What is the most delicious party food you have ever tried?

Baked cheese bagel chips with a creme cheese spread that had minced jalepeno, minced red pimento and minced cilantro in it.

My mom was a gourmet cook and had a side business as a caterer. At one particular party her supplier shorted her on her order of shrimp. So, resourceful woman that she was, she decided to make them extremely hot hoping that the guests would eat them sparingly. She named the dish “Shrimp Diablo”. They absolutely vanished!

After that at every party she catered she was always asked to make sure to include that delicious shrimp diablo!

(side note, a decade or so later I saw a restaurant advertising “shrimp diablo” as one of their signature appetizers. Not sure if it was inspired by my mom’s, but I can’t help but wonder.)

Lamb Chops with a Pomegranate Dipping Sauce

Classic Rack of Lamb Recipe
The cooking time depends on how big your rack of lamb is, and how rare you want it cooked. Rack of lamb should be cooked rare, or at most medium rare. The instructions are for a rack 1½ to 2 pounds big. If you have a smaller roast (I’ve seen packages of just a pound), reduce the cooking time from 7 minutes to 5 minutes on 400, and use the lower end of the cooking time given at 300. If you are cooking multiple racks (unless you are doing a crown roast which is a different matter), lay them out separately on the pan, and estimate a roasting time based on just one rack, not the weight of the combined. Of course, use a meat thermometer! This is too lovely and tender a roast to risk overcooking.

INGREDIENTS
1 or more Frenched* lamb rib racks with 7 to 8 ribs each (1½ to 2 pounds for each rack, figure each rack feeds 2–3 people)
For each rib rack:
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil

Once the rack is cooked and rested, cut them into individual chops

Pomegranate Dipping Sauce

INGREDIENTS
2 c. pomegranate juice
¼ c. honey
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Reduce the heat to medium and boil gently for about 15 minutes until reduced by half, whisking occasionally.

Deviled eggs all the way!

Baked Brie with Apricot preserve with Calvados to thin ( Apple brandy )

My Bruschetta with my home grown tomatoes and Vegetable Pizzas are always a huge hit.

One of my cousins threw a fantastic shishkabob party. She borrowed a friend’s barbecue so that she could have 2 barbecues going at the same time, to accomdate everybody. The smaller rack section at the top of one of the barbecues was relegated for us 3 vegetarians at the party, so as not to have to mix.

She then had raw chunks of chicken, beef and shrimp, which were put out in separate containers over ice, and she had a selection of veggies including sweet peppers (the ones that look like bright red jalapenos, but have a mild flavor) mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and even fresh chunks pineapple.

Then she had 3 separate containers of marinades. One was kind of tropical (maybe soy sauce with pineapple juice and ginger), one was spicy with a tomatoey base with garlic, and one was savory with rosemary in it. So you would pick up your wooden skewers at the first station, go through the line and load up your skewers with whatever meats and veggies you wanted (it’s best to do veggies separately from meats, because they do not cook at the same rate, and to keep the chunks separated with a tiny bit of space between them so that the inside part of the meats will cook thouroughly) then you would brush on your marinade and then lay your skewer onto the grill.

She had tongs and hot pads so that you could pick up the skewers to turn them and then take them from the barbecue to your plate when they were finished. Even though the skewers were wood, they were still too hot to pick up with your bare hands.

Then she had a selection of salads and chips and drinks and we all ate outside at picnic tables under umbrellas. It was so much fun and it smelled amazing!

Since I’m one of the token vegetarians I often bring nifty salads to our family parties. Here are a few of my faves:

Raw Kale and Root Vegetable Salad (sweet and tangy with a wonderful crunch)

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Peanutbutter Dressing (cool, creamy, garlicky and slightly exotic)

Pesto Pasta Salad (I make mine a little different: cook bowtie pasta (drain and cool), add prepared pesto, add cubes of mozzarella cheese, add pine nuts, add sliced grape tomatoes, add pitted Kalamata olives)

Asian Napa Cabbage Salad

Then for some dips with your chips (try some sweet potato chips, kettle cooked potato chips, blue corn tortilla chips and pita chips for variety) here’s some yummy dips:

Tziki (creamy yogurt based Greek dip with garlic and cucumber)

Artichoke Cilantro Hummus

Tomatillo Salsa

Cowboy Caviar

Then for dessert you can go the easy (but exotic) route by serving Asian ice cream, mango, coconut and red bean. Easily found in Asian markets and some standard grocery stores.

Or you can make some desserts:

Espresso Brownies

Triple Gingerbread

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

And to drink:

Homemade Ginger Ale

Mint Iced Tea

Mango Lassi

Strawberry Pineapple Punch

My mom’s spinach dip.

