Buffet Revisited: Great Flavours!

Posted by Lesli

I had the pleasure of taking in a party Saturday night at a swank hotel. A buffet was offered up at dinner time. I enjoyed the mix of flavours and the combination of the food items.

To start with there were all these dinner buns - round ones, cornucopia-shaped ones, whole wheat ones and sunflower seed-studded ones - little balls of butter were available for those of us that can't resist a fresh dinner roll smeared with real butter...

Carrying on down the buffet were the salads - a garlicy Caesar Salad, a delicious Seafood Salad (think shrimp, scallops, angel hair pasta & red onions in a light oil dressing...) and an organic spring mix green salad with baby black Kalamata olives - yum!

Then there was a selection of sushi favourites including salmon & tuna.

The flavour of the main meal was so enjoyable and included creamy mashed potatoes with oregano & garlic; sauted summer squash, broccoli & carrots; teriyaki chicken breast with chunks of pineapple and finally New York striploin in mushroom gravy.

For dessert plates of assorted fruit and assorted pastries (like mini chocolate eclairs and cashew tarts) were placed on each table.

I'm always on the look-out for new food combinations and serving ideas. I was thinking as I was enjoying my dinner what a wonderful buffet I could have using this meal as a template. A buffet is really quite simple:

- Something to butter
- One or two salads
- A mixed vegetable dish
- Something carb-like (Potatoes, pasta, rice...)
- Protein entree (Meat, Chicken, Fish or Beans)
- Dessert (Fresh fruit was a refreshing change to the usual calorie laden creamy desserts)

...and a nice rose wine...and a few chafing dishes...I'll get right on that...

TAGS: Buffet, Buns, Butter, Chafing Dishes, Chicken Breast, Cornucopia, Dinner, Flavour, Hotel, New York, Rose Wine, Salad, Striploin, Swank
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