Well-Rounded Party Fare
Making party food is complicated. No one wants a Costco veggie platter but at the same time, freshly prepared food doesn’t stay fresh as it sits on tables for hours being fingered by guests. So… the question is … what makes for a varied, delicious spread that satisfies both the nibblers and those who skipped a meal? Below are a few Do’s, Don’ts and suggestions for your next party platter.
Stay away from anything that needs to be hot or warm. Even if you have a chaffing dish set up, food doesn’t stay appetizing for more than about an hour. The exception to this is if you are making heartier fare such as chili, soup or stew. Having a slow cooker on low or warm can be a nice small meal for hungry party guests.
Although veggies are always welcome, try to go with more unusual veggies so that the party goers are treated to something out of the ordinary. Jicama, daikon, poached beets, purple cauliflower, sliced fennel bulb, endive leaves, snap peas, etc. Make sure what ever you have to dip the veggies in is not something that will get a skin on it and look stale after an hour. Make two or three dips with a variety of flavors - umami, spicy, fresh - such as smokey babaganoush, creamy tzaziki, spicy romanesco, garlicy aioli.
Cheese - everyone loves cheese and everyone has seen the sweating, curling slices of pre-sliced cheddar and Swiss hardening next to stale crackers. If you want cheese - don’t skimp - get GOOD cheese. That means shopping at the cheese counter, getting advice from the cheese monger and spending the money on quality products. Better to go with a smaller amount of quality cheese than an abudance of packaged, average cheese. When making choices, go with a variety of flavors and textures. Chewy mancego, creamy ripe Saint Andre, bit-sized balls of marinated fresh mozzerella, tangy Stilton, a sharp aged English white cheddar - your cheese monger will have great suggestions. Don’t slice it for your guests - if they are too lazy to use the utensil provided they don’t deserve it. Make sure cheese is at room temperature - cheese is not supposed to be served cold and the depth of flavor will not shine if it is below room temp. Make sure the cheese accompaniments allow the cheese to be the star. Water crackers and crusty white bread are great choices to not mask the cheese’s lovely flavors. Some interesting spreads, such as Dalmatia fig or a fragrant honey, is also a nice addition to a cheese plater. Serve some fruit on the side - slices of apples, pears (spray with a very light spray of diluted lemon juice to avoid browning) and grapes, or dried fruits such as cherries and apricots work as well.
Antipasta - although cheese is fine on an antipasta tray, I prefer my antipasta trays to be comprised of meats and pickled items. Cornichons, pickled asparagus, green beans and carrots (the one place I think carrots should be part of party platters), pickled beets (if you did not use them on the veggie platter), cold marinated mushrooms, bread and butter pickle slices, pickled garlic cloves, a variety of olives. It is relativity easy to pickle veggies - the key is whether or not they will stand up as finger food once they are pickled. Also if you can spend the money there are LOTS of very nicely jarred pickled vegetables in quality food stores. Meat is the same as cheese - go for quality over quantity. Dry cured meats are the best as they are uber-tasty and last on party plates. Saucison d’Arles (like salami but a bit cleaner on the palate), Jamon Iberico (proiscuitto from very specific pigs), summer sausage, chorizo. Again don’t get pre-sliced - slice some up to set an example and serve with the rest of the meat on a large cutting board, not sliced, and a small sharp knife for slicing. All the pickled items can nestle together on the cutting board in small dishes or arranged piles.
There are a few cooked items that are meant to be eaten at room temp and are better for it. Small meat pies, wedges of spiraled spanakopita, filled breads (triangles of sun-dried tomato focaccia, scaccia, classic ham and Swiss, or garlic and herb pull-a-parts) are all welcome and hearty additions to the finger food.
Unless it is an event that will have a cake that will be shared, you should have some sweet offerings. Again, vary textures and levels of sugar and fat, such as crunchy macrons, salted caramels, lemon tartlets (or any flavor that tickles your fancy), chocolate dipped strawberries, individual fruit pies. All should be fine at room temperature (as long as you are not having a heat wave - if so skip anything chocolate).
