Mintahoe Catering - Tasting

On Wednesday, December 23rd, Jeff, my Mom, and I went to a tasting event for Mintahoe Catering (they're doing our reception). Before hand, we got to pick out three appetizers, two salads, and two entrees with two sides each. Jeff and I looked through their menus and highlighted the options we liked the best for the ceremony. Our strategy was to try things that we were definitely considering for the wedding, things that we were less familiar with (we know what a spanikopita tastes like, better to try the pear spoon, which we've never heard of, but sounds cool), and on the margin, try things that were a bit less fancy/ expensive, because that way we can always trade up if we don't like it.

Our strategy worked pretty well, because we really liked everything we tried. Our menu will probably look a lot like our tasting menu did. (Though we may have a fish option, and we'll definitely have a vegetarian option - probably portobello mushroom stuffed with risotto.)

Our current menu looks like this:
Appetizers: A cheese buffet and maybe a fruit buffet, and a few passed appetizers, including (probably) partridge pear spoons, feta kiss tartlet, and caramelized onion and cherrywood-smoked bacon pie.

Salad: Minnesota Wide Rice Salad

Entrees: Roasted Chicken Breast with mushroom cream sauce, Roast Pork Loin with rosemary dijon sauce, and Portabello Mushroom stuffed with risotto, (and maybe Walleye, if they can make it).

Dessert: Wedding Cake, of course!

Here's what we tried, along with our thoughts and some pictures of each item:

Appetizers:
Partridge Pear Spoons: pastry filled with pear and brie garnished with chopped walnuts. We thought these looked really cute, but they're sweet - they taste like a pear pastry, which can be ok, though we might try to get a more savory version of this appetizer.

Feta Kiss Tartlet: creamy blend of artichokes and feta cheese topped with olive tapenade. These were really good, though they've very rich - a big bite of feta!

Caramelized Onion and Cherrywood-Smoked Bacon Pie: puff pastry pie filled with caramelized onion, Roquefort, wild boar cherrywood-smoked bacon and chopped walnuts. We actually all really liked these - they were really warm and tasty. Very light and crispy puff pastry.

Salad
Minnesota Wild Rice Salad: Minnesota wild rice and hazelnut salad tossed in a Frangelico vinaigrette and served atop a bed of organic greens and garnished with dried blueberries. This salad was really tasty, and really unique - I've never had anything like it. And Jeff and I love the local aspect of working Minnesota Wild Rice into the menu.

Fresh Spinach Salad: with toasted pinenuts and fresh berries, drizzled with a wild berry vinaigrette. This salad was very good, and spring-y, but was also pretty standard. I think we want to go with the more unique option, instead.

Entrees
Roasted Chicken Breast: with Zinfandel grilled mushroom cream sauce on a bed of wild rice stuffing. This chicken was really good and tender, and the sauce was great. The stuffing only has a bit of wild rice in it, so it's not too much combined with the salad.

Roast Pork Loin: with rosemary Dijon sauce. Again, this dish was cooked really nicely, and we loved the rosemary Dijon sauce!

Sides
Roasted Thyme Potatoes with hazelnut pesto. This potato was really good, but the spicing is really heavy, so it may clash with some of the foods.

Haricot Verts with garlic and sundried tomtatoes. These green beens were really good - I liked the garlic and sundried tomatoes.

Asparagus and Red Pepper Saute. Jeff loved the asparagus, so we'll probably go with this. Ideally, I'd like to have the asparagus with the topping that was on the green beens, but we'll see.

Garlic Rosemary Roasted Potato Wedges. These were the potatoes we liked best - fairly simple, but really good.