Menu Help!

[birder53]

My menu planning isn't very good. In spite of JAZ's class, I still draw a blank or come up with combinations that do not work well.

I'm serving a "warm salad of grilled shrimp and orzo" as athe main course and need ideas for a simple appetizer to have with drinks, a salad and dessert. The shrimp dish is rather rich and has it has lots of feta cheese and garlic in the dressing. I don't have a lot of time to spend on the accompianments and would appreciate suggestions that a time and skill challenged cook can use! Suggestions for store bought items will work quite well for me. Also, would a basalmic dressing be appropriate on green salad?

Thanks!

[Monica Bhide]

How about some store bought hummus with pita or wheat thins for an appetizer?

[SobaAddict70]

you're having a warm salad as a main course and you want to serve another salad?

hm. I think a lot depends on where you live, what's in your pantry and what's generally available at the market.

You might try a curried carrot soup to start: saute onion in unsalted butter, add sliced leeks and either baby carrots or diced regular carrot. add a couple of slices of apple for a hint of sweetness if you want. add chicken stock (College Inn is fine if you're in a pinch, although keep in mind that this will affect the salt level when you adjust for seasoning). adjust seasoning -- salt, pepper, curry powder or garam masala. simmer until vegetables are cooked through, stirring occasionally. remove from heat, and while working in batches, puree in a blender or food processor. return to pot, stir in half and half, simmer for about ten to fifteen minutes. alternately you can leave out the half and half but I find that leaving it out leaves the resulting soup a bit lacking. adjust seasoning and serve immediately. I would garnish this with either chopped herbs, or a sprig of rosemary, or a couple of apple slices or maybe a poached mussel or two. alternately you can make the soup in advance, and serve as a chilled soup.

because you're doing a warm salad as an entree, you might consider serving a vegetable as an accompaniament, to contrast visually with the preceding course and the main entree. simple is probably best, to offset the soup and the salad, which you've described as "somewhat rich". Balsamic vinegar is a pretty strong tasting substance, which would probably compete with the feta and the garlic. Try instead, flash stir-fried green beans (basically green beans in VERY HOT oil), with a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Takes about a minute. Or roasted tomatoes -- easy, just slice tomatoes thickly, drizzle with EVOO, season with salt and pepper, and roast at 325 F for 30-45 min. or until tomatoes caramelize.

dessert might be sorbet. (Haagen-Dasz, your guests will never know the difference.) You might consider jazzing it up with crushed amaretti cookies, and serving it with coffee or espresso.

Soba

[JAZ]

I think the carrot soup idea is a good one, but I'd stay away from curry and go with something a little less aggressively flavored. If you want a green salad, I'd stick with a lemon juice/olive oil dressing rather than balsamic. If you're interested in a salad that's a little different, I have a recipe for a Turkish carrot salad with a dressing of yogurt, cumin and mint that's really great. Or a cucumber salad with mint or dill might be good too.

As for appetizers, if you have a good middle eastern deli around, how about dolmas, some olives, and pita crisps (just cut pita bread into wedges, drizzle with olive oil and salt and bake until crisp)? Hummus might be too heavy if your main course is rich.

[KarenS]

How about a cold cucumber soup to start and a greek yogurt/ honey/ and vanilla bean bavarian with fresh fruit to finish (figs are good now, pears, pomegranites). It is just yogurt, honey , sugar, vanilla, gelatin, and milk. Very easy- let me know if you want the recipe (they will unmold and can be whatever shape you want ). Use Total Greek yogurt if you can find it.

[SobaAddict70]

Cucumber salad with mint/dill is probably better, since there'll be overlap with the soup (carrot soup and carrot salad). This is, assuming he uses the soup of course.

FWIW, the amount of curry in the soup should be a miniscule amount -- you're basically going for a hint of curry, not enough to state itself, but rather a shadow of a flavor. Not sure what JAZ means by "aggressive flavoring" considering that there's garlic and feta in the warm salad. The soup sets up the palate for what's to come, introducing flavors that might be "aggressive" but on a gradual basis and softened with the addition of dairy. (When I make the soup, it's usually with light cream, but since you have a rich entree, I decided to use half-and-half instead.)

Hope everything works out...pls let us know how it went!

Soba

[JAZ]

Cucumber salad with mint/dill is probably better, since there'll be overlap with the soup (carrot soup and carrot salad).  This is, assuming he uses the soup of course.

FWIW, the amount of curry in the soup should be a miniscule amount -- you're basically going for a hint of curry, not enough to state itself, but rather a shadow of a flavor.  Not sure what JAZ means by "aggressive flavoring" considering that there's garlic and feta in the warm salad.  The soup sets up the palate for what's to come, introducing flavors that might be "aggressive" but on a gradual basis and softened with the addition of dairy

I was suggesting the carrot salad as a replacement for the soup, since Birder didn't mention soup in the original post.

And as for the curry, I assumed you meant more than just a hint and that the soup would therefore be more Indian than Mediterranean/Middle Eastern. Maybe "aggressive" was the wrong word; I meant that the two flavor profiles might clash.

[birder53]

Thanks for the great suggestions! Even though the recipe calls this a "salad" it is heavy and filling which is why I thought a green salad would go well with it. I'm not sure how adventurous one of my guests is, so I think I'll go with the lemon/oil dressing on the salad. I can usually figure out for myself what dishes do not work well together, but it's harder to come up with ideas for the ones that will work well. The pita with tabouleh, hummus and olives will work well for the appetizer. Thanks for pointing out that I should work with a Mediterranean theme, as the feta cheese in the "salad" seems to be the ingredient to work around here.

Kathy