By Executive Chef John Hearn of Tapenade
As smaller, more intimate weddings continue to be popular throughout 2011, there is a higher demand for menus that cater for individual tastes and offer a more personalized choice.
Here are five things you can consider to tempt your guests’ palates!
1. Offer a choice of main courses. Providing couples keep the same base plate of potatoes and vegetables, the meat and sauce can be changed to offer guests more variety. Popular choices include chicken or rack of pork, along with a vegetarian option.
2. Get rustic! Give guests a different wedding experience with a chopping board served to each table with ready carved meat. Think tender racks of pork, or lemon and lime chicken with a variety of side dishes that guests can tuck in to.
3. Have the wedding cake as dessert. Many couples find guests are often too full after the meal to enjoy the cake, so it goes to waste. Incorporating it into the main menu can help reduce costs and means fewer decisions for you!
4. If couples do opt for a dessert, why not serve platters of miniature desserts to each table for guests to help themselves to? Traditional childhood favorites with a fresh twist add a personal touch to a menu. Popular choices include miniature sherry trifle, chocolate brownies, fresh raspberry shortbreads, roasted rhubarb brule, limoncello panna cotta, miniature apple crumble and miniature lemon meringue.
5. Have a cheese cake! A popular alternative to traditional wedding cake, each tier can be a different type of cheese. The cake can be cut by the happy couple and served as a buffet later in the evening.
John Hearn is the Executive Chef of Tapenade. Tapenade is a stylish food design and event management company located in Surrey. The company works throughout the year, across the UK, organizing exclusive corporate events, weddings and private parties. Tapenade’s inspirational and stylish ideas make any event a success with its personal, flexible and comprehensive service.
