I think one of the most daunting things for an aspiring home-chef is making a meal for people outside of your immediate family, especially when you begin to move away from the “everyone bring a side dish” get-together & start hosting real, live dinner parties. For a long time I’d only make something that cooked all day on the stove when I had people over for dinner, assuring that my oven was open for anything else (bread, a baked dessert, etc.) and that it was ready when my guests walked in the door- no trying to time it all.
After surviving our very first Thanksgiving when somehow, miracle of miracles, all my side dishes were done & piping hot at the exact moment we were ready to carve our turkey I gained some confidence & have started branching out in my “dinner-party” menus. It doesn’t have to be fancy – I had some lovely ladies over in January for homemade pizza & spinach salad. This weekend The Hubs & I have another couple coming over for dinner- good friends, but also friends who have good taste & entertain impecably. Cue the nerves!
My standard time frame goes as follows:
2 Days Ahead: select menu & determine where all of my ingredients are coming from & if any of my dishes require steps the night before. Inquire of any guests food allergies- our guests tomorrow night are allergic to pine nuts & chocolate- good to know as I include pine nuts in most of my Italian cooking!
1 Day Ahead: select & wash/iron table linens, tidy up the house, scrub the kitchen within an inch of its life & clear out the fridge to make room for anything I need to cool quickly and/or leftovers. Bake dessert – this frees up your oven for the next day, & allows plenty of time for cooling (for icing cakes) and gives you time to come up with a back-up plan if you have a major flop.
Day of: in the morning I clean all the bathrooms, setting out fresh hand towels & soaps, empty trash cans & dust the house. Clutter gets shoved aside put away & the floors are swept & mopped. Depending on the formality of the meal, I’ll set the table ahead of time & transfer the dessert to a fancy platter or cake stand. Fresh flowers are arranged in a vase. Cooking can begin!
Tomorrow night I’m sticking to a menu that I know I can time well:
- Appetizer: Salami squishes
- Main Course: Citrus Roasted Chicken (check out our archives)
- Roasted asparagus & brussel sprouts
- Mashed sweet potatoes topped with crumbled, plain goat cheese
- Dessert: The Pioneer Woman’s Carrot Cake
Tonight I’ll bake the carrot cake so it can cool all night before I frost it in the morning. The chicken will roast in the afternoon & I’ll time it to come out of the oven 30 minutes after our guests arrive (6:30), allowing time to take coats, pour drinks & serve appetizers. I’ll have the potatoes boiled & mashed on the stove top, set aside until serving & my cookie sheets with the veggies will go in 10 minutes before the chicken comes out – and will stay in during the 15 minutes I let the chicken “rest” on the counter before carving. As The Hubs carves the bird, I can plate the meal and take the plates over to the table. Yum! After dinner the cake will be easy t0 slice up & serve with coffee – decaf & regular.