Ideas for a plate to share
Many of the gatherings on the calendar end with a cuppa and a table of food, and that is where the real yarning happens. Anything you bring is welcome, and a plate from the supermarket is as welcome as one from your kitchen.
The four ideas on this page need no oven, no proper recipe, and almost no preparation. Each feeds a crowd, costs about twenty dollars, and takes fifteen minutes or less to put together.
Four easy plates in fifteen minutes or less
Cream cheese and chilli jam
Set a whole block of cream cheese on a plate. Pour a jar of sweet chilli jam or red pepper relish over the top. Surround it with crackers and put a butter knife beside it.
It looks like far more effort than it takes, and it disappears first every time.
Barbecue chicken and slaw
Buy a hot barbecue chicken on the way. Pull the meat off in rough shreds, no knife needed, and toss it through a bag of ready-cut coleslaw.
Dress it with sesame or Japanese mayonnaise, scatter crispy noodles over the top, and pile it onto your largest platter.
Pasta salad that tastes expensive
Boil a packet of spiral pasta, drain it, and let it cool. Add a punnet of cherry tomatoes cut in half, a jar of sliced olives, and a tub of bocconcini or a block of crumbled fetta.
Pour a good amount of Italian or balsamic dressing through it. No chopping required if the olives come sliced.
Hummus, dolmades and flatbread
Spoon a tub of hummus into the middle of a platter and make a few swirls with the back of the spoon. Drain a jar of dolmades and arrange them around it with marinated olives and cherry tomatoes.
Add wedges of flatbread or a pile of crackers at the edge. Everything is ready to eat at room temperature.
Four places to find more
RecipeTin Eats, party food
Nagi Maehashi tests everything she publishes, and her stated times hold up. When a recipe says ten minutes, it takes ten minutes. Start with anything filed under quick and easy.
Woolworths, 33 bring-a-plate recipes
Written by a supermarket, so the ideas assume you are buying most of it ready-made and lifting it a little. Every ingredient sits on a shelf you will walk past anyway.
Marion’s Kitchen, bring a plate
Australian, strongly flavoured, and built for sharing. Useful when you want the plate people ask you about, and you have an hour rather than ten minutes.
SBS Food, bring a plate
The broadest collection here, with generous dishes drawn from many cultural traditions. Start here when you want something less familiar or a substantial plate for a larger gathering.
Four things that make any plate easier
- Bring a serving spoon or tongs. The most common thing forgotten, and the hardest to improvise on the day.
- Aim for about ten servings. Small pieces beat large ones, since people are standing and talking.
- Write down what is in it if it contains nuts, seafood, egg or gluten. A folded card beside the plate saves several conversations.
- Something that travels well beats something that impresses. Anything needing a fridge, an oven, or careful handling on the drive may be more trouble than it repays.
If you would rather not bring anything at all, come anyway. You are most welcome. Tea, coffee and something to eat are on the table at every session, and your company is the main thing.