The Caterist Files ~ Pasta Bar Party!!

Pasta! The perfect party food!! Nearly everyone loves pasta of some sort, and with a variety of sauces and toppings, you'll hit the bulls-eye every time!

The Pasta Bar lends itself to the self serve buffet style of dinner party or supper club, which, in turn, leads to fantastic conversation!

We offer this menu as part of our catering service at the Kinsloe House, as well as for outside supper clubs or catering events.

We'll go into each, in depth, in a bit...

The Perfect Pasta Bar has at least one salad!

Our Italian Chopped Salad fits perfectly here, with a selection of two dressings, simple oil & vinegar, toppings and croutons. Or, you may want to include an Antipasto Platter, with a variety of artisanal cheese, olives, roasted peppers, grape tomatoes and such.

Our breads include Ms. Debra's Famous Kinsloe House Rolls, Italian Garlic Bread and Breadsticks with an infused garlic herb oil for dipping.

I like to use a trio of pasta shapes and sizes, one being a long pasta, such as spaghetti or linguini; a short tubular pasta, like penne; and a novelty pasta, like farfalle...aka bowties. Why do I use three? Well, different shapes of pasta hold up to certain types of sauces. The spaghetti/linguini will go well with the classic meatballs and marinara, where the penne is wonderful with a heavier Italian sausage sauce or Bolognese. Bowties or penne are fun with Alfredo! But, you can mix it up as you wish,,, that's the absolute best part!

So, lots of pasta, and lots of sauces, a variety of toppings equals a boatload of potential flavor combinations...and Bread, of course!! Lots of it!

Oh, the toppings!! Grilled Chicken Strips or Baked Parmesan Chicken Tenders, homemade Italian meatballs, both hot and sweet Italian sausage, cut into medallions, sliced mushrooms, marinated olives, oven burst cherry tomatoes, sautéed spinach, roasted bell peppers...maybe even some chunky oven roasted zucchini and/or eggplant!

Garnishes of Parmesan Romano, pepper flakes and pepperoncini to seal the deal! Have I forgotten anything??

And, I generally like to do one signature dish that's fully prepared and ready to serve. Maybe a Classic Lasagna, or a Spinach Lasagna, or for that extra special dinner party, maybe, Crab Gnocchi with White Wine Cream Sauce (pictured, below, left)! Yum!! Or a delicious Tortellini Bake...full of cheesy goodness! (pictured, below, right)

One fantastic thing about the signature dish, if you're doing your own at home party, is that most are best prepared a day in advance, letting the flavors meld and become more delicious! Rather than a full sized portion per guest, since we have a bar full of food, you can go with a tasting portion of your selected dish. It's a little bit more than half of the regular slice or portion, giving you 20 servings per 9 x 12 pan of lasagna, or 20 servings of the gnocchi dish, using one pound of gnocchi. Always pre-cut your lasagna before it goes out on the buffet! So much easier for self service!

For our sauces on the buffet, I do offer several. I like to do three, at least, and maybe four, to bring in different points of flavor! It truly creates talking points with your guests! The combinations of sauces, fillers and toppers is so very varied! Your invitees will be wondering why they didn't think of it first! Yes, they will!

My Meaty Bolognese Sauce is at the left, and is the classic slowly cooked Italian Sunday Sauce, which you may, now, enjoy on days other than Sunday! YAY!!! On the right, my Meatballs in Marinara, a wonderfully flavorful blend of meat on the meatballs, with Parmesan cheese, in my House Marinara. Honestly...meatballs...WITH a sauce!!! Oh, YES!

On the left, our Red Clam Sauce, rich with tomatoes, capers, crushed red pepper flakes, herbs...our version of the classic, kicked up!

To the right, our Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Sauce, full of fresh off the vine flavors, oven roasted to bring out the inherent sweetness in the ingredients, for an absolutely special summer taste treat! !

Pomodoro Sauce, pictured at the left, is a cooked, fresh tomato sauce. It's shown with fresh basil, which is another 'must have' on the Pasta Bar! Our Simple Alfredo Sauce is another must join the party item!! There are so very many of the mix-ins to dress up this wonderful sauce! It can become a Sundried Tomato Alfredo Sauce, or a Basil Pesto Alfredo; a Roasted Garlic Alfredo with Italian Cheese Blend, we've got LOTS of pasta-bilities there!

This fun option for the Pasta Buffet is The Giant Meatball! These are oversized to be a three meatball size, and would replace the other meatball(s) in the buffet. They're fun, and the guys do love them!

Filled pastas, like tortellini, or ravioli, are another avenue for our tasty food wanderings! They can be finished in any sauce that compliments the filling.

This is Four Cheese Tortellini in Spinach Cream Sauce.

And this is the Spinach Ricotta Ravioli in Pomodoro Sauce

Above, Crab Ravioli with Pesto Alfredo Sauce

But, who says we can't wander from our original food thought borders??? No one! Let's wander!Part of the Italian tradition is the Italian Sunday Pot Roast. Delicious, oh, yes, so very much so!!

It's name comes from the fact that it's a slow roasted delight! It's most commonly associated with our rich friends, the beef short ribs or a nice beef roast, be it rump, chuck, or other beef cut. When I roast mine at home, I generally just cook to the point where it's butter knife tender, but where I can still slice the roast thinly. The gravy made from the drippings is wonderful. But, that's another dish! For this purpose, though, we'll go all the way in the cooking process. This buffet star starts with a pork butt roast, and is treated just like the Italian Sunday Roast! I create a blend of kosher salt, coarse pepper, dry oregano, and Italian seasoning blend, garlic powder and onion powder. I smear the roast, whether it's pork or beef, with Dijon mustard and give it a liberal dusting. Sometimes, I'll add crushed red pepper flakes, too. The roast is rubbed, wrapped and allowed to sit in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, it's slowly cooked until it's fall apart tender; then the meat is shredded. While I've got the meat on the cutting board, I pull as much of the fat from the surface as possible. Then, the meat is added back into the deliciously rich jus...it's absolutely divine over pasta!

This is the pulled meat at the end of the slow cook stage, before being added to the sauce...there is NO lack of meat in our dishes!!! No, Sir!!

Ok, we have made it through the entrée...on to dessert! Or, are you too stuffed?? C'mon, we'll have some coffee with the dessert, you'll be just fine!!

For a special dinner occasion, perhaps Italian Dessert Cannoli may be in order! These are delicious, crispy fried pasta tubes (I use egg roll skins, which are the perfect thickness of pasta) filled with a sweetened ricotta with orange zest and mini chocolate chips.

They're crunchy, light and delightful...not overly sweet, just that perfectly right finishing note! Of course, I can do other flavors of filling; a chocolate filling with crushed hazelnuts is another great combination. Maybe a chocolate filling with toasted coconut...berries on duty as garnish! It could be fun!

Now, this lovely delight is Tiramisu Cake! The sponge cake layer absorbs all of the rich flavors poured over it, and the sweet vanilla mascarpone filling is a decadent topping with it's overcoat of cocoa.

Either dish would perfectly cap off the evening of Italian Delights! I can guarantee that your guests will leave full, and happy! And, ready for a nap! Good thing it's almost bedtime!

And that, my friends, wraps up this edition of The Caterist Files! Cook on!! next time!