Can anyone think of a list of round/circular foods?

[Main Line Tracey]

Hello! Our dinner group meets once a month and my cohost and I are considering doing the theme of round foods. We need to think of a few apps, 2 entrees and a few desserts. Food is generally interesting and special occasion/ethnic food is encouraged.

I have already thought of scallops over couscous for an entree and an angel food cake with blueberry sauce for dessert (there are a few diabetics in the group so we were going to use sugar substitute and bake the cake in a bundt pan).

Can anyone think of other ideas? Vegetarian options are always encouraged.

Thanks!

[babette feasts]

cream puffs

[DonShirer]

Oreos

[im_nomad]

check out the Hundred Corner Shrimp Balls recipe at epicurious.com
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/HUNDRED-CORNER-SHRIMP-BALLS-103046

apps are easy.

if you were looking for a vegetarian main, you COULD try a melon baller or cookie cutter on tofu, and make a curry along with things such as those little round carrots, pearl onions, whole water chestnuts or some sort.

ALSO for a vegetarian main that is round: Chana Masala.

For deserts, Tangyuan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangyuan

or apple dumplings, fried ice cream ( do minis ! ), truffles

[Scargod]

Calf fries or testicles, if cut the right way.

[Chew on That]

You can always bake quiches or tarts in round cookie cutters! Or make anything in creme brulee ramekins.

[Emme]

I won't bother trying to repeat other suggestions, as there are so many great ones here already!

You can also do a recipe that gets stacked and baked in a metal ring to create the cylindrical shape (round as a cross section). Here's an example:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/ratatouillestackwith_68011.shtml

You could also do empanadas in a round shape, or even quesadillas but don't cut up the tortillas into wedes (do it with mini tortillas!

)

If an asian theme were in, Mushu pancakes and Bao

For dessert...
Floating Islands
Fried Pastry Rings http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...
Truffles
Cake Balls - the recipes that mix frosting with cake crumbs, form into balls, chill and dip in chocolate or other topping

[bellyspeaks]

Tostadas! They're interactive, customizable, and encourage socializing.

[cimui]

gasp! i can't believe i forgot maki (sushi rolls), earlier! sliced, of course, and filled with julienned carrots, cucumber, omelette or whatever else you want.

[goodhealthgourmet]

most of my ideas are already listed, so i'll just add few that i didn't see yet [sorry if i'm repeating anything], and some of my ideas are somewhat oval or oblong, but still spherical so they might count!

frittata prepared in a round pan [obviously] - once it's cooked, you could even use a cookie cutter or small ring mold to cut out frittata "rounds."
salmon pinwheels
chicken roulades
roasted cipollini onions
stuffed or prosciutto-wrapped dates or figs
stuffed cherry peppers
onion rings
calamari rings
hand-rolled confections - truffles, rum balls, etc.
jelly roll cake
mini shortcakes or napoleons - cut out rounds of puff pastry
oh, and something with concord grapes!

[at24]

For dessert:
- those little round dippin dot ice cream thingies they now sell in the grocery store
-cookies
- small scoops of fruit sorbet or gelato
-small round tarts, like mini key lime tarts

[MsDiPesto]

Chicken (or Ham, or whatever strikes your fancy) Croquettes.

[ideabaker]

Great dinner party theme!

If you have a salumeria or a Trader Joe's near you that sells the pre-made polenta in a tube (to be cut into one inch thick circles) they have a tasty sounding recipe on their site at http://www.traderjoesfan.com/Trader_J... . It is for polenta with a vodka, pancetta, Italian Sausage and pepper sauce, maybe a good heavy appetizer?

