My sister and her partner are about to have the first child of a new generation in my immediate family (and in the extended family of first cousins.) So, this gave us reason to celebrate…and a good excuse to concoct a divine meal for 20 ladies and 5 gents.

In some cases, these recipes serve far fewer than 25 people, so adjust according to your guest list. This is a labor-intensive menu, with many fresh ingredients that need cleaning and chopping. But if you have three people working on this (i.e. Super Mom, Sister Extraordinaire, and myself) you can pull it off.

Here’s what we served up:
Signature Cocktail: Cucumber Mint Martini
Signature Appetizer: Cucumber Shrimp Canape (see below)
Signature Lunch Item: Asian Chicken salad in Lettuce Cups

Appetizers:
Stephanie’s Iced Tea
Crudite plate with Olive Parsley Dip – veggies included steamed broccoli (2 min), snap-peas, red peppers, celery and carrots (we made twice this recipe, from Chow.com)
Jacquie’s Pepperoni Bread
Cheese plate
Medjool Dates stuffed with Roquefort (with balsamic glaze) – no recipe needed, make 25 dates.
Shrimp Canape (recipe at end of this entry)

Lunch:
Asian Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups (3 x’s recipe)
Sesame/Soy marinated london broil, grilled on BBQ and sliced thin
Fennel and Asparagus Salad with Citrus Dressing (2x’s recipe)
Assorted Bread

Desserts:
Whoopie Pies
Caramel Chocolate Bites
Fresh Fruit Salad
Cheese Cake Tarts
Walnut Tarts

I wish I had pictures and recipes for it all, but some of the items were made by other family members. Any questions, please ask!

xo,
g6

Shrimp cucumber and Dill Butter Canapes (from Martha’s hors d’eouvres cookbook, pg 329)
Makes 2 doz

Parsley shallot butter:
8 T (1 stick) plus 1/2 T unsalted butter at room temp
1 large shallot minced to yield 3 T
1 T dry wine wine
1 t kosher salt
1 T finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Heat the 1/2 T butter over med low heat in small skillet. Add shallot and cook til soft, 1-2 min. Add wine and cook til liquid has evaporated, 30 sec. Remove from heat and stir in salt. Cool completely.

Place remaining 8 T butter in med bowl. Add shallot mixture and parsley. Smash with back of fork or wooden spoon til combined.

Transfer butter mixture to sheet of parchment or wax paper. Roll into a 1” wide log. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Canapes:
1/2 c dry white wine
1 T kosher salt
12 med shrimp, heads removed
6 very thin slices of white sandwich bread, crusts removed
3 ounces shallot parsley butter at room temp
1 seedless cucumber
1 small bunch fresh dill

Place wine, 2 c water and slat in saucepan. Simmer and add shrimp. Cook, covered for 1 min until shrimp are opaque. Drain. Cool and then peel and devein.

Heat oven to 300. Arrange bread slices on baking sheet. Dry out in oven and toast slightly 5-7 min. cool on wire rack.

Spread each bread slice with shallot butter. Use mandolin or veggie peeler, slice cucumber lengthwise. Place 2 cucumber slices side by side to cover the surface of bread slice. Trim the crusts. Arrange springs of dill over the cucumber. Cut 2 shrimp in half lengthwise and evenly space the 4 shrimp halves on the slice. Cute each piece o g bread into quarters. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and serve.

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