Entertaining can be easy despite what you read
I recently read an article in O Magazine that really made me think. It was about a woman who wanted to have friends over for dinner, but didn’t cook. I personally love to entertain AND I love to cook but even I can’t imagine trying to pull off the feast she set out to prepare - homemade gnochi. Why put yourself through that. If you are someone who likes to entertain, don’t ruin it by trying to do something you can only undertake once every few years because it is so stressful and time consuming.
I am very at ease having guests over any day of the week as long as I know in advance. The key to fun entertaining for you and the guest is to always plan so that you can do 90% of the work before anyone arrives and stick to a theme. A theme can carry you a long way where cooking can not, if cooking isn’t your thing. More on this later.
Let’s take the first step - plan. You don’t even really have to cook to entertain. There are plenty of menus that don’t require firing up the skillet or an oven. A wine and cheese party is a perfect example. All you need is someone to suggest the wines (if you’re as unskilled at picking wines as I am) and a selection of cheese, crackers, olives, rolled meats, bruschette and sliced fruit. None of this requires cooking, just shopping and chopping.
Cooking or no-cooking there are a few basics that you need to plan: 1.) how many people , 2.) the menu , 3.) the drinks, and 4.) what to serve the food and drinks on and in.
How many people - I let the number of people dictate the type of menu when I entertain. More people usually equals more work so I have to make my menu simpler. There are certain dishes that are easier to prepare in bulk vs. individually. If I have more than 6 people I focus my menu on things that can be prepared group style.
For example, I love making chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese and ham, but this dish is too time consuming to make for lots of people. It can be made ahead, but pounding more than a few chicken breasts is too much work for me (and despite what they say on the food network, I haven’t found a butcher who will do this at the mainstream grocery store). For a larger group if I want those same flavors I would do a pasta dish with goat cheese, roasted chicken and asparagus. The same concept carries over into drinks. If I have more people I try to keep the list of options short so that I don’t have to spend the evening as a bartender.
The Menu - It’s important that what you serve goes together. If you serve enchiladas, don’t serve fruit and cheese as an appetizer, serve chips and salsa. That may seem obvious, but I have been to many parties where the food seems to be randomly chosen. Dinners always seem more put together when there is a theme. The theme can carry not just through the menu but into the dishes and linens.
As I said before, the dishes on the menu should be less complicated the more people you are having. Look for future posts with lots of menus from different dinner parties I have had. I like to entertain, even if I make chicken fingers and mac-n-cheese for a dinner party with kids.
Drinks - I am a wine drinker. But for entertaining I believe the drinks should go with the theme. I also believe there shouldn’t be more than two or three choices at most unless it’s a VERY small group. If you’re serving Mexican, for example, wine might not be the best choice. Margaritas and beer suit the menu better and when I say beer I mean just one kind of beer.
What to serve food and drinks on and in - There are so many fun options out there for entertaining that can really pull a dinner party together. Many of them are very inexpensive. I went to a dinner party where the theme and menu were mojitos. There was mojito chicken, mojitos, chips, salsa… The food was nothing fancy, but it was so well done because she carried the Cuban theme through to the dishes, napkins and glasses. The glasses were tall tumblers with a slice of lime wedged over the lip. It was a party where you left thinking, she really knows how to pull off a fun dinner party, even though the cooking was nothing fancy.
For examples, you can pull together an Italian themed party in about 30 minutes if you have an inexpensive set of pasta bowls and some festive appetizer plates. Fettuccini is a fast, delicious meal that takes no time. Add some bread with flavored olive oil served on some cute Italian themed plates and a salad and you’re done.
Stay tuned for more posts with entertaining menus and ideas.
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