Looking to expand our repertoire of appetizers and infuse some imaginative inexpensive offerings we came up with additional suggestions for your next planned event.

Moving along the lines of a middle eastern kabob called “kofta”. Traditionally this is made with ground lamb with spices including allspice, cinnamon, cumin and cayenne pepper. The ground lamb is shaped into elongated meatballs around a skewer and baked. Our play on this is to create a very small bite-sized appetizer similar to a kofta. During a tastings with our client, we rolled out two versions of this, testing our flavor profiles for two possibilities. The first, is along the traditional lamb kofta, aromatic and spicy this appetizer was well received. We added the above spices in addition to minced onions, minced garlic and ginger, as well as minced sundried tomato. We added an egg or two, to moisten the ground lamb mixture. For speed in production, a large pastry bag was filled with meat mixture and piped out long ropes about 3/4 inches in diameter. We froze these ropes, facilitating in cutting into consistent portions at 2 inch lengths and skewering easily with 4-inch bamboo knots. Since lamb has a bold flavor, the added spices and intensity of the garlic, ginger and sundried tomatoes matched up well and accented the spicy peppery mini kofta. A dipping sauce made of plain yogurt, fresh squeezed lemon and fresh mint accompanied this appetizer and a wonderfully cool and refreshing counterpoint to the lamb kofta kabob.

In our second rendition of the same technique or style of preparation we looked to chicken, apples, ginger, pecans and honey. Specifically, ground chicken, toasted ground pecans, minced sundried apples, honey, ground ginger, kosher salt and black pepper with egg to bind are combined in a bowl and the mixture is piped into ropes just as the above lamb. With a slight twist, once mini chicken kofta are prepared, we ran thru a breading technique and coated with panko. Lightly fried in oil to add a crunchy outside texture, we finished cooking in oven for 20 minutes until cooked thru. As a sauce to compliment the chicken kofta kabob, we prepared a Whisky Bourbon Apple Cream Sauce.  What’s really different and appealing with the chicken version, is the nutty savory flavor profile with a hint of honey and bits of sweet apple here. The sauce is to die for! In fact, I’d be happy with an old piece of bread and this sauce. Well OK, a bit of an exaggeration…… but moreover this sauce has a great many pairings. Accompanying pork dishes as well as chicken for entrees just to start the conversation. Anecdotal to this point, we prepared a breakfast enchilada dish made by stuffing and rolling thin crepes, using scrambled eggs, finely chopped smoked breakfast sausage and grated smoked Gouda cheese, and smothered with Whisky Bourbon Apple Cream Sauce. A truly unique breakfast entree. Needless to say, it was a hit, and has become a regular and reoccurring menu item for a different take on breakfast.

Anyways, the chicken kofta with its sweet and savory characteristic signature flavor profile was very well received. It was preferred here simply because the client needed to feature a chicken or poultry option as one of the hors d oeuvres. Both ideas are excellent choices, traditional lamb following the middle eastern tradition and a modern twist on the traditional preparation. You can’t go wrong with either, just a preference for how to cobble a variety of menu choices to entice a large gathering and have something for everyone.

Next up in our taste test, we took a look at an egg roll and changed up the classic ingredients that normally go into its filling. Our client needed a vegetarian option as well, again having something for everyone directive. Taking this Chinese method of the classic egg roll, we filled a wonton skin with some really interesting ingredients. The combination of balsamic roasted portabella, roasted red pepper, baby arugula, red onion and a cream cheese mixture made with Dijon mustard, fresh tarragon , lemon zest and pepper, turned into a party waiting for the doors of one’s mouth to open!! Our first go around here, our client was concerned about the size. And a quick revisit to just chopping all the ingredients smaller, so we could shrink the eggroll size down to a two-bite three-inch roll was easily reworked with the same impactful flavors. The earthiness from the mushrooms, pepper-bitter flavor from the arugula, sweetness from the onions, sweet savory flavor the roasted red pepper create a well-balanced, full expression to all that is vegetarian, and all that is good. Binding all that goodness by adding a tarragon Dijon cream cheese mixture holds and suspends all those elements into one cohesive symphony of notes. It’s a party waiting for your taste buds. Well played!!

Lastly, we come to our Shanghai Roll with Spicy Sichuan Broth.  Since we already checked the box for vegetarian, I went ahead with another variation of this Asian delight that always stayed with me since working with it in the past. I favored this Shanghai Roll with Seitan, a vegetarian wheat meat substitute. It was a wonderful vegetarian alternative, and we ran with this quite frequently.  So time to change it up. This time around, we will go the carnivore route and work with chinese pork. Similar to a Mexican Flauta, this chinese version is pretty basic, but the mushroom soy sauce is perfect for this. Mushroom Soy imparts deep earthy flavor. Not much is needed, as I find this more appealing than straight soy sauce. For the pork, we find a good pork with plenty of marble fat. Run thru a grinder using a large holed die. Saute in small amount of sesame oil finely diced carrots, celery, onions and minced garlic and ginger. Add mushroom soy sauce and salt-pepper mixture to taste. Cool vegetable mixture. Combine in a bowl with ground pork and a whisked egg. Knead pork and vegetables to distribute flavors equally. Using wonton skin, add small amount of pork and roll thin cigarettes, about ½ inch diameter. Seal wonton with small amount of egg. Fry in peanut oil until crisp. We prepared a quick dipping sauce, made with mushroom soy, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sriracha sauce, a couple drops of sesame oil, fresh lime juice, grated ginger, minced garlic, scallions and sesame seeds.

In addition to these new ideas, we also incorporated some of our past favorites which are always quite popular. See below. We have written about these apps in previous blogs. To find out more, check out our archives for us shining a spotlight on their introduction.

Categories: Receptions