New Years Eve party

[RhiChiChi]

DH & I are hosting NYE, mainly with family. We are doing a BBQ but I really don't want to do run of the mill sausages etc... I am going to do a platter or nibbles & I have some basic ideas - going to make a dip & there are these goats cheese pastries I do that everyone likes but whatelse? There is going to be about 10 of us at this stage.... so easy to cater for but I just want it to be 'special' - IYKWIM?

[BlackRose]

What about some oven baked snacks like mini quiches, feta and spinach triangles etc. they always go down a treat!

[feeb]

Mini dim sims
spring rolls
Pin wheels
marinated chicken wings/skewers
pate and cheese platter

[LaDolceVita]

A Cob loaf dip!! Yum!

[anney]

do a middle eastern themed bbq ie. kofta, marinate some diced lamb for ate least 24 hours and do them on the BBQ. make a garlic sauce and a greek or tabbouleh salad.

[Mak]

Whole fish on the BBQ
Butterflied lamb/chicken
Some chicken/lamb/beef/scallop/vege kebabs

Grab some tea lights/fairy lights to decorate perhaps?

[FabFiona]

I did a platter yesterday that everyone loved. Some grilled chorizo, lightly fried haloumi and some pita bread with a tomato relish and lemon wedges.

Middle eastern themed is also totally yummy and very easy to do. The butcher will normally do up the meat for you so it's easy to put on the rotisserie thing.

[RhiChiChi]

Thanks so much! These ideas are awesome! I am going to take a little bit of everything you have all suggested, thanks again!

[peanutter]

and felafel ... yum!! then you can also do grilled eggplant, capsicum, onion, asparagus, squash ... yuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!!

[Nai]

Vegetable and haloumi skewers

[RhiChiChi]

Following on - DH likes the idea of the Middle Eastern theme now, so considering I'll be doing the meal planning & most of the prep can anyone direct me to a good blog/website for Middle Eastern food? If not, any recipes would be much appreciated. I did make Baba Ganoush (sp?) once but the spices really overpowered it, was thinking of halving the spices but if anyone has a recipe for that, please post :-)

[anney]

Hi, will try to find you something but my DH is the cook in our house and does it all from memory as he is middleeastern. secret to a good baba ganoush though is getting the smoky taste in the eggplant so it needs to be done with a flame rather than just in the oven so if you have a charcoal type bbq, cook the eggplant on the BBQ the day before. cumin, fresh parsley, garlic, salt and pepper are the only spices my dh uses in his baba ganoush.
google ablas lebanese restaurant. (she has the lebanese restaurant that has been in carlton for 30 years) if you could get your hands on her cookbook, it would have everything you need I think.the website has her recipe for falafel. personally I think falafel is a bit fiddly to do for alot of people but you could tackle it if you want. the great thing about middleeastern food is you should do most of the preparation at least 24 hours ahead to get the flavour to soak into things. Just don't put the lemon juice on things.
Also google fattoush - it is a really easy and tasty arabic type of green salad.

[RhiChiChi]

anney, thank-you so much! I did do the eggplant on the open flame & got the smokey flavour plus the recipe told me to add tahini - can you check that your DH puts that in?

[anney]

Yep definitely needs tahini. Pm me your email address and I will scan some recipes and send them to you