With little ones, I find that the best way to eat is to serve food ‘family style’ and by this I mean we place the food in the middle of the table and we allow each person to take what they would like to eat. We reduce our waste and have happier children. But I also love to eat this way when we are entertaining and this ‘serve yourself salad’ is great for entertaining or taking to a BBQ this summer.
There are many advantages to piling food onto platters and into big bowls to serve ‘family style’ whilst entertaining.
Your table looks bountiful — and it’s bound to make people hungry. There’s just something about a big plate of chicken with vegetables nestled around it, or salad mounded up in a bowl. It looks inviting.
It saves you time. You can dump everything from the roasting pan (or slow cooker, or sauté pan) onto a platter and go. No fussing over individual plates, trying to evenly portion out six servings of asparagus.
Passing platters encourages friendly conversation. It just does. Eating feels communal and familial, which is how dinner should be. And trust us, when someone says, “Hey, can you pass me the potatoes again? Those are good!” it will warm your heart.
Your guests get to eat what they want. If someone doesn’t like couscous, she can pass, or take a small amount, rather than eating around a pre-portioned serving already on the plate. Also, guests can help themselves to seconds without your having to get up and go back to the kitchen.
SERVE YOURSELF SALAD { also known as mixed salad with toasted sesame dressing}
1 bag of mixed lettuce
2 cucumbers
1 red onion
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
1 punnet of strawberries
1 avocado
3 tbsps of sesame seeds
1 tbsp of rice vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce
1-2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds {dry toasted in a frying pan}
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp dijion mustard
Place your rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, salt, toasted sesame seeds, sesame oil and dijion mustard in a food processor and blitz until well combined.
Wash and slice your salad ingredients, laying them out in groups on your platter so that people can take the ingredients that they would like. Drizzle with the toasted sesame seed dressing and then top with the extra sesame seeds.
Have you ever whipped up a recipe from my blog? I would love for you to let me know…So I don’t feel as if I am just writing all this stuff down for nothing… If you choose to whip up one of my recipes , then I would love for you to share it on social media, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #goodfoodweek.
