HOME & GARDEN CONSUMER GUIDE

Posh But Affordable Wedding Dish Ideas

When I was a caterer, weddings were my favorite events. Whatever the stress leading up to them - even families threatening to kill over some slight - succumbed to joy on this special day.

Making it special often involves serving fancy hors d’oeuvres with pricey ingredients like smoked salmon, shrimp and crabmeat. Or caviar, of course, for those with luxury tastes. With the best sevruga caviar costing $70 to $125 an ounce, Scotch salmon at least $24 a pound and lump crabmeat over $30 a pound, those desiring a champagne event on a beer budget face tough choices.

My job as the caterer included easing these choices by providing ways to afford caviar and crab, and still enjoy it. With a bit of creativity, you can find ways to make a little go a long way with these elegant foods.

For the home cook who wants to entertain the happy couple, festive appetizers present another type of problem. If caviar is affordable, it can be served as half-teaspoon toppings on tiny new potatoes. Crabmeat is easy too, especially served as crab cakes, since a modest-size reception, for example, requires just a few pounds of crab. The challenge lies in the time needed to carefully pick through the crabmeat for bits of shell and membrane. But with extra helpers volunteering, this chore can be done in short order.

Smoked salmon is easy to use in a home kitchen. The challenge is that it can easily bore as a canapé but quickly gets too expensive offered any other way. A good solution is to showcase a modest amount of smoked salmon in this elegant potato salad. Serve it as a side dish or as one of a selection of main courses for a buffet.

Smoked Salmon and Potato Salad

• 1 cup reduced-fat yogurt
• 1 lb. red-skinned new potatoes
• 1/8 lb. sliced smoked salmon
• 4-inch piece seedless cucumber, peeled
• 3 Tbsp. fat-free or low-fat buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp. snipped chives
• 2 Tbsp. snipped dill
• 8-12 leaves of red-leaf lettuce

Using a yogurt cheese strainer or regular strainer lined with a paper coffee filter, drain yogurt overnight in the refrigerator. The strained yogurt cheese should amount to 1/2 cup.

In a large saucepan, cook potatoes in water until knife easily pierces them, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut salmon into half-inch strips, then into 1/2-inch pieces. Halve cucumber lengthwise, then dice into 3/4-inch pieces.

For dressing, whisk together buttermilk, yogurt, salt and pepper in small bowl.

Drain cooked potatoes and transfer to a large bowl. Working quickly, cut potatoes while still hot into bite-size halves or quarters. (To avoid handling potatoes, hold side of bowl with one hand while cutting.) With a fork, lightly mix in salmon and cucumber. Pour on dressing and toss with fork to coat ingredients evenly, then mix in chives and dill.

Arrange lettuce leaves to make a bed on each of 4 dinner plates. Heap one-fourth of warm salad in center of each lettuce bed. Serve immediately, accompanied by lightly-buttered black bread or rye-crisp crackers.

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving: 141 calories, 2 g. total fat (less than 1 g. saturated fat), 26 g. carbohydrate, 10 g. protein, 3 g. dietary fiber, 630 mg. sodium.