Appetizers: Crab Cakes

Here at Savory Event Catering, we serve our crab cakes with a sweet chili sauce. 

Another option is lime creme fraiche, it adds a yummy zest to the crab cakes.

The outside is fried crispy but the crab inside is cooked perfectly moist and flaky-- just the way a crab cake should be!

Bread: Foccacia

Our home-made foccacia bread receipe is the perfect combination of crusty parmesean and savory bread. We use freshly-sprinkeled herbs rounded out by a hint of onions and garlic. 

We bake it till it has a golden crispy crust, and yet the inside is oh so soft. 

Even though its italian in origin, it pairs well with so many different entrees. 

Other flavor combinations: roasted garlic + bleu cheese (great with a flank steak), kalamatta olives + thyme (great for greek inspired meals),  sauteed red onions + fresh rosemary (for traditional french cuisine), sun-dried tomato + asiago cheese (italian).

Soft Fluffy Biscuits

Whenever I go visit my mom's house I love to help her with dinner. She has been teaching cooking classes for a while now, so if I can get a "free" lesson in, then I'm all for it!

Last Sunday she made a Mexican-inspired dinner w/ Chicken tortilla soup. As a side she taught me how to make these delicious, flavorful jalepeno cheddar biscuits!

To start with, you add the dry ingredients in a bowl.
My mom has implored the importance of a kitchen scale. She uses one when she caters large events, and even uses it in everyday cooking. It really helps with consistent results. Using cups/teaspoons/TBSP will produce greatly different results-- based on how much air is in the flour, how tightly packed it is, whether it is filled to the top, etc, etc.

After the butter has been measured out, you add it to the flour. Mix it in so there are pea-sized balls of butter. It is important to NEVER over-mix the biscuit batter (and muffin batter). My mom explained the reason why you add the butter in w/ the flour right away is that it creates these little pockets of butter in each biscuit, and is quite tasty when its all baked. 

Next add in the buttermilk.

Mix it just enough until the dough is moistened.

it gets quite sticky! But that's what makes a great fluffy, moist biscuit.

Now you have your basic biscuit dough. Remember do not overmix!!!
You can add in your extras.
We had chives, cheddar/jack cheese, and dill.
You can also add in canned jalepeno bits (yumm!)
Or bacon.

Knead 4-5 times w/ flour, just until dough stays together in a ball.

Dough should be at least 1" thick.
Thicker is better for this biscuit dough.

Cut with a circle biscuit cutter.

Now cut out and put onto parchment paper.
Place the biscuits so they touch each other (my mom had to correct me after I took this photo). When they're touching, the friction from adjacent biscuits help rise up better.

Add melted butter before it goes into the oven. 

And add dill seasoning.

Cook in the oven until they're golden brown. Yumm! buttery, light, soft delicious biscuits!

Recipe Follows.

Courtesy Savory Event Catering

Incredibly Fluffy Biscuits

20 oz. All- purpose flour

20 oz. Cake flour (Soft As Silk)

0.2 oz Salt

1.7 oz. Sugar

1.8 oz. Baking powder

6 oz. Butter (salted)

32 oz. Buttermilk

optional mix-ins:

1-1/2 C. Bacon, cooked & chopped

2 C. Shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 C. Green onions, chopped

5 Oz. Jalapeno (canned)

For Red Lobster type biscuits, put the cheddar cheese in the recipe, then after you cut out and brush with butter, sprinkle with garlic salt and onion salt.

Bake at 415 (F) for 16 minutes or until golden brown. Butter again when they come out of the oven.

Tablescapes

One thing I love about catering and event design is the decorating, it can really bring the entire theme of the menu together beautifully! I do love a great tabletop with beautiful dishes and pretty centerpieces.  We at Savory Event Catering love to go all out for our buffet tables.

Tis the season for a great holiday or New Years' Eve Party so I thought I would show you a little glimpse into what goes into planning the BEST buffet set-up for your event.

This particular one is a private corporate holiday party. Our very discerning client has high-end taste and wants the menu to be the forefront of the event. We love when we get to work with foodies just like us!
There's no need for elaborate or tacky knicknaks, cluttering the table, it would distract too much from the menu.

