Writer Sean joins us to show that poker night doesn’t have to be all about chicken wings and beer.
Hosting a casino-themed game night party for friends recently, I was struck with the urge to put together something a little more than average (food-wise, of course). Yes, a downscale game night with pizza and booze can be fun, but for this occasion we wanted something a little classier.
I poked around online to find some aesthetic inspiration—I used my iPad and found an iPad Casino and yes, I might have played a few games to get me in the mood too! Here’s what I settled on: I used the black and red color palette of the roulette wheel as inspiration for my blinis, which I topped with red and black caviar and laid out in a circle. In keeping with the savory theme I topped square crackers with red peppers and black olives to make hands of cards for poker, and stacked Chinese crackers in matching colors to represent chips. I grabbed some trays and set out some crudités and cold meats according to color to represent slot machines, and as a finishing touch I put the dips in little Vegas0style casino token buckets I had lying around.
The star though, was the roulette-themed caviar bites. Blinis are one of my favorite things to serve and they are quick and easy to make if you follow this recipe: