Creating a seasonal menu for your next catered event will allow you to use the freshest and most flavorful ingredients available. Seasonal menus can invoke the colors, scents, and tastes of the season and make your guests feel welcomed and comforted. At Tucson Creative Catering, we love being creative with our menus for catered events in Tucson, AZ. Whether you’re planning a small birthday party or a huge corporate event, we’ll work with you to create a menu that is perfectly tailored to the theme and purpose of your event. Here is your guide to choosing the most flavorful and mouth-watering fall ingredients for your event’s menu.
Incorporating Fall Produce
Fruits and vegetables that are in season throughout the fall typically boast bold and brilliant fall colors and have bright, comforting flavors. When you’re choosing fall produce for your catered event, consider how to incorporate certain colors, textures, and flavors into each element of your menu to ensure variety. For instance, using brussels sprouts in your appetizers means that you should consider another green vegetable for your entrees.
Choosing the Right Cooking Methods
Many fall vegetables are root vegetables, which means that they need to be cooked in specific ways in order to tenderize them and release the most intense flavors and aromas. However, you don’t want to use the same preparation and cooking methods for each item on your menu, so it’s important to consider a variety of different cooking methods. The best cooking methods for fall vegetables are:
- Roasting – Roasting is a method of cooking that uses high temperatures to concentrate the flavors of the vegetables and caramelize their outsides while tenderizing their insides. Roasting is ideal for root vegetables like potatoes, squash, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, yams, and pumpkin as well as brussels sprouts. Their natural sugars will intensify during the roasting process.
- Steaming – Steaming vegetables uses water and high heat to create steam, which cooks the vegetables while keeping them slightly crisp and preserving their color, flavor, shape, texture, and nutrients. Steaming is ideal for cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, turnips, and brussels sprouts.
- Sauteing – Sauteing involves frying vegetables in a small amount of fat, such as butter or oil, in a hot pain. The goal is to enhance the flavor of the vegetables and tenderize them. Sauteing is ideal for snap peas, green beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, onion, zucchini, and mushrooms.
- Braising – Braising is a cooking method that uses dry and wet heat to cook vegetables until they are tender and flavorful. The vegetables are first seared at a high temperature to brown the exterior. Then, they are simmered on a low heat for a long period of time. Braising is ideal for sturdy, flavorful vegetables like carrots, parsnips, onions, turnips, cabbage, brussels sprouts, potatoes, and cauliflower.
Sourcing Ingredients Locally
Using seasonal ingredients means that it will be much easier to source your ingredients locally. Established local caterers like Tucson Creative Catering will source produce locally when possible to provide the freshest flavors for your menu while reducing the environmental impact of your event.
Incorporating Holiday Foods and Flavors
Fall holidays can be nostalgic, comforting, and inviting. Food is a central part of most holidays, and the fall and winter holidays have very specific dishes and ingredients that could be used to invoke feelings of warmth throughout your menu. Consider incorporating one or two holiday foods and flavors into your catered menu, such as:
- Roasted potatoes
- Mashed sweet potatoes
- Cranberry garnish or relish
- Roasted turnips, green beans, or brussels sprouts
- Fall spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and ginger
- Hard cheeses like savory cheddars, aged goudas, mountain cheeses, and goat cheese
- Fall nuts like acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, and pecans
Tucson Creative Catering Excels at Seasonal Catering Menus
At Tucson Creative Catering, we are experts at creating fun, unique, and fresh seasonal catering menus for catered events. We source all of our ingredients locally and can create an inspiring and comforting menu for an event of any size, scope, or occasion. We offer full-service catering and event planning services in Tucson, AZ, and we can help you coordinate every detail of your event so that it is fun and memorable for everyone. Call us today or contact us online to schedule a consultation for party planning, event planning, or catering in Tucson and the surrounding areas.