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Buffet help please!

41 replies

Makemineacosmo · 23/07/2023 18:59

Hi all, I'm hoping to pick your brains. Having some friends round next weekend and I want to make an easy (for me) buffet table. I'll have salad, charcuterie board, cheese board, olives, dips etc, but I need some more ideas please. Two guests are coeliac so I want to make as much gluten free as possible to minimise the chance of cross contamination. (Any baguettes etc will be on a separate table). I don't want a lot for the oven ands needs to be fork food really. My kitchen is tiny too!

OP posts:
PeachF · 23/07/2023 19:11

What about a cold quinoa salad with lemon, mint which would be GF. Bruschetta made with GF sourdough.
We like the little feta stuffed peppers from the supermarket, sundried tomatoes and pasta/orzo salad too. As well as mozzarella and tomato sliced with basil and olive oil over the top. Hope you have a lovely day!

Sandals94 · 23/07/2023 19:13

Cous cous.
Feta/Mozzerella

bellac11 · 23/07/2023 19:15

smoked salmon or mackerel pate?

To be honest sounds like you have enough anyway

Interested in this thread?

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BarrelOfOtters · 23/07/2023 19:16

If you have coeliac guests, I have them sometimes, I don’t have any bread gluten stuff as I worry.

m&s do lovely gluten free seedy crisp breads.

you could do frittata, that’s nice warm. Some jacket potatoes, little ones with sour cream. Salmon, smoked fish, prawns.

dinmin · 23/07/2023 19:16

Spanish omelette cut into wedges / squares? (Gf)
agree with a quinoa based salad. Also a potato salad?

Thisisnowmyusername · 23/07/2023 19:19

Old fashioned cheese and pineapple on sticks.

Overthebow · 23/07/2023 19:20

I wouldn’t put any things containing gluten out, just in case. Get gluten flatbreads or sourdough and crackers. Then a potato salad, a cous cous salad, pate.

DreamTheMoors · 23/07/2023 19:21

Summer salad?

Cucumber, tomatoes and onions in Italian dressing (or balsamic dressing is delicious too).
You can make it the night before and cover it and it’ll be ready for your party the next day having marinated overnight.

Chocbuttonsandredwine · 23/07/2023 19:21

Cold salmon?
jacket potatoes or baby new potatoes made into potato salad?

Ilovelurchers · 23/07/2023 19:21

I'd do a load of salads - easy to prepare ones. A Greek salad. Tomato and mozzarella salad. A couscous one. A potato one (new potatoes fried a little then boiled in lime juice with a bit of red onion and coriander is nice). A herb salad - loads of coriander and resh mint. Maybe a pasta salad with gluten free pasta?

God I love salad!

Go hard on the dips as well. Hummus of varying kinds. Guacamole. Tzatsiki. Maybe a raw tomato dip. Possibly even an aubergine one?

God I love dips too.....

Makemineacosmo · 23/07/2023 19:24

Overthebow · 23/07/2023 19:20

I wouldn’t put any things containing gluten out, just in case. Get gluten flatbreads or sourdough and crackers. Then a potato salad, a cous cous salad, pate.

Yes I think you're right, I'll be too worried. I've got kettle chips for the dips etc because they're gluten free. I don't want to make anyone poorly!

Some great ideas thank you, def going to try the m & a gf crackers, if they're nice then everyone can have them instead of risking cross contamination. X

OP posts:
bellac11 · 23/07/2023 19:36

I would always use bulgar wheat instead of quinoa, is that gluten free?

YesterdayO · 23/07/2023 19:40

No, Bulgur wheat is not gluten-free.

Neither is cous cous, in case anyone was wondering about that.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 23/07/2023 19:42

A Spanish omelette (tortilla de patatas)

Easy to make and great hot or cold.

gogomoto · 23/07/2023 19:45

Couscous contains wheat!

Rice salad is the way to go

gogomoto · 23/07/2023 19:46

Mini baked potatoes with smoked salmon, cream cheese and dill went down very well recently

bellac11 · 23/07/2023 19:49

YesterdayO · 23/07/2023 19:40

No, Bulgur wheat is not gluten-free.

Neither is cous cous, in case anyone was wondering about that.

Yes I didnt think cous cous was gluten free, its pasta essentially, people seem to think its a grain on its own, its not

nameXname · 23/07/2023 19:56

Not pasta salad as suggested by previous poster - that's unlikely to be GF.
You can get GF pasta but it's not generally very nice. Other PP's suugestions sound v good, however..

Hummus (ideally home-made and without tahini) with carrot sticks and red pepper strips.

Aubergine dip and blini/buckwheat pancakes. (Both easy to make.)

Smoked salmon pate (home-made, to be sure of GF: just smoked salmon pieces and soft cheese and parsley and black pepper) and wafer-thin slices of Granny Smith apples to dip, and lemon wedges.

Vine leaves stuffed with rice and herbs.

Buckweat grain pilaf or rice similar.

Fritters based on chopped veg, spices, chopped spring onion etc and gram flour.

Ratatouille with lots of garlic and fresh parsley.

Aioli with various cold/lightlly cooked veg.

Potato salad with GF mayonnaise plus a little 'live' apple cider vinegar, plenty of chopped apple, chopped gherkins or capers, chopped spring onion, lots of fresh parsley and black pepper and a tiny twinge of fresh tarragon.

Toasted nuts, puffed salted giant corn (maize) kernels as nibbles.

Little squares of frittata - with any combination of spinach, spring onion, asparagus, fresh herbs and gated strong cheese on top.

Fried mushroom and onion frittata.

Broccoli and salmon frittata.

Vey spicy salsa with sour cream, grated cheddar and GF torilla chips.

VERY retro:

Mini-cocktail sausages on sticks (if gluten free).

Fresh pineapple and cheese cubes on cocktail sticks. Can add halved mini tomatoes if liked.

Sorry if this duplicates any previous mentions. Wrote this then had to dish up supper; have only now retured to thread.

AdoraBell · 23/07/2023 20:02

I agree not having bread or other gluten products.

Potato salads, maybe do some different options. Your list is good.

AHugeTinyMistake · 23/07/2023 20:05

Agree with potato suggestions - much better carby alternative to pasta, bread etc

Makemineacosmo · 23/07/2023 20:37

Would ini jacket potatoes with smoked salmon be ok if the potatoes were room temp? I'm trying to avoid spending too much time in the kitchen if poss, so I can be with my guests.

OP posts:
Snugglemonkey · 23/07/2023 22:06

Makemineacosmo · 23/07/2023 20:37

Would ini jacket potatoes with smoked salmon be ok if the potatoes were room temp? I'm trying to avoid spending too much time in the kitchen if poss, so I can be with my guests.

Yes, think of them like blinis.

Makemineacosmo · 24/07/2023 08:44

Any ideas for gluten free mini puds?

OP posts:
ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 24/07/2023 09:24

Eton mess in a glass (buy the meringues)
Gluten free chocolate brownies
Panna cotta
Strawberries and cream

BarrelOfOtters · 24/07/2023 11:04

I often make nigellas clementine cake - you could cut into squares.

cake

The other one that goes down well is melt some chocolate and stir in mixed nuts, salted ones are good, bits of other chocolate, honeycomb, marshmallows and cool and break into chunks. You can scatter with rose petals if you feeling fancy.

Clementine Cake

This is a wonderfully damp, dense and aromatic flourless cake: it tastes like one of those sponges you drench, while cooling, with syrup, only you don't have to. And it's such an accommodating kind of cake, too: it keeps well, indeed it gets better af...

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/clementine-cake