Healthy Food for a Crowd: Starters & Nibbles

With the festive season just around the corner, parties and get-togethers with family and friends are probably going to be a lot more frequent. So, over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing healthy recipes that are easy to make for a crowd. 

Hosting a party doesn’t have to mean the end of your healthy eating goals either. Not only are these recipes delicious, but they’ll also help keep your hormones in balance. So let’s dive right in with recipes you can create to serve as nibbles and starters.

Soups are your friend when it comes to catering for a crowd. You can serve them in a bowl or, for stand-up parties, in pretty cups and shot glasses. 

Pea Pots

Serves 14

Ingredients:

• 2 rashers streaky bacon, cut into 1 cm pieces
• 2-3 slices Parma ham, to garnish
• 2 shallots, roughly chopped
• 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 900g frozen peas
• 700 ml water
• 1 tsp salt
• tsp ground white pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat a large pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the bacon pieces until starting to crisp. Add the shallots and celery, and sauté until they start to colour. Add a splash of olive oil if needed. 
2. Add the peas, water, salt and pepper, bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 5 mins. Leave to cool slightly and blend using a stick blender or, in batches, in a countertop blender. 
3. Season to taste. Serve warm with some chopped Parma ham as a garnish.

Spicy Red Pepper Shots

Serves 14

Ingredients

• 2 red peppers, roasted (or 190g roasted peppers, in a jar)
• 275g cherry tomatoes, halves (or canned, same weight of canned cherry tomatoes)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp ground almonds
• crème fraîche and fresh chives, to serve

Instructions

1. Halve and de-seed the peppers, drizzle with olive oil and roast for 20 mins until the skin starts to peel away. Leave to cool. (Alternatively use 290g peppers from a jar).
2. Put the roasted red peppers in a blender with the cherry tomatoes, garlic, vegetable stock cube, 100ml water, paprika, olive oil and ground almonds. Blitz until smooth, season well and heat until piping hot before serving. 
3. Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche and chopped chives to serve.

The recipes below are great low carb alternatives to some of the starch heavy foods you might find at a party. Serve as nibbles or on a festive buffet, the choice is yours!

Lettuce Tacos

Serves 8

Ingredients

For the chicken

• 4 chicken breasts, finely sliced
• 40g fajita seasoning
• lime, juiced
• 2 tsp olive oil

For the tacos

• 2-3 heads Romaine lettuce 400g cherry tomatoes, halved
• red cabbage, shredded

For the avocado drizzle

• 2 large avocados, pitted
• bunch fresh coriander, chopped
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 green chilli, seeds removed 2 tbsp red onion

For the sour cream dip

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 150g sour cream
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
• pinch of cayenne pepper

Instructions

1. To make the chicken, whisk the lime juice, oil and fajita seasoning in a bowl, add the chicken and combine. Fry over a medium heat until cooked. Set aside to cool.
2. For the avocado dip, put all the ingredients along with 2 tbsp water into a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. 
3. For the sour cream drizzle, mix the garlic, sour cream, olive oil, coriander and cayenne pepper together. 
4. Season to taste. Separate the leaves from the Romaine lettuce and set them on a serving dish.
5. Fill each with a spoonful of chicken, cherry tomatoes, shredded cabbage, and a drizzle of avocado dip and sour cream.

Cauliflower Pizza

Makes one large 

Ingredients

For the base:

• 1 large cauliflower (about 750g)
• 100g ground almonds
• 2 eggs, beaten

For the topping

• 3-4 tbsp pesto
• handful of mixed leaves (like rocket, watercress, lambs lettuce)
• 125g ball mozzarella

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 200C˚/180C˚ fan. Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and trim the stalk end, then cut into chunks. 
2. Blitz half the cauliflower in a food processor until finely chopped (like rice). Transfer to a bowl and repeat with the remaining half. 
3. Tip all the cauliflower in a bowl, cover with cling film and microwave on High for 5-6 mins until softened or gently steam for 8-10 mins. 
4. Tip onto a clean tea towel and leave to cool a little. Once cool enough to handle, scrunch up the tea towel and squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the cauliflower. Transfer to a clean bowl. 
5. Stir in the ground almonds, egg, oregano and plenty of seasoning. Line a baking tray with baking parchment and grease with oil.
6. Mound the cauliflower mix into the centre of the tray, then use a spoon and your hands to spread out into a 30cm round. Make it a little thicker at the edges to create a ‘crust’. 
7. Bake for 15-18 mins until golden brown and starting to crisp a little at the edges. Set aside to cool a little. Dress the pizza, first spreading the pesto, mozzarella and mixed leaves.

Blinis

Makes 40

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 175g buckwheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 300ml milk
• Oil, for frying

Instructions

1. Break the eggs into a jug and whisk until frothy. Stir in the flour, baking powder and milk. Beat well to make a smooth batter. 
2. Put a little oil into a frying pan, roll it around to cover the surface and heat until the pan is hot. Pour a teaspoon of batter into the pan and cook over medium heat.
3. When bubbles appear on the surface of the blini and the base is golden turn the blini over and cook the other side. Transfer cooked blinis to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining batter.
4. Your finished blinis will be about 3-5cms wide and can be used as the base for pretty much any topping, from smoked salmon and sour cream, or prawn and guacamole, goat’s cheese and beetroot, and so on.

Spinach & Sweet Potato Egg Muffins

Makes 15

Ingredients

• Small sweet potato, shredded or spiralised
• 10 large eggs
• 100g cheddar cheese, grated
• 115g spinach, chopped
• 125ml milk
• 1/2 tsp ground mustard
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 190C˚. Prepare muffin pan with muffin liners or lightly brush with oil.
2. Divide the sweet potato evenly between 12 muffin cups (keep any leftover mixture to make a second batch). Bake for 10 mins, then remove from the oven. 
3. While the sweet potato is cooking, whisk the eggs, milk and spices. Evenly divide the spinach and cheese on top of the sweet potato in the muffin tin. Pour the egg mixture on top. 
4. Bake 20-25 mins or until the eggs are set.

Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients

• 400g tin chickpeas, drained
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• pinch of cayenne pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 230C˚. Pat chickpeas dry with kitchen paper. In a bowl, toss chickpeas with olive oil, and season to taste with salt and pepper. 
2. Spread on a baking tray and bake for 30 to 40 mins until browned and crunchy. Watch carefully the last few minutes to avoid burning.

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