Wedding Inspirations

The food styling at the wedding I attended last weekend was phenomenal so i thought I’d share some pictures and tips. The bride (my good friend from high school) is a big foodie and wanted everyone to have a taste of many foods on her wedding day. So we all had the privilege of having our own “tasting plates” or “small plates”.

I am a HUGE fan of the most current trend of ordering several small plates instead of the typical 3 course meal. Not only because its great fun to try out multiple dishes but you can be so creative in styling small plates. You can serve them in edible vessels like wonton spoons or parmesan cups. Or serve them in martini glasses, small ramekins, shot glasses or ice cream cone holders. Or in the case of this wedding - a few tasting items on each full size plate. There is almost no need to garnish they look so good on their own !!

Another clever trick the caterers used were cucumber ribbons to wrap around and contain the salad. To do this at home, simply use your vegetable peeler and peel the entire length of the cucumber. It also works with carrots and zucchini.

Lastly, to keep up the small plate theme of the menu the dessert plates were literally half a plate.  I honestly have never seen that before.

x Adele

Small things make a big difference

After hosting a great number of events in the past month I thought I’d pass along a little food styling tip that I practice at work and at home. I call it “small things make a big difference,” which in essence is: Take a minute to GARNISH !!

I held a wedding shower for a girlfriend at my place and made a few things as well as the other bridesmaids brought items. One recipe I made was for carrot muffins. To make them just a little more special, I made them into mini muffins with a cream cheese and maple syrup frosting...but what really made them go from good to great was my garnish. I took finely sliced (julienned) carrots and crystalized them to place on top of each muffin. It probably took about 10 minutes ... using my julienne grater to slice the carrots, boiling the carrots in a simple syrup (half water/half sugar) and letting the carrots cool.... but it was definitely time well spent !


Another garnish tip that I use regularly at work and at home is spring onion curls. They are great to decorate a serving plate for many appetizers well as add flair to individual plated dishes like a stir fry or lettuce wrap.
Simply thinly slice long strips of spring onion (green onion, scallions) and place them in a bowl with ice cold water with a few ice cubes. Leave them for a few minutes and when you return the lovely long green strips will be beautifully curled.

So for your next gathering, add a little flair to your meal by taking a few extra minutes to garnish !
x Adele

BBQ Pizza "do it yourself" style

I was on a boat this weekend with a bunch of friends....all with different tastes in food AND high expectation of what i could create on a boat for lunch.

There were some vegetarians and some die hard meat lovers. I had to think of something fun and exciting to serve that would please everyone. Burgers and dogs always seem like the easiest option but I'm not the kind of person to settle on the easy option.... especially when there is pressure for the chef to come up with a creative alternative. It was my first time using the brand new boat BBQ so i kept my fingers crossed as i had no clue if i was capable of pulling off “do it yourself” individual pizzas on the boat while anchored in a quiet bay with NO contingency plan...... But it worked like a charm !!!

Here is how to do it ....

Buy a ball of ready made pizza dough from your supermarket or pre-make dough the day before. (A pound of dough stretched out made 3 pizza bases) To stretch the dough out i find the easiest way is to hold onto the edge and let gravity do your work for you. Simply rotate your dough slowly around in a circle until it is your desired thickness. Then either drizzle with olive oil - or on the boat i actually sprayed mine with olive oil for less mess.

Before placing it on the grill make sure your grill has been heated as hot as possible ! Then right before placing the dough on the grill turn it down to low/medium.

Place the dough directly on the grill. place anything you like on pizza on top of your dough - tomato sauce, artichokes, mushrooms, pepperoni, pesto, goats cheese... anything ! After you’ve placed your toppings on the dough, close the BBQ to keep all the heat in for the dough to cook and the cheese to really melt. Every BBQ is a bit different but it should take anywhere from 8-12 minutes for your pizza to cook fully. On our little portable boat BBQ it took about 10 minutes and we could do 2 individual pizzas at a time.

Note: I like my pizza a little soft and doughy in the centre so i don’t flip mine before adding toppings. But if you like your pizza crispy, flip your pizza dough over before putting on toppings.

Let me know if this works just as well for you as it did for my BBQ alternative !

x Adele