Plan the Perfect Summer Party

Story by Rita Feutl

  From a casual pizza on the patio to an elegant afternoon tea, try these fresh ideas for unique summer entertaining. Nothing beats a classic Alberta barbecue with homegrown beef, baked potatoes and some juicy Taber corn. But if you’re feeling adventurous and are looking for some new ways to throw an outdoor party using local ingredients, here are a few simple summer entertaining ideas to get you started.

Tap into Tapas

  Spaniards learned long ago that cold or room temperature finger food was a lovely way to while away a summer’s eve. Stuffed olives, fig halves wrapped with smoked ham slices, barbecued and marinated eggplant and grilled shrimp or chorizo sausage are great cocktail party fare. Keep the pitchers of sangria flowing. To make it a meal, add a potato salad and another of chopped oranges, red onion, raisins, mint and roasted sunflower seeds. Serve in brightly painted ceramic bowls or platters and mix a little flamenco into your music line-up.

International Flavours

  Plan a culinary dash around the globe without the hassles of applying for a passport. Spread your tour over the whole summer, with friends hosting a country every week or two, or cram it into an evening, serving appetizers from one country, salad from another, and so on.

“Ethnic cuisine and ethnic flavours are very popular right now. Pick a nationality and run with it,” says Michael Cripps, a certified chef de cuisine at Sunterra Market’s Banker’s Hall location in Calgary.

For that French flavour, begin your meal with an interesting pâté. Check your local farmers’ market for the flavour of the day. Cripps suggests a simple grilled chicken, baguettes and a broccoli and grape salad tossed with honey and Dijon for the main course, accompanied by a crisp French white wine. To finish, serve some French cheese or pastries. Set the scene with pretty Provencal linens, fresh flowers and some Parisian bistro music wafting in the background.

How about India? Marinate chicken in tandoori spices and toss on the grill. Add a cucumber or chickpea salad and pick up some locally made papadams or naan bread before you get home. A few metres of sari material from your local Asian fabric store makes a wonderful tablecloth. Float marigold blossoms and tea lights in brass bowls and burn a little incense.

Mexican? “Make tortillas and fajitas to order,” suggests Erin Edwards, manager of Edmonton’s A Cappella Catering. Grill the peppers, onion, beef and chicken and let your guests dress their wraps with lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. Add lanterns, a colourful tablecloth and serve with a jug of your favourite tequila-based drink.

Pizza on the Patio

Who says the host has to do all the work? Set out the fixings for a do-it-yourself pizza table. Fill bowls with grated or crumbled cheese, caramelized onions, capers, pine nuts, smoked chicken, prosciutto, wild mushrooms, roasted red peppers, asparagus and heirloom tomatoes. Buy ready-made pizza bases or use tortillas or pitas and pop the whole thing on the barbecue. Decant the red wine into ceramic pitchers or chill some of Alberta’s great microbrewed beer and cover the table with a red-and-white checked cloth.

Take Me to the Tropics

Head out to the lake or to a local campground and host a tropical party, Alberta style. You could go all out and barbecue a whole suckling pork on a spit, says Loren Millers, who operates BBQs by ME out of Cochrane. His outfit brings everything to your door in a huge fifth wheel and grills up menus for hundreds at a time.

If that’s too ambitious, Fort McMurray catering guru Joan Brown recommends barbecuing a pork tenderloin with a stuffing that includes pineapple. The owner of Northern Affairs Catering suggests grilling fresh pineapple rings and creating a salsa made with fresh pineapple, strawberries, jalapeno peppers, cilantro and lime juice. Serve your food on bamboo mats and decorate liberally with flowers and tiny umbrellas.

Afternoon Tea

Several of the weddings A Cappella Catering has handled recently were afternoon tea affairs, says Edwards. “It’s a nice, light sort of thing with tea and petit fours,” she says.

Serve the tea hot, or brew up some sun tea with slices of limes and lemons, suggests Sunterra’s Cripps. There’s nothing better than a nicely made cucumber sandwich, made with cucumbers fresh from the farmers’ market and topped with butter and a little salt and pepper and the crusts cut off.

Your local baker would be happy to slice a loaf lengthwise for pinwheel sandwiches (try combinations of cheddar, mustard and bacon bits, or smoked salmon, parsley and lemon juice). A plate of devilled eggs is always appropriate. Finish with small tarts and pastries.

This is a great opportunity to dust off your grandmother’s tea service. Place small bowls of violets or pansies on the tables and set up a croquet game for the afternoon amusement.