The hors d'oeuvres dinner party

An easy and interesting dinner party idea is to prepare a feast made entirely from hors d'oeuvres. In addition to providing your guests with the greatest variety of taste, colour and visual appeal, this dinner party approach can be done by anyone, from a seasoned chef to someone who feels a little more nervous in the kitchen. All you need is a few of the basics to turn up the dial on taste and selection.

Planning your hors d'oeuvres dinner party
Once you have a good understanding of the mix of guests coming to your home or event, the first step is to plan a variety of hors d'oeuvres to suit their tastes and match the timing of the event. If the event is in the late evening, fall or winter and accompanied by a selection of wines, your menu will lean toward meats and cheeses. If, however, the event is to occur during the daytime or summer, the menu will feature more fresh fruits, dips and vegetables. The general rule of thumb for quantity is approximately eight to 10 individual hors d'oeuvres per person or the equivalent. But don't be afraid to prepare more than that -- this meal is a big hit with guests.

Presenting the hors d'oeuvres
Unless you are planning on having all hors d'oeuvres served on trays by wait staff at your party, I strongly suggest a combination of individual hors d'oeuvres (both hot and cold) combined with trays of different ingredients your guests can experiment with themselves. The presentation is spectacular.

Depending on the number of guests you're serving, trays can be individual or combined. They can include one or more of the following:

Meat
A variety of cold cuts, kielbasa and paté layered and decorated with cherry tomatoes, parsley and cucumber slices. This tray can be complemented with a variety of mustards, horseradish and sweet and hot peppers.

Cheese
Variety is the spice of life. This tray can include Cheddar, Brie, Swiss, Camembert, Jarlsberg, Gouda, smoked cheese, blue cheese and any of your other favourites. This tray can be complemented with dill pickle slices, olives (preferably pitted), sweet pickles and even hot peppers as an added taste selection. If you are not having an individual fruit platter, this platter could also include grapes, apple slices, pear slices, mango and pineapple.

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