PrintSnacks for a poker party?
Hosting 24 people. Need snacks that will: fit on small plates, don't require utensils, don't drip, can sit out for a while at room temp, and are easy on the hostess to prepare in advance. This is also a going away party for a chef, so no pressure there, right? Hahaha!
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17 Comments:
Last night around 8 p.m. my nieces complained of being hungry, I had NO IDEA what to make them- and then I just threw the weirdest thing together that was actually really tasty. It fits all of your requirements, so listen up:
You'll need to stalks of fresh broccoli, four or five strips of bacon, a package of button mushrooms, some grated cheddar cheese and egg roll wrappers, which are readily available in most major supermarkets now. Saute the broccoli and mushrooms together while you fry up the bacon. When the broccoli is tender, take it off the heat, add the cheese and mix well. Then crumble your bacon and incorporate it into the broccoli mixture. Fill the egg roll wrappers with the mixture, fold as you would a normal egg roll (there's directions on the package) and then fry them up until they're golden brown. It's so weird, I know, but SO good.
PumpkinBear at 6:14PM on 03/18/08
@ PumpkinBear! - Love that one. Do you think It could be made into bite size portions using wonton wrappers? Maybe not rolled but folded and sealed?
@erinlovestoeat - No pressure, No pressure, No pressure. I really need to think on this one and get back in a bit. ;-o
crazyspice at 6:24PM on 03/18/08
I think it could totally work with wonton wrappers. I was actually going to try that this weekend.
PumpkinBear at 6:28PM on 03/18/08
How about using a soft lettuce, like Bibb or Butter and making wraps with stir fried chicken and veggies with a peanut base dressing. the only utensil would be a toothpick?
crazyspice at 6:46PM on 03/18/08
Gougeres, baked spiced almonds, quiche tartlets, pasties (or any kind of meat/veggie filling in pastry), spring rolls, foccacia, warm olives (heat gently in olive oil with oranges zest, garlic cloves, fennel), cheese, crudite ..
kjgibson at 6:53PM on 03/18/08
tarragon chicken salad (I use the Silver Palate recipe combined with Ina's suggestion of roasting bone -in, skin-on breasts for the meat and threw in some craisins as my own twist) on cucumber rounds went over well at some parties I had over the winter months . And the Polish girl in me always has at least one kielbasa in the freezer, which works well and is fine at room temp, just slice and stick with tooth picks.
JojoK at 7:15PM on 03/18/08
Serve Ina Garten's "lambs in a blanket," i.e. lamb sausages in puff pastry.
Garten's recipe from _The_Barefoot_Contessa_Cookbook_ yields 28 servings and I'm fairly certain that she prepared these for a poker or bridge party, too.
Here's a "quick and dirty" adaptation of Garten's recipe: You'll need two sheets of frozen puff pastry, a pound of 1/2" thick lamb sausage and some Dijon mustard. First, divide sausage into four equal pieces and bake in the oven for about thirty minutes at 400. Next, wrap the cooled sausage pieces with thawed puff pastry, creating cylinders, and then bake them for twenty minutes at 400. Serve with Dijon mustard.
I made these for our 2008 New Year's Eve get-together. They worked. Hope you get your menu set soon and I wish you many good rounds of poker!
Susquehanna at 8:09PM on 03/18/08
P.S. While it sort of goes without saying that you horizontally slice each of the four baked cylinders into seven pieces to get 28 servings total , I thought I'd mention it. Of course, if you want more substantial lambs in blankets, cut each cylinder into six pieces and you'll have exactly one for everyone at your party.
Susquehanna at 8:13AM on 03/19/08
Scotch eggs go over great at my poker games.
And if you don't mind folding wonton skins, crab rangoon is another classic.
schwartz at 8:19AM on 03/19/08
avoid anything greasy, you don't want to make a mess of the cards.
sloppy at 11:42AM on 03/19/08
My mom's fried chicken wing recipe is a hit at parties like this; before you dredge them in flour, apply a liberal amount of McCormick's Cinnamon Sugar on them. When you fry them, the sugar carmelizes and they taste wonderful!!!
BITTER at 11:59AM on 03/19/08
slice up some fruit and serve it in a large hollowed out fruit like a watermelon or pineapple. cliche but still delicious and not heavy.
stumbler02 at 3:41PM on 03/19/08
There was a TopChef episode about this, I know...
Christina at 6:52PM on 03/19/08
you could add booze & simple syrup to the above recipe..tasty!
(clearly, it's almost 5pm and I REQUIRE a cocktail)
....oh wait...my snacky ideas?
empanadas. yum. hummus/feta/black olive on pita triangles, maybe those bacon wrapped dates(devils on horseback)or bacon wrapped scallops (angels on horseback), meatballs, you could do your own "pigs in a blanket" with some fancy sausage.
(serve these all with a little toothpick to make em handy) .
I'm with @Sloppy though- watch out for the greasies on your cards.
bisbee at 6:57PM on 03/19/08
oh rats I just noticed "the chef's coming to dinner" part..here's a link to Mark Bittmans apps in 20 minutes I think it was posted on SE around christmas if my link doesn't work:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/dining/19mini.html?_r=3&pagewanted=3&ref=dining&oref=slogin
good luck!
bisbee at 6:59PM on 03/19/08
Thanks bisbee, just what I was looking for. Thanks everyone else as well! I want to focus on winning, not cooking, haha!
erinlovestoeat at 6:47PM on 03/25/08
BF had a poker game recently - about 15 people showed up to either play or just to eat. I made 2 pork shoulders' worth of pulled pork - and only one gallon ziplock bag of it was left (and that bag was not full).
I served garlic bread and tortillas with it. I also recommend a black bean salad.
chiff0nade at 8:55PM on 03/25/08