1) Don’t Cook

Believe it or not, you can feed a crowd without turning on the stove, or even the BBQ, but still look like a gourmet.

Quality fresh ingredients (and a quick stop at the local supermarket) can make your meals look stunning and extend to a crowd with minimal effort. Don’t go for anything fiddly; serve large platters of food and some tasty dips or sauces on the side, so everyone can create their own meal. 

• Start with a dip, then an antipasto plate – marinated Mediterranean vegetables, some bocconcini, olives, smoked salmon spread with Jalna Greek Style Natural or Whole Milk Natural Yoghourt, wrapped up and served atop cucumber rounds, semi dried tomatoes, rockmelon cubes wrapped with prosciutto slices, fresh dates and tzatziki.
  
  
• As your centrepiece, you can readily pick up smoked ocean trout or salmon, sliced turkey breast or roast beef, or BBQ chicken. All you need add to make a stunning meal are fresh salad greens, slices of avocado and cherry tomatoes or add seasonal berries (raspberries and blueberries are perfect in summer) for a new taste twist.
  
  
• A second salad could be made with finely sliced fennel and red onion, orange wedges, feta cheese and black olives. Serve both with a tasty yoghourt salad dressing (try stirring yoghourt through a simple vinaigrette).
  
  
• For a dessert platter, indulge in platters of all the luscious summer fruits – try mango, paw paw, rockmelon, strawberries, peaches or nectarines - then surround with an array of individual 200g Jalna Yoghourt tubs (guests can select their favourite from Premium Creamy Fruits of the Forest or Vanilla, Low Fat Strawberry or BioDynamic Organic Blueberry).

And you didn’t cook a thing!

2) Scale up easily

OK, so you decided to make an effort and do more than ‘assemble’ some food, but how do you take your favourite recipe for four and turn it into something for eight, or twelve? Many recipes can simply be multiplied for the required number, but for some recipes it is not so simple. Brigid has some tips:

• Obviously if a recipe allows a piece of meat or chicken per person this must be increased according to the numbers of people but if added into a salad for only a few more people, for example, the meat quantity can usually be increased without having to increase everything else.
  
  
• Marinades, sauces and dressings do not have to be so precise (so a recipe may be multiplied 3 times, but the marinade only twice). 
  
  
• Although many recipes are written for 4 people often it will be enough for 6, depending on what else is being served.
  
  
• Recipe quantities often have to be ‘rounded off’ to minimise any unusual amounts, like half an egg or, as used in our Spinach Dip, a whole packet (of spinach) or can (of chickpeas). This does allow some flexibility when multiplying quantities but, if any doubt, it is usually safer to scale the quantity up rather than down. 
  
  
• Savoury recipe quantities are usually more flexible and can be altered more easily according to numbers and personal taste.  Many dessert recipes need to be more precise, especially those made with gelatine or eggs.
  
  
• Some recipes (such as frittatas) do not always multiply well as the increased quantity may not cook as evenly or well because the outside of the food can dry out before the centre is cooked. So it is often better to prepare the increased quantity but then divide to cook.
  
  

• If no extra pots, tins or required equipment is available to cook for a crowd, start preparing early and freeze, refrigerate and store.  Then it is simply a matter of defrosting, reheating and serving.

3) Get the guests to do the work

Well, why shouldn’t they? Just put out the plates and ingredients, then let the guests organise what they want.

• If you whip up a quick dip (yoghourt, lime juice and fresh herbs like garlic chives or dill, or try yoghourt, sweet chilli sauce, coriander and even pureed mango) and serve salad greens and some crusty French sticks with a big platter of prawns, there’s no reason for the guests not to peel their own. (Tip: put out finger bowls with lemon slices and extra serviettes.)
  
  
• Or put out the ingredients for a marinade for the BBQ (like Jalna Whole Milk Natural or BioDynamic Organic Yoghourt, lime and lemon halves for juice, Teriyaki or soy sauce, ginger and a grater, salt and pepper), let the guests mix to their taste, then BBQ themselves.
  
  
• Invite your guests to prepare their own fruit kebabs for barbequing for dessert (watch the knives if there are kids around). Offer an array of Jalna fruit yoghourts as an accompaniment – it’s the easiest way to entertain a crowd! Simply leave in their tubs with a spoon.