COLD FINGER FOOD FOR 120 PEOPLE
We (local Red Cross branch) had to cater cold finger food for 120 for a lunch the day after a wedding – this is part of it waiting to be collected (there was more in the kitchen). For the vegetarian platter, we made the ‘hedgehog’ posted here a week or so ago, based on half a spanspek. It was fiddly and time-consuming to make but looked great.Quantities: 5 loaves bread for sandwiches (1 loaf vegetarian), 4 meat/chicken platters, 1 vegetarian platter, 5 platters cakes & slices (contributed by various members and plated on the day). There was hot food as well (quiches, pies, pasties, sausage rolls), which we didn’t supply.
There aren’t any recipes as such – we use cold roast chickens, cut up (one per platter) with sage & onion stuffing balls and 1 kg mixed sliced meat per platter – half that if the platters are mixed, 1 doz. stuffed eggs, cherry tomatoes, cornichons (tiny pickled cucumbers), olives, cubed cheddar cheese, sliced cabana, carrot sticks. Sandwich fillings, apart from the usual ham, corned/roast beef, cheese, tomato, lettuce combinations: cucumber +cream cheese with mint & chives, cream cheese and chopped glace ginger + grated carrot, smoked salmon, sliced red onion, capers and cream cheese, egg mayonnaise with chopped parsley, curried egg, tuna mayonnaise with dill.
We always have cream puffs (one member’s speciality) and cream-filled fairy cakes (another member) and various slices depending on what people feel like making. Baking isn’t my strong point, so I get to roast the chickens and prepare the sandwich spreads, usually the day before or very early in the morning. The ‘hedgehog’ was a mixture of cherry tomatoes, cucumber chunks, stuffed olives, marinated bocconocini cheeses, feta cheese, marinated roasted baby red peppers and the cubed flesh of the spanspek (the shell was used as a base) all on skewers. It was surrounded with stuffed eggs and carrot sticks.
SOURCE: Anne Mortleman Chambers
