Chef Randal's Harrington's Cuisine: Adventurers

Hello-Hello, I was supposed to blog at least once a week, but I haven’t done that and got into trouble. So I’m going to make an effort to give the people what they want at least before our friend in Houston strings me up.

Before I get started, check out this link: http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=34216&pre=1

I'll talk more about it later!

This past weekend I catered an event for my sister who is the Adventurer and Eager Beaver Director at our church, the Alpha Seventh-Day Adventist Church. This group is similar to Girls' Scouts or Boys Scouts, but for the little ones and originated out of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (but anyone can join and we encourage you to do so if you have young children).

Anyway, she had a fashion show to raise money for her kids and at the end of the event she had refreshments. Naturally she asked her baby brother to help. She wanted everything to be really nice…and of course I couldn't say no to my sister. We went over a few menu options, but she had other stuff to do in preparation for the event and didn’t want to be bothered with menu planning. I took over that and came up with a few options that would be cost effective and tasty…and definitely look good!

Menu:

Veggie pinwheels

Hot Spinach and Artichoke dip

Deviled eggs

Salmon Croquettes

Assorted cupcakes

Orange Lemonade and Strawberry Lemonade

We got everything set up before the event started and had time to enjoy the kids too.

Refreshments came after the event, but I wanted everything set up and ready to go. If you’ve never been to a fashion show where kids are the spotlight, I highly recommend it. Talk about cuteness everywhere. My sister did a great job along with her team and the kids were outstanding. Not one of them got stage fright. Everyone was really proud of them. My brother was MC that night and kept everyone laughing. I didn't post any pictures of the kids here since I didn't have their parent's permission to do so.

Thanks to my staff who always handles things in a fabulous manner. My mother-in–law stepped in big time with decorations and helped my wife and me with the cupcakes and my brother-in-law stepped in at the last minute and made sure all of the platters stayed full as everyone served themselves. Thanks guys! I couldn’t have done it as well without you. For the assorted cupcakes we decided on lemon, chocolate, red velvet, and coconut cake.

The coconut cake was inspired by our pastor, Gordon Jones. He loves coconut cake and we wanted to make something special that he’d enjoy as well.

Once the event was over, everyone came out and got in line for the food. Everyone seemed to enjoy the set up and the food. I appreciate all of the compliments we received. It made me feel as if my job was done properly. I got positive comments on everything, but the big hits were the cupcakes and the salmon croquettes. Specifically, the coconut cupcakes…those were quickly consumed and gone.

The cupcakes looked really good. The Adventurers are awarded honors for various things like learning about the bible or gardening or animals throughout the year. We used those honors to decorate the cupcakes.

Since the croquettes were such a hit, I'll share the recipe with you. For those of you who tasted my croquettes, this recipe probably won’t taste EXACTLY like mine...come on now, I can’t give you all my secrets! However, I’m more than happy to make them for you. Ready to cook? Here we go.

Chef Randal’s Salmon Croquettes

8oz. of cooked salmon

¼ cup diced celery

¼ cup diced onions

½ cup bread crumbs

¼ cup lemon juice

¾ cup of mayo

Spoonful of mustard

For seasonings, it would be easier to buy Old Bay Seasonings, but I used the following:

Cayenne (be careful because it can get to hot)

Paprika

Granulated garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Pan non-stick cooking spray

1 cup bread crumbs to coat before cooking

Set oven on 350F

Crumble the cooked salmon into small pieces, add all the ingredients and mix with gloved hands or use a spoon. Make sure you have everything mixed well. You can either cook it immediately or let it sit covered in the fridge for about 2 hours. Form each patty using an ice cream scoop so the size is consistent or you can just eyeball it. Get a frying pan and put it on medium heat, coat it lightly using the Pan cooking spray. While that heats up (not too hot), take each croquette ball, flatten it out into the shape of a patty, and coat it with bread crumbs. Cook on each side till brown, remove from the skillet, and immediately place them on a cookie sheet. Continue cooking in the 350F oven for 15 minutes.

When you make this let me know how it turns out. It can be done for breakfast, lunch or dinner. For dinner you can serve it with squash medley and mashed potatoes. For breakfast this would go great with grits and herb biscuits.