Fandango Catering Offers 5 Tips for Choosing a Dinner Party Menu

Many people are intimidated by choosing a dinner party menu (or any menu).  Today we offer 5 tips to make the process less intimidating and more enjoyable. 

Use color ideas--As you put together your dinner party menu, think of what colors the foods or sauces will be and try for a mix of colors on the plate.  For example, if you have a chicken or pork or seafood dish in a light-colored sauce, you want to choose side dishes that complement the color of the entrée sauce, such as green spinach or artichokes or orange carrots or sweet potatoes, or potatoes or pasta or rice with a green- or red- (or shades of) colored sauce.  If you serve a a beef or pork dish with a dark-colored sauce, serve colorful vegetables that are orange or green or red, or a starch that is light-colored or with a green- or red-colored (or shades of) sauce.  You can also, if you're feeling ambitious, add chopped chives to the plated food (for plated, not buffet dinners) and that will make it more colorful, just sprinkle the chives over the food and serve.

Consider all the food--If you serve a meat or chicken main course you want to serve a vegetable- or cheese- or seafood-based appetizer.  If your main course is fish or seafood, serve a meat, chicken, pork, or cheese- or vegetable-based appetizer.

Salad? Don't repeat the main course--If you'll have chicken as your main course, don't put chicken in the salad.  We advise against serving salads with chicken, beef, pork, or seafood unless that IS the main course.

Pair dessert to the other courses--If your main course is very rich and filling, serve a light dessert, and if your main course is light (not skimpy but rather light in sauce or marinade), serve a richer, more filling dessert.  Unless everyone's on a diet! Then serve everything light :)

Write or type and print your dinner party menu and review it--Don't just stare at it on a computer or tablet.  In cold hard print or writing is where you'll see if you're repeating ingredients, have flavors that are too extreme or timid for your guests, have taken into account any vegetarians or special diets, are in season or wildly out of season, will need hard-to-obtain ingredients, etc., etc.  Review with a critical eye and then decide if you need to make changes, and it's not a bad idea to have at least one other pair of eyes look it over and give feedback. 

BTW, a dinner party is NOT the time to try a new recipe--if it comes out badly you'll look foolish.  Stick with recipes you know and do well, or hire someone, and save the new recipe for another day, when you can test it and then, having tried it out, use it at your next party.

Warmly,

Kristina

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