article on cooking for President Bill Clinton Lisa's story - catering my own wedding
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Garnishing and Food Presentation
Courtesy of Lisa Teiger of
Creative CuisinEtc.
646-932-3496
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Food presentation is one of the main challenges that confront a caterer. For a professional, it is not enough to put a green snip of parsley as garnish, the food presentation must be exceptional, and must represent the moment on hand whether it is a romantic wedding, a party for a rap star, or, as in this instance, food for former President Bill Clinton who has been feted by kings and whose notorious love of junk food was abandoned when he developed health problems.
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As professionals, Lisa Teiger and Andrew Crossan, co-owners of Creative CuisinEtc. love food presentation so much that it is play for them. When the challenge of pleasing the tastes of President Clinton presented itself, Lisa and Andrew used both their culinary skills and their food presentation skills to create a memorable menu. This crudité presentation is one that a home cook can emulate guaranteeing an elegant first impression that will have guests talking as soon as they walk through the door. You can read about how Lisa and Andrew rose to this challenge with this and other foods: cooking for Bill Clinton and try other recipes: soy honey lassi ....red white and blues fruit salad
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Individual Crudités Vegetable Bundles in Veggie Shot Glasses
with Spa Watercress Dip created by Lisa Teiger and Andrew Crossan for former President Bill Clinton
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Ingredients
For 18 -20 individual cups
- 2 hot house seedless cucumbers - to make 18-20 shot glass cups
- 40 green haricot vert string beans - 2 per cup
- 20 yellow string beans - 2 per cup - if string beans are very long, cut in two pieces and thus half the amount needed OR 2 yellow squash - 1 or 2 pieces per cup one- cut out seeds use middle
- 20 baby carrots with tops (not the peeled bagged type)
OR 18- 20 carrot sticks (1 piece per cup)
- 1 red pepper, cut off top & bottom, slice (1 slice per cup)
- 1 orange pepper, cut off top & bottom, slice (1 slice per cup)
- 1 package enoki mushrooms - use small bunches with 3-4 heads per cup -
if you try to use the individual ones rather than bunches, the stems may break or bend
- 20 baby cherry tomatoes - the smallest you can find (1 per cup)
- Package of micro sprouts such as sunflower sprouts (2-3 stems per cup)
Method for Presentation
Cucumber cups : Peel lines down the side of the cucumber skin to form grooves.
Cut into 1.5 inch sections and using a small melon baller,
scoop out some of the inside, leaving wall and bottom to form a shot glass.
Guide for vegetables other than baby carrots and cucumbers: Using the haricot vert string beans as a guide, most of the other veggies should be between 1.5 – 2.5 inches high and not much wider than the haricot vert, with the exception of the baby carrots, enoki and sprouts. If you are able to get baby carrots in a bunch with greens still intact, peel them and leave a sprig of green attached to the carrots. Most likely you will not be cutting down the baby carrots, but if you feel you should, cut from the bottom, not the top. If you can’t find baby carrots with greens, buy the fattest regular carrots you can find and follow the size guidelines for other veggie sticks
The idea is similar to a flower arrangement, you want to have some variations in height and color, so have fun playing with this. Make sure your veggies are long enough to stick out of the cups but not too long to topple them.
Presentation:
Place veggies in cucumber shot glass except the cherry tomatoes, the sprouts and enoki mushrooms, which will be placed last and used as the garnish. The idea is to fill up the cucumber cup so that everything stays in place.
Then place the enoki mushrooms and sunflower sprouts in at the front, and nestle the cherry tomato in a crevice towards the front of the cucumber on top of dip. Once you’ve found a spot that works for the baby cherry tomato, lift it up and dab a pea sized amount of dressing using either a piping bag, a ziplock with the corner cut off or a squeeze bottle. Replace the cherry tomato on top of dip. The cherry tomato now should stay better or if you like you can also put a toothpick through it. This presentation requires no garnishing.
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Watercress Dip with Basil Makes approximately 3/4 cup
Ingredients
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1/2 cup watercress, stems removed and finely chopped
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1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
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1 clove minced garlic
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2-4 T good quality olive oil
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1/3 cup yogurt
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2-3 T minced green onion
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Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Combine watercress, basil, garlic, olive oil in a food processor or blender cheese; blend to form a paste. Add yogurt and blend until only mixed, do not over blend. Transfer to a bowl, stir in onions and season with salt and pepper. Mixture will thicken as it stands (can thin down with milk or water if desired).
Also try : soy honey lassi red white and blues fruit salad
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About Creative CuisinEtc: Lisa Teiger and her partner Andrew Crossan have been delighting both Democrats and Republicans, brides and grooms from the tip of the Hampton's to the California coast, CEO's in New York, London and Paris, Sonoma country wine growers, rap artists and Manhattan bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah moms.
They specialize in what they like to call “transglobal fusion cuisine” incorporating both food ideas and décor items from their extensive travels around the world. In our 20 plus years of designing menus and catering for clients from New York to London, France, Turkey, Florida, Tennessee, D.C., Baltimore, and California, the premise is always the same, custom designing the menu to the event and attendees is key. We asked if they enjoyed designing healthy hors d'oeuvres and healthy appetizers for President Bill Clinton. Their wide smiles gave us the answer.
Creative CuisinEtc.
646-932-3496
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