I just saw the cutest dessert thing that I think could be adapted for finger foods – I totally want to try it for my next party, but in the meantime, I’ll tell you about it.
It was a Dessert Garden, and they’d taken squares of actual sod and put them into serving dishes. The food was all placed on skewers poking out of the grass. Things like chocolate-dipped strawberries, candied pineapple, caramel apples, etc. I think this could also work for things like grilled shrimp, stuffed croissants, truffles, all kinds of things as long as they’re self-contained finger foods. Very cool.
My mother made a fruit bouquet for my graduation party last year. Everyone really liked it.
I’d make it an international tapas deal and go with tasty appetizers from all over. Spring rolls, little bits of tandoori on toothpicks, cheese and crackers, tea sandwiches, spanikopita, thai fish cutlets etc. etc, different types of chips & dip. I did this for a New Year’s party once and it was a big hit.
That sounds neat. And yet, part of me is a little skittish about it. Wouldn’t it be strong smelling? My only experience with sod is at school when they put some down on a lawn where someone did doughnuts and tore up the grass, and it was a very strong smell.
Chicken sure tastes nice, but with this scenario I’d be terribly afraid of cusing my guests a massive salmonella food poisoning. Chicken heated, cooled of slowly, reheated and kept sorta warm in the open air a full afternoon…high risk!
Because of the salmonella risk, I’d try the vegetarian route. Many guests will be vegetarians anyway. How about making a massive pot of ratatouille, and serving it with freshly (cooked on th espot) made pasta, bowls of grated cheese and salads? To keep in Italian atmosphere, hire an old-fashioned Italian ice-cream cart and let everyone order their own desert icecream-cone…
Make up some green or yellow jello, and before it sets mix in some jelly babies. Serve with mixed fruit, and cream.
Are you expecting guests to be dressed up? If not then you could ask guests to help with the BBQ’ing and to bring BBQ sets so you have lots of cooking space.
If you BBQ then baked potatoes will help fill guests up. Otherwise potatoe salad or pasta salad can do a similar job and can be prepared the day before.
You just have to be really organised. Give people jobs of what they should bring to the meal if you can. Remember friends and relatives favourite dishes and ask if they can make them again for your special day. Get a few close reliable friends to make specific items that everyone can enjoy and that will help feed the group. If you have friends with electric rice cookers than a couple of those can produce enough rice dishes for a large number of people (you can cook flavoured rice straight in those things, add onion, tumeric, garlic, rasins, spices etc. to the uncooked rice and water then cook as usual in the machine).
Hmmm. That wasn’t something I noticed, and of course I haven’t done it yet on my own. I think grass only produces that strong smell when it’s freshly injured, so that could be avoided by cutting the sod to fit the serving dishes a day or two in advance. Just including a little water at the bottoms of the dishes (and sprinking with water if need be) would keep the grass fresh through serving time.
Though I liked the grass look, I think the same thing could be accomplished with a little astroturf (or something similar) over a layer of florist foam.