I am getting married on September 24th and as I am a last minute kind of person, things are just now starting to fall into place.
I have two photographers (free), a friend making invitations (cost of materials), a lovely pub courtyard for the ceremony and reception ($50), an officiant for the non-religious ceremony (free) and The Dress (subject to change with my moods ).
The only major thing missing is the menu and here is where I ask you smart, classy dopers for assistance. As you noticed above, money is an issue mainly because I have none. The fiance and I decided not to have a dinner but rather a wide array of appetizers and now I am in need of recipes for classy but simple finger foods.
My stepmother and I will be making some ourselves to help cut costs and the pub owners will be making the rest. I am looking for both hot and cold appetizers as well as a variety of dips and spreads. If you have a good recipe please (please, please, please) feel free to share it here.
My hummus tends to get high marks from folks; while any homemade hummus will be better than the library paste you make from a mix, this has got several ingredients that give it a very fresh, lively flavor. And it’s ultra-quick to make, if you have a food processor.
3 cloves garlic
3 spring onions, chopped into finger-length sections
1 large handful fresh parsley
Pinch of cumin, pinch of cayenne
Whirl all this together in the food processor until it’s a nice confetti.
Add:
1 can mostly-drained chickpeas
Juice from half a lemon
1 dollop tamari
1 splort olive oil
Whirl all this together. Taste it and adjust with more tamari or more lemon juice until the flavor is very bright.
Add:
1 gigantic spoonful of tahini (preferably roasted tahini if you can find it)
Whirl it around. Add more tahini if the hummus isn’t substantial enough. If things taste too grainy, add a little more olive oil.
Scrape it into a bowl, and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, some sprigs of parsley, and some good olives. Serve with toasted pita wedges and raw vegetables.
For very quick and easy (and cheap!) stuffed mushrooms, you can stuff with Stove Top stuffing. Pour a little white wine into the baking dish filled with cleaned and stemmed mushrooms, stuffed with prepared stuffing. Bake 15 minutes at 350°. Top with shredded cheese and bake another 5 minutes. Serve warm, or they get yucky.
(Before you gourmets out there say anything: Yes, I know. Stove Top isn’t real stuffing. But it’s cheaper than crab and fresh herbs and all that good stuff.)
People always love these whenever I serve them (they don’t have a name because I made them up), but, spread a cracker (any kind you like best) with cream cheese. Put a dollop of cocktail sauce in the center and top with a small cocktail shrimp. For variety, top some of them with shredded faux crab meat.
Also always a big hit is my artichoke dip;
Take 2 cans or jars of artichoke hearts, drain and dice them up. Mix together with 1 cup parmesan cheese, 1 cup mayo, 1 package of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squeezed dry) and one can of finely diced water chestnuts. Bake in a glass baking dish at 350 for about 20-30 minutes until the top starts to brown. Serve with crackers and/or tortilla chips for dipping.
Mazel Tov and have a great wedding! (love the dress, btw!)
For your carnivore friends, a ridiculously easy appetizer that can be served hot or cold, and can be made well ahead of time:
little bite sized sausage links (Li’l Smokies if you must, but you can get better ones for not much more at the deli’s refrigerated case in Jewel or Dominicks)
honey
toasted sesame seeds
Toss the sausages in the honey, spear each with a toothpick and arrange on a plate. Shake toasted sesame seeds over them. If you’d like to serve them hot, then heat the sausages in the oven or microwave first.
No one ever believes me that that’s all there is to it - it tastes much more complicated and always gets compliments.
One of the easiest, but most delicous things ever (and one of the few seafood items I will eat.)
Bacon wrapped scallops.
Take scallop, wrap with baconm, add a dash of salt and pepper, cook under broiler for five to ten minutes, depending on how done you want the bacon. Oh, and shave a toothpick in there to eat it with.
These are exactly the kind of things for which I was looking.
Left Hand of Dorkness, thanks for the hummus recipe. I was planning on serving that and yours sounds perfect.
WhyNot, are Jewel and Domincks store names? My store options are limited to mom and pop grocers and Walmart hell. I wanted to make Thai food and had to order coconut milk online.
Mix ground beef with breadcrumbs, raw egg, and teriaki sauce. You want about a 1/4 cup breadcrumbs to each pound of meat. Roll into meatballs about the size of a shooter marble. Bake on a cookie sheets in a 400 degree oven until brown on the outside and done clear through (it doesn’t take long). Drain on paper towels, though this isn’t necessary if you use very lean ground meat. Skewer each meatball on a toothpick if you aren’t going to have any kind of flatware available.
How about bagel chips, rye flatbread, or Ritz crackers shmeared with cream cheese (or even better, that garden vegetable cream cheese) and little bits of smoked salmon? Delicious.
You can buy big bags of frozen pre-made meatballs if you don’t want to make your own, and do “sweet and sour” meatballs by simmering them in a crockpot with one jar of grape jelly and one bottle of Heinz chili sauce. This would also work well with the aforementioned Li’l Smokies or other small sausages.
You can make clam dip by spreading softened cream cheese around a bowl or tray, and then topping it with a blend of canned clams (drained) and cocktail sauce. Then use Wheat Thins or Triscuit crackers for scooping and dipping.
