Momma's Silver

Momma's silver. Every daughter, well every daughter of a certain type of family, can't wait to get their hands on Momma's silver. It's the elusive element that we know will make entertaining soooo much easier. Everything looks amazing on Momma's silver. Everything tastes better eaten with Momma's silver. It is what makes everything perfect. For me, using Momma's silver has a bitter sweet element to it as she passed away when I was 18. When I started doing catering on my own, my sweet father gave me several silver trays that he thought might help with my work. It sure did. As I mentioned earlier, everything looks amazing on Momma's silver. Pigs in a blanket, hamburgers, boiled eggs, whatever...all better on a background of sparkling silver.

During my Thanksgiving visit with my sweet father, he decided to load up my truck with the rest of the silver my mother wanted me to have. My first thought was, well, why are you getting rid of all this? My second thought was, I can't wait to have a party! So have a party I did.

This past year my friend Kristy started a book club. I was so excited about it, maybe a little too excited, but I do love to read. We gathered a nice group of ladies who are friends from all sorts of directions and started reading. It lasted four months. I was sad. I've been trying to resuscitate it ever since. With this in mind I invited those ladies over for some after Christmas cocktails and nibbles. Hoping to remind them of why we got together in the first place, not just the books, but the fellowship.

My hope for 2011 is a few more parties with Momma's silver and a revived book club. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Hawaiian Cheese Ring, biscuit box with crackers, punch bowl with Happy Day Wine Punch and Kahlua Truffle bites.

More cheese options...two Sweet Grass Dairy cheeses, Green Hill and Black Swan. Both are goat and cow milk cheeses and one of my favorites, Humbolt Fog from Cypress Grove dairy in California. Served with some South Carolina favorites Sweet Fire Pickles and Fig Preserves, both made locally in the Charleston, SC area.

Menu

Cheese Board with Salami, Pickles, Preserves, Grapes, Fresh Bread and Crackers.

Hawaiian Cheese Ring with Red Current Jelly and Fresh Strawberries

Tomato Basil Compote on Mozzarella-Pesto Toast

'Secret" Meatballs

Spicy BBQ Sliders

Kahlua Truffle Bites

Gingered Pecans

Recipes

For your cheese board, pick two or three cheese of different types. Hard, soft, goat, cow, flavored, plain. I like to find local cheeses if possible as they are usually the freshest most tasty ones you can find. Pair the cheeses with some nice charcuterie meats and preserves, jams, pickles or any other wonderful savory sweet sauces. You can make these yourself, or find something at your local farmers market, gourmet shop or even local supermarket. There is a little country store market on highway 17 just outside Charleston that I stop at every time I am driving through, they carry a lot of local products including Braswell's jellys etc.. which are amazing.

Hawaiian Cheese Ring...this is an adaptation of a cheese mold recipe from Tea Time at the Masters.

2 cups shredded cheddar, I used white cheddar this time.

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1 cup chopped pecans

Mayonnaise to hold together

Red Currant Jelly (the original has Pineapple Preserves, thus Hawaiian, I also use Strawberry Jelly as well.)

Fresh Strawberries

Ring mold or bundt pan, or anything you want to make a mold out of. I've used a heart shape pan when doing this for Valentines day.

Mix cheese, onions and pecans together. Add mayo to hold it together, you can also add a little spice if you're feeling wacky. Line mold with plastic, press cheese into it and refrigerate until ready to use. Un-mold and then top with your choice of preserves. Garnish with fresh berries.

"Secret" Meatballs

Pre-made meatballs, or make them yourself, whatever you want. Sauce is for 20-30 cocktail size meatballs.

1 8 oz jar good quality grape jelly

1 6-8 oz can crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup sweet chili sauce

1/4 cup basic bbq sauce

Heat all the ingredient together and then add meatballs to heat through. Yumm.

My Tomato-Basil Bruschetta Topping

1 yellow tomato

2 red tomatoes

1 green tomato

1 sweet yellow onion, love vidalia for this

1/2 cup chopped garlic or more if you love garlic as much as I do.

1 cup chopped fresh basil

Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Kosher salt and cracked pepper

Fresh bread, buffalo mozzarella, pesto sauce (make it or buy it doesn't matter)

Dice onion and mix with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Put in 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until they start to caramelize. Dice all the tomatoes, toss with balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil. When onions are cooled to touch mix with tomatoes and basil. Adjust seasoning and add more balsamic or olive oil if you want. You need a little juice to make it yummy and soak the bread a little. For the toast, slice the bread kind of thick, about pinky width. I like to use a good artisan bread, white is best. Slice the mozz fairly thin. Spread some of the pesto on each slice of bread, put in the oven for about 8 minutes at 425. Pull it out and place cheese on top. Put back in oven for about 10-15 minutes. The pre-toasting helps keep the bread a little crispy. You can then top with tomatoes or put the tomatoes in a bowl and let your guests go crazy.

Thanks for reading. Tell me what you put on your Momma's silver.

Happy New Year to all.