Please critique my buffet menu

[SundayTulips]

Hi all, we’re cooking for and hosting a buffet for between 20-36 adults next month (depending on RSVPs). We want it to be well done but not fussy (ie really high quality ingredients done well but not in a faffy way). There will be a number of vegetarians to cater for. For that number of people I can’t do too much hot food as don’t have the oven space to keep it all warm. Guests are international and fancy!

I was thinking:

Home made dips - baba ganoush, beetroot, red pepper plus crackers/flatbreads, fresh focaccia and oils

Rare roast beef fillet, cold, sliced, with horseradish sauce on the side
Marinated roast chicken thighs (anyone have a knockout recipe?)
Spinach and feta borek
I need another veggie main. I was thinking a frittata or similar but would love ideas

Straciatella and heirloom tomato salad with basil
Baby new potatoes with herbs
Giant couscous and roast vegetable salad (any dressing recipes are so welcome!)
Roasted white asparagus with aioli

Probably eton mess and brownies for pudding

We haven’t included fish as wanted to be able to focus on a few things done really well, although if suddenly half our guests turn out to be pescatarian I may need to rethink this. If so I would probably do a big bowl of white fish ceviche or similar

That’s my kind of buffet. I would eat all of it and go back for seconds.

Nothing to add, sorry, but it sounds amazing!

Saying the same as many others:

I would take out the chicken thighs and add coronation chicken and two veggie quiches, warm from the oven. You could buy these from a nice cafe if you have one lovally

I’d also add a cheese board and a huge green salad

I’d also either make the Eton mess deconstructed or have something else - lemon or orange polenta cake?

however, this is what I would do, what you planned already sounds completely gorgeous and everyone will love it.

It sounds fabulous! However, I’d be wary of the chicken thighs - keeping chicken warm is a food poisoning risk that I just wouldn’t take. How about Coronation Chicken or similar instead? You can buy rotisserie chickens and cool them to save you cooking the chicken if you want to save time/effort.

I would like an invite it sounds delicious 😋

My friend did cards with food name and short description so people didn't need to ask what is in it (gluten,garlic etc.)
You can get cute cards to match your decor on etsy or shein depending on your budget amd stance to providers

If you want to add fish easily I'd do a mackerel pate - so easy if you buy cook fish, creme fraiche, dill, lemon, parsley.

Surprised no one has mentioned chicken Marbella. I've been making the original from the Silver Palate book for years, but there're a ton of versions out there. It's great for a buffet and is served at room temperature. All done well in advance.

https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/chicken-marbella-updated

Home made dips - baba ganoush, beetroot, red pepper plus crackers/flatbreads, fresh focaccia and oils

if you've got the time and cba, make a herby labneh too. Homemade is so delicious and adds another dimension - can be vegan too if you use a coconut yoghurt.

Rare roast beef fillet, cold, sliced, with horseradish sauce on the side good call

Marinated roast chicken thighs (anyone have a knockout recipe?) I'd suggest roasting boneless thighs, marinaded in harissa (use dried, making a paste wjth crushed garlic and olive oil), then slice for ease

Spinach and feta borek ✅

I need another veggie main. I was thinking a frittata or similar but would love ideas with all the salads and dips etc, you won't need imo)

Straciatella and heirloom tomato salad with basil can highly recommended Ottolenghi's tomato carpaccio instead

Baby new potatoes with herbs ✅

maybe a roasted aubergine (slice them first) and crispy shallot salad with pomegranate molasses. I do this with a mix of lambs lettuce and watercress leaves and it's so good.

Giant couscous and roast vegetable salad (any dressing recipes are so welcome!) swap the couscous for a freekeh and/or quinoa. (2kg cooked weight), 2 Roast butternut squash, 3 red onions and 4 courgettes (cut into roughly 2cm cubes) with harissa and garlic for 30 mins at 200, then stir through the cooked grains with a dressing made with juice of 2 lemons, 6 tbls olive oil, 4 tbls each chopped dill, coriander and parsley when still warm. Before serving crumble over some feta.

Roasted white asparagus with aioli ✅

you could also roast some tenderstem tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with a load of nutritional yeast. Make a dressing with tahini, sumac and yoghurt and drizzle over

Probably eton mess and brownies for pudding make all the components for the Eton mess and leave everyone to make their own - too much of a last minute thing that you don't need to be fussing over

Any coeliacs attending? It's difficult to eat dip with your fingers (and it's likely to be contaminated by others anyhow) when the only salad is full of pasta.

Nothing to add to the menu but jealous you can seat 36 people inside your house !

I would eat the chicken or beef but my husband wouldn't. He won't eat anything but incinerated beef and no bones, his whole family are like that, also doesn't eat fish!

