How to organize a festive buffet at work? Buffet at work: a holiday in the office at home.

Table "a la buffet table" ... New Year's ideas for a festive table

If your house at the time of the New Year's Eve turns into a "assembly point" for a large number of friends who, as a rule, knowing your hospitality, will bring their other friends with them and inform you about this the day before the holiday, then the best solution for your new year's party will be table "a la buffet"- it is covered for receptions with a large number of guests.

Initially, the reception a la buffet was invented in France. This method of organizing a ceremonial table has a number of advantages. A buffet table is a way of receiving guests, which eliminates the need to purchase additional pieces of furniture, since the main purpose of the reception is communication, not a feast.

In most cases, the buffet table is associated with the need to organize the reception of guests in a short time. The name itself can literally be translated from French as “on a fork”, which characterizes the whole process of eating.

The advantage of a buffet table is that the number of guests is not related to the amount of furniture in the house. An additional plus for the hostess is that she does not need to worry about the serving of dishes, the degree of their warmth and the filling of guests' plates.

Guests move freely around the room, gather according to interest groups, communicate freely, choosing those snacks on the table that are more to their taste. Snacks should be quite diverse: variety is the key to a good buffet!

Several useful recipes

Buffets always offer up to three options for dishes. Eg, side dishes: boiled potatoes with parsley, dill and onion, vegetables, rice with saffron; meat and fish dishes: kebabs, red fish steaks, chicken breast in sauce. And as for salads, tartlets, puff sandwiches and canapes - they can be prepared innumerable.

Don't forget the cheese platter. Cheese- high-calorie and very tasty product. And now there are so many types of cheese for sale that you can easily lay out several plates of hard and soft varieties. And to top it off, cater to your vegetarian guests. Cheese is cut into pieces of 25-40 gr. Varieties are not too close to one another in a clockwise direction, for example: first savory blue cheese, then soft Camembert-type cheese with a penicillin crust, then hard, mild and sliced ​​​​spicy. The classic addition to cheese is grapes. Pear and melon slices are combined with cheese.

Even the hostess should not forget about pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, corn cobs, champignons, bell peppers, cauliflower, as well as spicy salted olives and herring.

Appetizers, several types of sliced ​​bread, salads are placed closer to the edge. The second tier in the depth is sweet dishes, pastries, fruits. Each dish with food should have an appropriate device with which you can put a portion on your plate.

Buffet serving depends, among other things, on the position of the table: if you can approach it from all sides, then you need to serve the buffet table in a circle.

Spices are traditional - salt and pepper. If sauces are required for dishes, they are placed next to the corresponding dishes.

Soft drinks when serving are poured into glasses or served in jugs. Alcoholic drinks are placed in open bottles in groups at different ends of the table, next to the glasses. For used dishes, an additional, small table is placed next to the main table, on which guests will put the empty dishes.

There are no restrictions for the buffet menu. The only requirement concerns the convenience of the dishes. For the most part, these are a variety of snacks that are easy to put on a plate and eat.

Since the same devices are used for table setting as for a regular feast, the dishes can be varied. The only requirement is that the dishes for the buffet should be served already cut and divided into portions - they should be in such a way that it is most convenient for guests to put them on an individual plate and treat themselves, as they say, "on the go." If it is a fish, then in the form of a fillet, if it is chicken pieces, then without bones.

Volovans - snack bars (baskets) from purchased puff pastry

Tartlets

Tartlets are small cups made from dough prepared according to a specific recipe, which are filled with various fillings - meat, fish, mushroom, vegetable. In some recipes, stuffed tartlets are filled with sauce and then left in the oven for a short time to thicken the sauce. For tartlets, shortbread dough with the addition of an egg or yolk is optimal.

Tartlets with caviar. Delicious, beautiful, fast.

The recipe for an unsurpassed evening dessert - glamorous tartlets made from caviar, rice, avocado and cream cheese.

Products :

Rice - better milk or rice for sushi
Ripe avocado
Salmon caviar
Cream cheese

Salt
Pepper
Lemon juice

Cooking :

Boil rice, cool it. Peel the avocado, remove the pit, mash the flesh with a fork, season with salt, pepper, add a little lemon juice to keep the color.

