Okay, so I decided to throw a little get-together, and someone suggested a Paris theme. Sounded nice, right? Classy. But then came the food part. What exactly is “Paris themed party food” when you’re just cooking in your own kitchen and don’t want to spend a fortune or days prepping?
Figuring Out the Food
First thing, I thought about what screams “Paris” without being too complicated. Croissants, obviously. Cheese, definitely. Some kind of little pastries? Maybe macarons? Baguettes are a must. I wasn’t about to bake croissants from scratch, let’s be real. Store-bought was the plan for those.
I wanted a mix of savory and sweet. So, I landed on this basic menu:
- Mini Quiches (bought frozen, bake-at-home type)
- Cheese Board (easy win)
- Baguette Slices with different toppings
- Good quality croissants (from a local bakery, not the supermarket tube ones)
- Macarons (splurged a bit on these from a decent place)
- Fruit platter (grapes, berries – adds color and freshness)
- Maybe some simple madeleines if I felt ambitious (spoiler: I didn’t).
The goal was easy assembly and things that could be served at room temperature mostly. Less stress running back and forth to the oven.
Getting the Stuff
Off to the shops. Finding good baguette and croissants wasn’t hard, luckily there’s a decent bakery nearby. Cheese section next – grabbed a brie, a comté, and a simple goat cheese. Needed crackers too, some plain water crackers. Found those mini quiches in the frozen aisle, Lorraine and spinach seemed like safe bets. Picked up some grapes, strawberries, and raspberries for the fruit platter. The macarons… okay, I went to a specialty shop for those. They looked pretty, and that was half the point.
Putting It All Together
Party day. First, I tackled the quiches. Just whacked them on a baking sheet and into the oven following the box instructions. Easy peasy. While they were baking, I started on the cheese board. Arranged the cheeses on a big wooden board, added the crackers around them, tucked in some grapes. Looked pretty good with minimal effort.
Next, the baguette. Sliced it up. For toppings, I kept it simple:
- Some slices just got a smear of butter.
- Some had that goat cheese crumbled on top, maybe a tiny drizzle of honey.
- Some I topped with a slice of brie and a raspberry.
Didn’t need anything too fancy. Just arranged them on a platter.
By then, the quiches were done. Let them cool a bit before putting them on a serving dish. Washed the fruit and arranged it on another platter. Put the bakery croissants in a basket. Finally, arranged the colorful macarons on a nice plate. Done.
How It Went
Honestly, it looked pretty impressive for the amount of actual cooking involved (which was basically just heating the quiches). People loved the cheese board and the baguette bites. The macarons disappeared fast – guess spending a bit more on those was worth it. The croissants were popular too. It felt vaguely Parisian, or at least, what people think of as Parisian picnic food.
Key takeaway? Keep it simple. Focus on a few visually appealing things. Good bread, good cheese, and some nice pastries go a long way. Didn’t need complicated recipes or hours slaving away. Just assembling good quality ingredients did the trick. Turned out to be a pretty low-stress way to handle the food for the theme. Worked for me.
