By Sheilah Kaufman , Special to JTNews
What happens when you cross a potluck supper with a wedding reception? If all goes well, a very lucky bride and groom who will have fabulous dishes for their reception and can still afford their dream honeymoon.
A hundred years ago, catering your own wedding with a potluck reception was the standard for most families. Today’s weddings have morphed into expensive extravaganzas that utilize wedding planners, caterers and other professionals. As the economy falters and couples find themselves choosing between a caterer and a honeymoon, or wedding planning and new furniture, other options are back on the table.
Reduced costs, however, are not the only reason to consider a potluck reception.
Being from a small town in Alaska, Rachel Weaver knew she wanted her wedding day to reflect the true community spirit with which she grew up. Rachel hoped to involve her family and friends in a wedding that reflected the events she attended in her hometown. That meant a potluck reception. She got married on October 4, 2008 in Louisville, Colo., surrounded by loved ones whose dishes graced the banquet tables. Rachel and Mike had a less expensive wedding that was wonderful and meaningful, and they were able to afford their dream honeymoon in New Zealand.
Here’s how they did it: Rachel and Mike supplied the main course, brisket and chicken, for 90 guests. Two wedding guests each made potatoes for 50, and others made salads and side dishes. The guests who came from out of town brought the wine. Not only were their loved ones witnesses to this monumental time in their lives, but they participated in a meaningful way in the festivities.
A friend, who’s a baker and caterer, made a three-tier, chocolate raspberry almond wedding cake with fudgy chocolate frosting as a gift.
If you don’t want this to be a typical potluck supper, suggest that your guests bring simple but elegant dishes. The right dishes will make it seem like a wedding reception, but allow people who are not experienced cooks to pitch in.
There are other logistics to consider. If the reception comes right after the wedding, make sure the reception venue has plenty of space to store the dishes and refrigerate those that need to be kept cool. You will either need chafing dishes or some other means of heating and keeping heated dishes warm. You certainly don’t want your guests to leave dishes of food in their cars during the wedding, as they could be dried out or spoiled by the time the reception takes place.
Pick a main course or courses that will fit into your budget and are simple enough to go well with whatever dishes your guests bring. Picture a buffet table with a lovely main course surrounded by an enchanting variety of appetizers, side dishes and desserts. The magic of this occasion will arise not from the expense of the ingredients or the renown of a caterer, but from the love of family and friends. The idea may have grown out of economic necessity, but the result will be priceless. A good way to organize the variety of dishes brought by guests is to assign dishes by the first letter of each guest’s last name. Out-of-town guests can bring the wine.
For example:
A-F — appetizer or soup
G-M — salads
N-S — side dishes, vegetables
T-Z — desserts
I would not recommend leaving the menu to chance. You can provide each person with several recipes to choose from so the final menu is balanced and you know the dishes will work well together. Since I love to prepare desserts, I pretend I am still using my maiden name so I can fall into the dessert category!
Strawberry Soup
My friend and fellow cooking teacher Paula Jacobson taught me this very easy soup. I like to serve it in glasses so my guests can stand and drink it while we talk before dinner. It should be made ahead of time, since it’s better if it sits a while to allow flavors to blend.
1 qt. strawberries, about 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 lbs. Set 6 aside for garnish
2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
Wash and hull the strawberries. Combine all but six strawberries with orange juice in a blender and process until done. Adjust vanilla and sugar to taste. Coarsely chop the remaining strawberries to use as garnish.
Serves 6
Date, Orange,
and Feta Ball Salad
(Salata bil Tamr, Bortuan, wa Jebna)
This is one of the first things cookbook author, cooking teacher, and culinary lecturer Amy Riolo made for me when we first met. Not only was it easy to prepare and beautiful to look at, it was filled with many of my favorite things. From her book Arabian Delights: Recipes and Princely Entertaining Ideas (Capital Books, 2007), this is a bright and festive salad that can add flair to any meal. If you don’t want to bother making the “balls,” crumble feta or goat cheese over the salad.
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped into one-inch pieces
4 medium carrots, peeled and grated
1 11-oz. can mandarin oranges, rinsed*
1/2 cup pitted dates
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp. orange blossom water
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 cup feta cheese, drained
1 large egg
1/4 cup flour
Canola oil, for frying
Arrange romaine lettuce on the bottom of a large serving dish. Scatter carrots on top of lettuce. Arrange mandarin oranges on top of carrots. Arrange pitted dates around the top.
Make dressing by whisking orange juice, lemon juice, orange blossom water, and freshly ground pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Combine feta cheese, egg, and flour in a medium bowl. Using a fork or whisk, mix until light and fluffy.
Heat two inches of canola oil in a medium frying pan. Roll feta mixture into one-inch balls or use a melon baller to make equal-sized balls. Carefully drop feta balls into the hot oil. Fry for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a platter lined with paper towels. Arrange cheese on the top of the salad. Drizzle dressing over the salad. Serve immediately.
Tip: Goat cheese can be substituted for the feta cheese in this recipe.
*If mandarin oranges are not in season, substitute mandarin syrup from 1 (11-ounce) can of mandarin oranges.
Serves 4 to 6.
Elliott Roesen’s Couscous
After begging, Elliott Roesen, a Norfolk, Va. caterer, shared this recipe with me. It is one of his most popular dishes.
12-oz. box couscous
2 cups cream substitute or half-and-half
l Tbs. honey
l Tbs. margarine
3 oz. dried blueberries
3 oz. dried cranberries
6 drops vanilla
3 drops almond extract
2 bananas, sliced
Handful of slivered almonds
Dash of cardamom powder
Sprinkle of brown sugar
In a large pot, heat 2 cups of cream substitute, honey, margarine, and couscous while stirring. Add the dried fruit and mix well. Remove pot from the heat, cover and let it stand for five minutes. Fluff the couscous add the vanilla, almond extract, bananas, almonds, cardamom, and brown sugar, mixing well. Let sit and serve at room temperature.
Serves 6 to 8.
Champagne Summer Fruit Salad
This is from my friend and fellow cooking teacher Sherron Goldstein, author of Fresh Fields, A Celebration of Good Food and Fresh Fields, Entertaining with Southern Comfort. Sherron’s approach to food, cooking and entertaining always has a fresh feel. She combines unlikely ingredients and makes them not only work, but flourish.
4 Tbs. Grand Marnier
6 Tbs. sugar
6 ripe peaches
1 pint strawberries
1/2 pint fresh blueberries, washed and drained
1/2 pint fresh raspberries, washed and drained
1 bottle of good champagne
In a large bowl, mix the Grand Marnier and sugar.
Wash and stone the peaches, then peel and cut into thin slices. Mix with sugar, making sure all peaches are well-coated.
Wash strawberries. Remove hulls and cut in halves or quarters. Gently mix with peaches.
Add blueberries and raspberries to fruit and toss gently to coat. Transfer fruit mixture to a sealed container and chill until needed.
Just before serving, pour fruit into generous- sized serving bowl. When ready to serve, slowly pour champagne over fruit. The sugar will react to the alcohol making the champagne froth.
Add enough to nearly cover the fruit. Mix gently and serve.
Number of servings: 6
Sheilah Kaufman is the author of 26 cookbooks and works as a traveling cooking teacher, lecturer and food writer. Visit her Web site at www.cookingwithsheilah.com.