If you will have access to a grill, you can do marinated shrimp or chicken kebabs, with either a tangy, sweet barbecue sauce or a spicier marinade.
Some grocery stores will sell plastic containers of fresh mozzarella cheese balls, marinated in oil, herbs, and spices. Stick some toothpicks in these and watch them disappear. Everyone loves cheese, especially mozzarella.
We do this but with water chestnuts and a homemade bbq sauce.
Wrap whole water chestnuts in bacon, skewer with tootpick and pour bbq sauce over 'em. (I don’t have the recipe for the bbq sauce, I just use bottled sauce that is sweeter than it is spicy. I believe the sauce is just ketchup, w-sauce, brown sugar and a bit of salt. But don’t quote me. G)
Put in the broiler until they reach desired doneness.
Veggie trays are easy to make yourself and I like to use a fat free dip made of fat free cottage cheese and Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix (the powdered stuff). Just put it into your blender and blend 'til creamy. If you want it a little creamier add a tiny bit (a tsp at a time) of skim milk until you get your desired consistancy. You can NOT tell that it was made with cottage cheese.
If you think you can get good tomatoes and fresh basil in September, then:
slices of good tomatoes, with slices of fresh mozzarella (the kind that comes as round pieces floating in liquid), and fresh basil leaves. A little extra virgin olive oil on top and maybe a touch of salt helps.
Not cheep-cheep-cheep, but not as expensive as scallops.
Shrimp platter with cocktail sauce - buy ready to eat/display
Cheese platter - you can save a lot of $ by buying the brinks yourself and cutting into 1" cubes. Serve along side veggies and ranch dips…
“Take out” Sushi platter - can be expensive, but is a nice touch
Chicken / Beef skewers with peanut sauce or hoisen
Swedish meatballs - yum. I love toothpick foods.
Tempura shrimp and veggies (I threw that in there since that is what I’m having for dinner…)
Pork and Pepper on toast… Slice loaf of french bread and toast. Cut pork roast (also could use chicken breasts) to size of bread slices and flour|egg|bread crumb treatment then pan fry in olive oil until crispy. This can be made ahead of time and assembled and warmed at the party…grab a few bottles of pre-roasted peppers and layer the bread, meat and pepper. Looks pretty and pretty cheap.
Also, Quercus’s idea is great. You can also jazz it up by putting it on toothpicks. Cube of mozzarella, grape tomato and small piece of basil. Keep them in a platter with olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the bottom. So, so yummy.
2 cups of pitted Kalamata olives (DO NOT use canned black olives. Buy some good olives from the deli section. They don’t have to be Kalamtas, but that’s what I use)
3 Tablespoons capers (you may use less if you want)
4-8 anchovy filets, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic
4 or more Tablespoons of a good, fruity extra-virgin olive oil (I like Frantoia)
Some people might add some sun-dried tomatoes. Others add lemon juice. This is pretty much the classic recipe, with the addition of garlic. You can adjust the amounts to your taste, just follow the basic rule of more olives than capers than anchovies.
Take your ingredients, put them in a food processor, add the oil and blend to a coarse paste. It should not be pureed–you want texture here. If it’s a little too coarse, just add a bit more olive oil.
Serve spooned over bite-sized crostini/melba crackers or as a dip. A little goes a long way.
I don’t know what they’re called, but I really like those little pimento cheese sandwiches made in little shapes, like hearts and stars and stuff. Mmm… pimento cheese…
That’s pretty similar to what I make for potlucks and so on. I use half Sicilian and half Kalamata olives, skip the capers and anchovies (mostly because I don’t keep them around), and throw in a bunch of fresh oregano as well as the garlic. Those sun-dried tomatoes are good too, or maybe a finely-chopped hot pepper. Mix and pack with enough olive oil to cover.
I also chop fresh Roma tomatoes, with thin strips of onion (mild onion, and just a little!), garlic, and basil. (Hint: Stack the leaves, roll up, and slice thin to make pretty green threads.) Drizzle on a bit of olive oil.
For tremorviolet’s devilled eggs, make several kinds. Divide the yolks into several bowls, and season each differently. Maybe do one batch with pesto, one with chopped peppers (hot or sweet), one with grated cheese, one with celery, one with dill, and so on. Make sure the kinds look distinctive, with a bit of the seasoning or something on top of each (a pine nut, a pepper strip, …). Arrange in sectors of a platter, maybe decorating each sector appropriately.
Combine cream cheese, alittle garlic powder, and some crumbled cooked bacon. STiff mushroom caps…broil. (That’s it…really!)
Barbeque Cups:
10 oz tube of biscuit dough
1/2 cup barbeque sauce
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup minced onions
1 or 2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Heat oven to 400 degrees. grease 10 muffin cups. Brown ground beef, and drain. Stir in barbeque sauce, onion, and brown sugar. Cook to blend flavors, stirring constatnly.
Place 1 biscuit in each greased muffin cup. Press firmly into bottom and up sides. Spoon meat mixture into each biscuit-lined cup. Sprinkle each with cheese.
Bake at 400 for 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges of biscuits are golden brown.
NOTE: when bringing these to a party, I simply cut the biscuits in half and do them in mini muffin cups. Works great…and they go farther!
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