Top 10 Rules for Entertaining at home

#9. Think Outside the Dinner Table

As we learned in the previous post ample square footage is super important for your guests to be comfortable and enjoy the festivities. Just skip the seated dinner and host a standing-room party with heavy hors d'oeuvres and a signature cocktail.

Here are a few signature cocktail recipes and a list of hors d'oeuvres to make your holiday party the best ever.

Signature Cocktail...

White Christmas

• 1 1/2 ounces white chocolate liqueur
• 1 ounce Southern Comfort
• 4 ounces eggnog (homemade or prepared)

Mix all ingredients gently and serve in a cocktail glass. Sprinkle with chocolate shavings or cinnamon for garnish, if desired.

Christmas Cranberry

• 1 ounce cranberry vodka (or plain vodka)
• 1 ounce hazelnut liqueur or Amaretto
• 3 ounces cranberry juice
• 2 ounces orange juice (without pulp)

Combine in a cocktail shaker over ice. Strain into glasses filled with crushed ice and garnish with orange slices or frozen cranberries.

Peppermint Martini Recipe

Ingredients

• 5 ounces of Chopin vodka
• 2 ounces of white Creme de Menthe
• 1/2 ounce of Peppermint Schnapps
• Mini candy canes

The mix

• Pour all of your liquid ingredients into a shaker 1/2 full of cracked ice.
• Give a good 20 vigorous shakes and let the shaker rest for half a minute.
• Strain your lucious peppermint martini into 2 freezing martini glasses.
• Add a candy cane in each glass for garnish

Hors D'Oeuvres

Beef Tenderloin and Pear Onion Skewers

Recipes for skewered foods usually instruct you to broil the already-assembled skewers, turning each one individually to ensure even cooking. We find it more efficient to cook the unskewered cubes in a skillet, which allows you to easily flip them with a spatula. Plus, if you run out of time before the party, you can always just put out the beef cubes, the onions, and a pile of skewers and encourage guests to assemble the hors d’oeuvres themselves.

Ingredients

FOR THE ONIONS

1 (10-ounce) bottle cocktail onions
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper

FOR THE BEEF TENDERLOIN

1 pound beef tenderloin, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

PREPARE THE ONIONS

Drain the cocktail onions and soak them in a large bowl filled with cold water for about 1 hour. Change the water and soak for another hour. (This tones down the intense vinegar flavor just a bit.) Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, about 4 minutes (the onions may lightly brown—that’s fine). Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

PREPARE THE BEEF

Put the tenderloin cubes, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper in a resealable plastic bag and gently shake until cubes are coated. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. When oil is hot, add the beef and sear until the outsides of the cubes are brown and insides are still rare, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Put one onion, then one beef tenderloin cube, on each skewer or toothpick, so the hors d’oeuvres will stand up on a platter, each skewer sticking out the top. Serve warm.

Makes about 50 skewers.

Bite-Size Crab Cakes with Lemon Caper Mayo

There’s much debate about how to make the perfect crab cake. Some people will tell you that using saltine crackers or bread crumbs is heresy, but we find the saltines help the cakes hold their shape yet still let the crab flavor come through. This is one of those deceptively easy hors d’oeuvres that guests think you slaved over.

Ingredients

FOR THE MAYO

1 cup mayonnaise
4 tablespoons chopped chives
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon drained capers, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon liquid from the caper jar

FOR THE CRAB CAKES

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
pinch salt
1 pound lump crabmeat, drained and picked over to remove any shell*
1 cup finely crushed saltine crackers (from 25 to 28 crackers)**
vegetable oil, for oiling the baking sheet

*Use fresh or, if fresh isn't available, frozen, but not canned.
**You can use a food processor to do this, but we hate to haul ours out for one quick task. Our low-tech method: Put the saltines in a resealable plastic bag, squeeze out the extra air, and seal. Use a rolling pin to crush the crackers inside the bag.

Directions

PREPARE THE MAYO

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl.

PREPARE THE CRAB CAKES

Preheat broiler.

In a large bowl, mix the first six ingredients until thoroughly blended. Gently stir in the crabmeat and saltines.

Form the mixture into 1-inch balls and arrange them on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Gently press each ball until it flattens into a cake about 1 1/2 to 2 inches across. Broil the crab cakes, turning once halfway through, until they’re browned on both sides, 5 to 6 minutes. Serve warm.

Makes about 40 crab cakes and 1 1/2 cups of mayo.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

In this recipe, marinating the chicken makes it super-tender, so it’s easy to eat from a skewer. We’ve read instructions for soaking the wooden skewers in water to keep them from burning in the oven, but at the low cooking temperature in this recipe, ours have always been fine without soaking.

Ingredients

FOR THE CHICKEN

2 tablespoons dry white wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips 3 inches long, 1/2 inch wide
salt, for sprinkling on the chicken

FOR THE PEANUT SAUCE

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
3 scallions, finely chopped (white and pale green parts)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup high-quality creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
36 wooden skewers

Directions

PREPARE THE CHICKEN

Whisk the first six ingredients together in a medium bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Thread one strip of chicken onto each skewer accordion-style and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake until chicken is just cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

PREPARE THE PEANUT SAUCE

In a saucepan, heat the sesame oil over moderate heat until hot. Add scallions, garlic, and ginger. Cook, stirring, until scallions are wilted, about 1 minute. Stir in 1 cup water and the peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sauce is smooth. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature (it continues to thicken as it cools).

Serve the skewers warm or at room temperature, with peanut sauce and a bowl or plate to hold discarded skewers.

Makes about 36 skewers and 2 cups of sauce.

NO EFFORT Buy a commercial peanut sauce.
LOW EFFORT Buy a commercial peanut sauce and soup it up a bit by whirring it in a food processor with 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce, 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter, and 2 minced garlic cloves (adjust these amounts to taste).

I found all of these recipes a bunch more at http://www.purcellsisters.com/