Composed Appetizer Platter

Submitted by Lennie

• Ready In: 24hrs 20mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 2 heads fresh cauliflower, washed and cut into bite-size pieces (or 1 head cauliflower and 1 head broccoli, if desired)
• 1 pint grape tomatoes or 1 pint cherry tomatoes, washed
• 2 (10 ounce) cans button mushrooms, drained
• 2 cups baby carrots, washed (and scraped, if necessary)
• 1 cup pitted california black olives (Kalamata olives can also be used) (optional)
• 1⁄2 small red onion, sliced
• 1 (8 ounce) bottle Italian salad dressing (or your favourite bottled vinaigrette salad dressing)
• 3⁄4 lb cooked shrimp, peeled but with tails left on
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste

directions

1. The night before serving, place cauliflower pieces, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, olives (if using) and onions in a large bowl.
2. Pour entire bottle of dressing over veggies and mix well.
3. Tightly cover and refrigerate overnight, stirring before you go to bed.
4. In morning, add cooked shrimp to veggie mixture; combine gently but thoroughly; keep covered and refrigerated.
5. When ready to serve, drain shrimp/veggie mixture well and arrange attractively on a platter.
6. Arrange hard boiled egg halves around edge of platter, grind black pepper over all, and serve.

Reviews

[Manda]

I took this to a BBQ, and it was a total hit!! Very different from your usual veggie and dip platter (BOOORING!!). The only thing I might do differently next time is to add green pepper strips and try using small pearl onions instead of the sliced. I will definitely be making this again, though. Thank you, whomever you may be:) ~Manda

 

[Kathy]

Very nice. I made this for a birthday party and turned it into more of an antipasto dish by adding chunks of provolone, salami, and pepperoni. I also added green olives stuffed with garlic since the birthday gal loves them. Everyone raved about your the recipe, especially the shrimp and eggs. Thanks.

 

[GinnyP]

Every time I have paid the price for one of those simple but elegant party platters, I look at it and say to myself, 'Hey, I could have done that!'. Now, I am (and at half the cost). :) You change the ingredients, and even the platter itself, to suit the occasion; Marble, crystal, silver, a lettuce-lined tray, acrylic, multi-tier, etc. (I don't happen to have marble, but I've seen it done and it's very nice. A polished marble piece suitable for a platter can probably be picked up relatively inexpensively from scraps at a 'marble & tile' shop.)

 

[metznerp]

This was VERY easy to put together, looks great and everyone loved it. I separated the veges onto two plates, one with shrimp and one without for my vegetarian hubby. This will definitely be on my list of summer treats!