Red foods for Valentine's Day parties

[porceluna]

I'm in the process of planning a big Valentine's Day party for all my single girlfriends (and maybe a select few men too). I'd like a predominantly red or pink menu for the obviously, mostly hors d'oeuvres and desserts. So far, I have red velvet cupcakes, radishes and sea salt, bruschetta (although that one is iffy since it's best when garlicky), and a cassis-champagne punch.

Does anyone have ideas/recipes for red hors d'oeuvres or desserts, especially ones that require no utensils? Thanks in advance for any and all ideas!

[howchow]

you could probably stain some white asparagus if you blanch it with some red beets or stain some feta cheese with hibiscus tea.

[chowser]

I don't know how much cooking you want to do but you can make raviolis (or use wonton wrappers) and fill w/ ricotta, eggs, parmesan cheese and a little spaghetti sauce to make it pink. Serve w/ a pink cream sauce (tomatoes sauce w/ cream). You could do tortellini if you want to use toothpicks.

Fill cream puffs w/ cherry royale ice cream, drizzle w/ raspberry sauce.

I recently used english cucumber rounds (peel 1/2" every 1/4" to get a striped look) and topped w/ salmon mousse--smoked salmon, cream cheese, lemon juice, cream, top w/ caper. Instead of cucumber, you could use phyllo cups.

[goodhealthgourmet]

most of my ideas have already been suggested, so i'll just add:

- blood orange sorbet
- use radicchio leaves as serving vessels
- make fruited ice cubes for cocktails - simmer 1 bag each cranberries, frozen strawberries and frozen raspberries with a splash of orange or lemon juice, and a little sugar, honey or agave nectar to sweeten; cool, puree, strain the seeds, pour into ice cube trays, and freeze.

re: your bruschetta concern, top with a roasted red pepper spread or tapenade instead and just call it crostini.

[LindaWhit]

You could do a roasted red pepper bruschetta that has enough garlic on it.

Or a roasted red pepper salsa over a thin slice of rare roast beef tucked into a leaf of red endive?

[cyberroo]

I'm completely enamored with the microwave marmalade recipe that someone posted here recently. You could make the marmalade with blood oranges, which comes out a beautiful red/pink/magenta color, then fill tartlet cups with some chocolate sauce or ganache and top with the marmalade. I've been assembling and nibbling on these for a couple of weeks.

[LoN]

Smoked salmon something??

[kobetobiko]

For desserts, you can do mini raspberry tarts or shortcakes. I think a chocolate fondue with red ingredients like strawberries, apple wedges, red grapes, and scoops of strawberry ice creams will work

For savory, you can do roasted tomatoes (small to medium size) top with bread crumbs. You can also do a pink salmon mousse on phyllo shells (you can buy frozen ones) or on eggs or even cucumber cups. Small slices of turkey/pork topped with cransberry sauce. Even mini meatballs topped with red sauce (on a skewer may be?)

[porceluna]

I like the pink salmon mousse idea--how would I go about making something like that?

[Shayna Madel]

For fun...rice krispie treats with the marshmallow tinted pink and the treats cut in hearts...cherry or strawberry jello jigglers cut heart-shaped...

Maybe some sort of tomato tart, cut in wedges; roasted red peppers, either plain or wrapped around something else.

[piccola]

gaspacho shooters
cherry tomatoes stuffed with tapenade
roasted jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese
tomato-flavoured tortillas, filled and rolled into pinwheels

[Gio]

Shrimp cocktail???????
Terra chips & salsa
Beets - in some incarnation...

Caprese salad ( I sometimes add genoa salami with the tomato, mozz, basil). Serve on smallish rounds of crusty bread.

[JoanN]

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/...

Scroll down for the receipe for Berenbaum's Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte. It's chocolate, but I serve it with fresh raspberries and raspberry sauce and there's no recipe more appropriate for Valentine's Day. And . . . it keeps perfectly in the fridge for days so you can make it way ahead of time.

[shannoninstlouis]

This is more pink than red, but how about a shooter of strawberry soup for dessert?
http://www.joyofbaking.com/Strawberry...

Strawberries aren't in season where I live, but you could probably use frozen.

[Procrastibaker]

Strawberries dipped in chocolate. Also, this isn't exactly seasonal, but Cooking Light did a nice raspberry canape which I've modified:
fresh raspberries
pink peppercorns
ricotta
honey
mint
toasted rounds of walnut bread or other hearty bread
mix ricotta with ground pepper; top toasts with ricotta mix; top that with a few raspberries; drizzle with a bit of honey then top (if you want) with some finely cut mint. Very elegant and tasty...

[porceluna]

How did I not think of chocolate-dipped strawberries?! And the raspberry canape sounds heavenly...