Planning a back-yard party in the warm days ahead? Take your cues from cultures that have summer entertaining down cold.
From the Mediterranean to Southeast Asia, room-temperature buffets are mainstays for celebrations on the terrace, the beach, the patio or the town square. Putting a few cold dishes on the menu works, too, if you know some simple tricks for keeping them chilled.
The beauty of such an outdoor buffet is that most of the work can be done in advance; the only last-minute task is arranging an attractive spread of food. Read on for tips that can make your summer party the coolest of the year. Don’t be limited; let these ideas spark your imagination.
Potato salad redux: Even in the heat, a Mediterranean-style potato salad won’t raise fears of eggs and mayo gone bad. Toss red-skin potato chunks with red onion slices, Greek olives and a simple dressing of lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. For a Southwestern slant, omit the olives and add fresh cilantro, and substitute lime juice for the lemon.
Salsas: For a Southwest or tropical theme, consider fresh salsas with skewers of cold grilled chicken or pork on ice. Tomato or tomatillo salsas say Southwest; fruit salsas, such as mango or peach, tropical.
Make a quick fruit salsa with 2 cups diced mango, apricot or peach; 1 diced medium purple onion; 1 diced red bell pepper; 1 minced serrano chili; 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro leaves; and 2 to 3 tablespoons lime juice.
The not-pasta salad: Tired of pasta salad? Start with rice instead. The different shape and texture offer a refreshing change of pace.
Cook the rice the same way you would pasta; cook it in abundant salted boiling water until tender, yet still firm to the bite. Drain the rice in a colander and run cold water over it until cooled.
For a Mediterranean menu, dress it with lemon juice and a fruity olive oil, a bottled lemon-garlic dressing or other vinaigrette. Toss with sliced red, green and yellow bell peppers; chopped fresh herbs; capers; tomatoes (fresh cherry or bottled sun-dried); or other fresh, seasonal vegetables.
For an Asian-inspired salad, use a bottled lemongrass vinaigrette or a cilantro-lime dressing. Mix rice with sliced green onions, shredded carrots, fresh bean sprouts, sliced water chestnuts or julienned jicama, chopped celery and chopped cilantro, if desired.
For a heartier salad, add bits of poached chicken or tiny cooked shrimp and put the whole thing on ice.
For a tropical chicken salad, add a few papaya chunks and cashews to your favorite chicken salad, and serve in the center of a large papaya half.
Nature’s bowls: For a festive serving bowl for ice and salads, use a large, hollowed-out watermelon. Fill with ice then nest several small bowls (or one large oval bowl) in the ice to keep the food cool. Or, prepare a small watermelon shell the same way and nest with a single bowl. You can even skip the bowl, fill the watermelon with a salad and set it in a big, galvanized bucket or other container of crushed ice.
Asian noodle salad: Toss spaghetti noodles, egg noodles or Japanese soba (buckwheat) noodles with bottled or homemade peanut sauce; cooked, sliced shiitake mushrooms; and half-moon-shaped cucumber slices. Garnish with sliced green onions and chopped peanuts. For a spicier salad, add a few dashes of hot chili oil or a few pinches of crushed red pepper flakes. Serve with cold barbecued chicken wings or skewered grilled meats that you prepare a day ahead of time and refrigerate. Serve at room temperature, but keep the meat on ice.
Cool cucumbers: Make a Greek-style salad of sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, Greek olives and feta cheese, with a sprinkling of chopped oregano (for a variation, use basil or dill). It stands up to the heat for a long time.
For a Southeast Asian-style salad, start with this sweet-sour and spicy Thai dressing: Heat 1/2 cup rice vinegar with 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon salt in a saucepan. When sugar dissolves, add 1 or 2 tablespoons minced red chili pepper and let cool. Pour dressing over 1 cup thinly sliced cucumber and 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots; toss to combine. Garnish with chopped cilantro. (From Sheila Lukins’ “All Around the World Cookbook.”)
