Taste at Home Cocktail Parties

Having a party or event but don’t want to splurge on full service catering?  Entertaining can still be relatively effortless with our Taste at Home service.  Pick and choose from any and all categories to create a spectacular in-home or in-office event, either with or without the on-site assistance of A Matter of Taste staff.  Our menu is prepared fresh to order, using the highest quality ingredients and health-conscious preparations.  Feel free to contact us for any special dietary restrictions you wish to accommodate, and we can suggest alternatives. 

 Snacks for Nibbling 

$15/pound; 1 lb. minimum per selection

• Orange cashews
• Mixed spiced nuts
• Candied pecans
• Marinated olives – seasoned with oranges & herbs
• Cheese crisps
• Olive tuilles – thin, fresh-baked crackers topped with olive slices
• Sesame palmiers

Dips & spreads 

$20/pound; 1 lb. minimum per selection

All served with your choice of either bread (French baguettes or pita triangles), gourmet crackers or crudités assortment. Warm dips can be heated in the oven or microwave before heating.

• Warm leek & goat cheese
• Roasted eggplant & white bean
• Warm dried beef & gorgonzola
• Warm artichoke & cheese
• Bombay onion & sour cream – caramelized onions, Indian spices, garlic & cilantro
• Roasted red pepper pesto
• Aioli – Spanish garlic mayonnaise
• Hummus with tahini – middle-eastern chickpea & sesame dip with optional grilled Italian sausage slices
• Brie en croute – wheel of brie baked in a puff pastry crust with cranberry-pecan chutney. You bake before serving.
  • 1 pound:  $25
  • 2 pound:  $45

Room Temperature bites

$2.25/each; 1 dozen minimum per selection

• Cucumber & smoked salmon rolls - Cream-cheese & green-onion filled cucumber wrapped with smoked salmon
• Cucumber rounds with kalamata olive tapenade
• Persian stuffed grape leaves – stuffed with ground beef & rice, flavored with dill & lemon
• Melon with ham - honeydew melon wrapped in Prosciutto
• Spanish tortilla (crustless quiche) with onions, potato, tomato, chorizo & garlic
• Sun dried tomato squares with fontina cheese & Prosciutto (can be served warm as well)
• Belgian endive with smoked salmon & goat cheese mousse
• Bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with gorgonzola (can be served warm as well)
• Gougeres (puffs) with smoked salmon & goat cheese mousse
• Mini bell peppers stuffed with grilled Ahi tuna salad
• Lump crab in fillo shells with sauce Monica (Bourbon & port sauce)
• Curried shrimp in fillo shells
• Beef tenderloin tarts (can be served warm as well) – with caramelized onions, mushrooms & tomato jam

Heat & Serve bites 

$2.75/each; 1 dozen minimum per selection

• Stuffed mushrooms - with your choice of lamb or ham, peppers, onion & spices, topped with finely-grated Asiago cheese
• Fillo triangles – crisp treats with your choice of fillings
  • Mixed greens & ham – cooked Southern style, with a taste of vinegar & garlic
  • Mixed greens – vegetarian version of the above
  • Salmon & brie
  • Spinach, gorgonzola & artichoke
  • Samosa – curried peas & potatoes
• Puff pastry squares – flaky & buttery crust surrounding your choice of fillings
  • Goat cheese & roasted red pepper
  • Brie & tomato confit
  • Smoked pulled pork
  • Caramelized onion & apple chutney
  • Smoked paprika shrimp
• Mini Dutch meatballs with red wine jus & crusty French bread (can be served room temp as well)
• Albondigas - Our interpretation of the Spanish meatball, prepared with a special spice blend in a house-made tomato sauce
• Beef & lamb sausage rolls
• Pigs in blanket – our version, with your choice of regular or hot Italian sausage, baked in puff pastry
• Clams Casino
• Mini crab cakes with sauce Monica
• Grilled salmon sliders with house-made tartar sauce on toasted baguette slices
• Traditional rumaki – marinated chicken livers & water chestnuts wrapped in bacon
• Seared scallop rumaki – marinated scallops & water chestnuts wrapped in Prosciutto
• Grilled prime tenderloin skewers - seasoned in our own Dutch meat spices
• Grilled lamb skewers -  with Middle-eastern seasoning with garlic yogurt mayonnaise
• Tropical chicken skewers – Pineapple marinated chicken breast, wrapped in pancetta

Quiches

With our house-made buttery crust – we pre-cut for easy serving, either warm or room temperature

