Food to cook and take to a party

[cesare]

Ok let's get past the quiche business and agree to disagree - I can't say I eat it very often nor have I ever cooked it

All the suggestions so far seem a bit pedestrian - sorry!

In deference to your tactful suggestion and Fed's hangover I will move swiftly on from quiche.

Why not do a couple of crispy ducks, a big pile of pancakes and some cucumber, spring onion and a large jar of hoi sin sauce?

 

[tarannau]

All the suggestions so far seem a bit pedestrian - sorry!

Said the man who took a bean salad last time.



Still, it's all in the execution rather than the names really. How's about pholourie, mango sour and some saltfish fritter, using the local market to cook something different - escoveitch, pepperpot, a metagee for the vegetarians and so on.

 

[DotCommunist]

There, I've corrected your quote for you.

We can put to rest this idea that most people like Quiche once and for all. In many years of serving buffets in the hospitality industry, it's my experience that more Quiche is thrown away and discarded than any other foodstuff. Bland eggy stuff in a flan case, designed for easy eating rather than flavour - no thank[/quote

Home made quiche always gets eaten unless you are shit at it

 

[perplexis]

Veggie: Lentil salad. Puy or Beluga or both Lentils, caramelised onions, garlic, feta (or other hardish crumblyish cheese), lemon juice, dried cumin & coriander, chilli/tabasco, salt, halved baby tomatoes. Can be served warm.

Meaty: same with bacon or pancetta or something? If you're feeling maximum lazy.
Otherwise nothing wrong with a bit of cold roast beef, or a chicken salad....

 

[Orang Utan]

In deference to your tactful suggestion and Fed's hangover I will move swiftly on from quiche.

Why not do a couple of crispy ducks, a big pile of pancakes and some cucumber, spring onion and a large jar of hoi sin sauce?

Nah, might as well order a chinese takeaway

 

[Orang Utan]

Veggie: Lentil salad. Lentils, caramelised onions, garlic, feta (or other hardish crumblyish cheese), lemon juice, dried cumin & coriander, chilli/tabasco, salt, halved baby tomatoes. Can be served warm.

That's more like it!

 

[boing!]

flan?

 

[joustmaster]

vegi - carrier bag of pitta bread

meat - carrier bag full of donner meat



i can't bleive so many people hate quiche

 

[berniedicters]

Any ideas? It just has to be easily heated up or served cold, as it has to be transported elsewhere after it's cooked. Ideally, I want to do one veggie and one meat dish. I've run out of inspiration.

Pizza! Works fine hot or cold, great finger food, and people always say "You made it yourself? Even the base??!?!?!?". Kudos in a box.

 

[Biddlybee]

mini pizzas... even better

 

[perplexis]

That's more like it!

Oh I forgot the olive oil. Needs olive oil for dressing. But you could have guessed that.

 

[Orang Utan]

Sorry, they don't appeal either - again, a bit pedestrian - I was hoping for some more foody suggestions IYSWIM

 

[cesare]

Nah, might as well order a chinese takeaway

Grrr

How about strips of marinated tofu, stirfried with raw cashew nuts & other veggies (peppers, onions, courgettes) served on a bed of crunchy lettuce and garlic bread to soak up the juices/pile it onto?

 

[tarannau]

But you seem more interested in a fairly run of the mill lentil salad, distinguished by feta and some halved tomatoes? Not particularly foody, particularly in appearance terms, if you know what I mean?

 

[sojourner]

Tabbouleh?

One of my mates used to do one with lemons and mint in it

 

[sojourner]

This looks similar to what my mate used to do

Ingredients
Feeds 4. Takes 30 mins plus soaking time.

150g fine burghul
2 spring onions
2 tomatoes
1 small preserved (pickled) lemon (optional)
6 green olives
2 bunches parsley
1 bunch mint
2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2tbsp lemon juice
½tsp ground cumin
½tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp sea salt

Rinse the burghul, then soak in cold water and cover for one hour until swollen.

Finely chop the spring onions. Cut the tomatoes in half, squeeze out and discard the seeds and juice, and cut the remaining flesh into small dice. Finely chop the green olives. Rinse the preserved lemon, (discard the flesh if salty), and finely slice the rind.

Pick off the parsley and mint leaves, wash and dry them thoroughly, then roughly chop the leaves.

Drain the burghul and squeeze dry. Toss with the parsley, mint, spring onions, tomato, green olives and preserved lemon, if using. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, cayenne and sea salt, and pour over the salad. Toss well, and serve.

 

[Orang Utan]

But you seem more interested in a fairly run of the mill lentil salad, distinguished by feta and some halved tomatoes? Not particularly foody, particularly in appearance terms, if you know what I mean?

Yeah, but I know what my friends like to eat and a lentil salad would go down well, rather than homemade takeaway food

 

[tarannau]

You could always make your own pate or rilettes. Foody and comparatively easy.

 

[Orang Utan]

This looks similar to what my mate used to do

Ingredients
Feeds 4. Takes 30 mins plus soaking time.

