My Kitchen is Serving

So we have prepped, cooked and now are ready to serve the food we have made.

Side Note on Parties

The art of food-based entertaining is a dying art in the US. Many of us still throw potlucks. But it is rare to actually participate in a sit down dinner party any more, and any formal dinner party we attend is usually a wedding reception. The younger generations speak of parties, but from their stories, the focus is not food and conversation so much as it is drinking and entertainment. (Am I wrong?)

So what do I throw?

• Once a year I throw a party for the people who work for me (~20-25), it starts early afternoon and is done by 5-6ish. Food is generally served indoors and everyone goes out back to eat. In my yard I have a large 6 person table and chairs, two small tables and chairs, and two sun umbrellas. I also have a couple of long retaining walls that were built to function as seating as well. At the end of the party, a smaller number of us sit in the living room for the last little discussions and drinks prior to cleaning up and good-byes. One year I served food from across the Mediterranean, another was sampling of BBQ, and one was all French.
• Occasionally I give dinner parties with 2-4 invitees (the limit is the size of my dining room table) and those can be informal or more formal, depending upon who is attending.
• A few times I have had ~10 for wine tasting, and other special events when we sit around the living room with finger foods and good wine.
• But I have also thrown a cocktail party (attended by ~50 people), and other such larger food-related events.

Entertaining can be very stressful: Is the house clean enough? Will anyone show up? Do I have enough food? Too much? To throw a good event that features food and conversation requires having an overall design in mind which dictates the decorations, such as they are, and the food. To assist you in your decision making I have an Entertainment section detailing the table layout and foods for a French, German, Greek, Bagel, Taco and Foodie party. If you throw any of these please send me pictures so we can share what it looked like.

In this post I am discussing place settings, and types of food services based on the type of event.

“We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly.” -Anna Thomas

Table setting: In Europe, this is the way I learned to set a formal dinner.

• The main plate is topped with the soup bowl in the center of the setting.
• On the left of the plate is the salad fork, and next to that is the main course fork facing up. If fish is served that fork is next.
• On the right of the plate is the salad knife, main knife, and sharp meat knife, followed by a soup spoon. The knife’s all face toward the plate, spoon faces up.
• Directly above the plate is a coffee spoon nearest the plate with a dessert fork above it (both are faced in opposite directions, spoon pointing left).
• Upper left quadrant has the bread plate and a butter knife across its top on the plate.
• Upper right has the coffee cup and plate. Between the coffee cup and the coffee spoon above the dinner plate is the wine glass (nearest the coffee cup) and next to it is the water goblet.

“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.” 
-John Gunther

If I am throwing a party, I have several options of the type of party I want to throw and they each have their own kinds of food that work well with the setting.

Reception Service is light finger foods served on a “help yourself” buffet-style display table. Food that requires utensils to eat are not provided, it is all finger food. I spend time thinking about the table arrangements, and try to fit the visual display with the reason we are gathering. I have plenty of extra food in the kitchen to bring out when needed as I do not want to overladen the table with plates of the same food and ruin the display. This type of setting is almost a cocktail-type party where the idea is to move and mingle. Folks stand and serve themselves and there is no planned seating, but folks can sit anywhere where I have placed chairs. Also people can grab their food, go outside (where I may have more drinks and seats) and enjoy both the company and the yard.

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien

Buffet Service has the foods arranged on the table or kitchen counters and folks help themselves by moving down the line. Often potlucks are done this way. When plates are filled, people go to the tables or living room chairs to sit and eat. Again, I usually have place settings and drinks outside. The difference between reception and buffet service is the type of food I am serving and place settings. Buffet style is any tasty and colorful foods that are varied and use forks, spoons, or knives; which are placed at the beginning of the buffet line.

Informal dinners: I serve everything at once and we all reach across the table and pass around the plates and bowls and help ourselves. This is great fun and spurs conversations and a homey feeling. As the cook I generally get to sit down as well and eat with everyone, but I follow the rule that I am the last served for I want to be sure everyone gets what they want. I generally have place-mats and set the table, but do not use a table cloth. I also do not wear an apron. If I need help I just ask. My example could include the Taco Bar Party with all the fixings in the center of the table for folks to make their own; informal, fun, and filling.

Formal dinners: I seat everyone, with my chair at the end. I then bring in courses and once we are all seated I will serve up more complicated food in the kitchen, but will then bring out bowls or plates of easy-to-serve food so people can help themselves to seconds. I still make it a bit informal since I do not have menu cards, but my table is set with a table cloth and proper table settings. I have a tendency to consider wearing an apron.

“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.” 
― Ruth Reichl

Clearing tables: To clear the table I first assess if everyone is done. In Europe it was considered rude to remove plates while anyone was still eating. But when ready, I take dirty dishes from the person’s right, and always ask if there is anything I can take away before grabbing. Then I just move the dishes into the kitchen for temp storage. I do not start cleaning while guests are here, but if I am going to do anything (because it is getting late and I may just go to bed afterwards) it would be to minimally scrape the plates before stacking them in the sink. I use a rubber spatula so little noise is made. I want all the food and dirty dishes removed from the table before I bring out dessert.

Finally, is the actual serving. For meats I tend to use large flat serving plates so I can cut and arrange the food to look good and to ease people taking portions. Stewed food, soups, and salads are served in bowls. If very messy, or specific toppings are required, I might keep the soup or stew in the kitchen with people helping themselves or me serving them. Bread I want in some kind of basket with a clean kitchen towel in it so the bread can be covered. I always have salt + pepper, and appropriate condiments on the table. Drinks are served as people come to the table where water (sparkling or flat, iced or not) is offered first. Then I offer other alcohol and always nonalcoholic drinks.

That is it for my little overview on my serving food. Nothing here is earth shattering, but important considerations when throwing a party. When I do give a food-based party I want everyone to to eat, have good conversations, and to relax. To quote a hero of mine, “I’m just someone who likes cooking and for whom sharing food is a form of expression.” Maya Angelou

–Patty

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NEWS: 4/2019 (1) Experts from the Universities of Edinburgh and Bath collected information on 285 families’ dietary habits, weight and BMI and then placed them on a program of healthy eating. Children who were fed healthy family meals during a three-month trial remained healthier for years after. In the three years after the study, children continued to eat healthily, although there was no evidence of a similar change in their parents. What we can take from this is that it is possible to help people eat healthy throughout their lives if we can get to them early enough. And it points to “habits,” which are hard to change, as one of the issues behind why so many of us fail at maintaining weight loss.

TIP: The white and green parts of scallions (and leeks, spring onions, etc.) are edible and are great combined, but note that the white parts can taste differently from the green. Try a test to see for yourself, I cut one up and tasted the parts. For me, the white part of scallions tasted a little like mild shallots, almost sweetish. The green part was on the pepper side of taste and tasted green, which to me which is a grassy flavor. For cooking, the white parts cook well but when you add scallion green parts you will notice they look like they wilted. For that reason, I tend to cook with the white parts and garnish with the green parts. The other thing about scallions is that I do not cut them too early, it seems to me that the taste changes, so I cut when needed.

Recipes: I added a Pineapple Coleslaw recipe and also a Radish Leaf Pesto to the list of pestos you can easily make. By the way, pesto is not just for pasta, you can use grains as well. Finally, I added what I call Quinoa ‘Mac-n-Cheese’, but of course it does not look like that pasta dish, just that the taste reminds me of that dish; give it a try and let me know what you think.