Dinner for 85
Amy and I knocked out a dinner for 85 the other night, and Kelly helped us at the event. We're a pretty good team together. The menu was South American:
Starters
Mixed Seafood Ceviche in a Plantain Cup with Mango Salsa
Pepita Crusted Chicken
Brazillian Cheese Breads with Guava-Port Wine Sauce
Spiced Almonds
Fresh Strawberries and Pineapple
Dinner
Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce
Sauteed Garlic & Oregano Shrimp
Saffron-Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Fresh Green Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette and Hearts of Palm, Kalamata Olives, Roma Tomatoes and Provelone Toasts
Roasted Corn and Asparagus Salad
I'll run through some of the less common items. I used snapper, bay scallops and squid in the ceviche, "cooked" it in citrus juice, redressed it in fresh citrus juice later, then put it in fried plantain cups. Plantains are starchy bananas that are more common in the Carribean and some parts of South America. Pepitas are pumpkin seeds, which Amy used as a coating for chicken dipped in honey and paprika. The Brazillian cheese breads are called pao de quiejo in Portuguese. They're made with tapioca flour, crisp on the outside, but somewhat chewy and cheesy inside. But they're strangely addictive! The guava-port wine sauce is not traditional, but it was exotic and fruity and brought up the normally subtle breads. Chimichurri sauce is the parsley, cilantro, crushed pepper, and olive oil condiment used for grilled meats in Argentina.
Of course, there were little details that I wish I had had more time to execute, but the hosts and attendees seemed to be very pleased. I didn't get to take any pictures myself, but I'm going to ask around. I was also happy that we managed to stay pretty close to the budget, so we came out positive overall. I passed out a few business cards and promo cards, so maybe this will lead to a few other jobs.
Now if I could just get the scheduling down a bit better to make it easier on ourselves...