Imagine a table piled with a zillion different combinations of salads, a whole range of dressings, a variety of breads, and lots of dips and spreads. How about a cheese platter, cracker biscuits and fruit? Warming up to the idea already?
The mercury is rising and thinking cold, light, easy is the best way to cope with it. Be it an intimate birthday celebration at home, or a festive occasion. OK, so it’s going to take some organising. Maybe even hard work. But almost no labouring over hot stoves. The thing about a salad buffet is that one can prepare in advance and assemble just before the party. You could start a couple of days before the party and build up your menu peacefully and comfortably. The important step, of course, is to plan the menu and make a list of ingredients. Then shop and get stocked up. One can mix it up a little by doing some and ordering in part of the menu. Sushi and Dimsums are a perfect addition to a salad table. This is what I am planning to do for a combination of Easter and birthday with a few friends at home.
The summer menu
Wine
Salad table with dips
Cold meat platter
Sushi platter
Dimsums/Momos/Suimai
Assorted breads & crackers
Cheese boards
Fruit
Assorted tarts/eclairs/churros
Wine
Choose your favourite wines — sparkling, refreshing white and fruity rose all ice-cold for a brunch and additionally nice juicy reds kept nice and cool (15 °C). Keep sodas and lemonades on standby with sliced fruit to make spritzers for those who want it real light.
Salads
You can really let your imagination run wild here. Use a sensible mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian combinations with a variation in dressings. Spike up a mayonnaise by adding flavours. Change its texture with cream cheese or yoghurt. Aromatic oils (oil infused with herbs and spices can be stored in the refrigerator), lime and vinegar perk up salads nicely. Balsamic and pomegranate molasses add elegance. Here are some suggestions. Remember to chill them nicely. Seal with foil or cling film until they are ready to be served.
Hawaiin Salad: Shredded cooked chicken + sticks of pineapple + cream + mayonnaise + salt/pepper + mustard. Serve with lettuce in a scooped-out pineapple shell.
Tuna Fish Salad: Flaked canned tuna + chopped onions & tomatoes + minced capsicum + lime juice + salt/pepper + tomato flavoured mayonnaise. Use a fish mould to shape and serve on a bed of tomatoes.
Egg Salad: Boiled eggs (quarters) + tomato wedges with chopped onions, green chillies, coriander/dill leaves in lime juice as
a dressing. Serve on a bed of onion rings.
Mexican Salad: Baked beans + chopped capsicum, onions + baby corn + sundried tomatoes in oil. Serve with garlic toast.
Farm Salad: A mix of different kinds of lettuce + cubes of pear and apple + toasted walnut/pecan + dressing of balsamic, oil, orange juice, salt & pepper.
Arugula & Cheese Salad: Lots of arugula + cubed feta/cheddar/parmesan + segments of orange, grapes, strawberries/watermelon/mango + toasted nuts + tossed with chopped dill leaves (suva/shepu), lime juice , olive oil, salt/pepper.
Those are some of the formal salads. Now you need a whole lot of raw vegetable strips bunged in a big bowl of ice and water. Carrots, capsicum, white and red radish, celery sticks, cucumber, lettuce leaves and whatever else you can find. Surround the bowl with 4-5 kinds of dips. It’s quite simple really. You take a big bowl and combine cream cheese and thick yoghurt (half and half). Then you decide on the flavours. Say, three savoury and two sweet:
a) finely chopped parsley and crushed black pepper;
b) garlic and tomato;
c) onion and celery;
d) apple and cinnamon;
e) pineapple and candied ginger.
Divide the basic dip into 5 parts and mix in the additional ingredients. Check seasoning. Et voila, you’re all set.
Frills that elevate
A nice sushi platter always looks good. A basket of steamed dumplings is an added bonus. Make sure there are bowls of dark soy, wasabi and hot sauce. A cold meat platter could hold anything from ham, salami, meat loaf, pastrami to roast chicken. If you want to be really extravagant, get some fancy cuts from the many delis and gourmet stores that have now sprung everywhere.
There is a huge variety of breads in the market. Offer a choice of regular and whole-grain along with flavoured and sourdough breads. Cracker biscuits, breadsticks and nacho chips make great accompaniments.
The piece de resistance is indubitably a cheese board. And you can find a range of cheeses at almost all food stores.
Choose a mix of soft (Brie/Camembert/Havarti), sharp (aged cheddar/parmesan/gouda), flavoured and blue. A bowl of assorted nuts helps here.
Finally, fruits
Segments of orange, grapefruit and pomelo are both exotic and refreshing. Grapes, kiwi, litchi, pineapple, any left-over strawberries and a bowl of chilled mango puree or chunks with whipped cream would be a fitting finale to such a fine evening. Tarts, eclairs and churros would be an extravagance! Have a whale of a party!
(The writer is a mixologist, beverage consultant and author immersed in hospitality and alcobev for over four decades.)