With wet hands form balls of rice, press them down. On top, in the next layer, lay out the avocado mass, then a layer of cheese mass, so that the dish looks like puff cakes. Put the red caviar in the last layer.

If possible, the layers should be equal in volume. The size can be any. Small cakes can be eaten like canapés, large ones can be eaten with a knife and fork. You can decorate with greenery.

In principle, dough baskets can be stuffed with any salads. The only requirement is that salads should not be too liquid so that the dough does not get wet. For this reason, vegetable salads that give juice are not put in tartlets.

• You can make a salad of boiled shrimp, green peas and fresh cucumber with mayonnaise dressing. Top the salad with grated cheese and garnish with sprigs of parsley or dill.

• Another option is fresh pineapple salad with smoked chicken fillet, seedless grapes and grated cheese. As a dressing, you can use not only mayonnaise, but also sweet yogurt. Depending on the sauce chosen, the taste of the salad will be different.

canape

Of the snacks, canapes are the easiest to prepare and the most effective. They are prepared in the same way: a long loaf or black bread is peeled and cut lengthwise into strips approximately 5-6 mm thick, then the bread is cut into small pieces (pieces can be round, square, rectangular, triangular, etc.) . Then each piece of bread is smeared with a thin layer of butter or mayonnaise (with the exception of canapes prepared with fatty foods), a leaf of lettuce is placed, garnished and decorated to taste.

Canape with bacon and tomatoes

biscuits - 1 piece
bacon - 20 gr.
tomato - 1 pc.
sauce to taste
green onion

Cooking method:

For the filling: cut the bacon and tomato into small pieces, mix with the sauce.
Cut the pancake into three pieces. Put the filling in the center of one of the parts, gather the edges and secure with green onions. The canape is ready.

Lavash roll

A thin layer of pita bread is smeared with mayonnaise, string cheese and Korean carrots are laid out on top of it on one edge. The roll is wrapped tightly and cut across into portioned rolls of the desired size. The filling can be varied - rolls with smoked fish and fresh cucumbers or with ham and mushrooms are no less tasty.

You will need:
Avocado
Tomato
Fresh cucumbers
Bell pepper
Lavash or thin pancakes
Curd cream or cheese
lettuce leaves
Salt spices

Salmon roll

For its preparation, wide thin layers of salmon are needed, which are folded cone-shaped and laid out on a dish with a wide part upwards. Inside each cone is placed a small piece of butter and a slice of lemon. To make it easier to cut the butter, it must first be cooled in the freezer.

Avocado mousse with caviar

1 avocado
- 1 egg /* chicken, a couple of quails can be boiled hard boiled */
- 1 tbsp. l. sour cream
- dill
- salt, pepper to taste, I added decently both of them, avocado somehow absorbs all the spices very much
- caviar

Grind avocado and egg in a blender. Mix, add sour cream, salt, pepper and finely chopped dill, grind until smooth.

Dry the slices of bread until golden brown in a frying pan without oil. On bread - mousse, caviar on top.

Trout rolls

It's generally very simple.
Lightly salted fish, pepper curd cheese, serve on slices of cucumber. You can use cream cheese instead of cottage cheese, and you can also add a little blue cheese to the filling, and sprinkle with lemon before serving. In general, room for imagination.
Simple, but very, very tasty.

Curd mousse with red fish and caviar

Solemn events, as a rule, gather a huge number of people: these can be corporate parties in large companies or anniversaries in a large family. Such big holidays used to be celebrated at a huge banquet table, but not always the guests had the opportunity to leave it at least for a while and dance or chat with different people.

In order to save space and have a more pleasant leisure time in the modern world, it is customary to arrange receptions.

The buffet came to us from Europe, and specifically from France, where the word "a la buffet" means "on the fork", since the main and almost the only device at the buffet table is the buffet fork.

The design of the buffet table implies free space around it, so that guests can freely move around the hall, pour drinks into their glasses, and treat themselves to cooked snacks. But at the buffet table, the main thing is not food, but communication in an interesting company.

The buffet table should be accessible from any side

Such a celebration is not typical of the Russian mentality, in our minds the celebration should take place at the festive table, which is bursting with all kinds of dishes, and preferably also to the accompaniment of a button accordion or accordion. For us, the following picture is more familiar:

Recently, European culture has been increasingly penetrating our ways, so holidays in large companies are held "in a Western manner." Many young people liked it so much that some even think over the design of the buffet table for the wedding, forgetting about the traditional banquet.

