You know I’m a big fan of my friend, Peter Callahan’s food and no better time of the year to either give his book “Bite by Bite” as a gift or to make the recipes yourself for any holiday gathering. He’s known for is miniature creations of small bite sized foods. This deviled quail egg above is a perfect hors d’oeuvre for holiday parties. But his book is packed full of creative ideas and recipes. Hands down it’s one of my favorite books to both have and to give.
As you all probably know by now I’m a huge fan of my friend Peter Callahan‘s mini creations. I’m constantly amazed by his creativity. While scouring his book, Bite by Bite: 100 Stylish Little Plates You Can Make for Any Party, for some ideas for Memorial Day Weekend I came across his Potted Shrimp. The recipe is in his book- which I recommend getting if you already haven’t- but Peter also gives the tip that you could skip making the pastry pots and serve the shrimp in clean one inch flower pots. How divine! Here is a good link … Read more
I spent a few summers in Maine when I was young and developed a great love of blueberries. Pancakes to me must have blueberries and our mini blueberry pancakes (above, served on a white tray lined with powdered sugar) we like to make right at the party while the guests are there. Lemonade (shown below), is made even better by blackberries, it adds a wonderful texture and burst of berry flavor. The berries make it so elegant. And the perfect ending to a meal is grilled stone fruit (below) drizzled with some delicious balsamic honey and then the cool mascarpone … Read more
1. (above) Hollowed out lemons filled with fresh squeezed lemonade and vodka with candy sticks and straws. “I love hollowed out lemons, they remind me of happy summer days and add a great flavor to any lemonade.” -Peter 2. Mini key lime pies with edible johnny jump up flowers. “Key lime have the perfect sour to sweet factor and I like them served chilled.” – Peter 3. Sgroppino bar with lemon sorbet, limoncello, vodka and prosecco served with citrus marigold garnish. “This is a classic dish from Italy that a client brought back from a pre-wedding trip. The action of … Read more
Our March weddings contributor, Peter Callahan of Peter Callahan Catering, has so many ideas using mint and basil it’s hard to narrow them down! But here are five creative ways to include these flavors at your wedding or celebration. Above, Peter serves Mint-tinis with a flowering mint garnish on white drink trays lined with fresh mint leaves. Below, “In summertime we like mint and cucumber water for dinner or at the bars served in French glass bottles with long cucumber slivers and spearmint stalks and leaves.” – Peter “For our ice cream bars, we have assorted ice cream flavors, all … Read more
As I’m seeing a trend of bacon becoming more popular at events I turned to our March Weddings Contributor, Peter Callahan (bestselling cookbook author & founder of the culinary design studio, Peter Callahan Catering), to see what he’s been serving. As we talked about the increase in requests for bacon from his clientele, it turns out Peter has a sentimental spot for bacon. “I grew up with bacon. Bacon was put in my peanut butter sandwiches that we ate for lunch while skiing at Mad River. Slab bacon from the local butcher in Londonderry, Vermont was what we served at … Read more
Peter Callahan, Creative Director of Peter Callahan Catering, shared with us some unique ways to incorporate your monogram into your next celebration. Above, mini reuben sandwiches are topped off with monogrammed pendants. Below, Peter puts monograms in the bottom of drink trays with a sheet of acrylic over the top to personalize cocktail serving. He also adds monograms on mini take out food boxes that he puts spicy chicken fortune cookies in. You can personalize most anything from mini pizza boxes to cones for frites! As you can see, there are several ways you can display your monogram- with a single … Read more
Event designer and florist, Michael George and I worked on this story for InStyle. Inspired by Tiffany Blue, we used the color in small details and accents throughout vs. draping everything in blue. We selected white flowers, cloths, chairs, china etc. as our backdrop for the blue to pop. Using different sized vases in blues and whites from Middle Kingdom we placed them running down the center of long rectangular tables keeping them low so guests can see each other. Notice to add interest to the centerpieces we used all different types of white flowers- but did not mix … Read more
Peter of Peter Callahan Catering has shared with us a whimsical cocktail for summer entertaining…the bubblegum-tini! Peter is known for his creative presentation and this is a great example. Peter fills his signature lucite trays with orange/coral, pink, yellow and white bubblegum balls to bring whimsy and creativity to serve this fun cocktail. (see recipe below) A colorful signature cocktail is an easy way to keep your wedding color palette going through the cocktail hour. Be sure to communicate to your caterer your color palette and interests and I’m sure they’ll be able to suggest a cocktail that could … Read more
“Cranberry-tinis are one of my favorite specialty drinks, their color palette is striking which is an important component of a drink, and the flavor from fresh squeezed cranberries is crisp original and refreshing. Cranberry-tinis combine the two most important ingredients in a drink, color palette and flavor. Their palette of crimson red is a powerful color and the flavor is bold and universal.” says Peter Callahan. You can find the recipe to this drink in Peter’s recently published book, “Bite By Bite”. Peter’s “Peter Callahan Catering” is renowned for his miniature savory and dessert hors d’oeuvres. He’s done several parties … Read more
