Unique Salads and Starters – Part Two
Stirring Up Starters
A wonderful benefit in selecting a custom wedding celebration menu, is working with a chef who will embrace your vision; translating it through their creative talents into a designed menu. Beginning with a unique starter for your breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner is the perfect start. As we said in part one, if you are having a salad – at least be creative. But why limit yourself to just salad when you can literally stir things up a bit?
Soup
Soup is an interesting idea, as most underestimate the level of tastes and complexity in a designed soup. It’s an item that is totally underutilized and will surprise your guests. So here are a couple ideas to get you thinking:
In the summer, there is nothing more refreshing than a cold cucumber or asparagus soup topped off with a little crème fresh.
In the winter, a very warm broth or tomato basil soup makes the taste buds dance. And if you want to add a little fun to the tomato basil soup, include small grill cheese sandwiches, with the crust cut off, of course, for the more formal dinner.
When serving soup, forgo the soup cup on the saucer, oh no it can’t be just basic, consider your talented wait staff to serve French Style – tableside – serving from a terrine or use a small demi cup on a saucer for people to drink!
Amuse Bouche
A small bite before the meal begins, a special greeting from the Chef de cuisine is a great way to pamper your guests and tease them all at the same time. The amuse bouche is an introduction to the amazing culinary experience about to unfold before your guests. A one bite item, an amuse bouche can be presented in a variety of ways. A smoked salmon with a dollop of caviar would be a great dance on the taste buds before your seafood dinner begins. The concept of an amuse bouche, is that it’s suppose to introduce you to the upcoming menu flavors about to be served to you and your guests, not taking you down a different culinary path completely.
Cheese Course
Part of the culinary trend for foodies includes a growing appreciation for cheeses of every flavor, texture and shape. As a starter course it’s a fun way to start the meal, but you can also offer this course as an after dinner course just before dessert. Ending the dinner, it lets diners finish up the last of their wine, allowing them to enjoy a dessert wine or cordial with their dessert. A cheese course as an integral part of a formal dinner has been experienced in Europe and formal dinning establishments for centuries. It has gained it’s popularity in weddings over just the last five years as people have moved away from the basic three course menu concept for their wedding. Taking it a step further, label each cheese and allow the guests to select their choice from the wait staff.
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