It should immediately be noted that not in any company such a holiday will be successful. If a large family celebration is planned, which provides for the presence of relatives of different ages, you should either think about additional seating or abandon the idea of ​​a buffet table altogether, since older people and small children are unlikely to be delighted with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200ba holiday “on their feet”.

If you still settled on the idea of ​​a buffet table, you should know the basic rules for organizing it so that each guest remembers this event only from the best side. Having familiarized yourself with them, decorating a buffet table with your own hands will no longer seem like a difficult and insurmountable task.

A holiday or celebration always implies a certain entertainment program, and a buffet table is no exception in this regard. If possible, the hostess of the evening can arrange competitions herself or invite artists or a toastmaster to hold a celebration.

Before the celebration, you should think about the musical accompaniment of the evening so that the guests are not constantly in silence. For the time when there is no competition or performance, you can turn on light instrumental music in the background.

How to arrange a table?

Properly positioned table and food on it are important when holding a buffet table. Making a buffet table for a festive event or party involves following some rules:

- The table should not be placed close to the wall, so that each guest has the opportunity to approach it from any side. But it is not worth installing it in the center of the room either, since this place is intended for the free movement of people, dances, games and competitions.

- The buffet table should be slightly higher than usual, so that it is convenient for guests to approach it and eat while standing. Basically, there should be dishes that do not need anything other than a fork.

- Making a buffet table means decorating it with a large tablecloth of any color to the taste of the hostess. Most often, dark cherry or dark green shades of the tablecloth are used, which are more practical for such a celebration. Sometimes a buffet skirt is used to decorate the table, which covers its legs.

- Cutlery and clean dishes are placed at different ends of the table to avoid fuss, and three times more dishes should be provided than invited guests (during a buffet table, it is not customary to eat from one dish all evening). Not far from the main table, a table on wheels or a tray for used dishes should be provided.

Symmetrically from the middle of the table are snacks, salads, hot dishes, fruit cuts, desserts and other dishes. The edges of it should be left free so that guests can place their full plates on them. As an option, you can consider several tables for a buffet table: separately - with snacks, separately - with drinks, separately - with clean dishes.

- Dishes for a buffet table are better to choose light, and preferably white. The decoration of the buffet table is not the dishes, but what is in it.

- Along the perimeter of the room or next to small coffee tables, you need to place several places to sit: stools, folding chairs, pouffes. It is also desirable that there is at least one sofa in the room. Not every guest at the evening can eat standing up, but you need to take care of everyone.

- Making a buffet table with your own hands necessarily includes its decor. Tables are usually decorated with fresh flowers or flower arrangements, balloons, edible and inedible symbols of the holiday: angels - for a wedding or Christmas, multi-tiered cakes - for an anniversary, etc. Even decoration from napkins can play a decorative role in the design.

- Various holiday agencies often offer the design of the buffet table in the form of a "live" table. A girl or a young man at such a table will help you choose a dish or drink, as well as put it on a guest's plate. To make life easier for the hostess of the holiday, you can invite waiters to monitor the availability of dishes and replenish supplies if necessary. Invited assistants can also clean up used dishes.

Buffet service can be done by waiters

How to arrange appetizers?

Serving a buffet table is also not the easiest thing, but if you work hard and arm yourself with some ideas, you can independently come up with and complete the design of snacks for the buffet table:

- One of the main ways to serve dishes at a buffet table is canapes or small sandwiches. Also small sandwiches can be served on skewers. There are many recipes for such sandwiches, they are selected for the main drinks.

- Also popular at receptions are tartlets - dough baskets in which you can put various salads or snacks.

— Another way to serve appetizers is tarts. These are also small sandwiches like canapes, but they are made on toasted bread.

- Meat delicacies, cheeses, vegetables and fruits are served on buffet tables in the form of cuts. It can be a regular cut, or a special decorative cut in the form of hearts, stars, butterflies and other different shapes, as in the preparation of homemade cookies. Also, fruits can be served on multi-tiered plates or in baskets.

