Buffet Ideas

chickadee

I have a house full of guests coming over on Saturday during the day and I'm a useless cook! :eek:

Can anyone give me any ideas on any easy buffet dishes that I can do for my guests? I will have the morning to prepare stuff but don't really want to have to cook whilst they are there - it always seems to go wrong if I'm under pressure

What are your favourite entertaining 'stand by' dishes?

All ideas gratefully received!

rolpaula

buy the small sausage rolls easy to cook and serve
buy the little sausages too also easy to cook and just shove a cocktail stick in them all
cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks r easy
crisps in bowls
peanuts dotted around too

not much advice there but hope that helps

Katgoddess

Pizza. It's my answer to everything!

Keep a couple spare in the freezer in case you run out of food, and can just warm them up then.

Jem8472

You migth want to make a cup of tea first this is a longish post

If you want easy things to cook why not make some cheese straws.

Just need some pastry, short crust will do. Roll out about half of it put cheese on it, fold over and roll and keep doing it a few more times to get a nice lot of cheese in there and cut into strips (about an inch or so wide, it is not really important) and cook for about 10 mins at about 180C or untill brown and you have home made cheese straws.

For some people with a sweet tooth roll out the other half of the pastry and instead of cheese sift some iceing sugar on the pastry and fold it over, cut into strips (again about an inch wide) but sort of roll them up diagonally so the make a sort of off set tube. Seal then with a bit of water on the end and on the baking tray just sift more iceing sugar over them they only need about 5-7 mins at about 180C.
With the sugar dont be afraid to use too much, I would more or less give the pastry a good coating before folding it over. You want them to be sweet so they dont just taste like cooked pastry. Also be gentle with them if they sticj to the tray, but that does not usually happen.

Also if you dont get how I mean about the rolling up of the pastry you can just do them into a pin wheel style, all tastes the same!

TBH that will make a lot of cheese straws and sugary things(no name for them that I know of) so you could use a bit of the pastry the day before to try it out make sure it all goes ok first.

I would say to do this it prob takes about 20 mins in total, just remember to get the pastry out of the fridge before you do it and make sure you use plenty of flour so it does not stick to the board or rolling pin. (sorry if I am over explaining but I dont know how weel u can cook

Also if you are feeling brave you could try a quiche.

Just need a pie dish type thing, roll out pastery put it in the dish.
Cook you filling, I personally like tuna or bacon and mushroom filling (the bacon and mushrooms not tuna) but u can do mixed peppers, onion (yuk) some sort of green veg (I am not much of a veg person so I dont make many veg ones)
then put the filling in the pie dish and beat some eggs up depending on the size of dish will depend on the amount of eggs for a med sized quiche maybe 4 medium eggs, you want it to cover the filling. Then cook it for about 20-25 mins, untill the quich has set. again about 180C

When we make a quich the sugary things are just normally made with the left over pastry so if you are going to do all my ideas then you prob want a couple of packs of pastry.

You can do this the day before because I actually think they usually taste better the next day and if it all goes wrong then u can go down the shops sat morning!!!! :rotfl:

Pink.

What about cold meats that you have roasted earlier? Ham usually goes down well. It's also a good idea to pad the buffet out with a few salads, you could do one green salad and either a rice or pasta based one.

My favourite pasta salad:

Fry chopped onion, garlic and green pepper in a little olive oil. Then add baby tomatoes and tinned sweetcorn. Finally add black pepper and your choice of herbs for extra flavour.

Cook the pasta - I usually use fusilli (the twisty one)

Drain pasta and mix in other ingredients.

Serve either hot or cold.


Another good buffet dish is egg mayonnaise:

Hard boil eggs

Halve them and arrange on plate

Add a dollop of mayonnaise to each half egg

Dust with paprika and add parsley sprigs to decorate.

pavlovs_dog

lots of little bread rolls/ french stick chopped into smaller bits to help flll people up

crudites (carrots, peppers, cucumber, celery etc) to dip into dips

fairy cakes are very cheap to knock up, easy to decorate, make a great desert.

use fruit to decorate the table...people will often help themselves!

chicken nuggets or similar, are quite cheap to buy in large quantities from farm foods/iceland etc...only if any asks, they are goujons, darling , not nuggets :rotfl:

sandwiches cut into little triangles/ little finger rolls... egg mayo / tuna & sweetcorn / ham / cheese /

you can pick up bags of pretzels/ nibbly bits/ bombay mix or similar very cheaply

cherry tomatoes

selection of different crackers and cheeses?

onion bhajis etc (sp)

Jem8472

tuna and grated cheese is lovelly in sandwiches or rolls, I like a nice chedder cheese.

Lucie_2

Chicken drumsticks - my local market does them ready marinaded for the BBQ - I think you get 30 for a fiver. Stick them in the oven to cook & serve cold.

Couscous salad - easier than rice/pasta salad, cos you don't actually have to boil the couscous. Just pour boiling water over it. I add griddled vegetables - mushroom, onion, pepper etc

You could always do a mexican themed meal - make a big pot of chilli (make it the day before, it tastes better if left for a day!) & serve with flour tortillas, taco shells, mexican dips like salsa & guacomole, chunks of crusty bread, tortilla chips & loads of salad. Apart from making the chilli (pad out with lots of beans), it's no more stressful than putting things in bowls (unless you want to make your own salsa, guacomole etc)

Poing

Just helped Mum do food for her wedding reception, you could make some yourself or buy a lot ready made.
Quiches, samosas, bhajis,etc, bowls of raita: yogurt mint and coriander, make your own garlic & herb yogurt too, fruit flans: use ready made flan cases and tinned mandarins, sliced kiwi etc, then fill with jelly.
A good alternative to sandwiches is to use tortilla wraps, fill, roll, and cut into 4 or 5 slices - often people prefer a little taste of lots of different things (they look nice cut on the diagonal) fillings we used: cooked ham (packet stuff) & spring onions, chicken breast (sliced packet) and pesto, soft cheese (plain or garlic & herb), houmous (can add your own olives if you want), salami & olives, chichen pieces or quorn pieces with cashew nuts or peanuts and mayonaise. You can get spicy tomato wraps in Morrisons to add some colour (used 1/2 plain and 1/2 tomato) just be careful not to overfill them or they fall apart!
Choc and jam swiss rolls cut into slices (you'd be surprised how much people like these - often not something you'd buy anymore).
Have you got kids who'd help make choc cornflake buns? mmmm making myself hungry now!
Hope Saturday goes well

lucylou

use small pizzas with different toppings.or use multicoloured sandwiches for a different and spectacular effect.


multicoloured sandwiches :
layer white bread on top of brown bread (layer about 4 to 8 layers with fillings in between) and then cut in square or triangles

make an omelette and then cut in rounds and top each round with a small
cherry tomato in the middle stuck with a toothpick

make small croissants and fill with ham or turkey:cool: