Back on Course With a Take-Out Dish

It’s Saturday morning and you’ve invited Dick and Mary, Tom and Alice for informal Sunday dinner on a whim. There are no casseroles in the freezer and the larder is bare.

Now you are wondering what to serve without killing the entire weekend. You can feel panic nibbling away.

“Quickly call Julien’s in San Marino and order three salads,” laughs party planner Susann Traister, of the Party People in Los Angeles.

No joke. This is no time to start taking out pots and pans. It’s time to let your fingers do the walking and your head do the work.

The best bet for tightly scheduled parties is to use the help of a neighborhood caterer, gourmet deli, restaurant or ethnic market to fill in the gaps of a menu in which you do some of the cooking, say the experts.

Reliable Source

“Most people like to find a reliable source that will take the more difficult tasks off their hands,” said Daryl Trainor of Village Catering, whose shop provides prepared dishes for weekend party givers in Hancock Park.

At Julien’s, for instance, such French country fare as duck with winter fruit, sausage and potato stew, lamb shanks Provencale, and stuffed chicken en croute may be supplemented only with a salad. The food items may also suggest a theme that can be carried along in the table setting and colors, which, during the fall season might inspire use of russets, browns, gold, deep pinks and blues. Seasonal vegetables and fruits make lovely table decorations at minimal cost.

Some of the most successful hostesses in town often combine store-bought items with dishes they make themselves.

Impromptu Visitor

One such hostess who found herself hosting a party for an impromptu visitor, ordered a whole salmon from a deli and supplemented it with loaves of fresh brioche from a French bakery, and a simple salad and a fresh raspberry in cream dessert which she prepared herself. The party was declared a smash hit.

Another host picked up roasted quails from a local gourmet deli. Then he piped mashed potatoes through a pastry bag to form a nest for the quails. For a fall touch he surrounded the quails with hollowed persimmons filled with colorful steamed vegetables such as carrots, beets and peas. A raspberry charlotte from the deli was the dessert. The only cooking necessary was to steam the vegetables.

Another novel put-to-together meal with the help of a deli was a menu centered around a cozy meaty soup, an Italian bean and pasta soup called pasta e fagole . The dish was purchased, along with some foccaccia (garlicky bread) and a good Italian dessert from an Italian deli. All the host needed to do was to add a big, nourishing salad to go with soup.

Some hosts prefer building exciting and glamorous menus around ethnic deli items at considerably less cost than high-priced gourmet delis. Roast Peking duck from a Chinese deli can be arranged on a bed of plain or fried rice (also from the deli). You might want to add a salad made of napa cabbage, bean sprouts and peanuts tossed with a rice wine vinaigrette. While you are in Chinatown you can pick small Chinese steam buns and tiny custard tarts which can be doctored up with dollops of whipped cream if such a dessert appeals. Otherwise, ice cream or fresh fruit, such as cut pineapple and oranges, will do.

Value of Fresh Breads

Ethnic delis also are excellent sources for exotic fresh breads. A tub of butter and beautiful basket of unusual breads will cover a host of sins right off the bat. It’s one of the tricks caterers use when presenting a low-cost menu or menu that has not much else going for it. Consider Mexican pan dulce and bollillos, pillow-like pan amasado (from Rincon Chileno’s restaurant deli in Los Angeles), Jewish pumpernickel, corn rye and bagels from Fairfax area bakeries, Middle Eastern pita bread and tanoor from the numerous markets in almost every neighborhood.

But don’t overlook the value and fun of asking friends to bring their own foods, if possible, suggests party planner Traister. “We often look down on this old-fashioned American custom, but it can be great fun for guests to bring their favorite dishes, especially since there is such interest in cooking by people today,” Traister said.

And that’s better than the nibble of panic.