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I love the year-end festive period!  |
| A recent meze party. With more than enough delicious little bites to choose from, who needs a main course? |
I love the anticipation of good food and company. I love planning party menus and deciding how best to dress the house, dining table and chairs. There is the dinnerware to consider, working out how best to plate the food, where to set the food, flowers to buy...
I can even visualise the festive produce on shelves that you only see during this time of the year. The frozen turkeys, fresh cranberries, mince pies, panettones, Christmas logs, ... all start to make a come back.
The only thing I do not look forward to is hearing Christmas carols play over and over again in every shop, mall and supermarket that I step in. In keeping with the spirit of cheer and congeniality, I tell myself it is a small matter to put up with. Although, I hope someone remembers to rotate the play list.
Let me help you start planning your year end party menus. I have a spread of appetisers that I would like to start off. What would a party be without little bites to get everyone in a convivial mood?
As a host/hostess, the absolute best thing about serving a selection of small bites is it leaves you free to mingle, entertain and enjoy the party with your guests. It also buys you some time to finish preparing your other courses and liberates you somewhat from the kitchen stove and that is always a good thing.
As year end parties tend to gear towards a larger number of guests and menus often get a little more elaborate - hence, time consuming to prepare, heed my advice, prepare and serve hors d'oeuvres to save your sanity! Even if it is just a bag of tortilla chips and store bought dips.
I can even visualise the festive produce on shelves that you only see during this time of the year. The frozen turkeys, fresh cranberries, mince pies, panettones, Christmas logs, ... all start to make a come back.
The only thing I do not look forward to is hearing Christmas carols play over and over again in every shop, mall and supermarket that I step in. In keeping with the spirit of cheer and congeniality, I tell myself it is a small matter to put up with. Although, I hope someone remembers to rotate the play list.
Let me help you start planning your year end party menus. I have a spread of appetisers that I would like to start off. What would a party be without little bites to get everyone in a convivial mood?
As a host/hostess, the absolute best thing about serving a selection of small bites is it leaves you free to mingle, entertain and enjoy the party with your guests. It also buys you some time to finish preparing your other courses and liberates you somewhat from the kitchen stove and that is always a good thing.
As year end parties tend to gear towards a larger number of guests and menus often get a little more elaborate - hence, time consuming to prepare, heed my advice, prepare and serve hors d'oeuvres to save your sanity! Even if it is just a bag of tortilla chips and store bought dips.
I am going to share with you my recipes for a series of small bites from a meze dinner that I hosted recently. The recipes are inspired by the regional cuisines of North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Dining meze style is a fun option for entertaining. A good spread of mostly savoury dishes are laid out. The dining is casual and relaxed. Guests eat how much of whatever they want, when they want. There will be enough of a selection of meze to keep everyone happily indulged. It is not uncommon to serve just a spread of meze with drinks of your choice and totally skip a main course.
The cooking is done ahead so once all the meze is set on the table, you can sit through the entire meal with you guests and there should not be a need to excuse yourselves to prepare more food. That's my kind of entertaining. Relaxed and almost fuss free.
Zaalouk - Moroccan Roasted Eggplants and Tomatoes; Kabis - Lebanese Pickled Turnips and Beets; Moroccan inspired Radish, Bell Peppers and Mint Salad; Flash Fried Sweet Mini Bell Peppers.
Second row:
Greek inspired Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta; Hummus with Spiced Angus Beef Slices; Beef Kafta - Lebanese inspired Meatballs.
Third row:
The first recipe I will be posting is a meze that has become a favourite with almost everyone I have served it to. It's Zaalouk, a Moroccan dish of roasted eggplants and tomatoes. It is sometimes referred to as a 'cooked salad' but it is more like a chunky dip to me. I always have it with a home baked round loaf of Moroccan Bread. You just tear off some bread and dip it into the Zaalouk. A meze party in my house is never complete with it.
I have to post the recipes for the 10 meze you see in the photograph directly above and a recipe for my Moroccan Round Loaf, which you can also see in the background of my feature photograph. That is a lot of posts! Try and keep up with me!
Click here for the first meze post, Zaalouk, Moroccan Roasted Eggplants and Tomatoes.
I have since posted all these recipes.
- Zaalouk, Roasted Eggplants and Tomatoes
- Flash Fried Sweet Mini Bell Peppers
- Labneh - Lebanese Drained Yogurt Drizzled With Extra Virgin Olive Oil And Clover Honey
- Greek inspired Shrimp With Tomatoes And Feta
- Moroccan inspired Radish, Bell Peppers and Mint Salad
- Hummus with Spiced Angus Beef Slices
- Beef Kafta - Lebanese inspired Meatballs
- Kabis - Lebanese Pickled Turnips and Beets
- Moroccan inspired Roasted Green Bell Peppers With Tomatoes and Olives
- Fresh Figs With Peppered Ricotta
- Moroccan inspired Wholemeal Round Loaf
Oooo, please make this for me!!
ReplyDeleteSure!
ReplyDeleteWould using a different variety of tomatoe make a difference in texture
ReplyDeleteHi. Most tomatoes will eventually cook down to a smooth sauce. There are a few thick skinned variety of tomatoes that will not cook down as well. I would not use those unless I skin them first. Those tomatoes would taste better eaten raw as they have a good bite to them. I hope that helps.
Delete