Forget the Cake and Treat Everyone to Savory Snacks
There’s always someone celebrating a birthday at the office, and before you know it, you’re scoffing down a slice of cake every day. Had enough? Take matters into your own hands and treat your colleagues to savory snacks. Six tips.
Order a platter of Dutch bar snacks
From one of the many online delivery services. Everyone is intensely happy when they’re served a bitterballen, believe me. Bowls of mustard for the bitterballen and sweet ready-made chili sauce for the cheese sticks on the side, and you’re all set.
Get sausage rolls
Always a success. They’re crispy, savory and satisfy a hearty appetite after a good few drinks. Ideal. We’ll have another one, please. Don’t bother making them yourself; just buy them at the Hema.
A drinks platter is always a good idea
Make an old-fashioned drinks platter with liver sausage, cubes of cheese with pickles and, of course, pigs in a blanket.
Hardly any effort and so delicious. This old favorite is always a bull’s-eye.
Melt some cheese
If you have an oven at work, pop a small cheese in it and serve it with nuts, honey and grapes.
In this recipe, the cheese goes on the barbecue, but the oven works perfectly well too.
Bring meatballs
Feel free to make them a day or two in advance. Cold meatballs may even be tastier than when they’re still sizzling straight from the pan. Serve with yogurt-mint sauce or tomato sauce—they’re both delicious cold. Need inspiration? Check out these recipes!
Tip: make sure you season everything a little more generously (the sauces and the meatballs), because cold food is guaranteed to taste less salty than a steaming plate of food. Temperature can suppress aromas or bring them out. Cold suppresses saltiness. So keep that in mind.
Pastries with ragout
A little more work, but it’s worth it for the perfect birthday lunch treat. A good pastry shell makes us as happy as children. Fill it however you like: with mushroom ragout, Surinamese chicken or veal. And hey, you really don’t have to make the pastry shell yourself.
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