Skip to content

Heather Christo’s Easy Party Idea: Grilled Cheese and Soup Bar

For low-maintenance fun, try a do-it-yourself grilled cheese and soup bar with all the fixings

By Lauren Mang November 17, 2014

0114heather_0

This article originally appeared in the January 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.

Anyone who feels hosting a party is too much work should take a page from Heather Christo’s playbook. The Queen Anne–based culinary whiz and entertaining expert, whose eponymous website is brimming with creative recipes and tablescape ideas, has a few secrets up her sleeve when it comes to simple yet inventive ways to serve guests, which she shares in her new book, Heather Christo’s Generous Table: Easy & Elegant Recipes Through the Seasons (Kyle Books, $29.95). The Seattle native and former catering company owner suggests building a party around classic winter comfort food. “I don’t know anyone who isn’t obsessed with soup and grilled cheese.” Not only is such a party a surefire hit, she says, “This is low-maintenance entertaining. You just set everything out and walk away.”

To create this comfort-food-filled spread, opt for multiple cheeses, meats and breads, along with different condiments, so hungry partygoers can assemble sandwiches to their liking. Adventurous eaters? Throw in a wild card with Olympic Provisions’ salame di cioccolato, a salami made with chocolate ganache, candied orange peel, nuts and Oregon grappa, available at Metropolitan Market (multiple locations; metropolitan-market.com).

Get the crafty menu- and service-board look: “If you search for large-scale chalkboards in stores or online, they’re way too expensive,” Christo says. Instead, go with oversize, lightweight wood painting panels—this one, and the one used to display the food, can be found at Artist & Craftsman Supply in the University District (4350 Eighth Ave. NE; 206.545.0091; artistcraftsman.com)—and then coat with chalkboard spray paint.

Savvy hosts needn’t worry about slaving over the stove on the day of the party. Christo suggests whipping up soups, such as her curried pumpkin with chicken and rice or creamy tomato basil, days prior to the party and freezing or refrigerating it until you’re ready to heat and serve.

Add color to your grilled-cheese-and-soup-bar setup with brightly hued napkins. Modernist bowls ($8), Scape dinnerware salad plates ($24 for a set of four), Harmony napkin in Lotus Pink (set of four, $20), gold flatware (one place setting, $29), all from West Elm (2201 Westlake Ave.; 206.467.5798; westelm.com).

Cheeses: Mt. Townsend Red Alder, Mt. Townsend Trufflestack, Kurtwood Farms Dinah’s cheese, BelGioioso sharp provolone and Beecher’s Dutch Hollow Dulcet rindless double cream, all from Metropolitan Market (multiple locations; metropolitan-market.com). Meats: Pio Tosini prosciutto di Parma, Olympic Provisions mortadella, Hempler’s sundried tomato chicken breast, Salumi Artisan Cured Meats salami and Olympic Provisions salame di cioccolato, all from Metropolitan Market. Breads: Pain du George, sourdough, multigrain and Rosemary Diamante, all from The Essential Baking Company (multiple locations; essentialbaking.com); also available at PCC Natural Markets, QFC, Metropolitan Market, Safeway, Whole Foods and other specialty grocery stores. Sour white ficelle, rye and pane francese from Macrina Bakery (multiple locations; macrinabakery.com); also available at Metropolitan Market, Thriftway, Whole Foods and other specialty grocery stores. Condiments: Dalmatia dried fig spread, Mama Lil’s hot peppers and Kozlik’s Canadian mustard, all from Metropolitan Market; cranberry mustard, Heather Christo’s recipe; and pesto and tapenade from Metropolitan Market olive bar.

Savvy hosts needn’t worry about slaving over the stove on the day of the party. Christo suggests whipping up soups, such as her curried pumpkin with chicken and rice or creamy tomato basil, days prior to the party and freezing or refrigerating it until you’re ready to heat and serve.

Add color to your grilled-cheese-and-soup-bar setup with brightly hued napkins. Modernist bowls ($8), Scape dinnerware salad plates ($24 for a set of four), Harmony napkin in Lotus Pink (set of four, $20), gold flatware (one place setting, $29), all from West Elm (2201 Westlake Ave.; 206.467.5798; westelm.com).

Cheeses: Mt. Townsend Red Alder, Mt. Townsend Trufflestack, Kurtwood Farms Dinah’s cheese, BelGioioso sharp provolone and Beecher’s Dutch Hollow Dulcet rindless double cream, all from Metropolitan Market (multiple locations; metropolitan-market.com). Meats: Pio Tosini prosciutto di Parma, Olympic Provisions mortadella, Hempler’s sundried tomato chicken breast, Salumi Artisan Cured Meats salami and Olympic Provisions salame di cioccolato, all from Metropolitan Market. Breads: Pain du George, sourdough, multigrain and Rosemary Diamante, all from The Essential Baking Company (multiple locations; essentialbaking.com); also available at PCC Natural Markets, QFC, Metropolitan Market, Safeway, Whole Foods and other specialty grocery stores. Sour white ficelle, rye and pane francese from Macrina Bakery (multiple locations; macrinabakery.com); also available at Metropolitan Market, Thriftway, Whole Foods and other specialty grocery stores. Condiments: Dalmatia dried fig spread, Mama Lil’s hot peppers and Kozlik’s Canadian mustard, all from Metropolitan Market; cranberry mustard, Heather Christo’s recipe; and pesto and tapenade from Metropolitan Market olive bar.

Follow Us

Sandy Sanctuary

Sandy Sanctuary

Mercer Island couple find bliss with a cabana on the beach

With 8,000 lakes, fifth most in the country, Washington is a happy hunting ground for waterfront lots. Highly popular Lake Chelan, the third-deepest lake in the United States, is not on the top of the list of affordable freshwater options, at least not anywhere near Chelan, where scarce waterfront residential lots start at $2 million….

The Space Arranger

The Space Arranger

Kyle Gaffney and SkB take a holistic approach to building design

To say that Kyle Gaffney backed into a career in architecture may be a bit exaggerated, but he did get a late start. Gaffney, a cofounder and principal at Seattle architecture firm SkB, suffered a devastating knee injury and lost a soccer scholarship to the University of Puget Sound. Instead of college he went to…

Prairie Townhome Companions

Prairie Townhome Companions

Couple remakes Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired property

Place two architects, a hedgehog, and more than $100,000 under house arrest, and watch the magic unfold. Sandy Wolf founded Seattle’s Office of Ordinary Architecture in the belief that beauty is found in everyday objects. She and her husband — fellow architect Daniel Ash — were not disappointed in that regard in their long search…

Tide and True

Tide and True

How Dilip Wagle and Darshana Shanbhag found their dream second home on Bainbridge Island

By May 2022, Dilip Wagle and Darshana Shanbhag’s dream of retiring on the beach was dead in the water. The Bellevue couple had spent years searching the west-facing waterfront corridor from Bellingham to Oregon, but always found themselves a step behind the pandemic-induced buying frenzy. They were about to give up when they noticed a…