Lunch under a tree
Older entertaining traditions offer plenty to work with: bread passed around the table, a hearty main and pudding brought out just when everyone thinks they’ve finished.
There's a distinct springtime turning point when the garden starts looking like somewhere you could spend the whole afternoon. The tree has enough leaves to cast a useful patch of shade, but you notice the chairs need a wipe, then find yourself wondering who might be free for lunch.
A Karoo garden lunch can begin with exactly that much planning. A table under a tree decked with good food and a few people you’ve been meaning to see. The pleasure is in making an occasion of an ordinary Sunday without giving yourself a week’s work.
Start with the shade
Before deciding on flowers or food, put a chair where you’re thinking of setting the table and sit there around lunchtime. Check where the shade falls, then look again later. A comfortable spot at eleven can leave half your guests squinting into the sun by two.
Place the table where people can stay comfortable as lunch stretches on. Keep extra chairs nearby so everyone can move with the shade. If your garden is still growing into itself, a stoep or borrowed umbrella works beautifully. Give some thought to the wind. Clip down the tablecloth and use sturdy glasses. Keep a sheltered alternative ready for a blustery day.
Let the old things earn their keep
Those plates at the back of the cupboard, saved because they belonged to someone, are worth bringing out. Mix floral side plates with plain dinner plates, serve bread in an enamel bowl and put the salad in the dish your mother used for Sunday lunch.
You don’t need a complete matching service. Choose one thread to pull the table together: a white cloth, blue crockery or green foliage. An old sheet can become a generous tablecloth, while fabric remnants make perfectly useful napkins.
Keep flowers low enough for people to see one another. A few garden stems in jam jars will do. If nothing is flowering, small pots of herbs make a lovely centrepiece and can go back into the garden afterwards.
Give Sunday lunch a spring wardrobe
Older entertaining traditions offer plenty to work with: bread passed around the table, a hearty main and pudding brought out just when everyone thinks they’ve finished.
You can lighten up the spring the menu while keeping that sense of generosity. Serve roast chicken with lemon and herbs, a bowl of baby potatoes and a crunchy cabbage salad. Or bake a large vegetable tart and serve this with lentil salad and fresh bread.
The beloved carrot salad could get a handful of toasted seeds. Potato salad can wear a mustard dressing instead of its usual mayonnaise. A steamed pudding could give way to stewed fruit and custard served in small glasses. Choose one dish that needs attention just before lunch. Make the rest ahead. You should have time to sit down while the conversation is still getting started.
Resurrect the “bring a plate”
Shared meals make entertaining more affordable. Instead of a vague instruction to bring something, ask one friend for bread, another for salad and someone else for pudding. You’ll avoid three desserts arriving to a main course that still needs vegetables.
There’s room for the old family favourites here. Someone’s dependable milk tart or aunt’s bean salad can sit quite happily next to a new recipe. Ask people about their dishes and you may find lunch comes with stories you haven’t heard before. Keep the host’s contribution manageable. A large tart or pot of pulled chicken can feed a table without needing an expensive cut of meat for every guest.
Spend where it makes a difference
Before shopping, work out what you already have. Pick greenery from the garden. Buy ingredients that can be used in more than one dish: lemons for dressing and drinking water, herbs for the main course and potatoes for a filling side.
Put out jugs of water and a homemade iced tea, with guests welcome to bring whatever else they’d like to drink. You can make a modest meal feel generous with fresh bread and enough well-seasoned food to pass around.
Leave room for the afternoon
Give children a picnic blanket nearby, a few books or a patch of garden where they can play. Adults need very little entertainment beyond comfortable seats and time for that third bottle of wine.
Later, bring out tea in the old cups. Cut whatever pudding is left over into smaller pieces. Someone might wander through the garden, while someone else stays at the table to finish a story. The washing-up can wait a little. There’s still shade and nobody has quite decided to leave.
Lynette Spencer
Liz Thorne
Mariana Balt
Anchen Coetzee
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