It was Friday the 14th of November 2009 when I excitingly bumped in to my dear neighbors Jason & Tina Brook.
“Hey Isaac, we’re organising a Christmas party at our house in December, and we thought you might know a good catering company that we can get for the night?” they asked. “We want canapés for about 60 people.”
Now, asking me if I know a catering company? Ha!? I am a catering company. Actually my dream business is to own a catering company that will cater to explosive customers that can pay top $$$ for their explosive and impressive functions.
It took me a couple of seconds to respond Jason & Tina, a couple of seconds to imagine what it would look like, me cooking in their kitchen, over looking the city, in a beautiful penthouse( if you noticed, I always live in penthouses, it’s some kind of fetish for me, I guess). I’m imagining the food that I would do, the people approaching me and admiring me and the food… Zoe my girlfriend is running around the guests and picking up the compliments like mushrooms in the forest after a rainy winter.
Mmm… Ya I’ll do it. No worries, and this way you guys will save HEAPS of money on paying a catering company. I’ll do it for free. Just pay for the ingredients, I answer.
They were thrilled!!! And I was even more.
Immediately, I start planning the whole operation. I need waitress, I need to go buy the food, and I need to spend a couple of days prepping the food.
And most important, the night of the party I need to take off from work.
Days go by and the due date is getting close.
I organised 2 waitresses and one friend of mine that will help me in the kitchen, and in return he could stay for the party. And from my experience with the Brooks it will be worth it!!!
Now, I have to tell you the whole menu, because I can’t really decide which dish will be the best. I think all of them are fantastic, but you can read for yourself and tell me what you think.
So here we go:
- Grilled eggplant roulade, stuffed with Labne cheese and mint. Dressed with Balsamic reduction.
- Tomato bruschetta on crispy toast.
- Hot Tamale meat balls. (These are absolutely AMAZING. I think I’ll give you the recipe for these one after).
- Chicken roulade stuffed with mushroom duxelle, topped with Parmesan cheese and Chives.
- Beef skewers with a home made Satay sauce. Not the crappie thing that you buy at the shops.
- Garlic & lemon grass sauté prawns.
- Scallops with Lime butter and Dill.
- Chicken wings in Peri Peri sauce.
- Grilled Lamb cutlets with Macadamia and dry figs chutney.
- And for desserts, Grilled Pineapple skewers covered in brown sugar and Cinnamon (Brazilian style).
Well, told you so. Delicioso.. (A bit of Spanish to contribute to the sexiness of the food).
The night was a great success, and I know that if my mum could see what I write about my food she would probably say that the baker doesn’t say how good his breads are. Some sentence that I translate from Hebrew and I’m sure that it makes much more sense in Israel but you know how it is, you can take the boy out of Israel, but you can’t take Israel out of the boy.
Any way Baker-Smaker, the food was incredible. Zoe picked so many ‘mushroom’ that night that I could go and sell them at the markets.
And the party? As expected. 
If I could put a picture of my friend that came to help me on the night here on my Blog, I think we would have a winning advertisement for a rehab shelter.
So thank you very much Jason & Tina for a fabulous night.
Now, Hot Tamale meat balls.
Ingredients for about 25 of them:
1kg minced beef
1kg minced pork
1 small onion chopped fine.
3 cloves of Garlic chopped fine.
Hand full of roast Pin nuts.
1 bunch Coriander chopped.
100gr Cajun.
20-30gr ground hot chili. Depends how hot you want it.
30gr Cumin
30gr smoky Paprika
6 eggs
1 cup of bread crumbs.
Salt & pepper of course.
Now, a quick secret that I’ll tell you when you’re making meat balls, or burgers or what ever patties that you use onion in, MAKE SURE YOU COOK THE ONION BEFORE YOU MIX IT WITH THE REST OF THE INGREDIENTS.
It will dissolve better in the paddy and won’t give you those horrible burps half an hour later that will remind you what you have eaten before, for the rest of the day.
Ok so after we got the burps out of the way, and we cooked the onion, just mix all the ingredients together and create patties. I like them roughly about 70 gr each.
Roast in the oven at 220c for approximately 10 min.
You can serve it by it self as canapés, or as a part of a dish, like I do at the Hotel’s restaurant, served with tomato salsa, sour cream and warm tortillas.
Satisfaction guarantee or your money back. 
Have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. See you next year.
Itzhak