8” – 12 servings - $19.50/27.50*

12” – 20 servings - $24.50/35.00* 

• Florentine – with spinach & cheese
• Maple Lorraine – with maple-glazed bacon & cheese
• Alaskan – Salmon, goat cheese & dill
• Mushroom  heaven - Button, Portobello, oyster, shitake & porcini mushrooms with scallions & parsley
• Smokehouse – Smoked turkey, pancetta & smoked Gouda
• *Shoreline – Lump crabmeat, corn, shallots & mixed herbs
• *Nor’easter - Lobster, potatoes, mushrooms, shallots & cheddar
• Asparagus & Ricotta fillo tart – fillo top & bottom crust instead of the traditional pastry

When your gathering is more than a cocktail party but not quite a meal, platters and open-faced sandwiches are just what you need:  more satisfying than small snacks but not quite a full meal.

Platters

All can be served at room temperature unless otherwise noted.

• Mediterranean vegetable antipasto - A colorful platter loaded with roasted eggplant, marinated mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes & marinated artichokes

Small (2 lbs) $14.50

Large (5 lbs) $37.50

• Spanish-style seafood salad with grilled tuna, shrimp, calamari, sea bass with olives & peppers in a saffron vinaigrette

Small (2 lbs) $45

Large (5 lbs) $110

• Beef wellington - made according to the original French recipe: whole prime tenderloin grilled medium rare wrapped in a puff pastry crust lined with liver pâté.  You bake & slice before serving.

$220, serves 12-15 

• Prime tenderloin – served with grilled peppers & horseradish crème. Choose your option for preparation & presentation:
  • We season & sear on the grill, you finish in the oven, slice & serve warm
  • We season, grill, cook & slice; you serve room temperature

$135, 5 lb. average, serves 12-15

• Side of hot-smoked salmon – fully cooked, similar to oven roasted, smoked in our own Dutch fish spices

$75, 4 lb. average, serves12-15

• Steamship ham – smoked & oven-roasted, served with our house-made mustard-mayonnaise.  You slice before serving.

$65, 12 lb. average, serves 15-20

• Grilled duck breast with blood orange balsamic glaze

$26/lb, 3 lb minimum

• Jumbo boiled shrimp - we really mean JUMBO – you get 16-20 shrimp per pound; & our shrimp have no chemical preservatives added during harvest, so you only taste real shrimp flavor.  Served with cocktail sauce, even though we think they won’t need it.  Your choice of seasonings that we cook them in:
  • Rich seafood stock
  • Lemon, garlic & herb
  • Indian masala
  • Old Bay

$26/lb, 3 lb. minimum

 Open-faced sandwiches

$3.50/each; 1 dozen minimum per selection

• Mojo chicken - marinated chicken breast, charcoal grilled, served with sautéed peppers & onions
• Georgian pulled pork - slow smoked pork, hand pulled & served with our own sauce Smoked turkey - topped with fresh greens, cheese & mustard-dill dressing
• Curried chicken salad - cubed chicken in a curry dressing with walnuts & grapes.
• Grilled tuna salad - grilled tuna steak diced & blended with our own herbed yogurt mayonnaise
• Hot-smoked salmon - with asparagus in a lemon-dill dressing
• Egg salad with smoked salmon – we use traditional cold-smoked salmon in this one
• Roasted vegetable - fresh roasted eggplant, peppers, zucchini or asparagus & portobello mushroom dressed with a lemon-basil mayonnaise
• Brie, apple & caramelized onion - creamy brie, tart apples sliced thin & sweet onions
• Roast beef(prime tenderloin) with horseradish cream

No party is complete without a little something sweet.  We have created a selection of traditional and unusual desserts and treats for you to offer your guests. 

Desserts

$2.25 each, 1 dozen minimum per type

• Chocolate-cream filled profiteroles
• Belgian dark chocolate cups filled with your choice of mousse filling
  • Orange coconut
  • Cherry liqueur
  • Chocolate-mint
  • Cinnamon-white chocolate-almond
• Truffles
  • Kentucky chocolate – Bourbon, pecans & cocoa
  • Tropical screwdriver – Vodka, orange juice & coconut
  • Traditional chocolate – with Valrhona bittersweet chocolate rolled in Dutch cocoa
  • Milk chocolate with Earl Grey ganache
  • White chocolate with sesame & cardamom
• French macarons – colorful almond meringue cookies with tasty filling, your choice of flavors
  • Mocha with Valrhona fig ganache
  • Pistachio-lemon with blackcurrant
  • Orange with orange marmalade
  • Coconut with Valrhona ganache
• Cheesecake lollipops – dipped in chopped nuts or chocolate
• Pumpkin cheesecake lollipops
• Pecan pie minis