150g fine burghul
2 spring onions
2 tomatoes
1 small preserved (pickled) lemon (optional)
6 green olives
2 bunches parsley
1 bunch mint
2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2tbsp lemon juice
½tsp ground cumin
½tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp sea salt

Rinse the burghul, then soak in cold water and cover for one hour until swollen.

Finely chop the spring onions. Cut the tomatoes in half, squeeze out and discard the seeds and juice, and cut the remaining flesh into small dice. Finely chop the green olives. Rinse the preserved lemon, (discard the flesh if salty), and finely slice the rind.

Pick off the parsley and mint leaves, wash and dry them thoroughly, then roughly chop the leaves.

Drain the burghul and squeeze dry. Toss with the parsley, mint, spring onions, tomato, green olives and preserved lemon, if using. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, cayenne and sea salt, and pour over the salad. Toss well, and serve.

Is that taboulleh? I take it you mean bulgur wheat when you say burghul?

 

[perplexis]

Yeah! Chicken liver pate, or smoked mackerel pate...

 

[sojourner]

Is that taboulleh? I take it you mean bulgur wheat when you say burghul?

Looks like the stuff my mate used to make, and timesonline reckon it's tabbouleh. There's quite a few different versions of it

Yeh - I thought that was a spelling mistake as well - it should be bulgur ime

 

[Biddlybee]

Is that taboulleh? I take it you mean bulgur wheat when you say burghul?

Arabic word for bulgar wheat

 

[Biddlybee]

Tzatziki... always so much nicer home-made, and a few people are bound to bring things to dip into it; or it's nice as a side.

 

[Orang Utan]

Ah! Taboulleh is nice, but there's a risk that someone else will bring it

 

[berniedicters]

There, I've corrected your quote for you.

We can put to rest this idea that most people like Quiche once and for all. In many years of serving buffets in the hospitality industry, it's my experience that more Quiche is thrown away and discarded than any other foodstuff. Bland eggy stuff in a flan case, designed for easy eating rather than flavour - no thanks

Hmm. I think quiche has the potential to be a very nice food. Though I will agree it often isn't, mainly because of the Evil Quiche Sins, which are:-

• Temperature. It's not a fucking ice cream. So don't take it out of the fridge (or the freezer) and slap it in front of people. Ideally, warm it slightly - not so hot people can't pick it up, but warm enough so they know it might once, in its miserable life, have seen the inside of an oven.
• Cardboard Crust. No, really, is IS supposed to be tastier than the box it came in. If they can't make the crust taste nice, there's really not much hope for the rest of it, is there? A quiche crust should be light and buttery, even slightly sweet. If you're doing the worthy health-conscious thing and using a wholemeal crust, then it needs to be more Snuggledown than Doc Marten, if you catch my drift. If it crumbles when they pick it up, people can use both hands and a plate. If it's more suitable to laying as patio slabs, guess what? People won't eat it.
• Contents. It really does help if the quiche is made with things likely to taste of something, especially once they've been warmed up to body heat. So bits of salmon, ham, fourth rate broccoli and the Mildest Cheeses In The World are a bit pointless. If you're making, use flavourful ingredients, like caramelised onions, good strong cheeses, hearty meats (bacon instead of ham, for example, or at least don't use that anaemic waffer-thin supermarket ham that probably never saw a pig except on telly). If you're buying...well, just don't, eh? The sooner the shops stop doing food parodies like supermarket quiche, the better.

I realise that this rules out pretty much any quiche you can buy ready-made, but there is the potential for making really nice quiches (ok, let's call 'em "flans") with a little effort and thought, and this thread is about making food, not buying it in.

Quiche/flan is a bit of a faff, though. All that baking blind and so on. But one of my favourite party foods is a wonderfully sweet onion quiche in a light, buttery pastry. Yum. Takes some beating.

I'd still do pizza, though.

 

[Orang Utan]

Tzatziki... always so much nicer home-made, and a few people are bound to bring things to dip into it; or it's nice as a side.

Someone else will DEFINITELY bring that - don't want to step on anyone's toes.

You see, this is why I'm short of inspiration! I hate repeating myself and don't want to do anything anyone else has done

 

[Belushi]

Someone else will DEFINITELY bring that - don't want to step on anyone's toes.

Is this a WI meet or something? you appear to be turning into soem kind of super-competitive housewife

 

[sojourner]

Ah! Taboulleh is nice, but there's a risk that someone else will bring it

Why don't you just ask them and save yourself the headache of predicting?

 

[Biddlybee]

How much motivation and arse have you got to do this?

You could do warak einab (greek version is dolma)... but is a bit fiddly.

 

[Ms T]

Don't call it quiche - call it a tart! Tarte a l'oignon is nice, or pissaladiere is a kind of posh pizza.

I like a lentil salad personally.... Or I recently made a salad with israeli couscous (mograbiah), roasted tomatoes and labneh (really yummy Lebanese soft cheese). Radish and broad bean salad is also good, with green tahini dressing and pitta bread.

http://www.eattherightstuff.com/blo...ad-bean-salad-with-green-tahini-dressing.html

More ideas for creative salads:

http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/blog/category/recipes