Hosting dinner for six

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plebeian here, but what's wrong with baked ziti, a salad, and bread?

I'd probably order though. You could order kebabs, rice, pita and dips. Then make your own cucumber tomato and onion salad and an easy olive oil cake in advance.

NP. I love pasta bakes and am not a food snob, but it feels to informal to serve work colleagues.

[Anonymous]

My go to for easy but nice dinner is a lamb stew. Made the day before and served over cous cous with raisins and pine nuts. Also a crunchy/vinegary cucumber salad on the side. Wouldnt work for vegetarians but i can make it gluten free subbing rice. For vegetariabs i have made a separate moroccan butternut stew.
Not in the heat of summer but works all other seasons. You can serve it family style with all the bowls on the table or be all fancy with chargers on the table and nice bowls and a parsley or carrot curl garnish on top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plebeian here, but what's wrong with baked ziti, a salad, and bread?

I'd probably order though. You could order kebabs, rice, pita and dips. Then make your own cucumber tomato and onion salad and an easy olive oil cake in advance.

NP. I love pasta bakes and am not a food snob, but it feels to informal to serve work colleagues.

Your work colleagues are different than mine!

I personally don't find pasta and salad heavy, but I eat more salad than pasta.

Pasta can be lovely, and it's a delicious.

But unclear if this is a work dinner with friend colleagues or an awkward entertaining the boss thing. I don't do the later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find a 1-pot chicken casserole type dish, that can be prepped in advance, like a coq au vin, or I like this NYT recipe, then couscous (prepped in advance) and a salad (again, prepped in advance, just add dressing before serving)

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017258-braised-chicken-with-lemon-and-olives

Pick up some nice pastries or a cake for dessert.

This (above) is an excellent menu idea. If the thought of cooking is too stressful then you could order middle eastern food -- a mix of chicken and beef kababs, some falafel in case anyone is vegetarian, and the rice. You could order the food earlier in the day and warm it up in the oven in aluminum trays before the guests get there. With that perhaps a couple of salads, maybe a mixed greens salad and one with chopped cucumber, tomato, scallions, parsley and dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

I would steer away from middle eastern, or really any overtly international foods unless you know your guests will enjoy them. I know a not-insignificant number of people who are not adventurous eaters, more "meat and potatoes" types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baked ziti, salad and garlic bread.

OMG no.

Agreed. Not for work colleagues.

OP, Costco has Salmon with lemon butter that you can just pop in the oven (instructions are included). Their bagged salads are good, and should be sufficient for 6 people. Get some good crusty bread and good quality olive oil/balsamic (I bake mine, so have no recommendations). If you have a Wegmans nearby, they have pre-marinated chicken quarters (or some such) that you can stick in the oven that are very good. Just serve with roasted veggies (Cut veggies up into even sized pieces, toss in olive oil and lots of garlic - you can make this well ahead of time. Add salt right before putting in the oven). Wegmans also has a very nice dessert selection. The little fruit tarts are so very good. If you don't want to go to all this trouble, just order food from your favorite restaurant.

Oh, and find out about food restrictions ahead of time.

This, but I'd add a rice or grain. And, that way if there is a vegetarian they can eat the veggie adn rice.

OMG you'd be comfortable w/a work colleague not having any kind of main dish available?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plebeian here, but what's wrong with baked ziti, a salad, and bread?

I'd probably order though. You could order kebabs, rice, pita and dips. Then make your own cucumber tomato and onion salad and an easy olive oil cake in advance.

It's very carb-heavy as well as heavy overall. It's also not really "company food" because it's simple, heavy comfort food.

We never eat it because it's a meal that's all about pasta, and that is not generally how we eat. I'd be disappointed if I were served baked ziti at a dinner party. I'd eat it to be polite, but would take a small serving and make do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plebeian here, but what's wrong with baked ziti, a salad, and bread?

I'd probably order though. You could order kebabs, rice, pita and dips. Then make your own cucumber tomato and onion salad and an easy olive oil cake in advance.

