Christmas sandwich and cake buffet for an office party

Chocolate log
Turkey, red pepper, spinach and cream cheese Christmas tree
Smoked salmon and cucumber Christmas trees
Beef, rocket & horseradish snowmen
Oreo white chocolate baubles

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All vegetarian buffet lunch year 4 - new cakes & salad

4th year running - can't be bad!

As they let me come up with menu choices I try and add in new things each year. This year there were 2 vegans as well - so we had a few different things for them as well.

• Black forest cupcakes Who can resist the old classics? From recipe here.

• Blackberry and apple shortcake

• 

I raided a few recipes from over here - the first being this one. If you want a recipe you know is going to work go for one on a blog - you know it's tried and tested :) I just added blackberries as well.

• Individual tirimisu cheesecakes - quite possibly the ultimate cheesecake flavour!

Base
250g Amaretti biscuits

125g Unsalted butter

Filling

270g Ricotta

270g Marscapone

120g Caster sugar

2 1/2 Eggs

180 ml Creme fraiche

2 1/2 tbsp Cornflour

2 - 3 tsp Coffee essence

2 - 3 tsp Tia Maria

For method see normal recipe. The amaretti biscuits seem to soak up more butter than others - so you need more butter. I also did a vegan version - with nice biscuits and the same kind of filling but using alpro soy dessert with coffee essence & tia maria set with gelatine.

• Vegan beetroot and chocolate cake. From recipe here. Last minute. com topping was sweetened soy milk with vanilla thickened with cornflour.

• Pineapple puff pastry tarts - "That was lush!" said the guy we had helping us with the washing up. Eevryone had to try one. He was right. They were! Recipe again from here. I tried adding a bit of lemon curd under the pineapple slices. Seemed to work well. Other than that - maybe you could try frangipane. These literally came out of the oven and went straight on the road - can't beat that for freshness. So busy didn't manage to get a photo of finished tart - this pic actually comes ©Ms Marmitelover from this event we did.

• Cauliflower, fennel, red onion and radish salad. Earlier in the year at a dinner party we were serving I had made a cauliflower and fennel coleslaw when those were the only ingredients we had left, and we had found ourselves with a little bit of extra time as guests sat down late. It seemed to work very well, and I tried it out as a salad here bound with mustard vinaigrette. A few basil leaves finish it off.

• Benedict bars
Another hit. These were the two off-cut pieces. A photo at dusk earlier tonight - now you see why I'm a chef not a food photographer. Another recipe via Lucy made in this case with hedgerow jelly from Dove Cottage in Broadway made from berries picked from the local fields.

Related posts

All vegetarian buffet 2008 (whole host of vegetarian sandwich ideas)

All vegetarian buffet 2009 (new vegetarian ideas + vegan cakes)

All vegetarian buffet 2010 (vegetarian salad ideas - my favourite was the tex-mex)

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Vegetarian corporate lunch menu

"Re: Corporate lunch menus

Hi James,

I just wanted to thank you for the fantastic catering at the weekend. Everyone loved the food it was a great success, if and when I do this again I will use your company.
Once again many thanks it was great.

Cheers

Helen"

XXX

This particular event dates back to the end of September (26 - 29th). I had done an all vegetarian buffet before, but this particular event was a corporate buffet lunch for four days in a row, so needed a little research before I submitted menus.

Friday Menu

Open sandwich – White bean paté and roast pepper

Closed sandwich – Curried egg salad

Foccacia with mozzarella and roasted butternut squash

Green and black olives

Dessert

Spiced carrot cake - as shown before
Blackberry and apple crumble tart with crème anglaise - also now supplied to the Red Lion in Hellidon

Saturday Menu

Open sandwich - French bread croutes of glazed goats cheeseClosed sandwich - Roasted aubergine and hoummous [and sun dried tomato and fresh basil which give it a flavour boost]Falafal, salad and tahini stuffed pitta breadFalafal - best made using raw chickepeas soaked overnight.

They did turn out remarkably well.

Stuffed vine leaves

Dessert

Chocolate nemesis - as seen before
Pear and almond tart with white chocolate sauce - as seen before


Sunday Menu

Open sandwich – Guacamole and cherry tomato

Closed sandwich - Carrot and nut sandwich on homemade pumpkin seed bread - recipe here.

Blackbean and bulgar kofta tortilla wraps with yogurt and coriander

Black bean and bulgar wheat koftas freshly made and baked on the morning. They may look a bit 'different' but taste fantastic (who needs meat) with the yogurt and coriander. Tortilla wraps were grilled on the bar grill as shown before. Kofta recipe can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vegetarian-Kofta-Kabobs/Detail.aspx.

Baked new potatoes topped with blue cheese and asparagus - similar to the ones seen previously.

Dessert

Strawberry and pistachio tartlet [plus a few shortbread which I had left from the previous evening's dessert]

Date slice

Monday Menu

Open sandwich - Pickled mushrooms and artichoke

French bread was spread with hoummous as a base. The artichokes were fried to get a good caramelisation colour/ flavour, and the mushrooms pickled in vegetable stock, vinegar, thyme and bayleaves, then drained:Closed sandwich - Cheese and apple

Avocado and vegetable rice paper wraps with soy and chilli dip

Tzatiki with pitta

Dessert

Banoffee sponge - as shown before

Glazed lemon tart with raspberries - as shown before

Buffet delivery and catering in Tewkesbury, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and accross the Cotswolds.

Related Posts

Buffet, July 2008

Label: Buffet

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Buffet photos from July

This was a specially created asian inspired buffet menu:



1. Conft of duck tortilla wraps, baked new potatoes with homous and asparagus



2. Tortilla wraps with loin of lamb and coriander yogurt

3. Crispy filo spring rolls of spiced minced lamb and hoi sin sauce

4. Open sandwiches of chicken coronation

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