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Hi everyone! So, I'm planning this party for the fall where I'm going to be having people over for drinks and cocktails and snacks, of course. What I'd love to hear are some of your favourite little nibbles for a larger group. I'm looking for about 6 or 7 really good ideas; some to be made ahead of time, others to be served cold, some to be served hot. Suggestions? Bring it! :-)

Eric:

I've made these for guests many times and they always disappear quickly. They can be served chilled or room temp. and can be made ahead.

Take arugula and toss with a vinagrette (made with olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, dijon, s&p) and a bunch of shredded parmesean. Roll a small bunch of the dressed greens and cheese into a slice of prosciutto. Slice each roll on the diagonal into 2 pieces.

Salty, peppery and green tasting. Yummy.

janel, that sounds fantastic
thx!

on the prosciutto tip, i LOVE melon balls wrapped in the stuff
you can secure it was a fancy tooth pick and then no one's hands get mussed in the devouring
i like to pepper my melon (heh) before wrapping it (hehehe)

so this sunday i'm making supper for a few friends and it's so dang hot here in nueva bjork that i can't see straight, let alone imagine cooking. and yet i'm booked. so i'm thinking something farmersmarkety. any suggex? of course i loved that fish soup in the nytimes this week but the mere notion of making a soup in this heat crosses my eyes.

Eric - Make dates stuffed with almonds or some nice cheese, then wrapped in bacon. You won't regret it. The prep can be done ahead of time and then they take no time to bake off just before guests arrive. They are just fantastic. I've served them with a really nice olive tapenade. (Click my name for the recipe)

Also, I case you didn't know, dip is back and it's better than ever. According to the LA times. It's all about dip.

Eric - We always make a few dips for parties. White bean dip with sage and bacon if you're a fan is nice. Edamame is fast and easy, thaw a bag of frozen shelled edamame and whiz it up in the food processor with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe a squeeze of lime.

Spiced nuts are perfect too. Check out Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook for some good recipes, plus lots of inspiration. Big bowls of pistachios, sweet and spicy pecans, curried cashews if I recall correctly.

For something warm, you could make soup or chili and serve it in small cups. Or make an onion tart (carmelized onions, baked on puff pastry - let me know if you need to find a recipe).

Lisa - you can go for a cold soup. Cucumber yogurt, watermelon gazpacho, a white gazpacho (uses almonds - very cool and creamy and unique). Make a nice big salad with greenmarket stuff. Good bread (oooh, maybe some treats from Sullivan Street Bakery in Hell's Kitchen). And for dessert you could get some gelato or ice cream and serve it with berries. Simple and will beat the heat.

I second Grant. I sampled those dates wrapped in bacon at a party once and they were addictive.

This works for Eric's easy appetizer and also for Lisa's no cook requirement. (for an appetizer)

Take a nice soft goat cheese or farmer's cheese and marinate in olive oil with chopped fresh herbs and whole peppercorns and serve with crackers.

Another version is to make a quick salsa verde in the blender or food processor with various proportions of parsley, cilantro and mint with garlic, olive oil and something acidic or spicy. Marinate the cheese in that for a couple of hours before serving.

Serve with crackers and breads or breadsticks.

Meatballs are also a big hit at parties. Retro fun. Penelope Casas has a great recipe with a spicy Canary Island red pepper dipping sauce

Wow! Thanks everyone for such great feedback!

Janel ~ that sounds too delicious to wait for the party - I'm going to make that this week!

Ann ~ love the classics, and the boyfriend will love that one too!

Grant ~ I'm SO about the dip! I just made a really nice jalepeno hummous and a roasted red pepper and white bean dip to take to my parents today. I've also seen some REALLY interesting ways to serve crudite with dip that prevents people from getting all messy along the way.

Samantha ~ I'm seeing tiny little Chinese takeaway boxes with spiced glazed nuts in them (with so many people coming I'd like to keep people's paws off a bowlful wherever possible). That would be SO cute!

Vanessa ~ I'm thinking that cheese and cocktails may get a little messy in this instance. But, meatballs could be totally fun. Has anyone heard of the famous chili sauce and grape jelly recipe for sweet and sour meatballs? So stupid simple but tastes as though its been cooking for hours! :-)

Thanks again everyone! I've got the psychic and the magician all lined up, now just have to get things rolling!

Not exactly a cooking question, but does anyone know how to sharpen serrated knives? My knife sharpener came with specific instructions to NOT at ALL COSTS sharpen serrated knives with this sharpener. With such a stern warning, I'm afraid to disobey without proper backup. Plus, I love my ol' bread knife (even if it is a bit dull) and don't want to do permanent damage. The sharpener I have is one of the ones where it has two sharpening stones imbedded in plastic and you pull the blade through. Is taken my serrated knife to a professional knife sharpener my only hope?

