugar or brown sugar
2 tsp.ground coriander
1 tsp. cumin powder
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp turmeric
3 tsp. freshly grated ginger
2 limes juiced
2 spicy red chilies chopped
2 tsp. salt
1. Prepare all your ingredients by chopping and measure everything. Then combine all your ingredients in a large Ziploc bag and make sure the chicken is covered in the paste.
2. Let the mixture sit for at least in hour even though I let mine sit over night in the fridge.
3. Skewer the chicken through the center of your chicken and make sure that your skewers soak for at least an hour.
The next thing I want to show you are the scallops wrapped in bacon. These were soooo good. They might have been the crowd favorite but it was a close tie with everything. One of the little boys who was at the party took a whole skewer of them for himself. Even Matthew liked them I think and he hates seafood. Anyway these were so easy to make and are such a crowd pleaser they are a must for all of my gatherings now. The hardest thing about them was waiting for them to get out of the oven.
What You Need:
A bag of scallops
A package of bacon
Some generic seafood seasoning
A touch of olive oil
How to Make This:
1. Cut all your scallops in half and sprinkle them with the seasoning.
2. Cut all your bacon in half.
3. Lay your bacon out flat and straight and roll until the bacon is around the outside of the scallop.
4. Place on a sheet pan and sprinkle with a little olive oil.
5. Bake for 30 minutes on 350 Degrees F. You won’t be sorry.
I thought that this was the freshest and most beautiful thing that I made for the party. I feel like the picture really does not do it justice. It was all fruit and veggies because I do not really like too much lettuce in my salads (but who does?). Anyway, It was so beautiful and colorful I am happy I made it.
What You Need:
1 pound of shrimp (I got precook shrimp and just defrosted them and they were still delicious)
2 mangos
2 avocados
2 limes juiced
2 table spoons of coriander powder
½ cup of Olive oil
Pinch of Salt
Squirt of Honey
Boston Lettuce
How You Make the Yummy Salad:
1. Chop your mangos, avocados, and pound of shrimp into same cubes. You may have to cut the tails off your shrimp first.
2. Line your bowl with the lettuce so it can catch the juices.
3. Combine the shrimp, avocado, and mangos in the afore mentioned bowl.
4. In a small bowl whisk together your olive oil, lime juice, coriander, salt, and honey then pour over your salad and Voila!
The last recipe that I am going to show you today is the orzo salad. This was a cool and refreshing but filling pasta salad filled with Mediterranean accents which I am a big fan of. This is something that can be eaten hot or cold but I preferred it cold.
What You Need:
A box of Orzo pasta
A box if baby cherry tomatoes (or the littlest you can find)
A Can of Black Olives
2 cups of chopped basil
2 cups of chopped spinach
½ cup of olive oil
1 juiced lemon
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
About a ½ cup of feta cheese crumbled
Salt and pepper to taste
How to Make it:
1. Prepare your orzo and cook thoroughly.
2. Chop your olives and tomatoes in half.
3. Combine the pasta, olives, spinach, basil, tomatoes, and lemon juice in a large bowl.
4. Then add your lemon zest and juice along with your salt and pepper (all to taste).
5. Add your feta cheese to the top and then pop in the refrigerator until it is at the temperature you want.
Well this is all I am going to add for these posts but expect the rest of the menu later. Also I have decided to expand my blogging adventure into a small catering business for the residents of Annapolis, MD and its surrounding towns. If anyone would be interested in my services for a party no bigger than 30 please let me know by emailing me at Jessica.Caruso09@stjohns.edu.
4. Heat up your grill, spray a little non stick spray, and grill for five minutes on each side