• We're going for a clean-line streamlined modern look.
• All white china and crystal.
• All the servingware will be void of color, to really make the food POP!
• We're using some great fresh ingredients, and food presentation will be paramount.
• The motif we're following is "Christmas in New York"

Below are inspiration photos, or you can see the Pinterest Board here.

 

 

White Garlands, photo from flickr

 

 

 

Group white, silver, gold ornaments together, or in apothecary jars. Photo from Crate & Barrel

 

 

Beautiful tablescape styled by Couture Events styling, Scott Lawrence Photography. Found via Style Me Pretty. I love the glitter accents!

 

 

Louis Ghost Chairs by Phillipe Stark (these are a fantasy wish list, but do add a cool element!) Use white florals, crystal elements, lighting is key! Couture Events styling, Scott Lawrence Photography. Found via Style Me Pretty. 

 

 

However, for our table we're using this beautiful evergreen emerald green regal green kelly green tablecloths in the most beaufiul woven silk fabric. So much better than the bottom tier polyester linens! Photo from Orange Girl Photographs.

 

Above, Black white and Red Winter Tahoe wedding by Scott Corridan. Interesting fact, I (Jessica) met him when I was at University in 2006. He is really an inspiring event designer and really opened up my eyes to what an interior design background can lead. If you're trained in design, it can translate to so many different industries. Sorry for the tangent! Back to the tablescape, what I love is the patterned linens, and again what I'm trying to show is that all the tableware, plates, servingware are simple white to not distract from the food. Photography by Viera Photographics  Found via Style Me Pretty.

 

 

 

White Pinecones as a design element. Love how it sparkles! Photo found here.

 

Above: White Christmans theme (2008) by the white company. Found via Apartment Therapy

 

 

Above, holiday party from Nate Turner originally featured in Domino Magazine 2007 (R.I.P.). Even though the great magazine is no longer in circulation, thank goodness for the wonders of the internet! found via Hostess with the Mostest. Love the tree decorated with divinity candy. Also love the egg nog with floating meringues. We have the BEST egg nog recipe (without the eggs!) I will post later this week for a fun holiday beverage!

 

HGTV did a holiday special; this is Brook Burke's home. Generally I thought it was way too over-the-top, but I did like this dessert table with all-white desserts and silver ornament accents.

 

Fill apothecary jars with white color food items: marshmallows, popcorn, sugar cubes, meringues, even rice would add a fun element! From HGTV. The one thing we're changing is that instead of white table linens, we're using the most beautiful evergreen emerald green for a high contrast. Its a nice way to bring in some of the more traditional Christmas colors too.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

Hi all! Jessica here, and I love reading food blogs. It really inspires me to see how other people try new recipes and I love learning all I can about baking. Baking definitely takes patience! My sister Haley is the  best baker in our family (well, after my mom). 

For one family get-together, my mother-in-law asked me to provide some dessert treat. Its fall and I really wanted to accentuate the best fall flavors. I thought about pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, but thought it would be too "boring".  Thats one trait I get from my mom-- she is always creative in the kitchen!

 I found this recipe here: Its from Ina Garten

First, in baking always sift the dry ingredients together. It is very important to mix dry and wet ingredients separately. 

Now for the wet ingredients:

I always crack my eggs in a darker color bowl so I can catch any shells.

After the eggs, pumpkin purée, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vegetable oil are whisked together, its time to add the dry ingredients. 

Add slowly and don't overmix! Speed should be on low

 As a novice, I'm not able to 'eyeball' the portions. I always use a measuring cup to make sure all cupcake tins are equal. This recipe only made 10 cupcakes, so I had to double it. You know our Utah families are large!

Next, is the cream cheese frosting with maple flavoring. YUMM! Make sure to use confectioner's sugar, it is much more fine than regular granulated sugar. You want a smooth texture for the cream cheese frosting.

Ina Garten uses a Heath bar for garnish, I used a Symphony bar. Anything with chocolate and toffee will go great!

I am one of those girls who don't like a lot of frosting on the cupcake. Weird, I know, but I usually end up picking off half of the frosting.

Overall these were a big hit! The pumpkin cake is so moist, the pumpkin and the maple flavors go really well together!