Last Sunday, I did a big catering project for a wedding party.
In the past, I only specialized in catering for small groups, so it was going to be an exciting challenge to serve at a big party.
The wedding party was going to have about 100 invited guests, and I was requested to make 50 servings of assorted Japanese appetizers. Besides my dishes, there was also going to be burger catering truck and Japanese takoyaki station. What a great concept!
Most of last week until the wedding day were spent on shopping and prepping.
Then, the day of the service, I had the super helpers...Asami and Jason. We worked non-stop from early morning on Sunday. Asami and I cooked, and Jason cleaned. We made a great team, and I can't thank them enough for all the professional help (including Asami taking nice pictures) they gave me!!
Here's the menu...4 vegetarian dishes (of which 3 were vegan) and a fish dish.
Japanese Appetizers
Menu
“Shira-ae” Creamy Tofu Salad
-Haricot Vert, Roasted Walnuts, Mix
Seaweed,
in Creamy Paste of Meiji Tofu, Saikyo
Miso & Kyoto Tamahime Vinegar-
•
Long Hijiki Seaweed & Lotus Root Salad
-Quick-braised with Abura-age and Carrot-
•
Cauliflower & Caramelized Sweet Onion with
Soy Sesame Sauce
•
Cinnamon-scented Kabocha Pumpkin &
Mozzarella Croquettes
•
Roasted “Shio-koji” marinated Scottish Salmon
-Topped with Tangy Lemon & Ume Salt
Yogurt-
•
“Satsuma” Sweet Potato & Azuki Bean “Onigiri”
Rice Balls
-Cooked in Donabe Rice Cooker, Kamado-san,
from Iga, Japan-
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We never compromised in details. Every piece of ingredients had our attention and care. We also made multiple batches of donabe mixed rice for onigiri rice balls with the double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san". I can't do catering without Kamado-san...I'm that attached to this donabe! Some lucky people got to taste the onigiri with nice "okoge" crust.
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In the evening, we got to the venue and set up our station. We originally wanted to take photos of the entire set-up before the service. However, as we were getting the dishes out, it was too late...guests were ready to eat already! (That's why we didn't even have a chance to take pictures of the hijiki and onigiri dishes with decoration.)
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Most of the dishes were gone in a matter of short time...I mean, really fast. Can't ask for better compliment than that! I was so happy that the guests seemed to like the flavors, and I could even hear some of them commenting nice things about the dishes.
It was such a beautiful party, and it was my honor to be part of it!