Catering ideas for a monthly board game day.

superhappypanda

Thread title is pretty straight forward, I'm looking for some ideas for catering future get togethers. I did some cooking for our monthly board game night a while back and had a lot of fun doing it. I'm planning on making Italian this month but was looking for ideas for future months. I'll need to do the prep work (or most of it) the day before since game day starts at noon.

I prefer to make things from scratch if at all possible. For Italian night, I'm planning on making pasta from scratch and grinding my own meat for the lasagna and meatballs. I was thinking Mexican for next month but am open to other ideas.

Food allergens are really just egg yolks, my diet tends to lean paleo but I can always make some meat and veggies to stay on track.

We usually wind up with between 8-12 folks. Sometimes more, but I usually have a pretty good idea of how many folks will show beforehand.

witch_ie

For game nights, I like things that I can snack and munch on that don't interfere with game play - aka result in messy hands. I would suggest doing a series of appetizers and you could vary the themes across nights. I've done a few of these and they're always a big hit (granted I rarely cook from scratch).

A few ideas:
- Bags of Gold (spinach and cheese stuffed pastries)
- Bruchetta
- Cheeses (yes I love cheese)
- Meatballs
- Capresi salad skewers
- Meat skewers
- Dips of all kinds (salsa, hummus, tomato, artichoke) with various accompaniments (chips, pita bread, toast, crackers)

minirhyder

For Mexican night make some tortilla chips and go to town. Guacamole, salsa, cheese sauce. All can be easily made at home. But be sure to get avocados at least a couple of day in advance since they need to lay around and ripen.

Make some enchiladas, enchilada sauce is really simple to make, and then it's just stuffing tortillas with meats and veggies and cheeses.

You can even just grill/fry up some meats and veggies and just have people make their own tacos, fajitas, burritos, etc.

superhappypanda

witch_ie wrote: »

For game nights, I like things that I can snack and munch on that don't interfere with game play - aka result in messy hands. I would suggest doing a series of appetizers and you could vary the themes across nights. I've done a few of these and they're always a big hit (granted I rarely cook from scratch).

A few ideas:
- Bags of Gold (spinach and cheese stuffed pastries)
- Bruchetta
- Cheeses (yes I love cheese)
- Meatballs
- Capresi salad skewers
- Meat skewers
- Dips of all kinds (salsa, hummus, tomato, artichoke) with various accompaniments (chips, pita bread, toast, crackers)

@witch_ie Sold on the first idea. Spanakopita is perfect for a Greek/Mediterranean night and I've been wanting to make those for a while; baklava too! The dips I've done and those are always a hit. I saw a crockpot warmer with three small pots that would be perfect for the warm dips including a good queso.

@minirhyder, the enchilada idea is a good one. I might do tamales as well!

Iruka

I've been making pork shoulders for my last few larger dinners. You would probably have to cook two to feed 12, if you have alot of carnivores on your hands, but spread it out with some hearty black beans and rice, guac, and salsa, and make burritos.

ahava

fritters. start savory and then go straight through to sweet.

this doesn't have to be healthy does it?

i mean it can be.

corn fritters
crab fritters
potato fritters
cauliflower and zucchini fritters

then get yourself some sweet fritters.


hell do a pancake night. make an all purpose pancake batter (it's best if it's slightly thin, somewhere between traditional pancakes and crepes). for the first bits you top with shaved ham (or chicken) and some cheese, and later you get lemon juice and powdered sugar.

Although pancakes are not so much 'make-ahead' foods.

but yeah, fritters are my new favorite food. and you could do all kinds of dips and things to go with them like tomato sauce, aioli, honey mustard.

i am so hungry right now....

see317

If you have a crockpot, then you could do a tasty pulled pork.
All of the recipes I've seen seem to center around "Toss everything in the slowcooker, and come back in 5-6 hours". So, should be easy enough to prepare ahead of time. If you want to go nuts with the cooking from scratch, nobody's likely to turn down a home made roll stuffed with a tasty pulled pork.

superhappypanda

@see317 I've got a recipe for carnitas that I'll be doing on Mexican night. And I'll make botanas which I haven't been able to find anyone make out here in Seattle, they were a staple back in Detroit.

LewieP's Mummy

Beef in Guinness - cubed stewing beef, onions, mushrooms, tinned tomatoes/fresh tomatoes, can of Guinness, chillies, tablespoonful of sugar. Cook in a crock pot or bake in oven on a slow setting for 5 hours. Mmmmmmm.

Mego Thor

I don't have anything to add other than Holy Cow! I want to game at your house!

mts

i think it could be cool to try and base it around whatever board game you are playing if possible, though it might get hard

superhappypanda

I'd say the only game we play with any real regularity is Cards Against Humanity. And that's always represented by the copious amounts of booze consumed.

But I like the idea. I'm always trying to get people to play Game of Thrones. Maybe I'll cook up a bunch of Westerosi food to get folks in the spirit.

ahava

ooh. see Game of Thrones makes me think of a big steaming pot/bowl of beef stew. with nice crusty bread and butter.

also, for some reason, apple dumplings.

ceres

superhappypanda wrote: »

I'd say the only game we play with any real regularity is Cards Against Humanity. And that's always represented by the copious amounts of booze consumed.

But I like the idea. I'm always trying to get people to play Game of Thrones. Maybe I'll cook up a bunch of Westerosi food to get folks in the spirit.

You can have a five-dollar footlong night.

ceres

Oh, and there was a Feast of Fiction (on youtube) episode at some point that had a few things from Game of Thrones.

Esh

ceres wrote: »

Oh, and there was a Feast of Fiction (on youtube) episode at some point that had a few things from Game of Thrones.

This works too...

http://www.innatthecrossroads.com/tag/westeros/

superhappypanda

@Esh. Thanks man, that site is great and it looks like I might pick up that book after all. I was afraid it was going to be like the Star Wars cookbook and be weak recipes with a derivative name.