Preparations Begin....

Saturday night the team and I from Wicked Tasty will further our cooking chops and cater a fun event at Lynn Arts. It is An Evening with Carolyn Cole and it is the talk of town. Proceeds will go towards arts programming in Downtown Lynn. The evening will start with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at 7p and Wicked Tasty will make it's savory cooking debut. I am really excited about our menu and feel we have touched upon the season.

We all had some influence on the menu, even if it were just one ingredient we talked about or an entire dish, I tried to incorporate something the team said they liked or that they would like to learn how to make when finalizing the menu. Now, those who know me well, know I am a major control nut when it comes to my food, but was able to relax slightly and utilize ideas the Wicked Tasty crew gave me.

I know you just can't wait to hear what we're making, so here are a few things that will be part of the night.

Watermelon, Feta and Mint Salad:
For this salad, we will dice (brunoise) fresh watermelon and dice Greek feta cheese. These two ingredients will be lightly tossed with fresh squeezed lime juice and chopped fresh mint leaves. The salad will be served in cucumber cups and finished with a sprinkling of lime zest. The end result will be that savory, sweet and tart we look for in food with a crisp and cool finish. Great dish for a hot night.

Beetballs:
Really excited about these. A coworker of mine introduced me to a great cookbook filled with vegetarian burgers and when trying to come up with some different passed appetizers, I thought why not make one of these burgers into bite size pieces. I love the idea of a beet burger especially since beets are in season right now. Our beetballs will have goat cheese, quinoa and flat leaf parsley. The tang from the goat cheese will be perfect for the sweetness of the beets. They will be served with a pistachio pesto.

Beef and Cheese Empanadas:
Michel Roux wrote an amazing book called Pastry, that I have blogged about before. I knew I wanted to incorporate one of his pastries on our menu. The team suggested empanadas and so we will be doing beef and cheese empanadas using the Tart Dough recipe from Pastry. These little pastries will be filled with ground beef that has been cooked with diced onion, diced tomato, fresh oregano and allspice. Cottage cheese and sharp cheddar will be added at the end, making a creamy middle for these empanadas.

Those are just a few things we have planned. There are a few more tricks up our sleeves as we head into Saturday night. Preparations for the event start tomorrow and I look forward to a fun filled day of chopping, dicing, peeling, baking, rolling and of course cleaning that tomorrow is sure to offer. I will post pictures of the food over the weekend along with the full recipes.