A Fall meeting featured some seasonal foods this month. Although, there were several repeated apps and desserts we already covered. Here we included some new ideas, not yet executed until now. They are not overly complicated to prepare, but still worth mentioning here. This menu was a simple breakout from a meeting held for a small gathering. Again, I like the idea of black table clothes. Everything tends to have more pop, when using black as the back drop.

I wish I could have taken some full table photos of the room, but we were trying to set up the food while the meeting was in session, and I didn’t want to be too distracting with assembling the food displays. As a result of moving quickly, some of the photos are not the greatest. I apologize about that! But, at least some idea of can be taken from this, I hope.

We took the idea of apple crisp which can be served warm or cold and added the pizza twist to it. Taking a 12-inch flatbread, we heated the flatbread on a heated flattop range or comal. Brushed it with a very small trace amount of butter on both sides. While still warm, sprinkled liberally with cinnamon sugar both sides. Allowed to cool, we spread cream cheese, topped with apple pie filling and struessel topping. After assembly, warmed in oven for 10 minutes. Cut into pizza wedges and topped with carmel sauce. And that’s about it. Now, although we didn’t do this here, this could be served with vanilla ice cream scooped in a bowl and served with the Apple Crisp Pizza for a killer dessert combination. Here we used a pizza flattop warmer to keep the dessert warm. Yum!

This dessert is a simple take on the traditional cannoli. Here we used a pumpkin, cream cheese and ricotta cheese mixture, a bit of sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and lemon juice. The cannoli is dipped in chocolate and filled with the spiced pumpkin cannoli filling. The ends are usually dipped in chopped pistachios. Here we used crushed toffee, and dusted with powdered sugar. Very nice.

This is a Shrimp Mar-Teeny. The Sea Green Martinee Glass is about 3 1/2 inches tall. Very small but very big on flavor profile. We prepared the shrimp salad with fresh tarragon, dijon mustard, mayo and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Added celery and red onions. The shrimp salad is garnished with micro herb greens and a small herb crostini. We added a small cocktail fork to keep the miniature presentation consistent. Here I was a bit hurried with taking the photo and didn’t show up well as picture worthy of the effort behind the presentation. Hopefully, its description here can give you a better idea on our Mar-Teeny Shrimp Salad with Tarragon Dijon Dressing and Herb Crostini.

We combined two displays into one. Normally we keep the vegetable crudite and cheese tray separate. Due to table space limitations, we attractively arranged the vegetables and cheese together.

Finally, we have a fall trail mix in cello bags for folks to take with.

Categories: Receptions