Friends coming over for dinner

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like risotto--its elegant but easy. Tons of variations--i recently did fennel and gorgonzola. THe only thing is that you're stirring for 30 min so I usually hang in the kitchen drinking wine with the friends but if that's not your thing, then my current favorite interesting do-ahead meal is a chicken and green olive tagine, served with apricot/pine nut couscous and carrot salad, and maybe a ricotta cheese dessert (super easy and relatively healthy, puree in food processor 1 regular and 1 low fat ricotta with some grand marnier and some orange marmalade until creamy, spoon into martini glasses, top with chocolate chips or raspberries, etc).

Risotto is a great idea (as long as you know to find it in the RICE aisle lol). I love this recipe from Keep it Simple Foods (I love all of these recipes!). Takes maybe 30 minutes to 45 total prep. You could do asparagus rather than zucchini. Or just peas to keep it even more simple.

http://www.keepitsimplefoods.com/vegetarian/summer-risotto/

And then you can do a salad with a bag of lettuce, gargonzola cheese, and homemade dressing made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and a tablespoon or two of dijon.

Another option - cook some chimchurri salmon from the frozen section at Trader Joes - it defrosts easy in the bag in a bowl of warm water for 15-20 minutes.