My neighbor had a catered party on Thursday. As with most catered affairs, there were plenty of leftovers. I know because our neighbor asked my wife and me if we’d would put any of it to good use. Umm…Yes. (I don’t think she knows about this blog.)
For us, it was a total jackpot. Sort of like being a freegan, only without the effort or the food safety fears. We brought hors d’oeuvres to our friends’ house on Friday and basically enjoyed the food throughout the weekend.
There were chicken and beef skewers, stuffed mushrooms, hummus and a mystery appetizer that was pretty tasty. The amount of food illustrated just how much extra food catering companies bring to an event, deathly afraid of running out of anything. Anecdotally, I’ve heard that they plan for 3 to 10 percent extra.
It also drove home the idea that the caterers probably couldn’t have donated the food to a soup kitchen or food pantry. Unless the items had been served by catering staff, it wouldn’t be acceptable from a food safety standpoint.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean catering clients have to toss this excess. Customers can repurpose the food. Or give the goods to their neighbors, who’ll probably enjoy it.
Anyway, after a busy weekend of eating, only this pimiento cheese loaf remains. We’ve been nibbling on it for a few days and it seems like we’ve barely made a dent. That’s it in the photo, after some significant eating.
Because it’s basically flavored cream cheese, you can’t eat too much of it straight. And one can only eat so many crackers with spread. So I’m throwing it out to you guys–what could we make with this pile o’ pimento? How can we repurpose it?
Comments
17 responses to “Catering comes a knockin’”
Cut it into small portions and freeze.
Use as the basis of a cheese sauce for veggies, for pasta, for chicken. Or add to a tomato sauce, ditto.
If you decide to freeze some of it, wrap it really, really well. There are a few things you can do with pimento cheese spread, but none of them will use it up as fast as you need to before it goes south on you. My favorite is to stuff celery sticks with it. I would never have thought about putting it in the top of a double boiler, melting it and tossing it with pasta or pouring over veggies. That WilliamB is pretty clever!
How about using as the condiment for a sandwich? At least that’s my default for cheese spreads… Not sure if that’ll work for Pimento, since I can’t say I’ve every eaten it.
BTW, next time put a penny on the plate for scale so we know how much you have to work with. Can’t tell if the plate’s a saucer or a dinner plate. 😉
Mollie Katzen has a cream of tomato soup recipe that calls for cream cheese instead of cream or milk (probably in the Moosewood cookbook.) The pimentos would add some nice flavor, I think.
But that’s an awful lot of cheese spread. Can you have a party yourselves?
A gardening group that I volunteer with had a BBQ yesterday, and the local Whole Foods donated some platters when they heard about pur project. We had one HUGE meat and cheese platter completely untouched. We did manage to send it along with a family that was going to another event. But it shows how easy for catering types it is to pile on the food and not think about whether it will get used.
Use it in homemade mac & cheese — this is a good recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/04/dining/041wrex.html?_r=1
You can tweak the type of cheeses & seasonings used.
Thanks for the ideas, thus far, and please feel free to send more. I’ve been eating waaay too many pimiento spread sandwiches and I’m not wild about cream of tomato soup (sorry!).
I’m leaning towards the melting it into a cheese sauce idea, but freezing is always a good idea (as long as you’re not prone to forgetting things in your freezer.
Next time I’ll add something for scale, but that’s a full-on dinner plate. And I just talked to my neighbor on the other side of the party host, and he informed me that he received the other half of the pimiento loaf. Seems like a little goes a long way!
For those of you not on Twitter, I asked around on there and specifically asked Matt Jennings (@CheeseMatt), a Providence-based restaurateur and cheesemonger: Here was his response:
“Melt into a cup of cream & season with fresh herbs for nice sauce over spring asparagus? Stir into a mornay for mac n’ cheese?”
I’m psyched about the last idea and am off to figure out what mornay is…
I wonder if you could bake it into corn muffins? I was just admiring some muffins made with cream cheese at Eat Me, Delicious.
If you still have some left, you can make yummy new hors d’oeuvres. Defrost a sheet of puff pastry, unfold it and roll it out a little on a floured board. Cut squares with a sharp knife, put a bit of the pimeneto cheese on half of each square. Fold the square over and pinch to edges to seal. Then pop them in the oven to bake according to the directions on the puff pastry box.
A caterer taught me this easy and very delicious trick many years ago. You could freeze the hors d’oeuvres after they’ve cooled, then pull a few out of the freezer when you have friends over or if you’re looking for a tasty snack to have with a glass of wine.
Actually, at least around me, the shelters/soup kitchens will accept things like this. They probably shouldn’t but times are tough. I even bring food over after I’ve had a party and did my own cooking (like after Thanksgiving).
Toss with hot pasta. Thin as needed. Most soft cheese spreads work for this.
[…] What to do with food left over from catered events. […]
From previous catered events, I have put together individual meals in small aluminum take out boxes. Depending on whats left, I have tried to include an entre, starch and veg. rounded up some friends and headed downtown toronto and given it to homeless people on the street
This might be utterly crazy, but I wonder if it would make a good ice cream? Sometimes sweet and savory go together really well. Sometimes not. 😛
Jon:
Not sure if your meal included any yogurt or not, but if it did, and you want to repurpose it after it is part it’s prime (i.e. no longer safe to eat)……
You can create the illusion old age on a brick or stone wall by painting it with old yogurt.
Within a very few weeks, the mold etc. growing on it will make the wall look as though it is VERY VERY old.
It is an old landscapers trick.
Take Care,
Gary
Great blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
A design like yours with a few simple adjustements would really
make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your design.
Appreciate it