@Kardamom WOW!!!!! Espresso brownies caught my eye straight away as does the cold soba noodle salad. I am going to try some of these tomorrow on my kids, Thank you.

Chocolate walnut torte.

Bacon wrapped scallops….

I love when I get to a party and the food has some healthy choices. Not extremely healthy no one will be familiar with it, but basic. Marinated roasted veggies, or a yummy salad. Rice or cous cous, or potatoes not mashed (because mashed usually have cream and a stick of butter). Meats not swimming in sauces or butter. Shish Kabobs are a good idea if people have a place to sit with a table for their plates. It can be difficult to get the food off the kabob, and if you are balancing your plate everything could go everywhere.

Other ideas:

Mini tacos. (the real kind, not the hard shell American kind).
Thin sliced bagel, smoked salmon, cream cheese or creme fraiche.
Mini croquet/Monte cristo sandwiches.
Stuffed shells or large ravioli.

@creative1 beat me to bacon wrapped scallops.

How about a fried lobster filled shu mai? mmmm

It is very unsophisticated but its NOM! And it’s so frickin’ simple so here goes:

It’s called pineapple surprise or something generic like that

You need: digestives, canned pineapple or fresh chopped pineapple with some sugar syrup, double cream

You will first layer a bowl (preferably wide, squarish bowl) with coarsely crushed digestives, layer on top of that your pineapple chunks with syrup, then layer it with good quality double cream. Do a second layer in the same order. (I find two layers to be sufficient you may do more.)

It is now ready to eat and experience a mouth orgasm.

Tiramisu

Ingredients
• 7 yolks
• 1 cup sugar for yolks
• 3 cups or 1 (750-gram) container mascarpone
• 4½ tablespoons water
• 1½ tablespoons powdered gelatin
• 3 egg whites
• ¼ cup sugar for whites
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped
• 2½ cups cooled espresso
• ½ cup kalhua
• 20 to 24 ladyfingers
• 1 cup chocolate shavings

Directions
In a mixer with the whip attachment, whip yolks and sugar until thick and pale in color (ribbon stage). Add mascarpone and whip until well incorporated. Pour water into a small bowl then pour powdered gelatin over it. Do not stir. Allow gelatin to absorb all of the water (about 15 minutes) then place the bowl on top of a small saucepan containing simmering water (creating a double boiler). Immediately turn off the heat and allow the gelatin to dissolve completely. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites to a soft peak, gradually add sugar, then slowly pour in dissolved gelatin. Whip to a stiff, glossy peak. Fold whites into mascarpone and yolk mixture then fold in whipped cream.
In a separate bowl, combine espresso and kalhua. Soak 1 ladyfinger at a time in the espresso mixture. In an 8 by 10-inch pan, arrange soaked ladyfingers close together in neat rows until the bottom of the pan is completely covered. Pour ½ of the mousse over the ladyfingers and smooth with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle ½ of the chocolate shavings over mousse. Create another layer and chill until set.

A simple thing, but tastes great and can be made to look pleasing to the eye too:

mayo + ketchup (1:1) in a bowl – as much as you think necessary; next, slice up some paprika, some of those small tomatoes and place it all on a plate (around the dip bowl)

Another thing is club sandwiches – you can’t go wrong with those…

Swedish buffet. THere are a lot of things that can be done here. It’s suitable for any type of party , it’s not that expensive and people will like it. ^^

Cold shrimp salad with mayonnaise on the top. I don’t really like mayonnaise but it tastes so good with cold veggies, fruits, and half-boiled shrimps. Most of the party dishes I ever tried are Chinese cuisine. Dim sum is also a good idea if you want present a party with oriental touch.

Chipped beef cheeseball.

Fondue parties are fun. Make one cheese – serve with cubed, crusty bread, veggies, boiled and quartered new potatoes, cubed ham etc.

Chocolate for a dessert served with fresh fruits and cubes of angel food or pound cake.

When I did this, I went to a couple of neighbors to borrow fondue pots instead of buying one. Almost everybody over 30 has one gathering dust somewhere in their house.

Oh, and I nice Vienese dessert table please.

I like things plain and simple. I can’t stand it when I go to someone’s house for a party and they have all kinds of squishy and yucky stuff. For an evening party, gimme cheese n’ crackers, assorted salted things, and wine or pop. For a daytime cookout, I want burgers, dogs, chips, and beer!

@ru2bz46 makes an outstanding Salmon spread. I think it’s something like this:

Box of creme cheese
Tall can of salmon, juices & all
½ bunch of parsley, minced
Tbs of freshly ground black pepper
Squeese of fresh lemon

Mash it all up together and let stand a few hours before serving with crackers or sliced baguettes.

