After a year off, we were invited back to cater a meal for a girls’ weekend, in Niagara Falls. 12 ladies, one vegetarian, one gluten free, and a tapas theme. This is gonna be fun.
Since we have such a small kitchen, we started early and picked at least some items that could be made ahead and frozen for the day. One dish I wanted to make desperately, was braised octopus. The plan was to slow braise the octopus, grill it quickly, then put it on a salad…. After the little beast was braised, it was not particularly tender, so we made the wise decision of removing it from the menu and instead serving a pear and arugula salad, with local honey and candied pecans.
This is a dish that Shawn had on our very first excursion in Italy, to a market town called Gubbio (it’s fun to say). He was not very hungry, so just ordered something light. what arrived at the table was this simple yet amazing creation. With sliced pears, arugula, candied walnuts and local honey, with almost a cloud of cheese on top. So we recreated it here, just in a larger format.
One item that we knew could be made ahead is empanadas…. Normally we would do a meat stuffing, but to allow more people to partake, we made them with swiss chard filling, instead. We might have sampled one, to test and these were very tasty. Add a little chimichurri sauce, on the side and it was quite a treat.
Next we served 2 of our favorites, but again with a slight twist… Zucchini and red onion flat breads, and chicken lollipops.
The flat breads are made with a layer of herbed cheese in the middle, for extra flavour, while the 2 colours of zucchini and red onion add that festive colour. The lollipops are made from chicken wings, with one bone removed and all of the meat scraped to the end. All the fun of chicken wings, but much easier and less messy to eat. We used gluten free flour and bread crumbs for the first time, and they were very tasty. Dip them in some of the pimento aioli and you’re in for some real flavour. I noticed several ladies sneaking back for extras of these gems.
Next on the list were some seafood items. We included 2 of our favorites, Beet and Gin Cured Salmon and Prawns steamed with mustard seeds
Beet and Gin Cured Salmon 
Prawns Steamed with Mustard Seeds 
Prawns Steamed with Mustard Seeds 
Beet and Gin Cured Salmon
The salmon cures for a couple days in the fridge, so on the day, just needs to be sliced and plated, and the shrimps were made ahead and just served slightly warm. I did see a few of the ladies sneaking in to sample a few shrimps, before the rest of the food was plated….
For this meal, we really wanted to have not only a great tasting meal, but also a feast for the eyes. As my Mom always said, cook by the colours… We also wanted to make sure there were enough veggie options, so we added Piquillo stuffed peppers and Stuffed zucchini with a yogurt sauce. And since the zucchini was stuffed with bulgar and lentils, they were also gluten free.
Piquillo Stuffed Peppers 
Piquillo Stuffed Peppers 
Stuffed Zucchini with Yogurt Sauce 
Stuffed Zucchini with Yogurt Sauce
Looking at the table, we really got the colours going, but we had one more item. Normally our paella is made with seafood, but Shawn tested out a vegetarian version… twice. Much of the flavour comes from the sofrito, that we used as the base. This adds a depth of flavour and a bit of heat to the dish.
Vegetable Paella 
Vegetable Paella 
Vegetable Paella
With lots of veggies, including peas, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, and multi-coloured peppers, a boost of flavour from the sofrito, and a smokiness from the spices, this dish is a show stopper. Our table was complete. We had a quick moment to snap a quick picture before our guests dug in.
I loved that different people were coming back and choosing different favorites to have seconds of. One last minute addition, was to print tags for each dish, with the name of the dish and a V if it was vegetarian, and a GF for gluten free. This allowed those with dietary restrictions to dig in confidently.
Before the event, we were told not to bother with desserts…. So we only made 3.
Almond cookies, gluten free brownies and a chocolate-orange fondue with fruit. We borrowed the idea of caramelized bananas from a recent restaurant visit, because it gave me a reason to bring my blow torch. It’s nice to have a little sweet after dinner. Once clean up was done, we packed up and headed to see the falls lit up. This was a fun day. Thanks to our guests for inviting us to join in on your girls weekend.