Shrimp on ice: Buy precooked, frozen, tail-on shrimp and defrost them. You won’t worry about spoilage when you serve them atop crushed ice in a small galvanized metal bucket or bowl (available at hardware and housewares stores), a cement planter or a large ceramic crock. Be creative; you may even find a deep, pretty plastic tray that does the trick.
Serve the shrimp with a basil-pesto dipping sauce for a Mediterranean menu, or remoulade or red sauce for Cajun.
Keeping cool: You can mix a few cold dishes in with your room-temperature buffet. Just be sure to put them on ice to keep them chilled. For minimum fuss, serve them in a bowl set within a larger bowl that holds crushed ice. When you replenish the contents of the serving dish–such as salad, meat or dips–drain off water from the ice bowl and replenish the ice as well.
No-wilt garnishes: Instead of using lettuce or basil leaves to line trays or garnish them, try lemon or lime slices, or herbs that won’t wilt, such as rosemary and thyme.
Lemon leaves and galax leaves (available at upscale florists) also make pretty, durable tray garnishes or liners. Pair branches of lemon leaves with whole lemons for a pretty centerpiece or to garnish a large basket or tray–also available at florists.
For a Southeast Asian or tropical menu, buy banana leaves (available at Asian specialty markets) as a liner for a basket or tray that holds hors d’oeuvres.
Mint garnishes for tea won’t wilt if you put the whole plant on the table and let guests snip what they need. The plant does double duty as garnish and centerpiece.
A sandwich buffet: For a pretty buffet that’s easy, let guests build their own Mediterranean sandwiches.
Start with baskets of bread and platters of grilled vegetables; Italian cold cuts and cheeses; roasted red peppers, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes. Use basil pesto, olive spread and hummus (the Mediterranean chickpea dip) as spreads.
Here are some more specific suggestions:
Breads: Pita pockets, slices of European-style country bread, crusty dinner rolls or baguettes sliced in half (both lengthwise and around the middle). Place breads in basket and cover with a cloth napkin to keep them from drying out.
Vegetables: The day before the party, grill slices of eggplant, summer squash, portobello mushrooms, onions, bell peppers or zucchini brushed with olive oil or Italian salad dressing. Refrigerate overnight, then serve at room temperature. For a small group, purchase grilled vegetables from the deli or takeout department of a large supermarket. Many grocers also sell roasted and peeled red bell peppers by the pound, or bottled.
Cheeses: Include slices of provolone and mozzarella as well as spreadable goat cheese and chunks of feta cheese to crumble into pita pockets.
Spreads: Try pestos made with various herbs and nuts (even jalapenos); olive tapanades; flavored cream cheese and spreads like Boursin; baba ghanoush, the Mediterranean spread made from roasted eggplant; also flavored hummus, such as roasted red pepper.
Garnishes: They can be strewn in sandwiches or served on the side. Use sliced red onion, a variety of olives, capers, pepperoncini (Italian pickled peppers, sold bottled in supermarkets) and sliced fresh fennel. For the bold flavor lovers, buy a tin of anchovies and transfer them to a small glass bowl.
Cool drinks
Gingered iced tea: Boil 1/2 pound sliced fresh ginger, 5 cups water and 1 cup brown sugar. Taste; add more water if tea is too strong. Strain and serve cold over ice. Garnish with mint if desired. Makes 4 to 5 servings. (From “The Food of the Philippines.”)
Iced coffees: Make Thai iced coffee by combining chilled, double-strength coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Serve over ice.
For a Spanish Blanco y Negro (black and white), chill brewed espresso and serve with a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream.
Sodas and floats: Serve flavored sodas as a refreshing drink or make them into dessert drinks. Try ice cream floats using sodas such as orange cream soda or an ultra-gingery ginger ale or ginger beer. Stick with vanilla ice cream, to keep the flavor sensation in the soda.