Buffet table is a laid-back atmosphere and a light snack menu. The buffet menu includes mini-dishes (snacks, hot dishes, desserts) and drinks. It is better to give preference to portioned snacks that can be easily picked up with a fork or taken by hand. Cooking should not take you much time, and dishes should not lose their taste, even if they get cold. And remember: what you eat should match what you drink.

Snacks on skewers very convenient to eat. You can put ready-made seafood on skewers (shrimp, mussels, squid pieces), meat (ready-made chicken, bacon, ham, sausages), vegetables (onions, potatoes, olives).

Meat, seafood, vegetables can be fried Breaded. The easiest way to make batter is to mix flour, egg yolk and water. For 1 yolk you need 200 ml of water and 8 tbsp. flour. Half of the flour can be replaced with starch - the batter will turn out to be more airy.

Snack balls (snacks) make from mashed potatoes or grated foods - cheese or potatoes. If you roll the balls in different spices, they will differ from each other not only in taste, but also in appearance: from curry they will turn yellow, from paprika - red, from black pepper - black. You can put stuffing inside the balls - nuts, raisins, finely chopped greens.

Shrimps can be grilled, fried or boiled. To give them a piquant taste, add spices (garlic, pepper, ginger) during cooking, make a sauce or use ready-made ones, for example, soy. A good addition to shrimp is lettuce, tomatoes, olives. Ready shrimp can be strung on skewers, alternating with other products - chicken, bacon, vegetables.

Crispy chicken wings- fried or barbecue - a wonderful snack. If you have time, it is advisable to pre-marinate them. Mix spices (garlic, paprika, rosemary, thyme, curry), add some lemon juice, white wine or soy sauce. Rub the wings with this mixture and leave in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. If honey is added to the marinade, the wings will acquire a beautiful golden hue and an original sweetish taste.

Chips you can also cook it yourself - from vegetables (potatoes, zucchini, zucchini, eggplant) and fruits (bananas, apples). Slice them into thin slices and deep fry them.

You can prepare a wide variety of snacks for a children's birthday. When choosing recipes, it is worth combining fruit, vegetable and meat dishes.

The main emphasis in recipes for children's snacks is on the design of dishes. You can cook sandwiches with the image of cartoon characters, food in the form of birds and animals. It is worth trying a variety of recipes. After all, children love the unusual serving of food. You can show your imagination and experiment by adding your own ideas to the recipes.

Simple recipe snacks will help you set a festive, unusual and tasty table for the birthday boy and his friends.

Children's snacks should be healthy. Do not use fatty and unhealthy foods when preparing snacks for a children's birthday. It is not recommended to offer children specific delicacies that they have not yet tried - some seafood, cheeses, meat and fish delicacies.

How to cook snacks for a children's birthday - 15 varieties

Fly agaric is a poisonous mushroom. But edible fly agarics can be served on the children's table. A bright and light snack is sure to attract the attention of guests.

Ingredients:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Quail eggs
• Sour cream or mayonnaise
• Greenery

Cooking:

Boil quail eggs and peel. They will be the "fly agaric leg". Hats are made from tomatoes. It is necessary to cut them in half and scoop out the pulp with a spoon or knife. We connect the parts of the "fly agarics", put white dots with mayonnaise or sour cream.

We decorate the "mushrooms" with greenery. Serve on a platter (for this you should cut off a convex piece of the egg from the bottom for stability) or on a wooden skewer.

This recipe is very simple. Dessert will be to the taste of every child.

Ingredients:

• Bananas
• Crushed nuts (peanuts, hazelnuts, walnuts) or coconut flakes
• Chocolate (no filler)

Cooking:

Chocolate will need liquid. Therefore, we melt the tile in a water bath. We cut each banana into 4-6 equal parts. The slices should be quite large. We prepare a large shallow plate or dish, lay parchment on the surface.

Pierce a piece of banana with a toothpick or skewer and dip into melted chocolate. You can immerse the slice in chocolate completely, you can only half. After that, immediately roll the banana in nuts (or in coconut flakes). Lay out on a platter.

We remove the dessert in the freezer for 1.5-2 hours. Serve chilled.

A simple recipe for a lovely meal. Bright "ladybugs" - a light snack for the festive table.

