I'm throwing a 40th birthday party for my darling man in December and I'm going with a '70's food theme since he's a child of the '70's. What late great recipes and food ideas can you all come up with to help me out! I'm definitely going to do some funny finger food for a bit of a laugh (mini gherkins and beetroot cubes anyone!), but actually I need some ideas for other more yummy stuff - what was in back in the day!
davidt4,
Sep 29, 7:05pm
Nouvelle Cuisine was the fashionable way to cook in the '70s.Tiny portions cooked simply, with unthickened sauces made from vegetable purees.I can remember dinner parties where everything was garnished with whole chive leaves arranged elegantly.Cold soups were another aspect.
kulkkulbelle,
Sep 29, 7:05pm
Hi, I did a dinner party from my girlfriend's birthday with a 70s theme.
I did a retro menu - used a pattern from an old wallpaper for background.
and I did a shrimp cocktail for entree, followed by Beef Wellington and did Cheesecake for desert. The whole thing went off very well.
If you want the recipes I can give, but the shrimp cocktail is easy-peasy - lettuce in a Margarita glass (yikes they were ALL the rage), medium sized prawns defrosted and the good old Mayo - being Best Foods laced with Tomato sauce, lemon and tabasco.slice of lemon on the side and Bob's your Uncle.
If Beef Wellington is too difficult do Chicken in a Basket.
kulkkulbelle,
Sep 29, 7:11pm
Hell's bells David I could have sworn that was the 80s.I must have been behind the times.
davidt4,
Sep 29, 7:16pm
Definitely the 70s - I can remember exactly where I was living and what I cooked for dinner parties.
Fondue was another big thing then - we all got fondue sets given as wedding presents (I ended up with three).
craig04,
Sep 29, 7:35pm
Liking the shrimp cocktail idea and the fondue idea - I wonder if Mum and Dad still have their old fondue set! It will be a proper party - as in 30-40 people and so the food has to be easy to serve as a buffet type arrangement and lots of finger food as well. I have a recollection of salmon mousse as a child - was that '70's or '80's!
motorbo,
Sep 29, 8:03pm
stuffed eggs, shrimp cocktails, bread cases filled, vou le vons (SP), sausage rolls, club sandwiches, cocktail sausages, cheese and onion and pineapple on toothpicks, chocolate eclairs for dessert,oh and my mum used to make these.god they are good, make pastry for cheese twists, but roll otu and lin patty tins blind bake, then on stove top make a scrambled egg mix with parsley and softened onion added, add chopped cooked bacon, but only cook the mix to sloppy consistency - then fill each little case with some filling and finish baking to set in moderate oven, seriously people will keep coming back for more.
kulkkulbelle,
Sep 29, 8:07pm
Salmon mousse-very appropriate.
One of the old Kiwi standbys for 70s mass catering was always curry and rice - my Mum used to be big on raisins in hers until we knocked it out of her.There was always an enormous scalloped potatoes, green salads with artfully placed sliced tomatoes and overlapping sliced egg with a mound of hippie-ish bean sprouts in the middle.Don't forget the ubiquitous sprays of curly leafed parsley everywhere, in fact the parsley on it's own will give you a retro vibe on whatever you do !
#Raw fish was always one of my Mum's 70s standbys #Garlic bread was strewn everywhere on classy little wooden serving dishes. #Quiche #Chicken Liver Pate
Here's some of the things we did a lot of in the 1970s (by the way I remember salmon mousse as a 60s thing not 70s):
* use your fondue set for pudding - fresh fruit cubes dipped in melted chocolate * another fondue dish was ginger-battered prawns served with a dipping sauce and salad * chicken or beef chow mein with sherry * beef stroganoff * Wiener schnitzel or Holsteiner schnitzel was a menu staple * stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes * quiches, although that too was more 60s * plenty of oysters * the original Ambrosia with green grapes * orange flavoured chocolate mousse
spot20,
Sep 29, 9:00pm
Check out old Alison Holst books for some fab ideas!
sarahb5,
Sep 29, 9:53pm
Definitely 80s in London from what I recall.
