We entertain for dinner pretty often, or at least we used to until my brains got sucked out of my head when #4 was born a few months ago. But I expect our hospitality days will return someday. I find that it\u2019s an ongoing challenge to plan a dinner party menu that gives me time to be with our guests but doesn\u2019t involve Campbell\u2019s condensed soup baking in a casserole dish. We had important dinner guests last night (prospective in-laws : )) and I realized that I have forgotten my groove. Or maybe I never had it.<\/p>\n
But anyway, as I see it, here is the challenge of a good dinner party recipe repertoire:<\/p>\n
(1) Allows for almost complete prep the night before. I NEVER have time the day-of to prepare ingredients, because I am too busy trying to prevent the trashing of our house and to tire out the kids for an earlier bedtime.<\/p>\n
(2) Is ready to serve about one hour after guests arrive, but requires minimal cooking time during that final hour when dinner guests are here.<\/p>\n
(3) Does not cost a fortune.<\/p>\n
(4) Is seasonal and colorful and fresh and delicious.<\/p>\n
That is a superhuman set of requirements, my friends, but we are superhuman and we know it, so here is one menu that has worked well for me in the past:<\/p>\n
Hot appetizer of pesto pizza squares: ready to go dough, ready to spread pesto, bakeable so minimal hands on, always tasty and hard to mess up; basically any appetizer with a Pillsbury dough base is easy and great, and who has to know that the Doughboy helped?<\/p>\n
Antipasto-ish blend: roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, chunks of salami and squares of mozzarella or provolone, whatever; served cold so can be all ready the night before<\/p>\n
Salad: sliced tomatoes, sliced fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil over lettuce w\/balsamic and olive oil, minimal ingredients all of which can be prepped the night before<\/p>\n
Meat: Italian marinaded pork tenderloin (often on sale)\u2013marinade the day before or buy marinaded, only requires about an hour of roasting just before time to serve<\/p>\n
Starch: angel hair pasta w\/butter and garlic or risotto<\/p>\n
Garlic bread warmed at the last minute, when the pork comes out<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This menu has flavorful, colorful and simple ingredients, it goes well together, and I wasn\u2019t in the kitchen much. Also, I thought it was easy to delegate parts\u2013eg: someone else can compile the salad, stir the risotto, or carve the tenderloin while we chat.<\/p>\n
If you have a repertoire, even just the names of dishes or the general theme, please share. Don\u2019t you love learning Home Economics through trial and (lots of) error?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We entertain for dinner pretty often, or at least we used to until my brains got sucked out of my head when #4 was born a few months ago. But I expect our hospitality days will return someday. I find that it\u2019s an ongoing challenge to plan a dinner party menu that gives me time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":731,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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