Maundy Thursday Easter Celebration - A Fellowship Gathering

 

In the spirit of Easter, a fellowship of Christian friends gathered at the home of Patricia, a lovely actress, known to many from her roles on various soap operas, but known to her friends as a warm, generous christian + loving spiritual woman.

The gathering was co- hosted by Erin and Matt, a sweet and generous young couple who decided that they would commit to hosting a Maundy Thursday event for the next few years.   That the spiritual meaning surrounding Easter was an important message for them as a Christian couple + one they wanted to celebrate with fellow Christians from various NYC church groups in a meaningful way.

NYC Boutique Caterer, CuisinEtc Catering + Special Events was recommended to Erin and Matt a CuisinEtc fellow Caterer + ICA member, who the CuisinEtc team has worked with on many events.  Rick Kerzner, owner of Emily's Catering in Connecticut, whose firm had catered Erin and Matt's wedding in CT, felt that the intimate gathering would be better served by a local NYC Caterer, in order to keep the costs reasonable for the clients.

           hostesses Erin and Patricia 

          in their festive Easter Attire

       refreshing non alcoholic fruit punch 

                   prepared by Erin

Thank you Rick, for the vote of confidence.

The CuisinEtc Culinary Team always enjoy working with you to better serve catering clients.

Rick sent us an email, asking that we take care of this lovely young couple, as he would and that's just what the NYC boutique catering firm of CuisinEtc Catering and Special Events  did.  Treat each customer with the respect you would want, and they deserve and ultimately the blessings shine through.

One of the many benefits of being part of a larger catering network and organizations such as the ICA (International Caterers Association) is that we all share a common bond

of professionalism, and the drive to always go the extra mile to make each event a positive experience and lasting  memory for every client.

Initially Erin, Patricia (who generously opened her home for the event) and Lisa Teiger, the CuisinEtc Culinary Fashionista, meet at the warm and cozy NYC upper west side apartment, off of Columbus Avenue to review the time line, the logistics of the space, figure out what the style of the event would be and to review the menu offerings.

pre event meeting with clients

And two weeks  later, on April 1, another delicious and successful event came together for the NYC CuisinEtc Catering + Special Events Team and for the Maundy Thursday event guests and clients alike!!

..smoked salmon cocktail biscuits

     Please don't eat the Daisies

Garden Basket Decorated with Spring Daisies

and Speckled Quails Eggs

..feta and shrimp tartlets

chef Andrew Alexander-Crossan

prepping the shrimp "salsa" tartlets

..NY State of Mind
Corn Beef Cocktail Biscuits

atop a bed of slivered cabbage

garnished with

white + green tinged spring daisies,

quails eggs 

+ petite romanesque broccoli

..orange bbq glazed meatballs "lollipops"

with pretzel stick skewers

served in retro pewter candy dish

..Auntie Dais chicken dumplings

pretty spring presentation

..golden triangles 

with asian lime chili jam dip

atop an adorable easter chick platter

with the dip served in an egg shell

..sundried cranberry goats cheese pate

 atop Cucumber Crowns

The menu format was entirely CuisinEtc speciality passed hors d'oeuvres
and bite sized desserts.

Sorry folks, we just got too busy to take photos  of the adorable tray passed dessert bytes  which included...

...wild blueberry + banana byte-lettes

...chocolate mint tacos
with chocolate chip cannoli cream

...chocolate drizzled hazelnut puffs

...and last but not least the surprise  offering of

strawberry hazelnut  mini milkshake shooters,

served  in hot pink shot glasses.

CuisinEtc Chef Andrew Alexander-Crossan 

prepping the hors d'oeuvres

The size of this intimate event, with an estimated count of 35 - 45  guests meant that the A team,  Chef Andrew Alexander-Crossan and Culinary Fashionista, Lisa Teiger were able  to work the event themselves while getting to experience the delight of guests as they sampled the innovative displayed + delicious tasting passed hors d'oeuvres before the main presentation by the Pastor.

Following the Pastor's talk and prayer, a young man who had been falsely imprisoned in Nicaragua gave a extremely moving talk about his  spiritual awakening as a Christian

while in the Central American Prison System.

The evening concluded with a prayer,  followed by passed desserts by CuisinEtc 

Catering and Special Events and  delicious mini chocolate cupcakes baked by Patricia.   

