Christmas place cards … to eat
Thursday 26 November 2009Hi, in this post we show you some Christmas place card ideas. They are original and different from the usual place cards.
In fact they are edible place cards. In this way you can mark the table place of your guests and have a starter served on the plate!
Edible snowman
Look at the photo below: this edible snowman is very nice, isn’t it? and it tastes fantastic too!
Edible snowman: a fantastic place card!
Now we give you step-by-step instructions to do it.
You will need
Potatoes
Russian salad
Smoked salmon in slices
Cherry mozzarella cheese
Cherry tomatoes
Mushrooms in oil
Spinach with mozzarella cheese
Salt and extra virgin olive oil
Steam as many medium-size potatoes as the guest numbers. Let them cool.
Meanwhile prepare Russian salad. It’s necessary to fill your potatoes. You need a small quantity of Russian salad but if you have some salad left, don’t worry! you can make a nice accompaniment to roast meat or steak. Another solution: serve the Russian salad with salami as starter dish according to the Italian menu.
You also need spinach with mozzarella cheese. To make spinach with mozzarella cheese it’s enough to saute a shallot - finely sliced – in extra virgin olive oil, add boiled spinach together with some green olives and dried tomatoes – sliced – and flavour all these ingredients on medium heat stirring frequently. At the end, when all the cooking juices are well retired, season to taste with salt, stir and, just before switching off the gas, add grated mozzarella cheese. Cover with a lid and let the mozzarella melt. You need spinach to simulate grass covered with snow.
Peel the potatoes and slice off the top. Now hollow out every potato: using a small spoon scoop out most of the flesh inside and put apart. Fill the hollowed potatoes with Russian salad.
Prepare some extra virgin olive oil with a pinch of salt. Brush the outer part of every potato with this mixture. Place it on the plate as you can see in the photo. Use mushrooms in oil as buttons.
If you want to use the potato flesh you have put apart you can mix it with tuna in oil, aromatic herbs, olive oil and salt and fill with this mixture the hollowed potatoes instead of using Russian salad.
Insert a toothpick inside a cherry mozzarella and then insert the toothpick into the potato.
Half the cherry tomatoes, hollow them out and season to taste with salt and oil. Cover every cherry mozzarella with half a cherry tomato: this is its hat!
The final touch: cut rectangles from smoked salmon slices. They are the scarf of your snowmen!
Cut out as many little rectangles from a sheet of white paper as your guest numbers. Glue a little Christmas image in a corner and write your guest name with a glitter pen. Insert the card into the snowman with a toothpick.
Arrange spinach around the snowman just before your guests sit around the table.
Look at the photo for more details.
Edible Christmas place cards
Look at the photo below. You can see some savoury cod puddings you can use as place cards. It’s enough to insert a toothpick in every little pudding with a little card in which you have to write the guest name. Place every pudding on a little plate on the table place. It will be your first starter.
Edible Christmas place cards
Ingredients /it serves at least 12
500 g (1.1 lb) salt cod
300 g ( 10 1/2 oz) frozen artichokes in slices
500 g (1.1 lb) bell peppers
50 g (1 oz) shallot, finely sliced
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 tablespoons dried chives
3 eggs
Half a glass Marsala wine or white dry wine
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Quail eggs, mayonnaise sauce, mushrooms and bell peppers in oil to garnish
Silicone Christmas cake mould
Salt
Soak the salt cod in cold water for almost 24 – 36 hours. Remember to change often the water.
Put the cod in cold water, bring to the boil and cook on low heat for about 10-15 minutes. Let the salt cod cool and then remove its skin. Mash it with a fork.
Prepare the artichokes.
Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and add half of the shallot. Saute on low heat for few minutes stirring frequently, then add the frozen artichokes, Marsala wine, 1 tablespoon of chives and 1 tablespoon of parsley. Season to taste with salt and cook until tender (about 15-20 minutes). Let the artichokes cool and then puree them.
Prepare the bell peppers.
Cut the bell peppers into quarters, remove the seeds and wash them. Grate the flesh through a flat grater. In this way you can remove the skin.
Saute the remaining shallot in two tablespoons of olive oil, add the bell pepper flesh, the remaining aromatic herbs; season to taste with salt and keep on cooking until the cooking juices are well retired.
Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt.
Combine the bell pepper sauce with half the cod meat. Add half the beaten eggs and stir accurately.
Combine the artichoke puree with the remaining cod meat, add the remaining beaten eggs and stir accurately.
Preheat oven to 180°C (350 °F). Share out the two mixtures into silicone cake moulds with Christmas shapes.
Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the surface is golden.
Turn upside down your puddings on a serving dish. Garnish them with hard-boiled quail eggs (halved), mushrooms in oil, little pieces of bell peppers in oil and mayonnaise sauce as you can see in the photo. Transfer everyone into a little plate.
Your place cards are ready! You have only to add a little card with your guest name.
If you want other ideas to plan your Christmas party look at our “Christmas Planet” page.
In the next days we’re going to show you other Christmas place cards.
Greetings from Italy
Carlo & Loretta
