How to wow them? page

[Diana Renata]

Fourth of July is coming up, which means the inevitable family picnic. My family knows my "weird" eating habits and generally I end up taking my own food when it comes to these events since there's little else for me to eat otherwise. I've come to accept my dish-to-pass is mostly left untouched, so I learned to make dishes that I will eat for the rest of the week.


I sort of want to play a little trick on my family though. I want to make something, or a couple somethings, that look SO good they can't possibly be healthy/Primal, but they really are. I'm looking for suggestions.


Also note, I live on a very small budget, so unfortunately I can't do a lot of expensive ingredients, so this will have to be something fairly inexpensive as well.


Can ya help me?

[Get Primal]

Shrimp Deviled eggs. Not completely primal, but something everybody loves. End result is one medium size shrimp sitting atop a deviled egg. What the deviled egg consists of is up to you. When I make mine I just cut hard boiled eggs in half and leave the yolk in place. Squirt a small dollop of Sriracha hot sauce on top of yolk and place shrimp on top of that. Delicious! Not exactly the most gourment looking dish in the world but it's damn good.

[SerialSinner]

What about:

- Dates wrapped in Bacon

- Cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto

- Something based on butternut squash

- One of Tara Tootie's primal goulashes


I'll keep posting as things come up to my mind

[Shine]

Nobody can turn down bacon! If you could find a deal on seafood, sea scallops wrapped in bacon and broiled in butter are amazing. I know that can be pricey, though.


Still on the bacon kick, shish kebabs are good to transport and fairly inexpensive to make. We just had some for dinner tonight, incidentally. They had steak chunks wrapped in bacon with sliced zucchini, summer squash, and onions. They would work well if your family picnic involves grilling, and you can do a whole multitude of meat and veggie combos.

[Miriam]

One of my favorite picnic dishes is freshly grated raw beetroot & carrot with a nut oil dressing, sounds weird but tastes great, maybe add some walnuts for that extra bit of nuttiness.


I am a big fan of sauerkraut which is a good cheap option and it lasts for ages so if no one eats it then at least you have something on hand for a few weeks/months and it goes well with cold meats.


Or make a chicken salad with your own fantastic dressing of olive oil, vinegar, garlic and some freshly torn herbs (none of this shop bought rubbish) – that always impresses people home made dressing.

[Nick]

I'm going to try to aim for things that are 1) cheap and 2) going to be okay going to a picnic and being eaten at near room temperature an hour or two after being made.


Quiche - Make a crust out of almond flour (Like this, minus the sweetener: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/des...ndpiecrust.htm). Bake it for 15 minutes to set it. Fry up some bacon and chop it up, wilt some spinach or chard and cut it up, and shred a cheese of your choosing (cheddar might taste crass, I'd go with one of the cheaper Swiss options, like Jarlsberg. Gruyere if you feel like splurging). Mix up a bunch of eggs and a little milk or cream and all the ingredients, and bake. I suggest googling recipes to find ingredient ratios and cooking times.


Insalata caprese - Get some large basil leaves, tomato, and mozzarella, and put around a 1/4" thick slice of mozzarella on top of a 1/8-3/16" thick slice of tomato of equal area, sprinkle a small amount of balsamic vinegar and olive oil on, then wrap the large basil leaf around it and toothpick. This isn't the usual format (where the basil is less prominent, and the cheese and tomato are much larger, but this makes it easier to get every taste in your mouth at once), but I made 32 of these for a group dinner night on Thursday and they got devoured quickly.


I'll second the dates with bacon recommendation, with some caveats. I got Medjool dates and Marcona almonds when making that, and it ended up being pretty expensive to make 30 of them, but I could've gotten a better price on the dates if I'd shopped around a bit first (ironically, Trader Joe's was about half the price of anywhere online for the dates, and also had a nice 5-6oz package of the Marcona almonds for $5 or so). If you can find some cheap dates (har har) and maybe use regular almonds (perhaps soaked/dried/roasted for better crunchy texture), just do the following:

Pit the dates (I use shears to reach in the top of the date and grab the long cylindrical pit and pull it out).

Stuff the dates with 1 almond each.

Wrap each with a half strip of bacon (i.e. cut it in half lengthwise, so it's 1"x4" or so) -- I used some uncured and liked it pretty well.

Toothpick together, and stick them all on an oven pan and give them 15-20 minutes at 350 F. Make sure that bacon gets a little crispy, neither raw or crumbly.

Likewise, I made around 30 of these and 12 people devoured every last one.


Another option could be some chili, assuming you can keep it warm. I'd say start off by cooking some strips of bacon, then take those out and chop them up for later, then sweat/brown some onions, garlic, jalapenos or poblanos (or pasillas), then cook your ground beef, ground pork, or both (get the cheap, high fat version, 80/20). While you're cooking that, add (measurements for like 1.5lb of meat and 1 can of tomatoes and 1 onion pot of chili, scale as necessary) 2tbsp of chili powder, 1 tbsp of ground cumin, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp ground cloves, salt and black pepper to taste. You could add a little whiskey if you wanted to make it more interesting. No need to add much liquid, so you won't have to cook any off. Maybe bring some shredded monterey jack and sour cream to throw on top. I've made this for dinner a couple times with grass fed ground beef and it's pretty good; wife agrees.


If you can keep it whipped, try making some whipped cream (perhaps try adding some artificial sweetener and vanilla extract to make it taste like real whipped cream, and serve with some strawberries.

[SerialSinner]

A nice beef carpaccio with Dijon-mustard cream could also work. You could also add some very thin slices of a good Parmigiano-Reggiano on top.


Sounds expensive but could be cheaper if offered as a small trait/appetizer and if your family is not that big.


And I second the caprese salad as well. But then a *good* one with premium buffala mozzarella, EVOO and basil might be a bit expensive depending on the number of guests...


Also, what about some almond meal crackers with a very old (and hence low-carb) stinky cheese and sugar-free fig jelly (if it exists)?

[Nick]

When I did the insalata caprese I just picked up two $4.50 mozzarella balls and three medium tomatoes on the vine from my local target, and did a combination of harvesting the largest basil leaves I could find from my herb garden and supplementing with a $1.69 basil pack from Trader Joe's, so it probably ran about $15 total for 14 people (as part of a larger meal).

I have a policy of not going overboard trying to buy better ingredients than my guests have the palate to notice.

[SassaFrass88]

Almost Primal Poppers:


http://www.sonofgrok.com/2009/03/almost-primal-poppers/


I am a Jalapeno Popper Addict, so these look heavenly to me, not to mention rather 'wow-tastic' of an item to bring to an event! ;-)

[sammylou]

- shrimp and a slice of water chestnut wrapped in bacon and broiled


- big batch of guacamole with sweet bell peppers for dipping


- kebabs are a great idea and easy to prep ahead, you can use any meat really and seasonal veggies. pineapple is good grilled too


- you could try mark's new gazpacho recipe


- i agree deviled eggs are a good, cheap idea. make your own evoo mayo to mix the yolk with and then top each egg with a little piece of smoked salmon and a tiny sprig of dill. eggs are cheap and one small pack of smoked salmon will go a long way. these will look very delicious and you can surprise everyone by mentioning you made your own healthy mayo. "look ma - no sugar!"


- and to add to serial sinner's idea of carpaccio, you could take those slices and wrap them around a cluster of green onions that have been sauteed in butter [or your oil of choice], then lay them out on a platter and drizzle a dijon or horseradish cream sauce over them.