The group of friends that my wife and I hang out with often get together to play some no-limit Texas Hold ‘em. For me the game’s been interesting to learn but not something that’s grabbed hold of me over the long term. So over the years I’ve had less and less reason to actually go to the poker parties and in turn miss out on that particular get together.
So this time when the invitation came round I asked the host if I could borrow the kitchen while they played poker and prepare a few finger food items for the crowd. She was really receptive to the idea – hey what are friends for.
Poker Night
So all week I’ve been thinking about what to make. I had a lot of ideas but in the end knew that it had to be “clean to eat” – didn’t want greasy or messy fingers on the cards. I opted for stuffed celery using a cold version of Crab Rangoon filling, some Greek salad on a stick, and for break time bite sized fish tacos. The first two should be easy to prepare and while the final one would require some work it wasn’t that hard.
However, I would not be cooking in my house and I wanted to prepare as much as I could in advance. I opted for making the celery filling ahead of time and thawing the fish. The taco recipe also called for crème fraîche which I had made on Thursday so I could just take it with me. I also prepped the vinaigrette for the salad sticks. The rest I would prepare there.
The filling for the celery was just a double batch of the Crab Rangoon mix from earlier in the week, but the fish took longer to defrost than I figured. As a result I was about an hour past the appointed start time. I shouldn’t have worried – the game never starts on schedule.
Deal ‘em
The celery prep went easy and tasted really good, but the game was progressing a little faster than normal so I switch gears and started getting the shells for the fish tacos going. My host’s oven ran a little warmer than mine and the first batch was slightly browner than I wanted, but still passable. The next batch turned out perfect as I cut back on the time by about 1.5 minutes.
Prepping the taco innards and dressing was easy and so was the crème fraîche topping. The fish cooked nicely once I figured out the cook-top controls. I was done by the first break. There were some skeptical looks but there were no wonton wrappers left when they went back to the table. The arugula was fairly new to everyone but it added a nice kick to the taco. I also had fears about all the lime juice in the dressing but it lightened up when mixed with all the ingredients.
The only trouble I had with the Greek salad sticks was getting the fetta cheese through the skewer. It broke and crumbled when I got past the skewer tip. I read about this happening when I read the recipe comments and per some suggestions tried bigger chunks. No dice. I could not get them on there. So on a suggestion from a friend that was out of the game, I just stuck them on the tip. I think the key is thinner skewers and not the bamboo kind used for grilling.
Final Table
By the time the first game was over, I was all cleaned up and had only a few left over salad skewers. I left the salad skewers since my friends were going to play another game and they seemed to be trying the salad skewers as they discovered them.
All in all I think it went well. I would definitely prepare and dress the taco innards ahead of time less the arugula. Since the dressing is lime based the avocado would not brown and adding the chopped arugula just before serving will keep it crisp. I had about 1/3 of the Crab Rangoon filling left which I’ll enjoy eating and just a tiny bit of the taco innards – perhaps for lunch if the arugula holds up.
I think I’ve found my way back to the poker parties!
