Finger Foods

Goodness, girl, the possibilities are endless.

You might start with gougeres. For a gathering like that I pipe the pate choux into various shapes (i.e., discs, crescents, triangles, etc.) and use a different filling for each shape. For instance, shrimp salad in the circles, chicken liver pate in the triangles, etc.

You can make the puffs ahead of time, then fill them just before serving.

Won ton cups also open a world of opportunity. To make them, take round won tons and fit them into mini-muffin tins. Hint: a shot glass will help get them started evenly. Bake these at 350F for 5-6 minutes until lightly browned and crisp. Let cool. Fill.

You can make these long ahead of time as they keep two days longer than forever in a zipper bag.

Among the ways I fill these:

1. Poached gingered pears with gorgonzola.
2. Caponata.
3. Southwestern black bean salad.
4. Tomato jam & shrimp
5. Any standard "salad" (i.e., tuna, ham, beef hash, etc.) tricked up with various garnishes.

Just let your imagination go wild. Again, make the cups ahead and fill them just before serving.

Empanadas and all the variations on filled dough envelopes are ideal. Make them ahead then pop them in the oven to reheat.

A cheese/fruit tray always works well with gatherings like that.

Peel and eat shrimp are always a hit. Put out a big bowl of them, on ice, surrounded by a selection of sauces: cocktail sauce, avocado cream, Louis dressing, etc. Depending on your mood and the nature of the group, serve them in the shells, and guests can peel their own, or pre-peel them, leaving the tails intact.

Most of all, make it stress free. If you're too busy obsessing about the food you won't enjoy your guests---and that's the real purpose of the get-together

Some other thoughts that I didn't include:

1. Mini egg rolls and spring rolls. Lettuce wraps.

2. Stuffed veggies. Yeah, the usual celery sticks. But also things like halved cherry tomatoes filled with cream cheese & chives, small stuffed baked potatoes.

3. Olives stuffed with sausage, breaded and fried.

4. Mini-skewers with any assortment of foods you might like. F'rinstance, a square of sauteed chorizo or similar sausage, followed by a shrimp, followed by a small canteloupe ball; various meatballs; ham chunks and pineapple; grilled tuna chunks with appropriate dipping sauce, and so on.

5. Wedges of frittata.

6. Mini-pizzas with various toppings.

7. Meat or veggie croquettes.

8. Shellfish fritters with appropriate sauces.

I always love a cheese plate. I usually do mozarella with fresh basil cut roughly and scatter over. Also along side some parmesan or asiago with some sesame flatbread crackers or any other type of simple cracker. I also like a white bean with caper crostini. Take cannellini beans and mix with capers, lemon juice, olive oil, and pepper and serve on toasted bread.

A quiche can be prepared ahead and just rewarmed, or simply brought to room temp for party time. My favorites are seafood with shrimp, crab and scallops [ though on occasion I have also used lobster or octopus ] and chicken with mushrooms and tarragon.

Roast asparagas sprinkled with sesame seeds and a garlic sriracha mayo for dipping. Perhaps bags of frozen pot stickers are readily available in your area - they can be pretty tasty. Well, not while frozen, but steamed or simmered and then browned, a splash of sesame oil to finish.

Peach halves topped with diced proscuitto and bleu cheese baked for a few minutes.

The ubiquitous hot artichoke dip - equal volumes of mayo, chopped artichoke hearts and grated parm is a good starting point.

Make a big batch of crepes a few days before, roll them up stuffed with cream cheese, olive tapenade, sun dried tomatoes, slice them like sushi rolls.

The last couple of days I've been wanting some herring, both pickled in white wine and onions as well as the sour cream stuff.

Pineapple slices sprinkled with a bit of brown sugar, allspice and cinnamon then broiled might go well with the rum drinks.


mjb.

You could also wrap asparagus spears or sesame breadsticks in proscuitto, spread some allouette cheese on a slice and wrap little bundles. Easy and tasty.

