My little niece Clara is now a one-year-old! This past weekend, fifty of the family's closest friends and relatives celebrated with my sister and brother-in-law at their lovely home. It was a triumph, with Clara successfully smashing her confetti cake and coating herself in pink frosting!
In our family's typical party-fashion, the food was a joint-effort, which I highly recommend to any of you party-throwers: divide and conquer! As the person of the hour was a young child, we steered clear of any items that she would not be able to consume (e.g., nuts) and focused on some of her fave cheese and fruit cuisine. Miss Independent likes to feed herself these days, so foods were "finger" foods.
Here is a select list of the items served which would be great for any party, regardless of the age of the "child!"
- Drinks: lemonade with floating lemon wheels, iced tea, beer and wine for the adults
- Dips: fresh guacamole, ranch dressing, chile con carne (queso with ground sausage; warmed in crock pot)
- Tortilla chips for dipping
- Vegetable sticks
- Cheddar cheese cubes
- Fruit kabobs with marshmallow tips
- Chicken salad with apples and shrimp remoulade salad in phyllo shells
- Meat balls (warmed in crock pot)
- Cupcakes with buttercream frosting
A few party-prep words from this foodie:
- Always prepare more food than you believe that your guests will eat. Set aside about 1/4 of what you have prepared into the refrigerator or a cooler set aside from the party. If you begin to run low, just bring out your secret stash. If your guests only eat what the original portion, then you are in luck...your next meal is already ready for you (especially great to have pre-made food available for you and your clean up crew after the crowd departs).
- Take advantage of make-ahead items. For this party, that would be the cheese cubes, salads, cupcakes. For the cupcakes, make three days in advance, leave unfrosted, and place into air-tight container at room temperature. For the cupcake frosting, make up to 10 days in advance and place into air-tight container in refrigerator; the day of the party, bring frosting to room temperature and then whip in electric mixer for five minutes in order to reincorporate air. Frost cupcakes two hours in advance of party and leave at room temperature.
- If you are pressed for time or are not yet ready to make all items from scratch, then pick and choose only a few key items to make homemade; the rest can be substituted with packaged solutions. For this party, a lemonade mix could be perked up with freshly-cut lemon wheels; meat balls are available in your grocer's frozen section and could be topped with an easy, homemade BBQ sauce (mustard, ketchup, garlic powder, dried onions, brown sugar); use a cake boxed mix for the cupcakes and simply top with Martha Stewart's fab, homemade frosting for that gourmet flare.
Party on,
Chalkaholic
Chicken Salad with
Apples and
Shrimp Remoulade
Salad in Phyllo Shells
From Katherine M. Chalkley
Each recipe yields 60
appetizers; plan on each guest eating 2 – 3 shells. Salads may be made up to 2
days in advance of serving if stored in air-tight container and refrigerated. If preparing for a meal, then use larger phyllo shells (e.g., Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry) and fill with 1/2 cup salad.
For the Phyllo Shells
4 (four) 15-count
packages of frozen, premade mini phyllo shells (found in grocer’s freezer beside
pie crusts)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place shells on baking sheet;
it is okay to have them close together, as they will not expand. Bake for 3 – 5
minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes minimum prior to
filling. The shells may sit on counter, covered with tea towel, for several
hours.
For the Chicken Salad with Apples
1 (one) 2-lb bag of
frozen chicken breast tenders (boneless, skinless)
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
1 – 2 cups mayonnaise
4 Granny Smith apples
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken tenders on baking
sheet. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 30
minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes before handling.
Shred chicken with two forks, with one fork – secure piece
of chicken, with other fork – pull chicken in one direction. Set aside shredded
chicken.
In large bowl, add mayonnaise.
Core apples and cut into bite-sized chunks (1/2 inch). Add
apples to bowl with mayonnaise. Stir well in order to coat all apple chunks
(prevents discoloring).
Add to bowl shredded chicken, about ½ a cup at a time in
order to evenly fold chicken into mayonnaise mix.
Chill salad mixture for 30 minutes or more. Just prior to
serving, pile 1 – 2 Tbsp of chicken salad into each phyllo shell. Serve
immediately.
2 lbs of refrigerated,
pre-cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp (found in grocer’s fresh seafood section)
½ of one onion white,
diced
Olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh tarragon
(leaves only, discard stems)
1 Tbsp dried fennel
seeds, crushed
2 lemons, juiced
1 – 2 cups mayonnaise
1 Bell pepper, diced
1 Tbsp capers,
drained and rinsed
1 tsp anchovy paste
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Chop shrimp into bite-sized chunks. Set aside.
In sauté pan, heat olive oil until just gleaming. Add onion
and tarragon. Sauté for five minutes or until onions are tender. Set onion
mixture aside to cool for five minutes.
While onions are sautéing, add remaining ingredients into
large bowl. Mix with large spatula in order to combine well.
Add to mixture the onions. Stir well.
Add to mixture the shrimp. Gently fold.
Chill salad mixture for 30 minutes or more. Just prior to
serving, pile 1 – 2 Tbsp of shrimp salad into each phyllo shell. Serve
immediately.
