Finger food

[rosekat]

I am having a surprise birthday party on Saturday for my Mother. Cannot afford anything posh but was wondering if there are any ideas out there for cheap,quick and tasty finger food that can be eaten hot or cold.There should be about 35 people attending.Thanks in advance.

[nickmo]

Tortilla wraps filled with salad leaves plus grated cheese, tuna, mayo, etc. Cut into tiny bites and fill a platter. 'Dress' the platters as well - lots of salad leaves round the edge and between the rolls etc - makes them look more full.....

Make sausage logs - cook sausage meat, (good quality sausages, just cut off the skin and break up the meat) add cooked mushrooms and some cream cheese and season. Spread over squares of ready made pastry, roll into a log , brush with melted butter and sesame seeds, bake for 10 mins to cook pastry. Cut into mini bites from each 'log' and serve hot or cold.

Use lettuce leaves as base of 'platters' and serve fresh seasonal salad for guests to pick at.

Easy salsa thingy - Tuna, sweetcorn, chopped tomato, coriander - mix up, fill a bowl and guests have a serving to go with some nice crusty bread.

Bone & skin chicken breasts. season well with herbs and dust with paprika. Bake in oven dotted with butter. Allow to cool slice up thinly and serve.

Make easy meat balls - skin sausages, dust hands with flour and roll little balls of the meat and cook in frypan til done through - 10 mins - eat hot or cold. make the size of balls you want.

[nickmo]

Easy big egg mayonnaise type salad is cheap as well - hard boil a load of eggs. Crumble into mayo, season & have with crispbreads.

Or a kedgeree thingy - cook rice with tumeric. Add smoked mackel and hard boiled eggs. Serve with bread slices. Filling, tasty and cheap to do.

Open sandwiches - half the bread, half the cost - looks nice & chuck on the fresh parsley bits to dress it up - cream cheese with grated hard cheese, or with cooked crispy bacon etc etc or whatever you know anyone will like.

Make fruit kebabs - using cocktail sticks to make the fruit go further. Cubes of fresh fruit nicely layed out on dishes as a dessert. If you have ablow torch - rub this over the top to char and get all cheffy looking with that. use a touch of sugar to carmalise the surface too.

Dead cheap - cooked mushroom caps filled with: soft brie and a chutney, diced cooked veg - - - - - -you choose...

[sense4all]

Salmon offcuts, whizzed to rough consistency, smoodged in cream cheese spread on bread (best of both sorta stuff) that you have already cut the crusts off.Save your crusts to put breadcrumbs on mushrooms etc. Roll up like a wee swiss roll, slice along roll, and spear pinwheel on cocktail stick. A little salmon goes a long way leave it rough enough

Lidl stock a fab. Jasmine Rice for salads etc. Sweet peppers in jar (keep juice to spice up salad dressings) dice and use on mushrooms as per Nickmo's answers,ready to use from jar - and lots cheaper than more famous brand.

Chicken breasts were on offer in Tescos when I was shopping at the begining of the week.

[mimififi]

mini toad in the holes. Get a bun tin and heat a small 'kn0b' of fat/lard in each apperture. Then put a smalll piece of sausage in each one and return to oven. make you batter before hand (dead easy, and cheap and you don't need a lot) and then pour a small amount over each sausage half way through cooking and take out when the yorkshire has risen and is cooked. these are very cheap to make look lovely and are also very popular. more classy than sausages on sticks but not really anymore expensive

There is a variation on this too which is slightly more expensive, make your pastry cases in a bun tin. then put a small spoonful of precooked shepherds pie mince in each one and a tiny blob of mash potatoe on top of that. Press down the mash. then cook for about 10 mins till the pastry is cooked. these are lovely. Both things can be made in advance and frozen and then reheated at the party.

cheese straws just make your pastry, grate some cheese ( I use a strong chedder and also a parmesan) and then fold the pastry onto the cheese and roll again, repeat a couple of times. Cut into strips and bake for a few minutes. these a yummy.

open sandwiches are good idea, cut into tiny triangles so that guests can pop them straight in and keep talking. They are even nicer to hand round on trays if they are on toast. Toast the bread and leave to cool then put your fillings on. Heavy on the herbs for maximum impact minimum effor tand cost. taste like melba toasts, but you can use old bread, or bread on offer as you will be toasting it so it doesn't have to be really fresh.

fairy cakes esp if kids are coming.

crudite (chopped raw veg carrot/caulilower/pepper/cucumber/corgette/) with dips home made. mayo with honey and mustard or cheese and chives or tomato ketchup or a bit of curry paste mixed in. Or you can use creme fraiche, but I prefer mayo.

bread stixs, these are quite

[mimififi]

also, in tesco this week: Chicken drumstix: buy one get one free. very cheap. I bought loads, cooked them all took all the meat of the bones and froze them for casseroles and soups etc. But you could just cook and serve.

[valerieb1254]

Same idea as sense4all gave,
I use the large tortilla wraps,spread with a little butter then use any filling you like. Grated cheese, Meat paste, Cheese spread.I make sure I have butter on the edge of the tortilla as this will hold it together when you roll it up like a swiss roll, then cut into slices.

[meltoadhall]

I yo have one near you, iceland do party food packs often 3 for �5 and drumsticks quite cheap. dont forget quiche, sausage rolls and mini sausages. They also do lovely puds and dessert in party packs. \yum, yum