The Dish: A Taste of the Season

Sooner or later during the holidays, you’ll want to invite family, friends and colleagues to celebrate the spirit of the season. Whether it’s an after-work dinner, a tree-trimming party or a post-holiday New Year’s Eve bash, the challenge is to prepare a delicious meal with minimal effort during these hectic days.

A casual appetizer buffet or DIY appetizer bar where guests can help themselves to what they like, when they like, is a pleasure to host. This grazing-style “dinner” will keep the host or hostess out of the kitchen as much as possible. It’s well-balanced, with a variety of textures, tastes and flavours. Most of the food can be in place before the party begins, freeing your time to open wines or mix a batch of Cosmo Coolers for a Crowd.

Much of a buffet-style menu is about presentation. Arrange food on a table at varying heights and angles by placing sturdy, flat objects like bricks or boxes to support trays or platters. A tablecloth or decorative fabric can be draped over these pedestals. Serve dips in stemmed goblets in the centre of the table with baskets of breads and crackers at the corners. Make sure there is a practical serving implement with every dish, and a bowl to discard toothpicks that accumulate at the table.

A bar area should be visible, if possible, on entry. Guests are more comfortable and encouraged to mingle if they are welcomed with a beverage as soon as they arrive.

For non-drinkers, offer flat and sparkling mineral waters, non-alcoholic beer and juices.

If most of the guests are arriving at the same time, set up a table at the entrance with pre-poured cocktails, wine and mineral water. Beverages chill more quickly on ice than in the refrigerator. If bottles of wine and beer are immersed in ice, it takes about 45 minutes for them to become cold enough to serve. (Chilling in the refrigerator takes at least three to four hours.)

When hors d’oeuvres are the main course, there should be at least six tastes and you should count on 12 to 15 pieces per person. Plan a balance between individual bites and platter presentations of cheeses, pâtés, tenderloin of beef or a side of smoked fish. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself making a myriad of little things. To calculate appetizers like dips, cheese and pâtés, assume one ounce is equal to one piece.

Don’t forget your favourite comfort foods when feeding a roomful of guests. Double your go-to recipes of mac ’n’ cheese and chicken pot pie (chop ingredients extra-fine) and bake in small ramekins. Cut down the cooking time to approximately 12 minutes.

Appetizer-savvy restaurateurs have added a tasty — and appetite-inducing section to their small-plates menus with a “snacks” category.

More than an hors d’oeuvre, less than a small plate, “snacketizers” can be stuffed eggs, marinated feta and olives, Marcona almonds or anything else you can nibble with a glass of wine.

Read more: Party-friendly recipes