After traveling for three weekends in a row both the hubs and I were home, so clearly we had to throw a party! We are always in favor of filling the house with people, and food, and wine, and letting the whole thing take on a life of its own.
The key to throwing a good party is to have lots of space for everyone to break into groups, I’ll admit I tend to jump from conversation to conversation as the night goes on. You also want to have delicious food that can be eaten while standing or sitting, and plenty of drinks to go with it all.
For this party I wanted to use as many summer flavors as I could so the menu consisted of Greek sliders, pickled shrimp, and watermelon with mint and olive oil.
The sliders and shrimp I put together on Thursday night, which was great because it gave them time to marinate. The recipe for the shrimp I found in the May Bon Appetit and could not have been easier. These would also be great for a quick dinner as they soak up the flavors really quickly. Once the shrimp were mixed together I poured them into some adorable blue Mason jars to store.
The sliders were a creation of my own, I combined 3 pounds of meat (2 pounds of ground beef and 1 pound of ground lamb), to which I added three springs of rosemary, four cloves of garlic (both finely chopped), along with 2 table spoons of crushed red pepper. To that I added two eggs, and about half a cup of bread crumbs. Once that was all mixed together I formed 57 sliders about the size of a shot glass. I layered them between parchment paper in a Tupperware container until it was time to grill.
To go with the sliders I whipped up Ina Garten’s Tzatziki, however I totally skipped the step about draining the youghert, and to get the moisture out of the grated cucumber I squeezed them in a few layers of paper towels.
The watermelon could not have been easier! Since I wanted it to be easy for people to eat while standing I just cut the watermelon into wedges, drizzled with oil and a bit of finely chopped mint.
Beverage wise sangria was an absolute must! I made the simple syrup on Thursday and then Saturday after the farmers market I added equal parts simple syrup and triple sec to the fruit and let to soak away. At the party people could then mix as much or as little with white wine.
I also made a fresh peach soda. Sadly I had to leave out the lavender as I could not find any at the store, so I substituted strips of lemon peel in the simple syrup. I let people mix the soda with either wine or sparkling water. Being the classy person I am I then stored it in empty liquor bottles that were in the recycle bin.
Stay tuned for my next post on decorating to make sure that the party is as pretty as it is tasty!