Ingredients:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Seedless olives
• green onion
• Cottage cheese
• Cracker round

Cooking:

Spread cream cheese on the cracker. Cut the tomatoes into 4 slices. We place 2 pieces of tomatoes on each cracker, spreading them a little to make ladybug wings. We place olives on the cracker - they will be the “head”. We make “antennae” from onions, stick them into olives. We make black dots on the “wings” from small pieces of olives.

The dish is ready for the children's holiday!

A funny appetizer will decorate the festive table: kids will definitely like bright and cute chickens.

Ingredients:

• Quail eggs - 4-5 pcs.
• Sour cream - 3-4 tablespoons
• Grated cheese - 2-3 tbsp. spoons
• Boiled carrots and fresh herbs for garnish

Cooking:

Boil eggs, peel. With a small knife, zigzag each egg in half. Take out the yolks, put them in a bowl. On the squirrels, cut off a small piece at the bottom to give stability to the forms.

Add cheese and sour cream to the yolks, mix. You should get a homogeneous mass. From it we sculpt small balls. We lay them out in proteins, which will be "shells" for the chicks.

Their carrots are cut into scallops and beaks for "chickens". Put finely chopped greens on a dish. And we launch our chicks on the "grass".

The eyes of "chickens" can be made from small balls of black bread or olives. If you prepare such a dish for an adult table, then you can use peppercorns for the eyes.

If you have to prepare a festive table for a young Harry Potter fan, then this original recipe is a must-have!

Ingredients:

• Soft cheese
• Salted bread sticks
• natural yogurt
• green onion
• Fresh cucumber

Cooking:

It is necessary to cut off very thin square slices of cheese. Or buy a product cut in this way right away. Fold the square in half, make cuts in strips about 2/3 long. Wrap the resulting piece around a bread stick, tie a "panicle" with green onions.

Add grated cucumber to yogurt, salt to taste.

Serve "panicles" with sauce.

This edible beast will decorate the festive table and will give children some benefit - after all, it contains only fruits.

Ingredients:

• Pear
• Carnation and olive for decoration
• Green grapes

Cooking:

Remove the skin from the top of the pear. We pierce each grape with a toothpick. Then we stick toothpicks with berries into the unpeeled part of the pear.

We make eyes for the “hedgehog” from carnation flowers, and a nose from olives.

Funny fruit guest is ready to meet the kids!

Small desserts are always welcome at a children's party. Tartlets are a neat and pretty dish.

Ingredients:

• Ready-made shortcrust pastry baskets - 10-15 pcs.
• Condensed milk - 1 can
• Cream - 1 cup
• Gelatin - 2 table. spoons
• Nuts, chocolate, fruit for decoration

Cooking:

Soak gelatin in cold water. Then combine it with condensed milk and cream. Fill the tartlets with the resulting mass. Leave in the refrigerator for a couple of hours until the cream is completely solidified.

We decorate the tartlets at our discretion with chocolate, fruits and nuts. You can post pictures or compositions.

Feel free to improvise this sweet appetizer with any fruity ingredients. This recipe is simple and versatile.

Ingredients:

• marshmallow
• Strawberry
• Grape
• Cherries
• Or any fruits and berries

Cooking:

You will need long wooden canapé sticks. All ingredients must be strung in any order on skewers. If the dish will be served to young children, you can first remove the seeds from berries and fruits so that the kids do not swallow them by accident.

Put the finished skewers on a large dish.

Skewers can be poured with melted chocolate or icing.

The dish will appeal to all children without exception. Skewers are easy to eat, they are sweet and fruity.

Ingredients:

• Small Viennese waffles
• Banana
• Strawberry
• Blackberry
• Or any other berries and fruits
• Greek yogurt (or regular natural) - ½ cup
• Maple syrup - 1 table. spoon
• Cinnamon ¼ - teaspoon

Cooking:

We string waffles, berries and fruits in any order on multi-colored tubes or wooden skewers. Mix yogurt with syrup and cinnamon.

Children can dip the skewers in the sauce - it's very tasty!

The appetizer is prepared quickly - even the children will cope with the recipe. Unusual sandwiches are made in the form of cartoon characters - mischievous minions.

Ingredients:

• Olives
• Cucumber

Cooking:

“Cut out” mugs from bread and cheese with a cup. We make sandwiches out of them.

