Mango sorbet is shown here served on a bed of coral. Ideally, an intermezzo of a sorbet or granita should be light and simple.

In the previous installment of this monthly recurring series, we covered simple yet elegant soups that could be made a day ahead, garnished appropriately and served to seated guests after the cocktail hour and appetizer course. As promised, this edition will focus on the salad course, the intermezzo and some wine pairing.

As you’ve now served two courses in (hopefully) leisurely succession and the cocktails have been finished, you must stave off any urge to proceed directly to your salad course. Remember, it’s a night of enjoyment and good company that mustn’t be rushed. Open some wine that will complement your salad and let your guests continue to bask in your tasteful and lavish surroundings. Another reason to postpone the salad is that this salad will indeed be substantial and complex.

In a five-course meal, the salad itself would be the intermezzo an “intermission” between courses, also known as an entremet or palate cleanser, and would be a very light affair designed specifically to neutralize your tongue of any heavy flavors left from the soup. Since our intermezzo will likely be a granita, a sorbet or even an icy shot, we are free to impress with a more involved salad.

This salad should also appear more involved than it actually is, secretly buying you some kitchen time to ready the main course. If you really ham up all of the “to-do” involved with clearing plates, bringing out courses and describing them, you can bilk your guests up to 40 minutes for salad and intermezzo (eating time included). All the while, you’ll be staying ahead in the kitchen.

One must be careful when choosing a wine for a salad; some people find it’s too difficult, and skip the wine altogether. This usually stems from a fear that an over-acidic vinaigrette may overpower and nullify the positive aspects of the wine’s acidity, simultaneously ruining both wine and salad experiences for the diner rather than enhancing them. It’s almost easier to choose a salad to match the wine. For instance, if you insisted on serving reds the entire night, you’d have to bolster that salad with heavier elements such as beef, perhaps smoked mushrooms or strong cheeses. But you don’t want wine dictating your menu. This party is about food, so we’ll just have to work harder when crafting our salad, and perhaps choose a more neutral and light wine to serve with it.

Note: You are under no obligation to serve wine that a guest has brought. It is a gift, and yours to do with what you please. Even if it should work into your menu, I recommend shelving it anyhow. A roguish guest with a crowd-pleasing wine will soon redirect the conversation toward their good tastes. Soon after, they’ll peek behind your Oz-like curtain and try to help out in the kitchen. Before long, your throne will be usurped.

Avoiding some of the heavier salad ingredients necessary to stand up to reds doesn’t mean a light or boring salad. Should you choose a standard salad combination of greens, fruit, nuts and cheese, there are many wines to choose from that will complement nicely. For the moment, forget about salad and think about the foods you think work well with wine. Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurtztraminer – these are whites with varying profiles of sweetness, body and acidity. They play well with pears, mangoes, apples. Saltier cheeses deserve a slightly sweeter wine. An aged cheese works well with an aged wine. Don’t be afraid to add some meat or fish to this salad, just keep it light. Grilled prawns or chilled dark meat of chicken pair well with an oaky, barrel-fermented Chardonnay, as do toasted nuts. Be creative, and don’t be afraid to spend a few days prior just tasting wines with various fruits, nuts and cheeses. Do your homework, and this salad should practically make itself. And remember, with good greens, the various ingredients and a good wine, your actual dressing should be light and unimposing. Extra virgin olive oil and a good balsamic vinegar should suffice. Drizzle them over your greens and nuts, toss, and arrange the fruits, meats and cheeses atop.

As mentioned, the intermezzo is a nice break between courses to rejuvenate the tastebuds and clear away any heavy, salty or fatty flavors still lingering from the previous dish. The finer multi-course restaurants may even serve them between every course, but having a bottle of sparkling water on the table should do nicely for the rest of your meal. A nice sorbet, granita or aperitif shot will suffice at your dinner party just before the entree. Some of your guests may not even be aware of such tradition, and will be duly impressed at the very notion of the intermezzo.

There are so many ways to go here, but more importantly is where not to go. You think, “Sorbet. There’s something I can pick up in the freezer aisle at the store.” Wrong. Even the least sweet of what you find on offer there will likely be too desserty for our purposes. If you haven’t got an ice cream maker, I recommend a granita. Not only is this easy to make at home, but will likely take your guests by surprise. The shards of ice and bright flavors dance in the mouth, and the fact that you’re serving a golf ball-sized portion will leave your guests wanting more – always a good thing. There are a plethora of flavor combinations to choose from. A grapefruit granita is fine on its own. Champagne, perhaps with a dash of bitters, makes an excellent granita as well. Mint is good, but should not be so minty that it requires an additional cleanser after. Basil and lime is splendid. If your guests are foodies, and we’ll assume that they are, hit them with something like apple and wasabi, or ginger and cucumber.

As far as shots go, it could contain alcohol or not. Ice-cold vodka with pomegranate seeds is wonderful, and just about any akvavit works too. I also recommend Hendrick’s gin with its nuances of cucumber and rose petal, straight from the freezer. Non-alcoholic shots could be anything from a light blueberry water to a chilled watercress and lemon juice puree.

The Mouth

mouth@coastweekend.com