Embrace 'freaky' veggies for an edible centrepiece
December 23, 2009
Ivy Knight
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Having one lavish course of your holiday meal already on the table before guests take their seats can go a long way to reducing the pressure to impress the nitpicky in-laws.
Imagine sitting down at a beautifully set table to a small dish of herb aioli and, then, noticing in the centre of the table a tableau of gorgeous crudité. What at first registered as a wild centrepiece has now clarified itself into a beautiful, easily accessible first course.
This impact could never be duplicated on individual plates, where all the grandness and height would be reduced to a lovely, but simple, little pile of veggies.
"I like to use something organic, something with texture to it for the centre of the arrangement," says Roman Furtado, a stylist who has recently fallen into florals, doing weddings and displays for the Bay and Holt Renfrew.
"When assembling the vegetable display, I went with a cauliflower in the centre. It has nice colour and texture and I could layer the other vegetables up and over it."
A quick trip to Fiesta Farms on Christie St. netted a wide selection of colourful vegetables, including bright green broccolini, yellow tomatoes, white asparagus and purple radicchio.
"Look for festive-coloured jewel tones," Furtado says. "Don't be afraid of the odd-looking stuff. Welcome the freaky-looking vegetation!"
He prefers non-matching place settings and unusual dishes to brighten up a table or buffet, such as tiny vintage ashtrays he uses to hold figs, pomegranate and pickled onions on the bar. A champagne flute holds blackberries, a squat martini glass holds olives, and a small mortar, sans pestle, holds caper berries.
Teacups are given new life as bowls for watercress aioli, perfect for dipping. A mélange of antique glass adds festive colour and sparkle to Furtado's elegantly set table.
Consider another option: after serving canapés in the dining room, bring your guests to the table, where they are seated with a garnish plate in front of them.
The plate contains a hillock of shaved red onion topped with capers, a mound of chopped fresh dill, a ramekin each of cocktail sauce and melted butter, crostini and sliced lemon.
In the centre of the table is a centrepiece of soaring lobster tails, swirls of smoked salmon, mounds of salmon tartare, farmed sturgeon caviar, oysters on the half-shell, skewers of white shrimp – a veritable horn of plenty from the ocean and, if you do your research (see sidebar), all of it sustainable and worthy of your decadent holiday table.
A charcuterie centrepiece is even simpler to put together, since you can source all of the ingredients from butchers and deli counters and only need to assemble the delicious ingredients on a platter.
The same can be said for a cheese and breadboard, selections of dried fruit, nuts and varieties of crackers and breads. All are easy to purchase and assemble in an imaginative landscape with a selection of Ontario cheeses.
Yet another scenario involves a centrepiece your eyes get to enjoy for a while before your taste buds do.
The dessert course; a cornucopia of exotic fruit and berries, garnished with sugar-coated sprigs of mint, adorns the centre of the table.
While guests are enjoying the savoury courses, this close-to-final course can provide some eye candy to distract from the drunken uncle crying on your shoulder and the anti-social cousin hiding by your ankles.
Once the plates are cleared, bring out dishes of whipped cream and chocolate sauce, lemon curd and boozy cherries to accompany the dessert.
It's a great option for those who are too full for dessert but are often forced to take huge helpings from some well-meaning relative with no concept of the word "no."
This will allow your guests to take as little or as much as they wish. And, because it's not a buffet table on the other side of the room, the proximity of judgmental family as tablemates will hopefully ensure that no one makes a glutton of themselves.
Ivy Knight is a freelance writer, caterer, cook and radio show host. You can read more of her work at www.ivyknight.com.
Get more holiday inspiration in the Yourhome.ca Festive Guide.
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