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November 2005
"Hot in Hors D'Oeuvre"
as
published in Special Events Magazine
February 2005
"Hail to the Chef "
as published
in Canadian House and Home
July 2004
"16 years of Sweet Success"
as published in Canadian Event Perspective
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"Hot in Hors D'Oeuvre "
as published in Special Events Magazine
February 2005
Small in size but big on style, hors d'oeuvre bring flavor to events
BY KELLY WARDLE
THEY MAY BE small – no more than a bite or two, in most cases – but hors d'oeuvre are big news for special events. Catering pros continue to create fresh flavor combinations, served in stylish new ways.
TAKE COMFORT Updated comfort food is big news for hors d'oeuvre at Toronto-based Catered Affare Cuisine & Event Design, notes president Colleen Walker. “Clients like comfort food, but they also want something that's fun and different,” she says. The company's “comfort collection” includes items such as baked vintage cheddar cheese and pasta served in Chinese spoons or square votive candle holders, and miniature crostini club sandwiches with chicken, bacon, tomato and smoked mozzarella.
Myra Adkins, senior event planner at Austin, Texas-based Word of Mouth Catering, says that Asian-inspired hors d'oeuvre top the request list. To meet the demand, “We'll take something that's more traditional like a crab cake and give it a bit of a twist – for example, we do sesame-crusted crab cakes with wasabi aioli or serve hoisin duck on gingered carrot cakes,” she explains.
David Turk, owner of New York-based Indiana Market & Catering, is seeing interest in both old favorites as well as exotic new options such as tequila-marinated gravlax with honey mustard on grilled naan bread, and barbecue pulled pork on cheddar polenta crisps with caramelized onion jam. As for the effect of the low-carb diet trend on hors d'oeuvre, “It hasn't been a big issue for our clients or, from what I understand, the New York client in general – we walk too much to care,” he laughs.
PRESENTATION PIECES Clients' craving for presentation innovation continues to inspire caterers. “I think a lot of customers, especially those in the design world, which constitute a fair amount of our client base, want to make an elegant statement,” Turk explains. “Usually, this means the simpler the better – lots of white, lots of square glass, not a lot of fuss in garnishes. We love a monochromatic look, whether it's bathing a buffet in red light, using matching trays or giving all the food a simple, consistent look.”
At Word of Mouth Catering, matching ethnic foods to the tray type is the current norm, Adkins notes. For example, the company serves its ginger-dill marinated shrimp hors d'oeuvre between connected chopsticks – an update of the classic skewer – and presents them on leaf-lined bamboo trays with orchid garnishes. Meanwhile, Walker is using seashell halves to serve items such as “pearls” of bocconcini marinated in sun-dried tomato pesto. “We place the shells on long trays filled with bright orange or fuchsia lentils – it looks like the bottom of an aquarium,” she says.
SERVICE STYLES Walker notes that while her company is mostly doing tray-passed hors d'oeuvre, it has seen success with stations that match hors d'oeuvre with beverages. “Instead of doing a wine bar with three types of wine, we're doing three stations and pairing an hors d'oeuvre with a white wine, pairing one with a red, and one with a rosé,” she explains. One recent menu included small servings of cedar-roasted salmon dusted with maple sugar and cedar jelly served on squares of wood, paired with white wine; jumbo pasta shells filled with spinach, crabmeat and ricotta cheese glazed with saffron-Chablis sauce, paired with rosé; and seared Angus beef with creamed horseradish and a panko-crusted polenta round, paired with red wine.
Turk also notes that stations are still popular, but warns that they can become “messy looking after a while, no matter how hard we try to keep them looking good.” Another service style that's currently chic in his area: “The ‘cigarette girl' look – servers wearing cigarette girl outfits carrying trays filled with colourful hors d'oeuvre.”
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"Hail to the Chef "
as published in Canadian House and Home
July 2004
Colleen Walker, president and co-owner of Catered Affare, is an award-winning Toronto caterer famous for her creative and crowd-pleasing recipes. She has planned events for blue-chip clients for 18 years. Colleen gave us a few of her tips for pulling off an organized event with style.
Best party bartending: “Make your drinks ahead and chill the mixture in a pitcher. You can even garnish your glasses ahead of time. Then when guests arrive, all you have to do is pour.”
Smooth delivery: “For summer entertaining, plan a menu of cold items except a barbecued entrée. The weather is too nice to spend your time indoors when you could be outside chatting with your guests.”
Refreshing summer dessert: “Fresh wild blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries topped with fresh whipped cream spiked with maple syrup and dusted with crumbled maple sugar.”
Easy flavour enhancer: “A squeeze of juice from fresh lemons or limes.” This adds a great tangy flavour to fish as well as fruits and vegetables.
Tool she couldn’t do without: “Nine-inch stainless steel tongs. They’re easy to use, and you don’t burn yourself turning hot foods.” Use for both barbecue and oven cooking.
Unusual ingredient to add to summer salads: “Fresh mint. It creates another layer of aroma.”
Most underused spice: “Cumin lends an exotic taste even to basic dishes. Try adding a pinch to eggs.”
Secret to her catering success: “Clients want foods that are familiar and comfortable, but they also want to be wowed. It’s about making the ordinary extraordinary.”
