Who’s watching the Olympics? If you know me, you know that I am an Olympics FREAK. As in, I sort of put my life on hold for the course of the games. As in, using multiple mobile devices to watch (this is the first games for that). Growing up, the Olympics were always a big deal in our house. It was the only time when we could watch TV for endless hours, and were even allowed to keep it on at meal times.
So, it was only fitting that I hosted a mini appetizer night (or as I dubbed it, the Culinary Olympiad) for my sister, brother-in-law and a couple of friends on Friday night to watch the Opening Ceremonies (if you watched, what did you think?…I LOVED Mr. Bean doing Chariots of Fire! 
). I picked an international menu of mostly finger foods that could be enjoyed in front of the TV so no one missed any of the action. I also wanted to celebrate summer, so I used a ton of fresh, local ingredients.
I was kinda busy in the kitchen, so I didn’t snap a picture of everything (trust me, there was a lot of courses), but just like the real games, I’m giving you a highlight reel of sorts. Most of the recipes are out of fairly current magazines, so, where possible I’ll give you the link.
I’ll go row by row top to bottom for the small pics, then over to the large one at the right. So to start we have Basil Corn Muffins with Goat Cheese, and next to them are Eggplant and Mint Bruschetta. Both were fantastically fresh, and came from a special edition of Martha’s Everyday Food magazine from last summer. I may in fact share the eggplant bruschetta recipe with you in another post, because the flavour combination was a bit surprising, but really fresh and delicious. Plus the topping recipe made a lot, and I had some great leftovers for a couple of days of lunches.
The next two pictures on the left are of Ted Allen’s Thai Beef Skewers with pickled cucumbers. Since they are from the current issue of Food Network Magazine, I’m happy to be able to provide you with the link. These were quite a standout. I would highly recommend them if you want to look impressive and like you know how to cook Asian flavours. Two heads-up warnings for you though: the pickles, while amazing, are HIGHLY spicy…so consider yourself warned. Also, I didn’t want to go to the trouble of buying the Mirin called for in the sauce/marinade, so I just left it out. Maybe I missed a whole new level of Asian flavour nirvana, but no one seemed to notice, and the consensus was that skewers swere still quite fantastic.
Next to the top skewer photo, you have a salad on a stick with the Pioneer Woman’s Homemade Ranch Dressing. Make your own ranch sounds impressive, right? It’s really actually quite easy. I will warn you though, it will spoil you forever as the flavour is amazing. And salad on a stick is a super-fun way of shaking up the salad course in a hands-free fashion for summer parties. Just put lettuce and whatever veggies you’d like on a skewer, drizzle with dressing and you’re good to go!
Beside the bottom skewer shot is one dessert: Prince William’s favourite biscuit cake (in honour of the host country) served with homemade mixed berry ice cream and fresh local fruit. Definitely gold-medal worthy, if you ask me. As I described it to my guests, it’s basically just a big block of chocolate ganache with crushed up shortbread cookies….how can you go wrong?
Bottom, we’ve got the first dessert: Watermelon Lime Gelatin squares from the fun gelatin dessert feature in Food Network Magazine’s current issue. These are real-deal here: pureed watermelon and unflavoured gelatin, no jell-o here. I thought they would be a nice refresher, and, again, it looks impressive to make a Jell-o dessert without the use of Jell-o, right? I didn’t absolutely LOVE them, but they seemed to be a crowd-pleaser.
Beside the gelatin squares, you’ve got Avocado Bacon Corn, from the current issue of Rachael Ray Magazine. I couldn’t find the recipe on the website, but basically you cook some corn, make a simple guacamole (avocado, cilantro, hot pepper, lime juice, garlic, salt), spread it over the corn and top with crumbled, cooked bacon. I wished my guests luck in eating it (see picture above for the messiness factor), but they all said the difficulty of consumption was worth it for the flavour. Really, how can you go wrong when you’ve got fresh, local corn, guacamole and bacon??!?
And, last, but not least, as you can see from the big picture size, was the peach gazpacho, also from the current RR magazine, but this time, I did find the recipe for you. It was a great way to wind up the main course before going into dessert. And, wow. For something so simple (6 ingredients plus garnish, just put it in the blender and blend), the flavour was A-MAZING. My mom used to make gazpacho when entertaining when I was younger and I never really loved it (sorry mom) but maybe it was the peaches, I don’t know, but I found this gazpacho fantastic. I used garlic instead of shallot and it still came out ok. And I thought that leftovers might be watery because of the ice, but the bowl I enjoyed the next day was still packed with cool, fresh summer flavour. A real standout.
An honourable mention goes to the dried cherry chutney I made from the LCBO (the government-owned wine store, for you non-Ontarians) Food and Drink Magazine to go with chicken fingers. No photo, and sadly, no recipe link, but it rocked – maybe I’ll have to share that one too.
So – where do you stand on the Olympics? Addict? Couldn’t care less? Somewhere in between? And if you’ve been watching, what’s been the highlight so far?
