help with gourmet sheva brochos menu

canadamom ↓

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 1:12 pm

I am making a small intimate sheva brochos just for family, and I need ideas of a knockout menu! I enjoy cooking and presenting dishes in an interesting way, but am looking for new ideas!
I want to make a meat or fish appetizer,
soup or salad
main dish
dessert I already made

any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!

dats me ↓

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 2:08 pm

appetizer ideas: salmon skewers over angel hair pasta, beef bundles with sweet tomato sauce ( recipe in bais yaakov cookbook, its a ground beef mixture inside a puff pastry bundle), plated salad with some kind of meat or fish like salmon cubes or pastrami strips

soup - blended soups present nicely especially with toppings

salad - purple cabbage salad, asian coleslaw, a nice lettuce salad with terra sticks

mains - I like the cornish hen idea, capons are nice too, chicken marsala

let us know what you end up doing! hatzlacha!

happylaughter

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 2:36 pm

entree-poached salmon on a skewer is a beutiful entree served with angel hair past or a vegetable turnover with mushroom sauce
soup- maybe a potato garlic soup would be interesting or a broccoli soup.
main dish - I like to serve for small affairs a good rib steak or veal chops with the small blue potatos as a sidedish with grilled vegetables its different and has a great taste.

↑ canadamom ↓

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 4:44 pm

dats me wrote:

the beef bundle sounds interesting, would you mind posting the recipe please?
thanx

MMCH ↓

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 5:39 pm

I recently went to a very upscale home made sheva brochos, and the menu went something like this
appetzier: a london broil salad with some sort of candied nut plus a pureed (I think potatoe or parsnip) soup served in a small tea cup with pesto swirled on the top, plus two slices of garlic bread with bruschetta on top

main course: this was the real knockout item- they did everything in minatures. so in the middle of the plate there were two mini ribs (where htey got them I ahve no idea) they did a mini hamburger(also called slider) on a bun. with differnet bundles of vegetables and threee small dips (I think kethcup, a honey mustard and a garlic mayo)

dessert: was like a lemon freeze with pomegranite seeds and then three minature cakes (like bite size, cake pops)

↑ canadamom ↓

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 7:01 pm

vordale wrote:

I like the idea of sliders, is it elegant as an appetizer?

Mrs Bissli

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 7:07 pm

Soup: curry parsnip soup, carrot soup with cumin. (Both are pureed). Or cream of chestnut (you can get either vacuum packed or pureed chestnuts, cook with sauteed celery/onion)

Main: beef wellington or salmon en crute. Make sure to "insert" chopped liver for beef wellington between beef and pastry. For salmon en crute, add two layers of fillings--mashed sweet potato and spinach/water cress puree. Or lamb chops with herbed crust.
.
Side: jewelled rice pilav with toasted pine nuts, dried cranberries and fresh pomegranate seeds. Or safran rice with toasted almond slices and golden raisins.

Dessert: individual meringue shells or pavlova with raspberry coulis. You can also make individual filo parcels (grease shallow muffin tins, cut fillo doughs into squares, lay 4-5 layers overlapping edges brushing with oil with a pastry brush between layers, bake till crisp and fill with custard/parve whip/fruits and drizzle sauce over top)

imasinger

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 7:14 pm

sky wrote:

We recently made one and by each seat we placed a small chocolate and the wrapper was the monogram from the invitation. You can have them professionally done or print them yourself and wrap the chocolate.

Ohh, I'd forgotten about this! I did it for DD's bas mitzvah; I think I'll do it again for her sheva brachos. Thanks!

ra_mom ↓

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 9:05 pm

canadamom wrote:

vordale wrote:

I like the idea of sliders, is it elegant as an appetizer?

Sliders can look great if you serve them in nice buns, secured with a skewer on the diagonal. You can put a cherry tomato on top too.

Some images

http://www.google.com/imgres?q.....ty=77

http://www.google.com/imgres?q.....ty=77

http://www.google.com/imgres?q.....ty=74

http://www.google.com/imgres?q.....y=102

http://www.google.com/imgres?q.....ty=82

http://www.google.com/imgres?q.....ty=85

↑ canadamom

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 9:20 pm

ok! I'm sold on the slider idea! love it I think I will make 2 sliders, one a traditional meat burger with pickles and lettuce etc. and one with a burger and sauteed strips of pastrami and onions on it. I have pretty ceramic dip spoons and I think I'll put it on the plate with garlic mayo or something like that.

now I'm looking for a knockout main dish. I love the look of meat rolled up with some veggie inside, just don't have a recipe, any ideas?

↑ ra_mom

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 9:28 pm

canadamom wrote:

This this?
http://www.google.com/imgres?I.....=1076
They're usually difficult to cook just right.

chocolate chips

Tue, Feb 14 2012, 9:49 pm

How about a miniature main dish.
I did this once: chicken stuffed rolls (tiny bread rolls with cooked meat in the middle), wontons with dipping sauce, mini bitesized shnitzels, a small lettuce leaf with tiny chopped veg and drizzle of dressing.
Looks really really good on a square plate. Other sides such as rice, big salad, kugel etc can be served on platters for self service.

Other ideas:
trout flower roll ups
mini salmon skewers
mini shnitzel/cold cut skewers
mini pavlova (meringue with strawberry whipped cream on top)
meringues
mini mousse cups
checkerboard cake
baked alaska

(check out efrat libfroinds book she has tons of great elegant recipes in there which are easier than they look).

↑ dats me

Wed, Feb 15 2012, 12:57 am

canadamom wrote:

dats me wrote:

the beef bundle sounds interesting, would you mind posting the recipe please?
thanx

Heres the recipe if you or anyone is still interested

Beef Bundles in Sweet Tomato Sauce (Bais Yakov Cookbook)
Bundles:
1 lb ground beef
1 large egg
1 med. onion, grated
3 cloves garlic, grated
3 tbsp ketchup
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
36 3 inch frozen puff pastry squares, defrosted
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Mix beef, egg, garlic, ketchup and bread crumbs gently in a medium bowl. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 24 muffin cups and press 1 puff pastry square into each muffin cup. Fill each square with a little less than 1 tbsp of meat mixture. Bring all four corners of puff pastry square over the meat and twist together. Brush with beaten egg . Bake 30 minutes.
Sweet marinara Sauce:
2 cups duck sauce
1 1/4 cups marinara sauce
2 tbsp white wine
Before serving , combine sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes. To serve, pour sauce on appetizer plate and place 2-3 bundles over sauce. Serve hot.

↑ MMCH

Wed, Feb 15 2012, 1:44 pm

hi op, I mentioned the slider idea..
it was a traditional hamburger, but the size of a slider bun, with the same sized onion and pickle.
Everything else on the plate more or less matched the size of the slider, which was the star of the plate. The plate was not however filled with that much food (my DH kindly pointed out) they had 3 grilled mushrooms (also same size) 'potato chips' (ditto) string beans and sweet potaote fries, both in bungles (tied with chives btw) as I said three mini containers of sauces.. and if remember correctly thats it...
o besides the 2 mini peices of ribs..