Here’s a memorable hors d’oeuvre:
mix together mayonaise and grated parmesian cheese to a think consistency.
slice an onion very thin and put it on a little melba toast cracker.
put about a teaspoon full of the cheese mixture on the onion,
Put under the broiler until the top bubbles.

You will not be able to make enough of these, no matter how many you make!

Caviar on deviled eggs.

Oh, my. I weep to tell you because this feels like confessing to some deep, long-hidden aberration. I’ve never told this to anyone before.

I have doted on dips, crunched crudités, fondled fondues, and crammed canapés with all becoming decorum. But the one delicacy that made me want to park next to the hors d’oeuvres table and gobble unceremoniously while hoping that no one I knew was watching me was this: stuffed jalapeños.

I don’t even know what made me try them. I fear jalapeños, I dislike hot spices in general, and I normally keep ample distance between me and any food with a tilde in the name. But some perverse impulse made me pick up one of those slippery little morsels, and then…<speechless>.

I don’t know what those things were stuffed with. But they were warm, sweetly crunchy on the outside, mellow and creamy on the inside, with just enough bite in between to be savory, and their flavor defied the power of words. I could have stood there and downed them all, a full tray, nonstop and without remorse until someone dialed 911.

Fortunately my boss was in the crowd. I caught sight of her, remembered my dignity, and tore myself away for a nice conversation with the guest of honor. Saved.

I had awesome calamari once at a Superbowl party. Apparently the host had gotten live squid for fishing bait, but decided to cook the squid for the party. It was fresh and tender – yummy!!

For somebody who knows what both digestives (as in @Jellie‘s post) and Graham crackers are: are they similar? If not, what do we have in the U.S. that would work in that recipe?

I have to say that if you’re not accustomed to the expression, something called a “digestive” sounds singularly unappetizing, like having Rolaids for dessert; but the Wikipedia entry for digestive biscuits does explain.

Oh yea completely slipped my mind that they may not be called the same thing in the US.

@Jeruba when I first heard the word “digstive” I thought they weer named so because maybe the biscuits had more fibre and it was helpful with digestion. Which, now when I come to think of it, doesn’t make sense at all as fibre helps with bowel movement…

@Jeruba Jalepeno Poppers are wonderful! You can buy restaurant quality at Costco and just heat them, or they’re pretty easy to make from scratch. Select uniform sized peppers (the more rounded the tips, the milder the heat); blanch for a minute in boiling water to soften, then cut a slice in the side and remove the seeds. Stuff with cream cheese and press to reseal the slit, then dredge in beaten egg, then flour, then milk, then fine bread crumbs. Chill until firm and then fry or bake.

VERY IMPORTANT: Wear gloves the entire time you handle the peppers. I didn’t do that one time when I prepared a whole bunch for a party and my hands burned so painfully for hours that I couldn’t even sleep.

I hate jalepeno poppers, but the answer given by @jeruba makes me happy she liked them. I don’t like heavy sauces or creamy dairy things. But, most people are not like me. I don’t like cream cheese or sour cream or mayonnaise or creamy salad dressing or most chip dips. What I am getting at is try to make sure there are a few crunchy things, and keep in mind you might have a vegan at the party, or someone who just is not fond of dairy products and mushy foods.

@HungryGuy I would starve at your cheese and crackers party. The cookout is ok, but it would be nice to have something besides the chips, unless it is American potato salad or coleslaw, those go into the creamy, yucky, mayonaisy category for me.

Digestives CAN be purchased at some grocery stores in the US. McVities is a popular brand that is carried by Fresh Market, Whole Foods, etc.

I make jalapenos filled with cream cheese (dressed up as fancy as you like), wrapped in bacon and cooked under the broiler. They are magnificent!

My personal fave is extremely easy and appears more upscale than it really is:

Several packages of Buddig meats (I like chicken and beef).
Two kinds of sliced cheese (I like swiss and a sharp chedder for this recipe).
Two packages of Pillsbury crescent rolls.

Open the crescent rolls and separate them into rectangles (two triangles). Pinch the seam between the triangles to seal. Layer about three slices of meat and one slice of cheese. Roll from one of the narrower ends of the rectangle. Pinch to seal the edge of the dough.
Roll in sesame seeds. Put three of them in a small ziploc bag and put in fridge (can be made well ahead of time which is part of why I like the recipe).

When your guests arrive, heat the oven to the temp on the crescent roll package. Slice each roll that you are ready to cook—about 1 inch slices. Lay them on their sides on a slightly greased cookie sheet. It should look like a bunch of coins lying flat on the cookie sheet. Bake for the time indicated on the crescent roll package. Use spatula to put them on a serving plate. They will disappear quickly so be ready with another batch.

This is sooo easy and has become my signature party dish.

A veggie plate or cheese and cracker plate are always great and can be picked up at most local grocer stores.