Hello all-

I was hoping you might be able to help me out of this one. My best friend from college is coming to visit me this weekend--she is moving here, so I thought it might be nice to have some people over for cocktails and food so that she has a chance to get to know some of my friends in advance. I've told people to come hungry, though my small one bedroom apartment isn't really conducive to a sit-down multi-course meal, so we'll be going for more of a very heavy hors d'ouvres table accompanied by lots of wine type of thing.

My best friend and I love to cook, and we're pretty adventurous, so we thought we'd take an inventory of my fridge (which I supplemented last night with a trip to the shop), and try our hands at a market-basket type of thing, with an Italian theme. Hearty foods that people can put on a small plate and eat standing up is what I have in mind.

I figure if anyone would have any great ideas, it would be you guys. Have at it, if you like!

So, here's what we got:

Proteins
A bunch of very thin slices of very tasty proscuitto
Thinly sliced home-made pepperoni from my neighbor
A pork tenderloin
Lots of shrimp
Bacon!

Veg/fruits
Baby portabellas
Broccoli
Butternut squash (already peeled and diced, but still raw)
Dates! Thousands of them, also from my neighbor
2 large sweet Vidalia onions
Shallots
cherry tomatoes
Frozen peaches left over from the summer
Thousands of Yukon gold potatoes
A couple of sweet potatoes

Breads
Lavash breads (I thought for roll-up type sandwiches)
Phylo dough
Italian herbed pizza dough from Trader Joe's (I know! My boyfriend bought it)
Will buy crusty bread the day of

Sauces I make and keep stocked
Pesto
Vodka marinara (just need to add the cream and reheat)
Bruscetta? (uncooked, finely chopped tomatoes, onions, eggplant, oregano basil and lots of garlic with lots of good olive oil)
Uber-reduced beef stock and red wine

Cheeses
Mascarpone
Fresh mozzarella in salted water from the farmer's market
Chevre
Smoked Gouda
Fresh ricotta from the farmer's market

Other
Home-made artichoke and mushroom and ricotta ravioli (again, from the neighbor)
Just about every type of pasta shape

What would you serve?


N.B.- We love to cook because we love to eat, and have both been told we're good at it, but we are by no means as good as most of you. Given a mission, though, I think we can deliver.

My tiny kitchen is stocked with all the basics, including fresh and dried spices, butter, flour and oils and vinegars. I'm not opposed to buying a couple of things at the last minute.

An obvious one would be making a pizza with the trader joe's pizza crust with pesto, cherry tomatoes, and little globs of ricotta cheese (or other toppings of choice)

cheese plate with the prosciutto and various cheeses

butternut squash soup served in little shot glasses, buy some creme fraishe and drizzle a little on top

buy some bacon and do some bacon wrapped dates, tapas style

if you wanted to do one dish that was a "main course" roast the pork tenderloin, caramalize the onions, make mash potatoes and do a reduced red wine/stock pan sauce.

cook down the mushrooms with the shallots and any fresh herbs and mix with the chevre and then make little phyllo dough pouches, little egg wash bake in oven until golden brown.

peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream

Good ideas, thanks!

For the bacon-wrapped dates, can I bake them? Do I fry them?

Also, will the pork tenderloin be good at room temperature?

Shrimp Cocktail!

Instead of pizza, do a variety of mini-calzones (more stand and eat friendly)

Cook the pork for roll-ups with the lavash

I believe the bacon-wrapped dates are baked in the oven...you should be able to find a recipe pretty easy on the internet.

the pork tenderloin would be good at room temp, but then I would serve it more as a sandwich or roll up type thing like JPW suggested...although I'd still do the caramalized onions as a topping they would still be good. perhaps a drizzle of the pesto...yum!

Pit the dates and stuff them with mascarpone and sprinkle with fleur de sel.

Make a white bean (canned are ok) spread with roasted garlic, olive oil and a little lemon juice and zest for crostini or crusty bread. If you pre-spread on toasts, add some roasted red pepper strips and chiffonade of fresh basil on top.

Consider making a bagna cauda as a dip for crudites.

I haven't had these Komi dates that are getting raves, but are they baked at all? (I think the term 'caramelized' was used to describe them) I'm wondering how mascarpone doesn't ooze out of a warm date, though.

Wrapping a chunk of peach with proscuitto and sticking a toothpick through it could be a fun starter. Possibly with a little of that fresh mozz. Or skip the peach and just serve the proscuitto and mozz already bound together somehow. Room temp.

I would stuff the dates with the mascarpone and serve them warm, and save the bacon for wrapping the shrimp. Bacon-wrapped shrimp are very easy in the oven.

Depending on how many shallots you have, there's a recipe for shallot confit in the All About Braising cookbook that I could PM you -- apparently it comes out jammy-flavored and would therefore be really nice on the crusty bread with a smear of cheese. Bet that would be good with chevre.

As a main-ish dish, you can brown the butternut squash cubes in butter with shallots and serve them over buttered pasta with a dollop of ricotta.

Lots to work with here! Best of luck!

I am not sure the frozen peaches will stand up to being wrapped in proscuitto once defrosted. Why not make some peach sorbet or ice cream?

Thanks all! Great ideas...keep 'em coming and I'll be sure and report back!

You can make some stuffed phyllo triangles (for lack of a better word)*. Make some fillings with the cheeses, potatoes, squash, etc. You can also line small cupcake tins with squares of phyllo, fill them, and bake them off. These are both good for finger food.

*Cut the phyllo in strips and put some filling on one end and then wrap up like those paper footballs from Junior High. It is like folding a flag.

Chevre, bacon, breadcrumb, herb stuffed baby portobellos?

And maybe fry the ravioli (boil to al dente, dredge w/ egg and breadcrumbs and pan fry until brown and crispy) and serve w/ a toothpick to make them easier to eat standing up.

The Komi dates are served warm, but I don't believe they're cooked. They're also drizzled with evoo.

Wrap the shrimp in some bacon and broil. Skewer with toothpicks and serve with a homemade aioli, which would also make a great dip for oven roasted potato chunks. And the cherry tomatoes. And the baby portobellos...