Cedar-Plank Braided Salmon
with Apple Butter Sauce
Caterer and chef Colleen Walker throws spectacular parties for a living. Her Toronto-based company Catered Affare makes hundreds of these show-stopping braided salmons every year. The beautiful presentation will make it the pièce de résistance at any summer barbecue.
The salmon can either be grilled on the barbecue or baked in the oven. Purchase chemical-free cedar planks from the supermarket (if your salmon is large, you can butt two cedar planks together). You’ll need a 16” length cedar for 3 to 4 lbs. of salmon filet.
Vegetable oil
One side of fresh Atlantic or Pacific salmon, 3 to 4 lbs.,
skin off and pin bones removed
(your local fish market should do this at no charge)
½ cup dark or amber maple syrup
¼ cup Canadian rye whiskey or maple liqueur
Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup maple butter
(available at farmers’ markets or maple syrup farms)
2 to 4 tbsp. granulated maple sugar (available at farmers’ markets or maple sugar farms)
Fresh thyme or sage springs for garnish (optional)
1. Preheat barbecue to medium heat, or oven to 350°F. Some grilling advocates advise soaking the plank in water so it doesn’t burn, but Colleen chooses not to soak the plank – she likes the smoky taste that the charring wood imparts to the salmon.
2. Oil the cedar plank and place the salmon on it. Keeping fish intact at narrower tail end, start cutting, about one inch in from the tail end, lengthwise through the middle section (where the backbone would have been) straight to the opposite end. Repeat this motion to cut a total of seven strips that are each about ½” to ¾” wide. Where the fish is intact at tail end, strips will be narrower.
3. Measure out half of the maple syrup and reserve. Combine remaining maple syrup with whiskey. Brush whiskey mixture all over salmon strips to generously coat. Season with salt and pepper.
4. To braid, mentally label the strips – starting from the left – as numbers one through seven. Starting with strip number four, lift it over strips one through three so that it is now on the outside left-hand side. Next, take strip number three and lift it over strips five through seven. Now start again, renumber the strips from one through seven; again lift (the new) strip number four to the far left and (the new) strip number three to the right. Continue in this manner until you have braided the whole length of fish. Pat the braided fish into one compact length (it should look something like the braided breads in bakeries). Either skewer the loose ends together or simply press together to keep in place. At this point, the salmon can be set on a baking sheet, covered and chilled overnight.
5. To finish the salmon, pour the maple butter and reserved syrup generously over the salmon, especially into nooks and crannies. Season with salt and pepper.
6. To barbecue the salmon, place the plank on the grill, on the upper rack, if your barbecue has one, over medium heat; close lid (or cover salmon with foil roasting pan). Cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, and internal temperature of the fishes reaches 130°F. Alternatively, to roast the salmon in the oven, place the plank on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes.
7. Remove plank from heat; dust salmon liberally with maple sugar. Salmon may be served hot or cold right from the plank. Garnish with fresh herbs, if using.
Serve with chilled Apple Butter Sauce (recipe below). Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Apple butter sauce
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup apple butter
1 tsp. minced fresh tarragon, or ¼ tsp. dried
1. Blend the mayonnaise, apple butter & tarragon in a bowl & chill until serving time. Makes 1-¼ cups.
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"16 years of Sweet Success"
as
published in Canadian Event Perspective
To celebrate 16 years of sweet success, co-owners
Colleen Walker and Robert Hudyma and the Catered Affare team chose
the theme of "food as art". This theme was brought to
life as guests were greeted by a live flower statue and offered
a glass of Merlot.
The 11th Hour, one of Toronto's hottest new bars, served as host.
The neutral palate of the venue was perfectfor the splashes of
orange and gold that painted the background for Executive Chef
Robert's newest collection of culinary hors d'oeuvre and stations.
Each and every hors d'oeuvre was a new creation never before served
and they were truly little edible works of art.
The stations were new creations designed for the party. Mexican
chicken mole wraps flavoured with bitter chocholate were served
in tortilla cones.
Roasted Maple Salmon Rosettes on individual cedar squares on cascading
tables dressed in moss and twigs, fresh spinach pasta shells filled
with goat cheese, sun-dried tomato, basil leaves and tomato concasse
were but a few of the evening offerings. Racks of fresh Ontario
Lamb, carved to order and served over a duck confit and barley
ragout served as center stage.
Desserts were decadent, including the Truffle lollipops, white
chocolate discs with a trio of berries, sweet and tart petite
cups of lemon curd with fresh cherries, creme brulee and apple
bread pudding served warm in petitedemi tasse cups which filled
the air with sweet aromas.
Colleen said "the most important planning element was to
ensure that all our loyal clients, suppliers, and venue partners,
many of our past and present staff and of course their families
could be there."
When the champagne was passed and Colleen took to the microphone,
with her husband/partner and their two young daughters close by,
she started by thanking their first client (still a client today)
and their first venue partner with whom they have grown over the
years. She went on to say that she and Robert, with whom she started
the business 16 years ago, are so very thankful to all their clients,
their past and present staff, and their colleagues who have challenged
them to continue to raise the bar and follow their dreams. Brief
toasts were followed by a parade of individual birthday cakes,
a rich bittersweet Sacher Torte with a single lit candle per guest,
who were invited to make their own wishes.
Happy Sweet 16 to Colleen, Robert, and the Catered Affare team.
All the best for 16 more.
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