Need Finger Food Ideas for a Wedding

I'm helping the bride come up with ideas for finger foods for her wedding. Thing is, she has to make the stuff herself (with a few friends) so complex stuff is right out. Also, her future spouse is requesting meat and cheese. So far, we've thought of:

-Swedish meatballs
-Cheese trays
-Proscuitto-wrapped pears

And that's all we got! Ideas?

What about those tiny triangular cheese and spinach pies (tyropita and spanakopita) from Marketplace on Oakton (and other places)? Everyone likes them and to me they are even good lukewarm.

I also love mini reubens, where you chop up the corned beef and sauerkraut and swiss and put it on some mini-rye toasts canape-style and broil 'em till the cheese melts.

Serrano ham wrapped wedges of manchego?

Pierogi?

(Purchased and prepared, naturally, if you're looking to keep things easy.)

Halved cherry tomatoes topped with a good pesto.

Cucumber slices topped with Ikura (salmon roe)

Halved Fingerling potatoes (boiled or roasted) topped with goat cheese.

Endive leaves stuffed with a bit of blue cheese and nuts

Boiled quail eggs with sesame salt

If you google "tea sandwiches" you'll be surprised what's out there - my current favorite is boston brown bread spread with a combination of cream cheese and minced pineapple.

Mini quiches - yes, they're passe - but they're delicious - and you can make a lot of different kinds in each batch by putting different stuff in the bottom before you pour the custard over. You can also use the pre-baked mini phyllo shells.

Might I recommend Kennyz's excellent roasted tomato tart recipe? I made it recently to absolute rave reviews, truly an excellent dish.

Mhays wrote:Halved cherry tomatoes topped with a good pesto.

Mini quiches - yes, they're passe - but they're delicious - and you can make a lot of different kinds in each batch by putting different stuff in the bottom before you pour the custard over. You can also use the pre-baked mini phyllo shells.

I like these ideas. Well, I liked a good number of your other ideas, too, but we are limited by the fact that the happy couple lives in Eugene, OR, where it can be...tricky...to find gourmet ingredients. Also, "passe" is not an issue given that they were leaning towards deviled eggs and cocktail weenies. I don't think the mini-quiche trend ever got there....

I like the idea of pierogis, too, but I doubt they can be found there. I don't believe I ever saw them in the Bay Area, CA, and that was a good bit more cosmopolitan.

ETA: I don't think those delicious little spinach pies are findable there either I should add that the chefs (that would be me, the bride, and maybe someone else will take pity on us) will be making this stuff the day ahead for the most part. I figured we could make finger sandwich fillings the day before and spread 'n' cut the day of, since we will have a small prep area - is that a good idea?

How many people are attending the wedding? There is a Trader Joe's in Eugene that would carry some of these ingredents...at least a decent variety of cheeses, spiced nuts, jarred pestos/sauces etc. They also carry some decent small sliced brown breads and crackers to use for your tea sandwiches.

Thanks, that's helpful to figure out your direction. I hope the following helps:

I've donefinger-sandwiches for a party- if you set it all up the day before, assembly is pretty quick a little while before you need them. In that case, white bread and spreadable fillings will make your life a lot easier: if you make your sandwiches out of Pepperidge Farm white bread (the standard for tea sandwiches, you can even get it thin-sliced at most grocery stores) you should be able to get 8 wedges out of each two slices of bread (each sandwich is cut in four squares, each square into two triangles) If you can get a bakery to cut your bread "Pullman-style" or the long way, finger sandwiches are even easier. Here's a nice tutorial on finger sandwiches.

Mini-quiches can easily be made with picrust, just get a mini-muffin pan and use a circular cookie cutter, and then squash the crust into each one - I use the pestle from my mortar-and-pestle set to do the squashing. You can make them in all kinds of meaty flavors, bacon, ham, sausage, crabmeat. Even easier: do a Tortilla Paisana and cut it into little squares: you can make it the day before and serve it cold.

As far as the Ikura goes, a quick googling shows several sushi bars in Eugene - you should be able to buy some direct from them (or tobikko, if you prefer - and I bet you can get a couple colors of it.) Depends on whether your crowd will be caviar-averse, but you could always do the same idea with a dollop of sour cream and a bit of lox. Both lox and ikura are available by mail-order via Amazon.

I've been thinking about meat: maybe a satay or shisk kebab? These are a little messy, but at least they're on a stick, and relatively easy to do.

We did our wedding as a high tea, serving only finger sandwiches and passed hors d'oeuvres - though I can't for the life of me remember any of them, other than I enjoyed them (we did hire a caterer, it was required for the venue.) Hard to really remember anything about that day, other than it was a very happy, very busy one; I wish the same for your friend.

You could also do soup (chilled or otherwise) in those little paper cups. Or even put something a bit messy to eat on a spoon, set the spoons out on a tray with the morsel on there (tuna tartare or something like that)