This looks absolutely amazing! I would also agree that fish should go down well. Salmon or mackerel.

Sauce wise, I'd recommend this watercress sauce instead of ordinary horseradish https://piesandfries.blogspot.com/2020/08/week-31-ottolenghi.html It's from the first Ottolenghi book where it's suggested alongside beef fillet, which is lovely, but it works with all sorts of other things too including salmon.

I know you haven't decided on fish, but in Portugal (where my family are from) one of the mainstays of a party buffet is a simple salad made with:

• tinned tuna (can use high quality ventresca tuna)
• black eyed beans
• finely chopped onion
• parsley
• white wine vinegar
• olive oil
• optional: black olives

It comes together very easily - no cooking. I made it recently for a party and it went down very well.

Also, this is a great fritatta recipe, can be served cold -
Nik’s Bombay Frittata | ABCD's of Cooking (abcdsofcooking.com)

Will there be drinking at this event? I bloody love beetroot, but you're asking for stains and misery with that dip.

Whatever you choose for your second veggie main, I'd make it a hot one. A nice Spanish omelette would go down well or perhaps a mushroom stroganoff.

I'd add another carb-based side, such as a wild rice or herby wedges.

If you decide to add a fish dish, I'd keep it really simple. Smoked salmon, fresh dill, capers and lemon.

It all sounds delicious though.

I'd add some crusty bread and a few more traditional sides ...from 36 people there will be some a bit more bland eaters

It sounds really good OP.

I’m another meat eater who doesn’t eat chicken on the bone and at a buffet like this which sounds less informal than some I wouldn’t eat it with my fingers.

As much as the dips sound delicious I think they can be problematic because they’re somehow intimate. Leaning over to scoop up a bit, hoping no one double dips etc! If you put a spoon alongside people might take the hint to serve them almost as a side on their plate.

Agree about a cheeseboard, I would decorate with cherry toms, grapes, cornichons, watercress. Not exactly ground breaking, but always goes down well.

I make a really good cheese and broccoli quiche. I know quiche is all a bit retro, but I serve it warm and it’s very satisfying for a buffet. I haven’t tried doing this, but guessing you could go vegan with ingredients.

Another thing I make which is dead easy if you wanted to put something fishy there - smoked salmon pate. Blend it up with cream cheese, dill, whatever else you might like to add. It has a good consistency to go on a focaccia crispbread or something similar. I serve it on a platter with smoked salmon slices, lemon slices, dill..

I envy the fun you’ll have doing this! Sure it will be a great success whatever you serve.

Looks amazing, although I would also steer clear of chicken on the bone, like some other posters.

If the weather turns hot (hard to imagine) those bags of ice they sell in supermarkets are very handy under or around stuff you need to stay cool. Also for your unopened white wine. Much easier than trying to supply enough out of the freezer when you have already been doing all the food prep, and very cheap.

I have found it useful to have a deputy who can be sent to do a supermarket run for the ice and other extras about an hour and a half before the guests are due.

I loved the confit chickpea recipe - perfect vegan protein dish.

Hi OP. sounds like a lovely spread

I would serve the roast beef on brioche cut into squares or small rectangles (canapé style) with balsamic onions or similar. Will be easier to eat (unless you have a lot of GF guests).

fish wise, you can do smoked salmon bilinis which are very easy. I normally do it with a dollop of craime frêche with chilves/dill, lemon and lots of black pepper. if you want to be fancy you can add salmon roe or caviar

or prawn tempura which eats well cold.

I would definitely do a fish

what about a cheese board and fruit platter? just easy and most people will eat it

I do an Annabel Karmel Courgette gratin that might fit the Spanish omelet / fritata niche with the great advantages that it cooks in the oven, and is nicest when it has cooled down a little. I don't have the recipe to hand but it's searchable - eggs, creme fraiche, cheese, courgettes, parsley, topped with cherry tomatoes. Much better than the sum of its parts, and eatable with fingers if necessary.

I genuinely had no idea people didn’t eat meat on the bone. What is the issue with it? I can certainly do thighs off the bone but this is something I’ve never come across before.

In terms of adding quiches/switching to coronation chicken etc, I think as it’s an evening event and I want to try and set it as a more formal/fancier buffet I don’t think that these would fit perfectly into that vibe unfortunately.

Where's the cheese and pineapple?

It all sounds very 'need to sit down and eat' - which I see you've confirmed they will be.

There is nothing there that's plain and boring. Is sourdough bread and butter too boring?

I don’t really want it to be plain and boring!

But we will have focaccia and olive oil, and the boiled new potatoes with herbs. Are they not boring enough?

The confit chickpea recipe is very tasty. I'm not sure you need plain and boring....though a bit of crusty bread and nice butter always goes down well.