EmmaC, believe those instructions!
I spent a bit of time sharpening my knives today
(and now feel *very* virtuous)
but I never do serrated...

Lisa, we made cocktails and cold salads yesterday, and, er, Applegate Organic Ball Park Franks.
Yeah, I had a hot dog.
Just one is a beautiful thing.

Roasted beets (in the the toaster oven; not turning on the oven until October, thank you)
with vinegar, parsley, shallots, baby arugula and toasted hazelnuts. yum. got goat cheese today for the 2nd round.

black bean/corn salad with lime juice, red onion, cilantro, Greenmarket tomatoes, avocado and chiles (best with habanero, but I use jalapenos until habs are in season)

and I ate quinoa/baked tofu salad all week for lunch
reminded of it on the last OT, thx
but that party food sounds good - grazing is the only way in this weather

bon weekend

emmac
head thee straight over to KitchenArts on Newbury Street
a quick google search found that they will sharpen your serrated knife overnight for about $4

I made a cold almond soup last night, garnished with lightly pickled musk melon and some saffron tinted bread crumbs
abso-freakin-loutely DELICIOUS!

ann
that sounds like high art
is almond soup made from almond butter and stock?

Thanks for the knife sharpening tips, all! I will in fact head myself over to KitchenArts on the morrow.

not at all (the high art thing that is) its actually part of the cucina povera set of stale bread based soups so popular in the mediterranean (its a spanish standard, called Ajo Blanco)

you just puree some blanched almonds, a few cloves of garlic, some bread crumbs, olive oil, water, salt and a dash of sherry vinegar together and chill

i got wicked fancy with the garnishes however...
i'll be posting the actual recipe tomorrow on me blog if anyone's actually really interested *blush*
either way, its wunderbar!

ahhh, i love that used the word "wunderbar."

so, thank you for meal advice as per usual, kind kitchenettes. i ended up grilling lavendar-rosemary chicken beforehand and serving it cold with some farmers' cheese from the union square market and crusty bread and a big greenmarket salad--lemon cucumbers, dill, chives, roasted beets, pistachios, lettuces, wax beans, and and and.

one of my guests runs a bakery (cheeks in williamsburg) and came bearing coconut chocolate apricot tarts and tiny cookies.

and a lot of wine.

Re vinaigrette...

I usually use 1:2 or 1:3 ratio (vinegar:oil)

It could be the type of oil (olive or otherwise) you are using, too. Lately, I've been using part canola and part olive oil.

I tend to (over)use balsamic vinegar in most of my dressings. But must not go crazy with condiment mania.

I made ROMESCO sauce this weekend. Also spanish - in the vein of AJO BLANCO mentioned above.

(chargrill redpeppers, tomatos, garlic, onions - add toasted stale bread, almonds (I subbed pine nuts), a bit of vinegar and some mild sweet chilis - pureed together)

It suggests serving with seafood or vegetables. I'm looking for some vegetable suggestions to top with romesco... anyone?

I like steamed broccoli with romesco, and anything bitterish (in a good way) and green. Another nice thing to eat it with is steamed new potatoes.

regards,
trillium

jenPDX, thanks for the tip on the ratio and oil types. i may be using too much olive oil and will try that next time.

i hear you re: vinegarettes. lately, i use a v. nice olive oil and then incorporate lemon juice and red wine vinegar and chopped herbs into the whole program. the lemon seems to impart an additional layer of acidity, which i appreciate. and the proportions are about 1:2 as well.....

Zuni serves romesco tossed over roasted potatoes. Which reminds me, I have half a batch in the freezer . . .
I think it would be really nice with snowpeas.
Is that strange?

I LOVE things thickened with stale bread - not fond of cream in everything, so for me it is super handy and delicious.

I have a great recipe for Romesco over roasted vegetables that I make every summer. I'll post it soon. Just scan your local market for fresh roastables: root veggies especially. Roast in olive oil and salt. Top with romesco.

i have to say that i LOVE reading this OT on monday's to see what everyone cooked up over the weekend. oh my, this all sounds so delicious!

so i have a really basic vinaigrette/cooking 101 question. my salad dressings have been coming out terrible lately. i'm finding that they taste too oily and have a heavy flavor of the olive oil. i don't know what it is...but i'm in a salad rut and was hoping for some help.

can anyone offer any tips on how to make a great vinaigrette? i especially love apple cider and red wine vinegars but am open to anything. my portions might be off as well and i'm going to purchase a better olive oil this week that i will use just for dressings, something lighter i think. in the past i have kept it really simple and whisked olive oil, some fresh herbs, apple cider vinegar, fresh garlic, and a bit of s & p.

it's so frustrating to make a beautiful salad and then have it tainted with a dressing that is awful.

thank you!!