Thank you for allowing NYC boutique Caterer, CuisinEtc Catering and Special Events 

to participate in your Easter Event and wishing all of you joy and happiness for the Easter Holiday and beyond.   Have a delicious Holiday!  xxoo  

cutting edge profiteroles aka cream puffs & croquembouche

We have been offering a profiterole station

and have at least three or four WOW concepts

that will create excitment and buzz along with of course,
DELICIOUSNESS!!

Will give you a tease here with a few.

First one would involve a towering edible self service
croquembouche caramel and cream puff display
to be finished off and built on site with our chef
creating spun sugar enrobing at the station as a centerpiece
and sitting on our unique Trojan horse copper topped table.

With a serpents tongue table display replenished by the action
Chefs on either side see description following.

Flanked on either side by a half serpetine table
or half round with chefs working

from hand hammered copper spherical chafers

with lucious caramel and organic chocolate ganache ---

piping and assembling profiterole short plates

such as
Rosewater infused trio of organic chocolate
and pistachio encrusted profiteroles

Lemon mousse filled duo of profiterole
with raspberry coulis adorned wth crystalized Organic ginger
And fresh blueberries

Chocolate and caramel profiterole martinis
white chocolate rimmed glass

profiterole Lollipops
organic Chocolate and vanilla bean filled profiterole
popping up out of farmers market wheat Grass
jelly belly tangerine coloured garnish

Creating a multi side approachable action station
that still has enough grab and go selections to keep up

Concept Profiterole-tini "Bar"

Martini glass dessert cocktails

Bar like set up or Chefs piping an array of flavored fillings
on display with the bartenders offering a trio of Profiterole-tini
(one non alcoholic) with ingredients printed on their tee shirt.

Have a few other variations on the execution of this concept
as well like

dessert flight chef station

Mango tango Profiterole-tini
PepperMint stick speared Vanilla bean Profiteroles
floating above a pool of Malibu Coconut;

fresh mango and rum 'tini

Pomegranite strawberry Profiterole-tini
Strawberry Coulis Floating Profiterole-tini
drizzled with reduced pomegranite syrup and maple peppered pecan dust

Cosmo Profiterole-tini
Cointreau dried cranberries and Citron vodka
with strawberry mousse Profiterole "olive"


large scale profiterole recipe ala gerard jones
who does magnificent croquembouche

http://www.savoycatering.com/new_page_2.htm

For choux paste, eclair puffs,

1 qt water
1 lb Uns marg
Boil until marg is melted
add 1 lb 2 oz bread flour whilst water/marg is boiling and stir in vigorously.
Cook for 30 seconds to get lumps out.

Remove from flame and place in 20 qt mixer, start adding eggs 2 at a time, mix on 1st speed with paddle. It will take approx 25 eggs (large).

Either bag out with 1/2 plain tube or use ice cream scoop dip'd in water.
Bake at 350.
If the oven is a convection oven, put them all in at the same time and leave the fan off for 10 minutes, then bake as normal with the fan. Let them take on deep golden color or they'll tend to be soggy when cool, if that happens just put them back in for a few minutes.




Heres a very stable pastry cream, it will not weep or break down.
1 gallon milk, boil. Heavy bottom pots are needed, 1/4 alum works fine.
1 lb sugar, beat with 6 eggs in a bowl.
1 lb 2 oz cake flour, work it into the egg/sugar base with a french whip (stiff whip).
It will be very stiff but it will go if you have a stiff french whip.

Add a cup of the hot milk to the base to loosen it.
Bring milk to boil and whip the base into it, whip vigorousely as it boils for 30 seconds or so, work whip over the bottom of the pan to prevent scorching.
Pour out immediately onto a clean tray and sprinkle a large handfull of sugar all over the surface , the sugar dissolves and prevents skinning.
You can add chocolate whilst its hot too, just let it melt in.

Allow to cool and chill a few hrs, beat smooth with paddle in mixer, add vanilla or whatever you want. You can also fold whipped cream into it without fear of it becoming sloppy, its quite stable.

Priscillas Graduation - Sweating in CT

Rick and Jo-Ann Babchak are long time customers who have become friends throughout the years. They are the proud parents of 4 gorgeous young woman and we are proud to say that we have catered many of the important events in this family's life. Eleven years ago we catered the "baby" of the family, CiCi's baptism and just this past weekend we catered the eldest daughter, Priscilla's high school graduation party.

This weekend was the start of record breaking horrible hot weather and unfortunately

there is no airconditioning in the Babchak residence

- although we did persuade Rick to put a window unit in the dining room

to keep the food at a cooler temperature.

The rest of the party was a hot mess, but fun anyhow....

