SubscribeFood martinis – a holiday treat
Throwing a nice holiday dinner party doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Most important to party-giving is setting the tone, and inexpensive holiday lights and candles can help create the mood for celebration. Instead of a sit-down dinner, have your guests mingle and eat from sexy martini glasses filled with delicious food rather than drinks.
Martinis glasses that are delicate must be handled with respect and grace, and the wide mouth requires that they be held a certain way. They make a beautiful presentation.
You can fill up your guests and feed them well with small bites of hearty food, along with delicious hors d’oeuvres. Accompanied by salad or pickle forks, fancy toothpicks or long-stemmed spoons (depending on how deep the glasses), food martinis can make “chat and chew” an entirely new art.
A meal served in a martini glass is fabulous for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is that it is economical. The base of a food martini can be made with a variety of inexpensive starches like pasta, rice, couscous and mashed potatoes for a dinner meal, or ice cream, yogurt or pudding for dessert. You can also embellish just one dish, like mashed or sweet potatoes, with lots of gourmet toppings.
Mashed potaotes topped with grated cheese and garnished with cilantro can be a hearty dish, as in the photo at right (credited to photographer Vidiot).
But my favorite food martini pairing is curried couscous with teriyaki salmon bites and arugula salad.
Other food martini pairings:
- Wasabi /garlic mashed potatoes with baby lamb chops
- Apple sweet potatoes with broiled tilapia nuggets and fennel-laced string beans
- Curried couscous with teriyaki salmon and arugula salad
- Hominy grits with collard greens and creamed chicken
- Red beans and rice with vegetarian riblets
- Hummus with pita chips and assortment of olives
- Fruit kabobs with vanilla yogurt
- Jasmine rice with pan-seared chicken breast and sun-dried tomatoes
- Panini martinis – a bed of coleslaw with an assortment of holiday shaped paninis
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As the mother of five and a journalist, I've always encouraged people to empower themselves with information on healthy foods and lifestyles. Nurturing our children with healthy food is one of the most important jobs we have, yet as families have become busier or drifted apart, meal times have been sacrificed.
