Italian celebration birthday party

*moeilyk*

Need ideas (menu) for a birthday dinner.  It's next week saturday, and since DH always has thanksgiving-y food in his birthday, i'd rather not include anything related to turkey day.

Party will include ~30 people, so I would prefer tapas/appetizers that I can leave out all night.  Party "starts" at 6pm.  DH is italian, so the theme is Italian...

I was thinking of - 

• Meatballs in sauce
• 2 different types of flatbreads with toppings (one with arugula/cherry tomatoes/buffalo mozz and olive oil/sea salt/balsamic, the other with thyme, lemon peel, olive/sea salt/feta.. i am thinking of buying 2 large trader joes pizza doughs and grilling them on the griddle)
  
• antipasto platter (salami, prosciutto, peperoncini, olives, bread sticks, 2 different cheeses (pecorino, another one... which?)
• Some kind of pasta salad that could stay out all night
• crostini or focaccia with eggplant tapenade/pepper caponata and pesto tomato "bruschetta topping" for spreading
• spiced blanched almonds
• risotto/parmesan/grean peas balls

note.  I am a vegetarian, so obviously less meat heavy dishes appeal to me.  but DH is not, however, I can't cook meat, so... I do have 2 friends coming over to cook on that saturday, and htey can cook meat, so if there's a fave, I can ask them to help out

any specific cocktails that I should make ahead of time, besides the obvious wine/prosecco?

dessert will be apple cranberry pie that my friend, who's channeling her inner "waitress" will make. 

 

what else?

 

chefariane

 Sounds like a good start. Another good cheese for your antipasto platter is fresh mozzerella. Trust me, there is nothing better... If not that, then provolone would work too.

 The meatballs might be a little messy. I would buy little rolls ( or even the Hawiian bread) and make little meatball subs with fresh cheese on top and melted in the oven.

 Don't know if you have a fryer but fried calamari is always good( or I guess you could order it from a restaurant).

Cocktails- Amaretto. Amaretto sours are awesome. Also you could do bellinis( but with prosecco)

Pasta salad- I always make mine with Italian dressing instead of mayo( I don't like it). Tends to fair better sitting at room temp. If you are still worried, just put a dish with some ice under the bowl.

 Hope that helped!

DFico21

I did this smae them for my husbands graduation party and about the same amount of people.  We had the following:

6 foot italian sub

rice balls

stuffed mushrooms

fried raviolis

salad

antipasto platter

sausage and peppers in a crock pot

 

mgfit1

For a different pasta salad, I like the Pesto Pasta Salad Recipe on Fabulousfoods.com and I love Giada's Orzo Pasta Salad from foodtv.com.  Both are very good. 

For antipasti - you could do imported provalone cheese - that is our favorite cheese. 

Caprice salad is always good and sits well out for a long time.

 For vegetarian dishes, we love eggplant parmesan.  We also love grilled veggies (eggplant, zucchini, red peppers).  We ate those every day in Italy. 

 

Heather&Ben

fresh mozz is amazing!! I'd def. include it. 

october21

I would also include a tray of Chicken, such as, Chicken Marsala.

It's a quick easy dish to make and a nice alternative to beef/meat.

And Definitely Fresh Mozzarella.