[Caroline1]

For what it’s worth, here are a few in each category that pop to mind:

SPHERICAL FOOD
Peas
Pearl onions
Beets
Turnips (well, sort of round anyway)
radishes
cherry tomatoes
grape tomatoes
cous cous
tapioca
globe eggplant
whole oranges
whole grapefruit
cherries
apricots
peaches
plums
cantaloup
muskmelon
honeydew
some watermelons
some grapes
hazelnuts

DISK SHAPED FOOD
Sliced carrots
Sliced onions, green, white, yellow, red
Sliced chiles
Sliced okra
Artichoke hearts
Pasta wheels
Sliced lemons
Sliced oranges
Sliced grapefruit
Sliced watermelon
Sliced cantaloup
Sliced melons of all types
Sliced kiwi
Sliced eggplant
Sliced squashes
sliced cucumbers (usually)
abalone
Biscuits
Cream puffs
waffles
crepe
tortillas
pita bread
Any kind of food you form into a disk to cook or serve

But I would add that I don’t think “round food” is an easy theme to execute with great success. The primary problem is that when everything is the same shape it gets visually boring. The second, and possibly more important problem, is that that if you truly do restrict yourself to using round or disk shaped food, you will likely end up thinking more about the shape of the ingredients going into the food and not enough about what the end-dish tastes like. But hey, I could be totally wrong… Maybe abalone waffles with a cherry taco for dessert would be great! ‘-)

[donnival]

Just to play, but here's a Korean-inflected list:

Bindaedduk (fried mung bean pancakes)
Cucumber or radish kimchee (cut into rounds)
Hobak-jun (fried Korean squash or zucchini slices in egg batter)
Gyeran-jjim (steamed egg custard in a round casserole dish or clay pot)
Round bowls of rice and soup (I realize I'm stretching it here)

[hummingbird]

Quiche
round crackers with cheese cut into rounds
hamburgers/sliders
cucumber slices
sandwich bread cut into rounds
crabcakes
melon balls

[cayjohan]

I'll add bisteeya. A wonky round, but reasonably so. And delicious

Cay

[Main Line Tracey]

Brilliant ideas! I am keeping note of all of them and will report to my cohost. Please keep thm coming!

[lexpatti]

you'll have to let us know what you did, pics would be awesome - have fun

[ajs228]

You can do so much with the pancake family. Regular pancakes, blinis & blintzes, potato pancakes & latkes...
Or how about tortellini?

[schrutefarms]

Crab cakes, frittata and quiche (might be too brunchie for dinner), stuffed portabella caps, my special deep fried risotto balls (day-old sticky cold refridgerated risotto, any kind, roll like meatballs, roll in flour, dip in beaten egg, roll in seasoned or plain bread crumbs, deep fry with veg oil till golden brown), soup (round bowl), and, if you have cheese/crackers/whatever laying out while people arrive, skewered small ball of fresh mozzerella, cherry tomato, and a basil leaf, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic. Also melon balls, sorbet scooped in balls, homeade ice-cream sandwiches.

[Glencora]

There's a 2007 thread called "balls!" with more than 170 replies. If I knew how to do a link, I would.

[bigjeff]

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/324254

[Erika L]

Arancini, Italian rice balls will little bits of goodies inside (cheese, meat, veggies), dredged in bread crumbs and fried, with a tangy tomato-based dipping sauce of some sort.

[bigjeff]

sounds good!

[ThreeGigs]

Quesadillas
Pizza is round, and round pepperoni or sausage slices would add to it.
Swiss cheese has round holes in it.
Cupcakes. Donuts are round with round holes.
If you have potatoes, of course they'll have to be spiral sliced.
Eggplant parmesiagn
Marshmallows on or in round jello molds
Pie. Mmmm, pie.

[kobetobiko]

Round shaped ravioli! You can make both meat or vegetarian version (such as ricotta cheese, spinach, or muchroom, etc.)

You can also use a mold to make poached / fried eggs and put them on top of vegetables or potatoes or hash.

