Party Time – The Menu and Recipes

Ah! There’s nothing like basking in the glow of a successful evening. It really is one of the most pleasant feelings for me.

One of my guests follows a dairy and gluten free diet, which makes it a real challenge for me whenever she comes around. And I mean challenge in the good sense – I always try to come up with something different for each visit, and try to make everything for her from scratch, rather than buying Gluten Free/Dairy Free (GFDF) ready made foods. Of course, this always takes planning and a trip to the shops to buy ingredients I wouldn’t normally have in the cupboard, like dairy free butter and milk or gluten free flour or soy sauce.

Below is the the menu I made for tonight.

I use recipes most of the time, but I tend to use them as a guide, or a suggestion, rather than step by step. Which is why my cakes never work! You can click on the name to see the recipe. Where I made changes, I’ve added the changes below too.
Here’s tonight’s menu:

Beverages
*  Gluhwein (Mulled Wine) – Alcoholic
*  Russian Tea  – Non Alcoholic

Appetizers
*   Bacon and Mushroom Bites
*   Vietnamese-Style Fresh Spring Rolls With Salmon – GFDF
*   Pinwheels stuffed with Prosciutto, Feta and Basil
*   La Boqueria Smoked Salmon Rice Cakes – GFDF
*   Fried Chorizo With Garlic
*   Sugar & Spice Brie

Desserts
*     Snowballs- GFDF
*     Snowman Cups
*     Snowman chocolate mouse – GFDF
*     Mom’s Traditional Italian Cookies
*     Snowball Cake

Mulled wine – I’ve had this recipe for over ten years. It’s really spicy, and the addition of brandy adds a really delicious kick.

I adore this Russian Tea. I have no idea why it’s called that, as I’d have thought being called Russian Tea meant it had Vodka in, but it doesn’t. I use Rooibos / Redbush Tea. It’s really great, hot or cold.

Vietnamese – Style Fresh Spring Rolls with Salmon – the first time I’ve made these, and they were great. I was so unsure about salmon with mint, but it was fantastic, and although time consuming, really very easy.

La Boqueria Smoked Salmon Rice Cakes – Well, I used Rice Cakes instead of bread, and for the GFDF used butter instead of cream cheese.

Fried Chorizo with Garlic – yum yum yum. In incredibly delicious shared platter dish.

Snowballs – They call it Rafaelo. They’re very sugary balls. Lovely. To make them GFDF I added additional icing sugar and froze them, taking them out about 20 mins before they were to be eaten. They last a while, but they do eventually melt, so eat them while they’re cold.

Mom’s Traditional Italian Cookies – These are so versatile, and never flop. They’re great.

Snowball Cake – a simply fantastic cheat cake. I didn’t even have to weigh and measure! But I’ll have to take a picture of what’s left of the inside of the cake. It’s scrumptious!

Now to sleep. I’ll wash the dishes tomorrow.