Cut the olives into rings and half rings. We spread them on sandwiches like glasses and a mouth. We cut the cucumber into thin strips, which will become the bow of the glasses.

Cute minion sandwiches are ready!

"Angry Birds" is extremely popular among children and teenagers. Therefore, their appearance on the table will delight young guests.

Ingredients:

• Butter
• Buns round
• Sausage
• Olives

Cooking:

Spread butter on the halves of the buns. You can replace it with cottage cheese if you wish. We make “bird plumage” from cheese and sausage, which we spread on sandwiches.

We make eyes from butter and olives. Do not forget to make black eyebrows "tick" - this is the main thing in the image of Angry Birds.

You can experiment and cook "evil birds" from different products. For example, red or green cheese, tomatoes, boiled beef or any other yellow, red or green foods will come in handy.

Bright and cute "pigvinchiki" are made very simply. These birds will decorate the festive table.

Ingredients:

• Seedless olives large and small
• Carrot
• Cream or curd cheese

Cooking:

Cut the carrots into circles, but not too thin. Cut out a triangular slice (in the shape of a piece of cake). The larger part will be the “penguin legs”, and the smaller one will be the “beak”, we stick it into a small olive tree - the “bird's head”. We fill a large olive with cheese so that the “penguin” has a “white breast” visible.

We take a skewer of medium length and with its help we connect all the parts.

Penguins are ready to serve!

Rodents on the table - a place. If only they are prepared according to our recipe.

Ingredients:

• chicken eggs
• Garlic
• lettuce leaves
• Mayonnaise or sour cream
• Carnation
• Radish (or cucumber or carrot)

Cooking:

Cut boiled eggs in half. Set aside the yolk. Mix grated cheese with garlic, sour cream (mayonnaise) and egg yolks. Fill with egg halves. Lay them on a lettuce leaf, stuffing side down.

We decorate the "mice". We make eyes and a nose from cloves. We make two cuts on the egg, with the help of which we fix round thin “ears”. We make them from radish (cucumber, carrot). We make "antennae" and "tail" from greenery.

The mice are ready for the holidays!

Everyone knows that kids just love pizza. This dish is sure to be a hit! The recipe for mini pizzas is designed specifically for children.

Ingredients:

• Yeast - 1.5 teaspoons
• Flour - 3 cups
• Salt - 1.5 teaspoons
• Sugar - 2 table. spoons
• Vegetable oil - 3 table. spoons
• Bulb - 1 pc.
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Tomato juice - 1 cup
• Tomato paste - 1 table. spoon
• Boiled shredded chicken meat
• Grated cheese
• Quail eggs
• Sausage
• Olives
• Tomatoes

Cooking:

Pizza dough is prepared in a bread machine. We put in it yeast, flour, salt, sugar and vegetable oil. We turn on the “Dough kneading” program for 1.5 hours. 3 minutes after the start of kneading, add 150 ml of water.

If you do not have a bread machine, you can use ready-made yeast dough or replace the mass yourself.

Saute finely chopped onion and garlic. Add tomato juice. Then tomato paste. The sauce should simmer for 10 minutes until thickened. We bring the mass to homogeneity in a blender.

Divide the finished dough into small balls. Let's roll them out. From small pieces of dough we sculpt "muzzles" and "ears". Lubricate the pizza base with sauce.

Place chicken and cheese on pizzas. We put in the oven for 20 minutes.

Now it remains only to show imagination: decorate the muzzles of the "animals" with eggs, sausage, olives, tomatoes. You can add herbs or any other ingredients.

These delicious boats will come in handy at the celebration of the boy's birthday. However, girls will also like bright and tasty sailboats. When preparing this dish, you can show your imagination.

Ingredients:

• bell pepper
• Tomatoes
• cucumbers
• hard cheese
• Pate
• Ready minced meat
• Curd or cream cheese
• Waffle lean shortcakes

Cooking:

Cut peppers and tomatoes in half. We fill the pitted peppers and spread the minced meat, pate or soft cheese on the tomatoes. We make sails from thinly sliced ​​cucumbers, shortbread or hard cheese. You can fix cucumber sails with a toothpick.

When preparing these sailboats, show your imagination: you can decide for yourself what vegetables and toppings to use.