Ice for drinks: If you don’t want ice cubes to dilute your drinks as they melt, make ice cubes out of your drink (lemonade, coffee, tea or punch). If you don’t mind the diluting effect, make pretty ice cubes by freezing berries or small quarters of lemon and lime slices, herb leaves or edible flowers into each cube.
BEAN AND RED ONION SALAD
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Yield: 10 servings
Adapted from “Effortless Elegance with Colin Cowie.”
Vinaigrette:
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt, freshly ground pepper
Salad:
1 cup each, cooked, cut into 1-inch pieces: wax beans, green beans
1 cup each: cooked or canned garbanzo beans, Great Northern beans, kidney beans, lima beans
2 tablespoons each: thinly sliced fresh chives, chopped red onion, chopped fresh parsley
Salt, freshly ground pepper
1. For vinaigrette, whisk together garlic, vinegar and mustard in small bowl. Slowly whisk in oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
2. For salad, put all beans in large bowl. Toss with vinaigrette. Sprinkle with chives, onion and parsley; season with salt and pepper to taste.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 320 Fat ………… 13 g Saturated fat .. 1.7 g
% calories from fat .. 35 Cholesterol … l0 mg Sodium …….. 140 mg
Carbohydrates …… 41 g Protein …….. 13 g Fiber ……….. 13 g
CHICKEN IN BALSAMIC VINEGAR
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Marinating time: 12 hours
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Adapted from “Cucina Fresca.”
4 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Coarse salt, freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup fruity white wine
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
4 sprigs fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried tarragon leaves, crumbled
Zest of 1 small lemon
1/4 cup raisins, plumped in hot water 15 minutes, drained
Thin lemon slices
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Slightly flatten chicken breasts with palm of hand. Place in lightly oiled shallow roasting pan. Lightly salt and pepper. Add wine to pan. Cover with lightly oiled parchment paper or wax paper cut to just fit pan. Bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Let chicken cool in pan.
2. Whisk together vinegar and oil in small bowl. Add tarragon, lemon zest and raisins. Slice chicken breasts into 1/2- to 3/4-inch strips. Arrange breasts in shallow pan just large enough to hold in single layer. Pour dressing over chicken. Cover with plastic wrap; marinate in refrigerator at least 12 hours, turning chicken occasionally.
3. Return chicken to room temperature. Serve chicken on platter set on ice for outdoor buffet. Garnish with lemon slices.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 350 Fat ………… 21 g Saturated fat .. 4 g
% calories from fat .. 55 Cholesterol … 80 mg Sodium ……. 75 mg
Carbohydrates …… 10 g Protein …….. 30 g Fiber …….. 0.4 g
RICE AND HERBS SALAD
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 6 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
Adapted from “Seductions of Rice.”
Salad:
4 cups cooked jasmine rice
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 cups packed, coarsely chopped watercress leaves
1 1/2 to 2 cups chopped long beans or green beans
2 large or 3 medium plum tomatoes, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup Asian or sweet basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
1 shallot, thinly sliced, separated into rings
1 teaspoon finely minced lemon grass
1 serrano chili, minced
Dressing:
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon minced lemon grass
1/2 cup Thai fish sauce
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon palm sugar or brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1. For salad, mix together rice, lime juice and watercress in large bowl; mix well. Heat 1 inch water in large saucepan over high heat to boil. Add beans; cook, covered, until slightly softened, about 1 minute. Drain; add to rice, tossing to mix well. Add remaining salad ingredients; toss to mix.
2. For dressing, combine all ingredients except lime juice in non-reactive saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Pour into small bowl; stir in lime juice.
3. Toss 3 tablespoons dressing into salad. Taste; add additional dressing, if needed. Pass remaining dressing.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 135 Fat ………. 0.5 g Saturated fat .. 0.1 g
% calories from fat … 3 Cholesterol … 0 mg Sodium …….. 705 mg
Carbohydrates …… 29 g Protein …….. 4 g Fiber ………. 2.1 g
