Food+Entertaining Trends for 2015

Around this end of year holiday time we are happily producing events for 2014 clients and, at the same time, creating menus  for 2015 gatherings.

Here’s what we are looking forward to in 2015:

Smoke It!

Beyond bacon, we’re upping the ante on party staples by smoking pretty much everything. Subtle smoking seems to add just one more layer of deliciousness. High on the list of 2015 are all manner of entrees like chicken, duck, vegetable sides, not to mention fantastic mixology treats like our EC Smoked Jalapeno Cilantro Cocktail.

Ferment It!

At EC we love culture, both the worldly and digestive type. Chef Shawn has been working steadily this past year to aid client digestion with everything from GF crackers to desserts. 2015 we’re offering greater selections of items with ingredients of yoghurt, sauerkraut and kimchee. These foods contain live cultures that are present in sugar and starches that can become bacteria (healthy kind) boosting agents. We learned about the deliciousness of yoghurt as we ventured with our taste buds to the Middle East and then to India where we are offering Mango Lassis and creative raitas. Our Vegetarian Paneer Fire Balls contain some lovely  EC kimchee along with pickled onions, red chile cucumbers and pickled carrots….a vegetarian Paneer Fireball Naan pocket is a great sendoff for a late night wedding midnight snack before sending guests out into the Winter night.

Spice Alchemy

We’re continuing to experiment with spice blends, Dukkah anyone? We’re jumping on the spice map from the Mediterranean over to countries that love cumin, saffron, and sumac. We’re finding the way to enhance flavor as well as giving us one more way to go easy on the salt.

Bitter is Better

We’re looking to offer an even greater selection of Craft Beer in 2015 as well as more kale, broccoli rabe, and healthy greens like mustard, chard, endive. To start, we’re miniaturizing our salads so they morph into finger food cocktail bites using endive leaf (less gluten) carriers. Watch for more of these healthy bitter is better ideas in 2015.

Bring it Home

Maybe it’s all the social media and being “out there” but we’re seeing a trend to entertaining high style at home. Whereas the cozy dinner party was the THING in years past, we’ve seen an acceleration in the number of hostesses/hosts saying “come on over” and  going really ALL OUT. We’ll be blogging about some of these events, and taking you behind the scenes, as the new year unfolds.

Edible Geneology

We didn’t create the trend but we love to continue developing ways that client origins can subtly influence menu selection. Whether we’re taking elegant seated plated wedding entrees and giving them the fragrance of India, or stuffing our Baos with Brisket…we’re hearing our client stories and integrating elements and flavors for all guests to share. Customization has never been so local as when it starts in the family.

Here’s to a healthy happy 2015 for you and yours
~ Cheers, Wendy