You can make cupcake / cream cheese "lollipops" (you can find it at Martha Stewart 's website)

Mini fruit tarts or clafoutis. Or even mochi ice-cream

[cimui]

a few ideas:

mini felafal balls with tahini-yogurt dip as an appetizer
chinese "lion's head" meatballs as an entree (after diningdiva's meatball idea)
rounds of bread of all sorts (from mantou to pita to those donut shaped greek breads)
olives
caprese salad that includes cherry tomatoes and small mozzarella spheres
gulab jamun or any matter of indian desserts involving spheres of cake-like things in syrup
small, round scoops of sorbet or ice cream or melons

[DiningDiva]

MEATBALLS!!!

How could any of us forget to mention meatballs. Talk about versatile, you can make them with any meat or combination of meats, sauces and sizes. Make them small for appetizers or large for entrees. From Swedish meatballs to albondigas you can't go wrong with a meatball.

[danhole]

A round of brie with the blueberry sauce, or some other sauce, would be a good dessert. Or any other round cheese would do as well. You could slice strawberries to serve along side with the cheese.

[LindaWhit]

Pork Tenderloin cut into slices and pan-sauteed with slices of apple on top.

Grilled tomatoes and portobello mushroom caps

And everything DiningDiva said. :-)

[DiningDiva]

Well, you should have lots of options, half the food world is round, or so it seems.

- Ravioli's - deep fried with a dipping sauce for an app. Also, can be cooked, cooled and served at room temp with a basic salsa as an app. Jumbo ravolis with - your choice of filling if you make your own - with sauce.

- Eggplants are round if you cut them crosswise, not length wise. Eggplant parmesan for an etnree.

- Zucchini are round too, so you could do a zucchini lasagna. Or take lasgna noodles, lay them out flat, put some filling in, roll up, put in your baking dish, cover with sauce and cheese and bake.

- Brushetta for an app, makes use of round baugettes and round tomatoes

- Potatoes are round if cut crosswise, you can do tons of things with them.

- Use various widths of PVC piping to construct composed salads or side dishes by layering ingredients into the PVC piping and then removing the mold. The end result will be a prefectly round finished dish. Look into Peruvian causas, they're extremely versatile and make a great appetizer if made small or a nice entree if made with wider piping.

- Beef tenderloin is round, do a classic by wrapping pieces of tenderloin in bacon, and then saute and finish in the oven, sauce of your choice.

- Pork tenderloin is round too and very versatile in preparation styles

- Depending upon your group, eels are round

- Carrots are round, slice and finish however your want

- Beets are round and there are probably a gazillion recipes and variations for the ubiquitous beet & goat cheese salad

- Tortillas are round, do quesadillas, or tacos or taquitos/rolled tacos for appetizers

Think about using agave nectar as a sugar substitute (directions for substituting for sugar are on the package). Many diabetics can tolerate agave nectar. It also makes a pretty decent substitute for simple sugar in cocktails.

[tzurriz]

deviled eggs
mini bagels
grapes
there are so many options!!!

Oh, I don't think you can make an angel food cake in a bundt pan, it won't come out. You need an angel food cake / sponge cake pan. The kind where the bottom detatches.

[Gio]

dip in a round bread "bowl"
eggplant....the globes
zucchini & yellow squash
acorn squash, sliced in rounds
grilled round radicchio, halved
grilled portobello caps
stuffed tomatoes

[bubbles4me]

some kind of salad with roasted beets and hearts of palm?

[lexpatti]

Pizzaili's (sp?) another great dessert that's low cal.
Melba rounds with slice of cuke and salmon mousse on top for an app. (or anything on top)
A nice pork loin sliced in disc's. on polenta rounds.

Also make a nice round salad, crabmeat would go nice with your scallops. See one version of what I mean:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

Or you could go with mediterrain salad tower with tomato, sliced motz and sliced onion

Have fun!

[dolores]

Highball glasses for the drinks.

Mini pizzas. A round bread hollowed out with a dip inside. Mini bagels with any number of toppings.

Fancy sliders.

Cookies. An ice cream bombe. Pie.