Planning a Menu for Guests: A Balanced Table, a Relaxed Host

We all know the host who frets for days before guests arrive and then never leaves the kitchen once they do. A good plan lets the table be both delicious and easy on you. In this lesson we look at how to balance a menu, how much food to make, and how to spread the work over several days.

Start by knowing your guests

Before you plan anything, ask a few questions:

• How many people are coming, and are there children?
• Is anyone vegetarian, allergic, or avoiding certain foods?
• Is it dinner, a lunch spread or afternoon tea?
• How much time, and how much hob and oven space, do you have?

The answers decide half the menu for you. If one guest is vegetarian, for example, a few olive-oil vegetable dishes make the table richer for everyone.

The secret of a balanced menu

A classic Turkish dinner for guests usually runs like this: soup, meze or a warm starter, a main course with rice or a side, salad, dessert and finally tea or coffee. You don't have to do every course, but the dishes you choose should complement each other.

When you build the balance, keep in mind:

• Balance rich and light: If the main course is creamy or fried, pair it with a tangy salad and a light dessert.
• Vary colour and texture: Don't let everything be beige and soft. Add something crunchy, green or red.
• Avoid repetition: Yoghurt in the soup, in the meze and in the main course makes the table monotonous.
• Mix cooking methods: Choose one dish for the oven, one for the hob and one served cold, so you never need four burners at once.
• Only one last-minute dish: At most one thing on the menu should need cooking after guests arrive.

How much to make?

Making far too much for fear of running out is very common. These rough amounts will serve you well:

• Main course (meat, chicken): 150-200 g of raw meat per person.
• Rice pilaf: About 50 g, or a quarter cup, of rice per person.
• Soup: One bowl per person, about 250-300 ml.
• Meze: With three or four kinds, a few tablespoons of each per person is plenty.

The more dishes you serve, the less you need of each. Leftovers can be used up, but there's no need to fill the kitchen with a week's worth of food.

Choose dishes that can be made ahead

The secret of a relaxed host is having most of the menu ready a day early. Turkish cuisine is very generous here.

• Olive-oil vegetable dishes and stuffed vine leaves taste even better after a day.
• Soups can be made ahead and reheated before serving.
• Oven dishes can be assembled in the morning, kept in the fridge and baked before guests arrive.
• Most syrup-soaked and milk puddings should be made the day before anyway.
• Chop salad ingredients and keep them in separate boxes; dress the salad at the last moment.

A day-by-day prep plan

For a sample dinner, you could spread the work like this:

1. Three days before: Finalise the menu, write the shopping list, check your serving dishes and tablecloth.
2. Two days before: Buy dry goods and long-lasting items. If your meat is frozen, move it to the fridge to thaw.
3. The day before: Buy fresh produce. Make the dessert, the olive-oil dishes and the soup. Marinate the meat.
4. The morning of: Assemble the oven dish and refrigerate it, chop the salad ingredients, lay the table.
5. Two hours before guests: Put the oven dish in the oven, soak the rice for the pilaf.
6. Half an hour before: Cook the pilaf and let it rest, plate the meze, and take five minutes for yourself.
7. During the meal: Reheat the soup, dress the salad, put the water on for tea.

A host's little secrets

• Don't try a brand-new recipe on guests; either cook it once beforehand or choose a dish you know.
• Empty the dishwasher before guests arrive; the clean-up afterwards will be halved.
• Stick a list on the fridge: which dish, when, on which plate. The salad you forget in the excitement will be waiting for you on that list.

Final word

Guests remember a smiling host who actually sits at the table far more than a perfect spread. Make your plan, spread the work over a few days, and be at the table with your guests.