I'm not confident with vinaigrettes, but I do find that adding 1 tsp of Dijon mustard helps to emulsify the mix. Like this one I make for:
Mixed Green Salad
In a large salad bowl, starting with 1 heaping tsp of Dijon mustard, add 1/3 cup of red wine vinegar, 2/3 cup olive oil, 1 crushed&minced garlic clove

Mix and add to dressing about 2 cups cooked green beans, chopped into approx. 1" lengths, a can(!) each of white beans and black beans(rinsed), half a red onion, thinly sliced, 1 red pepper, sliced, then finish with a handful of chopped parsley. Mix and enjoy.

I've been following Bittman's vinaigrette recipe in How to Cook Everything, which is balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic, whisked together, and then olive oil streamed in very slowly during whisking. It calls for 1/4 cup of vinegar to 3/4 cup of olive oil. It's been very reliable; in our house we call it Happy Dressing.

And now that I've actually read leeds's recipe above, I see that it looks really delicious.

I've been doing more Asian inspired dressings lately - mainly to try and cut down on the oil and to try and add a bit of variety to our meals. Generally I just whisk up some corn oil (for neutral flavour), a tiny bit of sesame oil, lime juice, a bit of sugar, some garlic mashed with a bit of red chili and finally a bit of fish sauce. Drizzle over any kind of salad (noodles, pasta, seafood, veggies) for an instant hit.

I don't really know what proportions I use, I just go by taste and try and balance the flavours until its right. Give it a whirl, you can't really mess it up (unless you add too much sesame oil, then its a bit heavy...)

i use one of these latte frothers to make my salad dressings
http://tinyurl.com/j6s97
its works AMAZING, i mean AMAZING for helping to emulsify dressings
another thing i've found that works wonders for dressing are these spice combos http://tinyurl.com/k4d9n made by a friend of my moms
there's something about them that acts as a binding agent much as mustard does

call me lazy if you must, but they really are fabulous! (and they're great as marinades, rubs and on sandwiches too)

BAKED TOFU follow up -
I want to share with you all the recipe I found for baked tofu. I can now try to make it into a salad similar to Guido's quinoa salad.
http://tinyurl.com/f864r

Correction: re bean salad recipe
Title should have read Mixed Bean Salad, and I forgot to add instruction to whisk dressing ingredients, but you knew that, right?:)
(That'll teach me not to post BEFORE my all-important morning coffee, which was late today!)

wow, thank you so much for these tips on vinaigrettes. i'll be out of town for the next week but will certainly give them a try and report back later next week. i really appreciate the help.

your posts here are inspiring to me. : )

eric, i know it's totally cheeseball but i always make pigs in blanket -- totally easy & they disappear in nanoseconds.

leeds! I made the mixed bean salad this evening, and it was a hit, even with visiting little kids!

Joan A., I'm so happy everyone liked it!:) It's one of my fav. easy summer salads.

Any other ideas for easy summer salads?

I just read one for 'paella' salad - using orzo. basically you just cook chorizo & cubed chicken breasts in a pan in which you've sauteed onion & green pepper. Add pepper flakes& paprika. Add all to cooked orzo, toss with lemon juice, a bit of olive oil, a diced tomato & parsley. Could be good, I may make that later. Anything requiring short cooking time is very desirable right now!

janel, your prosciutto idea sounds terrific.
I've made this for a cocktail party: take a half strip of prosciutto, spread thin layer of cream cheese on it, then a bit of Dijon mustard, wrap around 2-3 steamed asparagus spears.

vanessa,
in which Penelope Casas book will I find the meatball recipe you mention? Tapas, La Cocina de Mama or another one? thanks

Hey Abby, that sounds like a fun, retro idea! I think that if it ends up being near Halloween I'll call them Fingers In a Blanket! :-)

eric, that is an excellent idea!

hey leeds, one of my favorite warm weather salads is italian bread salad, where bread plays the part usually played by lettuce. cube good day (or more) old bread, mix with cubed juicy tomatoes, chopped basil (some people substitute arugula), a mix of red wine vinegar & olive oil (1 to 3), let it all sit until the bread gets all tremendously smooshy. sometimes i add chunks of mozzarella, you can also add all sorts of things: olives, chicken cubes, anchovies, red onion.