Despite the heat everyone

from the staff

to the smallest kids

to the older relatives

and adults had a blast

- it was a fun party and we all enjoyed it.

The first hour and a half consisted of

Chef Andrew pumping out

"comfort food with an attitude"

we served mostly kid friendly hors d'oeuvres

with a few twists

...cows in the comforter - a signature presentation

of mini all beef hot dogs wrapped in a

pastry blanket served in a catchers mitt in a field of wheatgrass

...house made pizza bytes on tomcat foccacia

...meatball sliders in housemade cheddar biscuits

...moroccan salmon cakes spiced with chermoula

...tempura shrimp with sesame lemon glaze

...smoked salmon biscuits with wasabi cream cheese

...4 cheese puff cigars

...jewels of siam - filet mignon with asian glaze

atop cucumber crowns with veggie jewels

...sassy indian samosas

- mini potato and veggie bytes

served with our signature coconut cilantro chutney

...Priscilla's chicken parmesan crostinis

- a special request for the guest of honor

I think there were a few more offerings but for the moment they escape my memory

the dinner buffet was awesome - there was something for everyone
and lots of unusual offerings that the guests went gagga over

Chef Andrew Crossan and his assistant Chef Tom Kaelin
worked a flambee cheese station

using a half a wheel of pecorino romano,

the cuisinEtc chefs flambeed the cheese
with Grappa,

scrapping the softened cheese

and added orchetta pasta that
had been heated and tossed with

fabulous walnut basil pesto

that I personally
made using farmers market basil,

lots of fresh garlic, fresh california walnuts

and fruity EVOO.

I didn't seem to get a photo of the flames

but here's how the chefs did it

Tom and Andrew make a good team


and here's a photo of the kids oggling the whole procedure

for sure the flambe cheese station is a quick fire draw,

it gets everyones attention and they are always amazed

at how cuisinetc does this!

doing what cuisinEtc does best, eater-tainment...

Because the guest count of 150 or so,
was equally divided between adults and kids
(ranging from 8-18) we decided to go heavy
on the pasta offerings.

The asian crab salad featured a recipe
based on Vietnamese crab coleslaw
with julienne of nappa cabbage and carrots,
bean sprouts, fresh crab,
fresh asian spinach noodles
(yes more pasta) with a chili jam
lime & cilantro vinaigrette

The crab coleslaw is
a refreshing summer offering
and looks so pretty in the
red asian takeout boxes
sitting atop our signature apple riser.

It also makes for easy eating
since there is always limited seating
house parties like this

orange bbq glazed meatballs

a kidz in all of us favorite

(comfort food with an attitude)

cajun bbq crusted chicken fingers

don't ask - don't tell

a cuisinetc secret as to why they are so addictive...

caribbean coco loco chicken drummers

- yummer drummers - falling off the bone goodness.

thai style broccoli salad with sweet pepper rings and sweet and spicy vinaigrette

aren't our copper chafers gorgeous... the hostess was so impressed with them...

french potato salad with haricot vert, marinated artichokes and dijon wholegrain vinaigrette

minted tortellini greek antipasto salad

with chickpeas, dolmatis,

lots of fresh mint, oregano, feta, fire roasted bell peppers,

tortellini and more...

that's Ben serving the mac and cheese - we offered it two ways,

traditional and an adult rated aged pepato provolone enhanced version

DOUBLE YUM!

Dessert was a chocolate fountain with lots of goodies to dip, a nice graduation cake and lots of fresh fruit. Let's just say that no one went home hungry!

as the guests were leaving and we got a slew of thank yous and "it was incredible and outstanding" one of them remarked that we should get a bonus for working in the heat.

well the bonus was that we still managed to have a great time and produce a great party where everyone went home happy and thinking about the wonderful celebration. I was happy to get this nice email today from Jo-Ann thanking us.

"Lisa, Thank you so much!
Everyone has been Raving about you!
Everything was perfect.
So sorry about the heat.

Your staff is amazing.
Jo-Ann "

the beautiful Berkshires

a CuisinEtc Production

CuisinEtc - NYC Boutique Catering and Event Firm

division of food styling and menu consultation

in partnership
with Apogee Catering, Great Barrington, Mass.

a study in unique presentations and outstanding displays

to compliment the delicious food and fantastic service

the infamous CuisinEtc Trojan Horse Table Display
photo courtesy of Heather Katsoulis www.hklphoto.com

beautiful touches of flowers, fauna, fruits and carved melons abound

Event styling by CuisinEtc, Lisa Teiger, Culinary Artist and Food Stylist

When Dawn LaRochelle, a Berkshire boutique caterer and good catering friend needed assistance in putting together and presenting a first class event for her husband's law firm Cain Hibbard Myers and Cook http://www.berkshirelaw.com/chmc/attorney_larochelle.html"


CuisinEtc, a NYC Boutique Catering and Event Specialists

was happy to step into our Food Styling
and Event Planning shoes

and we were estastic to be able to help Dawn out once again.

