But you are not always ready to serve a four course meal, when suddenly you open the door and there is a bunch of friends with a few bottles of wine, ready to start a party. How to get out of the situation? If you live close by to a supermarket or at least have reasonable supplies at home, you can get through with 15 min worth of shopping and 20 minute worth o fassambley in kitchen.
So:
Party Emergency Kit
- Chips (potato or nacho, my ones of choice are plain, but go for flavoured if you wish)everybody loves them if served in an appropriate way. Never, NEVER serve them by opening a bag and dropping it on the table with a phrase ''Help yourself!'' It's plain gross! Use a pretty plate or bowl or a basket. Serve 2 or 3 varieties for a more sophisticated look.
- Crackers (choose different varieties to suit the differet tastes of your guests, some will go for rich and buttery ones like ''Tuc'', others will prefer wholegrain varieties, so called water crackers or rice crackers) The same rule as for chips applies, serve them on a platter rather than stright from packaging.
- Crudites (vegetables cut into sticks, strips or any other managable pieces, you can use cucumber, tomato vedges, carrot and celery sticks, cauliflower florets, capsicum strips, basically everything that can be eaten raw)
- Dips for the three C's mentioned above. In this section I'm going to suggest 4 of my party favourites.
Garlic Sour Cream Dip
Ingredients:
- sour cream
- lemon juice
- garlic
- mustard
- salt
- sugar
Method:
Finely chop or mince the garlic, mix all ingredients according to taste.
Easy Guacamole
Ingerdients:
- a ripe avocado
- olive oil (extra virgin grade)
- lemon juice
- garlic
- salt
- pepper
Method:
Mash the avocado into a fine puree. Add lemon juice, salt, pepper and minced or finely chopped garlic. Mix well, than while intensively mixing, thin to desired consistency with olive oil.
Sundried Tomato Hummus
Ingredients:
- canned chickpeas (also called ceci or garbanzo)
- garlic
- sundried tomatoes in oil
- sesame seeds
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
Method:
Mince or finely chop the garlic. In a dry pan toast the sesame seeds until golden. Add garlic and cook briefly. Transfer seeds and garlic to a food processor and process until whole seeds are not visible. Drain a can of chickpeas and add to the seeds in processor together with a handful of sundried tomatoes. Process the mixture until smooth. If it looks dry, add oil from sundried tomatoes or olive oil, or, if extremely dry, the liquid drained from the chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Curry Dip
Ingredients:
- salad or light mayonaise
- sweet tomato ketchup
- mild curry powder
Method:
Mix the ingredients according to taste.
Optional extras:
5. A fruit platter (you can't go wrong with that one)
6. A platter of 3 to 4 interesting cheeses (choose different types of cheese, hard, semi hard, blue-veined, spreadable that might serve as a dip as well)
7. A platter of sweet biscuits, confectionary and chocolates
Remembet about wine, long drinks, and plenty of soft drinks for abstainers, and the gastronomical part of your party is sorted.
The rest is up to you! Have fun!
