Easy Food Ideas for a Holiday Open House

If you're looking for easy food ideas for a holiday open house, here are three that will allow you to entertain your guests stylishly with great food and little work.  Sound impossible? Read on.

Gourmet Sandwich Route
Looking for easy? The gourmet sandwich route is very easy--buy gourmet sandwiches or pinwheels, potato salad and perhaps a fresh fruit tray from an upscale gourmet supermarket--here in Houston that would be places like Whole Foods or Central Market. 

Notice I said "gourmet"--the point is that you have to spend a little money to have very good quality gourmet sandwiches, potato salad, and fruit trays.  Dress up the spread with a nice dessert, bought or made, nice wines and/or craft beers, and if it's cold maybe a hot beverage.  Dress it up more with nice plates, forks, and napkins.  Several years ago we attended a home tour and afterwards one of the hosts served just such a spread from Central Market, and since he used nice plates, cutlery, glasses, and wines, it made it seem special, the quality was excellent, and every bit was eaten!

Pasta Main Dish
If you want to serve a hot main dish at your open house, the easiest one is a pasta main dish.  But don't worry! This need not be complicated.  If you're doing the cooking, choose an easy dish like the one below, which Chef Jesús sometimes serves at family holiday open houses (to the great delight of the young folks, who don't seem to get full with hors d'oeuvres). 

This recipe is adapted from one of our favorite cookbooks, Edda Servi Machlin's The Cuisine of the Italian Jews. 

Le Pastone
First, saute in a little olive oil and butter a finely chopped shallot until the shallot is soft and translucent and then some fresh Italian or other fresh sausage, removed from its casing, until cooked through.

For the pasta:
2 1 lb. packages of rigatoni
2 cups butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Boil rigatoni following package directions until al dente (make sure to add salt to the water).  Heat a large bowl and slice the butter into it.  Take 1/2 cup of boiling water from the pasta pot and add to the bowl.  Stir to melt the butter.  Drain pasta and immediately pour it over the butter.  Toss until all pasta is coated with butter.  Sprinkle Parmigiano over it and toss again until pasta is well coated with cheese.  Mix well with the sauteed sausage and shallot, add some freshly ground black pepper, and serve hot. Serves 6-8 hungry guests or 8-10 not-as-hungry guests.

Serve the pasta with a salad, nice wines and some sparkling ciders, and a nice bought dessert.  Easy, and everyone's happy, even the hungrier guests.

Dessert Buffet
Aslo very easy to pull off--but take our advice and don't do a dessert potluck, almost invariably the quality is very mixed.  Instead, buy two desserts and make one, or buy three or four.  The only trick is to buy from reputable sources such as Whole Foods (no trans fats), a good restaurant that you frequent, a caterer, or even the wonderful imported Italian panettones and pandoros, available in several varieties.  So, for example, buy a panettone, some fruit tarts (nice ones at Whole Foods) or mini desserts, and a cheescake.  Or make cookies, a trifle, and your specialty dessert if you have one.  Just remember that people prefer smaller desserts to full size ones! And that you need at least three different kinds of dessert to pull this open house off.

Then, to add the special touch, serve the three or four desserts with nice dessert wines or champagne and coffees, maybe an organic or imported Italian soda for the non-drinkers, or punch or another specialty "pitcher" or punchbowl drink.  Use nice little plates, maybe even decorative paper ones, and decorative paper or real napkins and real cutlery. Decorate your dessert buffet with Christmas balls or something holiday-ish and maybe some greenery too.  Your guests will feel like VIPs and it wasn't much work for you.

Enjoy!

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
www.fandango-catering.com