70s dinner parties would have been spaghetti bolognaise, coq au vin, fondue or anything French.Going out for dinner meant prawn cocktail or fruit juice to start and Black Forest Gateau to finish.
sarahb5,
Sep 29, 9:54pm
What about rice ring as well!If you have or know someone with a Tupperware gel ring that was a very popular use for it.
daleaway,
Sep 29, 10:03pm
Oh yes, I remember eating my first avocado at a Wellington restaurant in 1965, so by the 70s avocado vinaigrette was a flash starter. Prawn cocktail was old hat even by the 70s (except in the provinces of course). Boeuf bourguignon was another I forgot. I don't think spag bol was a dinner party item,I recall in 1967 a friend heading out to the dairysaying she's off to get the spag bol ingredients for an emergency weekend lunch. You're right about the BF Gateauthough. In fact gateaux of all descriptions, the big creamy after dinner cake, were smart and popular. Must have home made truffles. One recipe we made a lot was a fresh fruit salad with ginger ale replacing the juice, and left to stand for a couple of hours with after dinner chocolate mints broken up in it in big pieces. I still make that, people love it.
karenz,
Sep 29, 10:05pm
Don't forget the pineapple as the table centrepiece with toothpicks sticking out of it featuring a cube of cheese, a chunk of pineapple and a small brightly coloured cocktail onion.To compliment this dessert can be a hollowed out watermelon half filled with fruit salad. Chicken in the basket was also pretty popular back then and you can buy the baskets at the $2 shops or similar.For drinks punch was popular around then you can probably still get a punch bowl with glasses hanging off the side in 2nd hand shops or improvise.
davidt4,
Sep 29, 10:30pm
Not for me.Spaghetti Bolognaise was student flat food, prawn cocktail was very sixties.
Other than Nouvelle Cuisine, our dinner party food in the seventies was heavily based on Elizabeth David's books - chicken liver pate was a common starter, chocolate mousse a common pudding (but ideally not at the same meal!).I do remember thatBoeuf Bourguinonand Coq au Vin were popular, and various daubes.
oh gosh yes davidt4, coq au vin.havent made it for a while but when i was younger it was a dish that mae me feel real chef-ish ha ha and i adored to eat it
karenz,
Sep 30, 12:32am
I have still got my Australian Womens Weekly that I got in the early 70's I think I must have made just about everything in it over the years Thought I was so sophisticated doing the 'International' dishes
kulkkulbelle,
Sep 30, 12:40am
Thing is she's catering for 30-40 and my take when I did my gf's dinner party was funny/representational/kitsch rather than haute cuisine
karenz,
Sep 30, 1:17am
Welsh Rarebit, Devils on Horseback, Angels on Horseback.
motorbo,
Sep 30, 1:19am
i still make devils on horseback now and some go omg never heard of them then they go yummmmmm
kinna54,
Sep 30, 1:23am
In the 70's was my mum's catering heyday. She always did raw oysters in bowls with lemon, and toothpicks beside them. God how I hated them, was always my job to wash them, she was so fussy over the grit that gets in them! definitely the fondue! Garlic bread went with everything. Desserts were parfaits, choc mousse. Seem to remember mornays were popular as starters. Also remember chicken maryland in there somewhere.
chooky,
Sep 30, 2:53am
I love this thread. Read the title and thought dont remember anything, but after reading this all those memories do come back. I always did the lemons/oranges with the cheese, coloured cocktail onions and savoury eggs. Been to a few do's lately and been taking savoury eggs and they just go. Shrimp cocktails were always good and they are now back on a few resturant menus.
terachaos,
Sep 30, 2:57am
Grasshopper Pie!
kinna54,
Sep 30, 4:33am
I had forgotten the watermelon cut in half with the fancy edge! Also every party had punch! Savoury eggs definitely, but they have to be piped with the parsley garnish on top. And cheerios with bowls of tom sauce, and mini potatoes with chopped mint and lashings of butter.
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