Pictures will come of our festive 2013 WE party, but I figured I’d write about our menu since that is what we do around these parts!
This year we had an all new menu except for the bruschetta, which is our staple that we make each year. This year was no exception – we offered a pesto bruchetta as well as a goat cheese bruschetta. But the rest of the food? Fantastic!
1) Spicy Ginger and Carrot Soup – this was the hit of the night, bar none. Denis and I took a cooking class in early December and this was one of the things made during the class. It was so yummy that I told Denis that we were swapping out something on our WE menu so we could make the soup. And I’m glad we made that call because everyone loved not only the soup but the fact that we served it in our various shot glasses that we own! Will definitely be making a comeback next year.
2) Roast Beef Summer Rolls – they tasted great even if the delivery method was a bit iffy. We should have used two sheets of rice paper to ensure they didn’t fall apart since the rice paper is so thin. But flavor-wise they were delicious.
3) Greek Salad Skewers – this was really easy. A slice of cucumber, a slice of feta cheese and a cherry tomato. Sadly, we forgot to serve these along with the aioli sauce that we made for dipping. Oh well. We always forget something, and for this hors d’oeurves it was the aioli dipping sauce.
4) Apple & Goat Cheese on Brioche – we made a small edit to this. We made gluten-free bread for this, and it turned out well.
5) Haggis Meatballs – yep, we served haggis! Not only that, but I made a whisky sauce to put on it. And while I didn’t put nearly enough sauce on each meatball to really get the flavor of it, the meatballs themselves were delicious. Even those who had never had it before commented that they liked it.
6) Spinach/Avocado Stuffed Mushrooms – Denis make stuffed mushrooms every year, but this was the first time he did the spinach/avocado variety and people asked for seconds on that one.
7) Chicken & Waffles – a good Southern traditional dish, and it was great! Topped with a maple honey glaze, this was so good it’ll probably return next year.
8) Pimento Cheese and Bacon Crostini – another popular item because it involves two things Southerners love: pimento cheese and bacon. How can you go wrong?
9) Bacon & Cream Cheese Croissants – I had a couple of these during the party and I thought they were yummy.
10) Crab Cake Fritters – my only regret is that I brought these out near the end of the hors d’oeurves hour. By then most people were full to bursting, although the ones that had one claimed them delicious.
11) Figs & Stilton Cheese Squares – this was really easy. A square of pre-baked puff pastry, a dab of fig preserves, and a chunk of stilton cheese. Bake for 5 minutes to just melt the stilton and serve. Fancy and yet simple to make.
12) Pigs in a Blanket – but not just any blanket! It was sausage wrapped in jack cheese inside a savory pancake, served with a Sriracha dipping sauce. The flavor on these were great, but the execution was tricky because the pancakes were made in advance and so they weren’t as light and fluffy as they were when first made on the griddle.
All in all it was a good menu and the standouts were obvious: the soup, the chicken/waffles and the stuffed mushrooms. Those will all make repeat appearances next year, for sure!