favorite buffet dishes

[Kim WB]

We're making a change this year, from a sit down Christmas dinner, to an Open House buffet style. Our kids are teens, visiting around town, and our siblings all have little ones and are hesitant to get up and go xmas day to meet a specific dinner time..plus we've collected a motley group of singles and couples who will be gravitating towards our wine cellar I have the space, and the service ware, and the house has the flow to accomodate this.

I'm planning on soup, shrimp platter, antipasti/salaumi platter, and a favorite tuna tartare as appetizers. Mains will be a spiral ham ( I have no choice) , a nice rare tenderloin, and a poached salmon...maybe turkey breast. Sides will be a wild rice and pecan dressing, potaoto dauphinoise(sp?) , bakery rolls, and a green salad. Dessert will be be cookies, cookies, cookies, perhaps a chocolate torte and a fresh fruit. Coffee, cider, and lots of wine and champagne. Homemade cranberry liqueur. And I've promised a big pot of macaroni and cheese for a favorite nephew.

I'm looking for a vegetable choice, and am also not totally sold on the dauphinoise. I have three ovens, 10 burners, and plenty of warming trays and can borrow more crockpots. I suspect the guest flow will be heavy between 1-3, and then another group after 4.

None of this is set in stone,a nd I would appreciate your input, success stories of favorite buffet choices, and some help in fleshing out the menu...

[SeaGal]

This sounds wonderful and well thought out.

A suggestion for the vegetables would be to skip the green salad (I find them awkward with buffets as the salad takes up so much plate space). Instead, you could offer a couple of cold vegetable salads, for instance, green beans in a mustard vinagrette and a roasted root vegetable salad (or warm roasted root vegetables drizzled with evoo and balsamic vinegar, if you have the warming space). Of course, you could do these and still have the green salad too. Another nice salad is sliced cucumbers and onions with fresh dill, either in sour cream dressing or with vinegar/sugar.

Another possiblity is a savory sweet potato gratin. I made one recently with cream and chipotles and it held up well for several hours, both in the oven at low temp and sitting out on the counter for an hour.

Whatever you do, enjoy your holiday!

Jan

[snowangel]

I would rethink the potatoes. Perhaps go with something more like a vinagarette potato salad with roasted pepper, garlic, capers, whatever.

For veg side side dishes that keep well and hold well at room temp, I offer a version of a recipe that I have adapted from Madame Wong's Long Life Cookbook:

Asparagus:

Cut a bunch of aspargus diagonally into 3/4"-1" chunks. Blanch asparagus. Shock with ice water.

Dress with 2 T. soy sauce, 2 T sesame oil, a pinch of sugar, 1+ cloves of garlic, very finely minced (or pressed).

There was a recipe for marinated mushrooms in a recent Cook's Illustrated that was quite good.

And, another standby is to sear some green beans, garlic chunks and roughly chopped shallots in EVOO over very high heat (you want them to sort of brown). Add a bit of liquid (I'm partial to chix stock), cover and cook till almost done. Uncover and a bit of balsamic and a bit more EVOO.

I also have a great recipe for a black bean and rice salad that serves well, keeps well, can be made in advance, and wins rave reviews. It's on recipeGullet (now out of commission; we're working on that) or I can PM it to you.

Finally, olives and pickles. They may seem too easy, but they go. People like them.

I agree with a comment above. Regular salad can be tough. It does take up a lot of plate space, and can wilt and get weird if left out. The suggestions I've given above to not require ice, cooler or hot plate area.

Try and make sure the rolls are crusty, or get great baguettes. Don't forget really great unsalted butter.

Oh, and at a recent party, one big hit was having a little dish of coarse sea salt out for the bread and butter.

3 ovens? Lucky you...

[woodburner]

Sounds great, and some good eats.

I concur, regarding the asparagus, and dump the green salad.

We do lasagne, with great raves along with roasted meats.

Send your nephew home with the mac and cheese, and keep it off the great menu.

Finally after many years, my wife has come up with a good concoction for scalloped potatoes for buffet service, and I usually protested them.

Your timeline is long, to say the least.

Remember, that you need to enjoy the holiday season as well as your guests.

No eggnog?

Merry Christmas

woodburner

[NulloModo]

There is always a place for Macaroni and Cheese and tossed salad on a buffet, always.

The beautiful thing about the salad is that absolutely anyone can eat it no matter what their dietary philosophy/restriction/etc (unless they are unfortunate enough to be allergic to one of the ingredients, in which case you could always do a 'create your own salad' station, which actually makes it a bit nicer, as the wet stuff won't make the dry stuff soggy over time).

The Asparagus sounds tasty too, although just sauteed asparagus with a side of hollondaise is hard to beat (does hollondaise keep well over a warming plate?).

There seems to be a lot of starchy sides already, so I'd go for something more green and leafy. Collard greens, southern style green beans, morrocan eggpland salad, etc, could all be great additions.

[suzilightning]

neuveu tater tot casserole?

ducks from incoming

[lovebenton0]

Add a nice bowl of bleu cheese (crumbled Gorgonzola is great for this) blended with cream cheese or goat cheese, and garlic chives, to the table with the butter for spreading on crusty bread. This is a good complement to the tenderloin especially.

The lasagna is a good idea -- I've done that before to go with meats on a buffet. Eggplant lasagna, and it always goes quickly.

Lightly sear sliced broccoli in butter and EVOO. Roast red peppers and garlic, lots of golden sauteed or grilled onions. Toss all with coarse ground or Kosher salt, crushed red pepper if you like. Very pretty and stands up well, can be eaten warm or room temp.

[tryska]

i like the eggplant idea.

i had this fabulous honey roasted eggplant once, in, of all places, a work cafeteria. (to be fair - it was Nortel, and it was state of the art - the food was great for a captive audience)

[Packo]

I'm looking for a vegetable choice, and am also not totally sold on the dauphinoise. 

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Make a 'gado-gado' style vegetable dish. It's simple to make - and holds up well.

Boil peeled potatoes cut into 1 inch pieces (just done and not mushy).

Blanch green beans, cauliflower florets, cabbage (or zucchini) and carrots in hot boiling water (just done, with a little crunch). Shock in iced water. Drain well.

Deep fry tofu cakes until golden brown. (You can also buy them deep-fried). Cut each tofu cake into bite-size cubes.

In your serving dish, mix or 'layer' the boiled potatoes and blanched veggies.

Top with deep-fried tofu.

Buy 'satay' peanut sauce or make your own (I've a recipe if you like).

When it is time to serve :-

1) You can pour the peanut sauce (quite generously) over the whole dish.

2) You can set aside a gravy-boat with the peanut sauce in it - for your guests to help themselves.

3) You can layer the potatoes and vegetables, adding a thin peanut sauce layer between the veggies.

Have a great party!

[andiesenji]

One vegetable casserole that I have had some success with is braised artichoke hearts, topped with a mixture of buttered toasted bread crumbs and grated Asiago cheese and run under the broiler just to lightly brown the top.

The thing is that this tastes as good cold as it does hot.

All I do is melt butter add some thinly sliced shallots and cook until the butter is browned. I then toss in the artichoke hearts and sauté them briefly then add about 1/4 cup of stock, duck or chicken, cover tightly, lower the heat and cook for only about 2-3 minutes.

I then arrange them attractively cut side up in a casserole and add the other stuff.