Wine and cheese menu?

Question

My boyfriend and I want to host a small "wine and cheese" style game evening with some friends mainly as a pre-Christmas get-together in early December. I'm trying to figure out a menu now because I'm away for a while and then we're moving at the end of this month, so I won't have time to think about it much and find recipes.

I don't want to do a dinner - just finger foods, dips and appetizer type foods. Also, we don't eat meat so they have to be vegetarian (but not necessarily vegan).

I've thought of an artichoke dip, spinach phylo roll-ups, and of course various cheeses with crackers. (To drink we'll have wine and a non-alcoholic punch or egg-nog, since not everyone drinks alcohol.)

Any suggestions for fancier finger foods would really be appreciated. I've never done this before so I have no idea where to start!

Thank you!

Oh, and ideas with a holiday feeling would be great as well! Thanks again!

Answer 1

We actually did this same type of party last year and it was sooo much fun.

I would keep your appetizers down to four or five with at least 2 -3 being hot. Always must have hot food with alcohol. I agree with the above answer thatyou should have somehting for people who like/eat meat (unless everybody sho is coming is veggie for sure). Even if you do not want it, you can send it home with them.

I would do a vegetable tray and dip and maybe even a seven layer dip with chips. If you have a GFS (Gordon Food Service) in your area they have wonderful appetizers you can buy and heat up. I don't like to do them all that way but it is nice for a couple.

Make sure to have something sweet! I made that the centerpiece of the counter last year. I went to our local gourmet bakery and ordred a wonderful Christmas Cake, it was so pretty it was hard to eat it (it was little penguins ice skating on a pond!)

For the wine, I would incorporate a couple of bottles of champaigne. The women seemed to love this last year at our party.

Since the above answers were so good with the cheese tray and ideas for other appetizers I thought I wouldshare a couple of other hints, if you like:

Also, I found at Linens and Things last year these cute little wine glass candles!! I set them out between the food on the counter. They were so cute, they were red and stood about 3-4" tall and had white wax in them.

We played Christmas Song Pictionary last year also! Very fun with people who have been drinking wine. We also gave everybody a name tag when they came in the door tht I put on their back. The name tag had their name, a number and a clue about a particular Christmas movie. You could not see your own, so guests ahd to go around and ask people clues to guess the clue on their back. When they guessed they could move it to their chests. Then the first person to guess the movie won the prize. It was great because it forced people to socialize! The number I used later as a door prize!

Anyways, have fun. I love wine and cheese parties!

Good luck with everything!

Answer 2

Ask everyone to bring a bottle of wine so people can play with mixing flavors.

Okay. If you want to go "official" cheese party (with fancy cheeses rather than a deli tray), I'd have some bread on hand. Mmm artisan bread.

Anyway, there are traditionally six principal flavors for cheeses: fresh, neutral, mild, pronounced, strong, and very strong. For a big cheeseboard, you should have at least one example of each. If you have a gourmet grocery store or Whole Foods nearby, go talk to the cheese people for help. If not, here's an overview.

Fresh: fresh white cheses with a smooth or granular texture like mozzerella.
Neutral: pressed, uncooked cheeses with a flavor that isn't overbearing. Try Saint-Paulin.
Mild: a creamy white cheese, like double or triple creams, young cheeses, unsalty goat or sheep cheeses.
Pronounced: well-ripened soft cheeses. This is where Brie and Camembert are the most widely recognized in this category.
Strong: mature goat cheeses and blue-veined cheeses belong here. They are soft, washed rind cheeses.
Very strong: very ripe blue cheeses, dry goat cheeses, any marinated cheese. If it stinks up the car while you're driving it home, even with the AC on, you've got a very strong cheese.

For a formal cheese platter, make sure the hardest-to-cut cheeses are near the edge. The crumbly blues go in the middle to prevent contaminating the other cheeses with overbearing flavor. Small cheeses go in the corners. Soft cheese, you just put wherever there's space.

Have fun with it! And be sure you have a big bowl of assorted marinated olives. Just to gild the lily.

Answer 3

Try and have at least three or four kinds of cheese, crackers and bread, fruit, and if you're not going to eat meat, maybe a dip or two? Have a wide variety of fruit and even a few vegetables. And add some nuts. Walnuts and almonds go well with cheeses.

Answer 4

I have served a big crostini plate that is delicious and very pretty. For the bread part, rub a cut garlic clove on the outside of a crusty french bread, thinly slice it, brush with olive oil and pop under the broiler until slightly toasted. These can be made ahead and served room temperature.

Serve them with a bunch of different colorful toppings, all in small bowls arranged around a big, decorative platter with crostini in the middle. People assemble their own.
Toppings: Goat cheese, Black olive tapanade, Sun dried tomato pesto, baby spinach lightly sauteed with garlic, sauteed mushrooms with garlic and herbs (thyme is nice). All the toppings are make ahead. Serve at room temperature.

A beautiful decorative garnish to put on your serving plates: Fresh dill sprigs and fresh cranberries. It looks very christmassy. Just arrange them decoratively.

Some spiced nuts would also be nice. There are a bunch of different recipes out there.

Answer 5

If some of your guests are not vegetarians, then be a more gracious hostess and serve them some non vegetarian dishes as well. Otherwise, you are just being a food snob and a rude host. You don't have to make a standing rib roast or serve link sausages. Just some marinated shrimp on skewers for example or prosciutto ham or meat pates go well with wine and cheese. And they are available ready to (heat and ) serve in many food shops.

Answer 6

Fermunda cheese always is a hit with the vegetarians.