Entertaining On A Budget Pt 1

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

This month, Virginia Willis, the food stylist for "The Main
Ingredient," shares some hints for great entertaining without
straining your budget!  ENTERTAINING ON A BUDGET  One of my dearest
friends, Evan is getting married at the end of the  month. Two of my
other best friends and I are hosting a cocktail  party in honor of the
marriage. The three hosts live in different  states so to plan the
affair we had a conference call a couple of  weeks ago. It was real
comedy. We've all been friends for almost 15  years and we've seen it
all. Not only are we all pretty strong  personalities, but also we are
all fairly opinionated. We each have  our own ideas about just how this
party will be, so we have to meet  in the middle.  SMALL BUDGET, BIG
PLANS  The point is that we are on a budget. There will be 50 or so
guests  and we're hoping to spend around $300 total. That's fairly
restrictive for that many people. It may sound like a lot of money,
but once you include food, drink, buying plates and napkins or  renting
wine glasses the money disappears fast. However, that's real  life. We
know a place in where we can buy simple white plates in  bulk. If you
are planning a party, get on the phone and shop around!  Also, don't
forget about the cost of invitations and stamps. My  friend and fellow
host, Stacy is a whiz on the computer so she's  taking care of printing
the invitations. Save when and wherever you  can.  As a host you want
people to eat, drink and be merry but you certainly  don't want to run
out of food or drink. Always expect guests to take  two of everything.
If you expect 45 people then you'll need at least  90 cheese straws.
Some people eat more, some less - but that's a good  "rule of thumb."
Planning is absolutely imperative. We have to divide and conquer to
get things done. The first point is to figure out the menu. We are
having light hors d'oeuvres and wine. We are having the party from
8:00 to 11:00 pm. That's clever time. It's after supper so people  have
already eaten. Also, stating a close on the invitations is a  really
good idea.  THE MENU: EAT LUXE, PAY LESS  So, where do we start?
There's the ubiquitous vegetable crudite, but  it doesn't have to be
inherently boring. Some ideas:  Do not, I repeat, do not, buy the
pre-assembled plastic platter from  your local grocery store. Keeping
color and texture in mind, try  different vegetables. Don't buy lots of
expensive red peppers but  instead fill in with less expensive
cauliflower. You'll need a mix of  at least 6 or so vegetables. There
is a nice farmer's market nearby,  and I usually buy small red creamer
potatoes or if I can find them,  the purple Peruvian potatoes. If
asparagus is too expensive or out of  season I suggest using haricot
vert (young tender green beans). I  always blanch my vegetables to al
dente in a flavorful court  bouillon. They don't need to be fully
cooked - just take the edge  off. (Except of course, the potatoes.)
When they are just right I  "shock" them in ice water to stop the
cooking. For the carrots I'll  add a few pieces of fresh ginger and a
cinnamon stick to the cooking  water. For the broccoli florets I'll
throw in a few whole peeled and  crushed cloves of garlic and a
tablespoon or so of rich, green extra  virgin olive oil. For the yellow
squash I'll add a few slices of  lemon and a sprig or two of fresh
thyme. These aren't really recipes  and there are no hard fast rules to
play by. The key is to give the  vegetables a bit of depth. Use your
imagination. Cheese boards can be  expensive. Nice cheeses domestic or
imported can be very pricey. But  cheese is a good finger food.
Instead, make a cheese dip to serve  with crackers and bread:  Finely
grate a nice piece of Gruyre (the real Swiss cheese) and
Parmigiano-Reggiano, the King of Parmesan. These cheeses are  expensive
but combine them with a less expensive cheese such as  cheddar. (Grate
the cheddar as well.) Add softened cream cheese, a  bit of butter and
flavorings such as finely chopped garlic, minced  sun-dried tomatoes,
freshly chopped fresh thyme and flat-leaf parsley  A pinch of cayenne
pepper will pick up the pace. Combine until well  blended. Taste and
adjust for seasoning. The mixture should be very  flavorful. Don't
forget dishes to be served cold should always be  very well seasoned.
We are also going to prepare a spinach mushroom dip:  Both spinach and
white button mushrooms are fairly inexpensive and I  absolutely swear
by frozen chopped spinach for purposes such as this.  I simply saute a
bit of garlic and shallot in butter or olive oil,  Add the defrosted
spinach and cook 3 to 5 minutes or so to heat  through. Drain well to
remove the excess moisture and blend together  with sour cream and
maybe a bit of cream cheese. Taste and adjust for  seasonings. If you
want to feature meat or seafood I suggest  something such as smoked
salmon. It makes a "statement" and my friend  and fellow party-giver
Lisa has told me that a wholesale club in her  area sells sides of
smoked salmon for around $18. That's a good  price. No, it's not wild
salmon netted from the fiords of Norway, but  it will serve our
purposes just fine. The beauty of serving smoked  salmon is that people
are not likely to eat a lot of it. The salmon  is served in thin
delicate slices that will indeed go  continued in part 2

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