Make A Vegetable Platter Recipes Food Cooking International Guide
Make A Vegetable Platter To Increase The Variety Of Your Party Food
By Patricia Gorginas
Make a vegetable platter to please your guests. Apart from the
usual, cheeses, dips, crackers and corn chips, a vegetable platter
may be the best crowd pleaser at your party. You can purchase
organic veggies from a food store or use your own vegetables from
your garden.
If you know a number of your guests are vegans, then you may
look at making a raw vegetable platter. I have seen people who
are definitely not vegans, eat almost all the vegetable platter,
nibbling all night until the platter is completely empty.
A Platter With Pickled Vegetables
Apart from raw vegetables, you can also place another platter
with pickled vegetables. I make my own pickles with cucumbers,
green unripened tomatoes and peppers. I even pickle some of my
cabbages. I try to avoid the strong vinegar taste you get when
you buy pickles from the store, by reducing the amount of vinegar
in my pickles.
Knowing my guests love vegetables, I review your options and
supply vegetables from my organic garden whenever I make a vegetable
platter.
Serving An Attractive And Delicious Well Rounded Menu
Throwing a party generally involves a lot of work! You want to
serve your guests a well-rounded menu that’s attractive and delicious.
One party trick from seasoned hosts? Make a vegetable platter!
This is a healthy and easy way to add a festive touch to any
get-together without spending days in the kitchen. If you’ve got
any vegan guests coming, a large vegetable platter with all the
trimmings is sure to be a hit. So, how do you make a vegetable
platter that’s the star of the buffet? We’ve got the answers.
Drawing Your Guests To Your Platter
You’ve got to approach this dish as a work of art. In this case,
it’s all in the presentation. A little bowl of broccoli florets
and dip on the side is not all that visually attractive. When
you make a vegetable platter, you want it to make a visual statement,
such that guests will be drawn to take a closer look at this work
of art.
Choosing the right platter is where you begin. If your party
has a casual theme, a bright plastic platter might work. If this
event is more of an upscale affair, a gleaming silver platter,
lined with white lace paper doilies may be the best choice. An
in-between choice of platter might be the Majolica style white
ceramic platter with dividers. The idea is that you want to showcase
those veggies!
Adding Visual Contrast To Your Platter
Color plays an important role in the presentation. You may have
noticed this at the meat counter of the supermarket: the butcher
separates the different meats with thick dividers of, well, plastic
parsley. Nonetheless, the bright green color serves to differentiate
between the different meats and adds visual contrast. You want
to use the same concept when you make a vegetable platter.
This gets us to the arrangement of the veggies. Let’s say you’re
serving marinated mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower florets,
pickled onions, sweet red, orange and purple bell pepper, celery
and carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes. Remember, when you make
a vegetable platter, it’s art on the hoof.
Arrangement Of The Vegetables
For the most come-hither presentation, arrange the vegetables
so that each one is side-by-side with a contrasting color of veggie.
Be neat when you arrange each veggie, making a pizza-slice shape
of each veggie, going towards the center of the plate.
To make a vegetable platter that sings its own praises, be creative
in how you divide each section. For example, brighten up the mushroom
display with a divider made of fresh rosemary sprigs between the
mushrooms and the purple bell pepper. Follow the purple sweet
peppers with fresh sprigs of parsley, followed by the carrot sticks.
Contrast draws the eye – and appetite.
Place A Range Of Dips Nearby
Accompany your veggie platter with several choices of dips. Make
a little place card that tells the guest what each dip is. Ranch
and blue cheese look much the same. Your curry sauce dip may look
like French dressing, so specify.
Cut glass votive candle holders, filled with cocktail toothpicks,
increases the visual appeal of your dish. While the raw vegetable
platter is the norm, there is another tasty and attractive possibility:
the tempura veggie platter.
When you make a vegetable platter of this type, it’s time to
go look for a rainbow-colored plastic platter to showcase this
group!
Finding Out Discreetly The Expectations Of Your Guests
If you are looking for more ideas to please your guests, you
may think about the expectations of your guests. You can find
out, without the need to ask directly, what you will place on
your platter. You may find out one of your guests loves cucumber,
so do not forget to place pieces of cut cucumber and a cucumber
dip nearby.
You may place a selection of crackers and corn chips near the
dips, for your guests to use with their dips. Many people love
cheese with their vegetables, so place a selection of low fat
to normal fat cheeses with a little card nearby describing the
type of cheese.
A Meat Platter
Of course, you do not have to place only vegetable and cheeses
on your party platters. You can make another platter, with meat
selections including sliced salami and small pieces of cooked
meat.
The main aim of your party is to meet the needs of all your guests.
Some guests are vegetarian, most are not. Even those who are not
vegetarian, may gravitate to the vegetarian platter. Knowing the
expectations of your guests can go a long way to make a vegetable
platter.
About the Author:
Patricia Gorginas has written a number of articles on party ideas, cooking, recipes and food including
Dinner Party Ideas,
Quick and Easy Dinner Recipes,
Italian Cooking,
Chocolate Cake,
Muffin Baskets,
Cheese Recipes,
Food And Wine,
Boost Your Metabolism,
Italian Food,
French Food.
Keep a lookout for more of her articles on this website.
Did You Know?
There are many wonderful gift options for Fathers Day. You do
not have to go with the standard necktie or wallet. Why not go
for something truly unique? A great gift to give your Father or
your husband (addressed from your children of course) is the gift
of life.
By giving him a tree to plant on this special day, you are helping
not only the world and the ecology but you are giving him something
he can watch as the years go by. Just do not forget to put in
a card with the tree!
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