This thread making me hungry :)

Mini spicy meatballs with spicy dipping sauce - make ahead, freeze if you like, thaw and re-heat on the day. Serve with a toothpick.

Chocolate dipped strawberries

Oyster shots
Bloody Mary Oyster Shooters Recipe - Taste.com.au

Pepperoni stacks - slice rounds of pepperoni, sliced rounds of same size of hard cheese (Jarlesburg/ cheddar etc) between them, spear with a toothpick

KY, I like the wonton cups.
I used to make them in various sizes, depending on if it was finger food or a fine dining app, and I found that inverting the muffin tin and building the cups on the outside keeps them from caving in nicely.

We just did gougeres with chicken salad, puff pastry squares with caramelized onion and prosciutto, and watermelon/feta spikes (2 cubes of H2O melon with a chunk of feta between on a sandwich pick, with a squeeze of lime juice and fresh cracked pepper)....these were refreshing.

stuffed mushrooms
stuffed endives with boursin cheese and sprouts
bacon wrapped scallops
coconut shrimp with mango chutney
smoked salmon with cognac mayo crostini



Petals

Lissajane, I know what you mean about not having things available out in the boonies. I'm in the same boat. Nearest place with any sort of choice is 30 miles away.

Although I specified gorgonzola, any blue cheese will do. Pears and blue cheeses have a great affinity for each other. If the cheese you choose is too much on the dry side just bind it with a little mayo.

But don't lock yourself in to the ideas we've presented. Use them as a springboard for your own ideas as well. Just let your imagination run free.

One thing to keep in mind, as you develop your plans, is that most main-dish recipes you like can be adapted to finger foods and starters. The trick is more one of envisioning the support system (i.e., picks, skewers, crackers, veggies, etc) so as to make it manageable.

Here's one example. I have a main dish recipe which is usually served on rice:

Shrimp & Sausage

1 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled & deveinded
3 links hot or smoked sausage
1 tsp basil
1 tbls parpriks
Salt
Small clove garlic
1 cup beer
1/2 cup sliced onion
1/2 tsp cayenne

Slice sausage. Fry in oil with garlic and remove from pan.

Saute shrimp in same pan until pink. Add sausage, sliced onion, salt, basil, and beer. Simmer 5 minutes.

Obviously, this would be a bit messy as a finger food (altough you could serve it in small cups or shot glasses, along with an appropriate "cocktail" fork). So I gave some thought to adapting it. What I did was cube the sausage (chorizo and andouille make good choices, btw, but even packaged smoked sausages work) rather than slice it, and make the dish. Then I separated the sausage and shrimp into separate bowls, and made a third bowl of small cantelope balls.

Then it was just a matter of assembly. On longish fancy toothpicks I put a melon ball, a shrimp, and a cube of sausage. Voila! All the great flavors of the dish in a convenient form, with a piece of melon as a palate cleanser.

What I'm saying is that with a little thought you can convert practically any of your favorites into finger food.

KYH...I'm stealing that recipe. Shamelessly :) YUM!

Phyllo with various filling. Spinach & Ricotta, Prosciutto & Mascarpone Torta, Minced Beef, Black Olives, & (a little) Cayenne. The possibilities, all while keeping it very simple, are almost endless.

In that case, DC, maybe I better type it more carefully.

Fourth listed ingredient should be paprika. Have no idea why the fingers typed it the way they did.

You add that while frying the sausage and garlic so that the hot oil helps activate it and, later, color the shrimp. I haven't tried it, but smoked paprika might add an extra element.

Enjoy!

Hehe KYH...I didn't even notice the typo. (Pretty funny typo lol...gonna stop there :) At least it wasn't "sub"-par.... )

Paprika is high on my favorite spices list. Smoky paprika would work I reckon, that's the one I use mostly but not always. Some things are better suited to sweet, others to hot, others to mild.


Lissajane - what did you end up making? (has it been yet? - oh yes, just scrolled up, was Friday). How'd it go, what was their favourite?