CuisinEtc and Apogee Catering have partnered

on a number of high end events,

including a luncheon honoring Peace Warrior 1986 Nobel Peace Prize awardee Elie Wiesel, with an honorary degree from

the University of Vermont in Burlington, among others.
http://www.uvm.edu/~cmncmnt/Transcript%20for%20Wiesel.pdf

Elie Wiesel


The CHM & C event at the Colonial Theater was extremely

important to Dawn and Dennis for reasons beyond the obvious

honor of Dennis being made a partner

at Cain Hibbard Myers and Cook (CHM&C)

CuisinEtc and Apogee worked together to put together

a customized menu and highly detailed design scheme

that would be appropriate for the high end clients that the law firm

was inviting as well as for the historic venue,

the lovely Colonial Theatre in Pittsfeld Mass.

http://www.thecolonialtheatre.org/

CHM & C
Butlered Hors D’Oeuvres


Bamboo Chix Stix

(crispy pan-fried breast of chicken steeped in a

lively lemon-brown sugar marinade

and threaded with delicate snow peas on bamboo skewers)

photo courtesy of Heather Katsoulis http://www.hklphoto.com/

Cows in Comforters

(all-beef mini frankfurters in a puff pastry “blanket”

served on a catcher’s mitt on a field of wheat grass “greens”

with a side of Coney Island mustard)




Brie-licious Tartlets

(imported French Brie, toasted walnuts

and grape salsa in mini savory pastry shells)





Ginger Rogers Kickin’ Carrot

Soup Sips with a chive garnish

photo courtesy of Heather Katsoulis http://www.hklphoto.com/




Open Sesame Shrimp

(sesame-crusted shrimp served with

a tahini-ginger dipping sauce on a sampan boat tray)


alternative presentation for sesame shrimp on long pewter leaf


Amazing Sailing Ship Basket... The Nina, the Pinto and The Santa Maria
photo courtesy of Heather Katsoulis www.hklphoto.com


Ebony and Ivory

(decadent chocolate mousse artfully

piped into mini white chocolate espresso cups)

devilish chocolate bombes and Apogee's chef Bobby's

truly outrageous

chocolate cardamom mousse

presented in belgium white chocolate

mini espresso cups

guests enjoying the offerings

Stationary Hors D’Oeuvres and Vertical Displays

fabulous flower displays and natural enhancements

photo courtesy of Heather Katsoulis www.hklphoto.com

Grecian Garden (dolmatis, marinated feta, roasted red pepper and thinly-sliced lemon)

Brazen Bruschetta
(a mouth-watering housemade olive-artichoke tapenade

atop garlic-rubbed grilled baguette slices)

the infamous CuisinEtc Trojan Horse table

made especially for Cuisinetc in artisan village of Ubud in beautiful Bali

photo courtesy of Heather Katsoulis http://www.hklphoto.com/

Bejeweled Apricots
(apricot “clam shells” stuffed with chevre and chives,
and studded with infused dried cherries and toasted pistachios)


photo courtesy of Heather Katsoulis www.hklphoto.com

Pom Pom Meatballs (pomegranate glazed cocktail meatballs served warm)

Bombay Succotash
(succulent bouquet of flowering spice-dusted baby corn)

Hummus Sunflower
(adorned with black olive “seeds”,
cucumber “stem” and carrot “petals”)

photo courtesy of Heather Katsoulis www.hklphoto.com

All in all a very successful event

Here's what Dawn LaRochelle had to say about Lisa Teiger and the services of CuisinEtc

“Lisa Teiger of CuisinEtc is one of the most creative individuals I have ever met --

and one of the few whose passion for food and food display matches my own.

Her ability to take ordinary, every day objects and turn them into extraordinary props and display pieces is mind-boggling.

As the owner of a high-end boutique catering business with a sophisticated

and demanding clientele,

I cannot imagine hiring any one else to assist me with my larger and more complex events.”

Dawn LaRochelle, Apogee Catering, May 4, 2008

Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Creative
Dawn LaRochelle hired Lisa as a Food stylist in 2007, and hired Lisa more than once