It's very carb-heavy as well as heavy overall. It's also not really "company food" because it's simple, heavy comfort food.

We never eat it because it's a meal that's all about pasta, and that is not generally how we eat. I'd be disappointed if I were served baked ziti at a dinner party. I'd eat it to be polite, but would take a small serving and make do.

I'd be thrilled to have baked ziti because (same) I rarely eat something like that at home or a restaurant. I would be excited to try out their sauce. Because sauce is always different everywhere. It's one freaking meal.

[Anonymous]

I suppose it depends whether the group are 30 somethings or 50 somethings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plebeian here, but what's wrong with baked ziti, a salad, and bread?

I'd probably order though. You could order kebabs, rice, pita and dips. Then make your own cucumber tomato and onion salad and an easy olive oil cake in advance.

It's very carb-heavy as well as heavy overall. It's also not really "company food" because it's simple, heavy comfort food.

We never eat it because it's a meal that's all about pasta, and that is not generally how we eat. I'd be disappointed if I were served baked ziti at a dinner party. I'd eat it to be polite, but would take a small serving and make do.

I'd be thrilled to have baked ziti because (same) I rarely eat something like that at home or a restaurant. I would be excited to try out their sauce. Because sauce is always different everywhere. It's one freaking meal.

It’s one freaking meal is right, so put a little effort into it. Ziti is weekday food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plebeian here, but what's wrong with baked ziti, a salad, and bread?

I'd probably order though. You could order kebabs, rice, pita and dips. Then make your own cucumber tomato and onion salad and an easy olive oil cake in advance.

It's very carb-heavy as well as heavy overall. It's also not really "company food" because it's simple, heavy comfort food.

We never eat it because it's a meal that's all about pasta, and that is not generally how we eat. I'd be disappointed if I were served baked ziti at a dinner party. I'd eat it to be polite, but would take a small serving and make do.

I'd be thrilled to have baked ziti because (same) I rarely eat something like that at home or a restaurant. I would be excited to try out their sauce. Because sauce is always different everywhere. It's one freaking meal.

It’s one freaking meal is right, so put a little effort into it. Ziti is weekday food.

Also ziti is for when you need to feed a crowd for cheap. Dinner for 6 is not a crowd and not the time to cut corners.

[Anonymous]

I recently had a small dinner party and made Sam Sifton's "Roasted Chicken Provencal" (NYT) and Barefoot Contessa's Oven Roasted Vegetables.

https://basslakebookclub.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/chicken-provenccca7al-roasted.pdf

https://www.food.com/recipe/ina-gartens-oven-roasted-vegetables-363313

I chose this because it was a complete meal (protein, starch, veggies), was very easy to prepare, and didn't require me to be standing over my stove while guests were here.

If only one oven, you can cook the vegetables at 400 and just add a little time. If you need gluten-free, you can skip the step of lightly dredging the chicken in flour. I've now made the chicken with and without the flour, and it doesn't seem to make any difference.

[Anonymous]

OP -- why on earth would your spouse invite guests to his home and expect his not-great cook wife to prepare the meal? This is bonkers. This is on him to figure out.

[Anonymous]

Chicken marbella. You marinate the chicken the night before (I use boneless thighs I can because those don't dry out like breasts do) and then just dump in a casserole dish and bake. You start some rice at some point, which could be tricky if you don't cook at all, so I'd maybe do a bunch of frozen bags from TJs. Then do a salad or your favorite vegetable.

Buy a dessert, but I think having a tray of sweets is always nice. Give everyone a little scoop of vanilla ice cream and then get a variety of cookies to have with it.

And lots of wine and good humor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plebeian here, but what's wrong with baked ziti, a salad, and bread?

I'd probably order though. You could order kebabs, rice, pita and dips. Then make your own cucumber tomato and onion salad and an easy olive oil cake in advance.

It's very carb-heavy as well as heavy overall. It's also not really "company food" because it's simple, heavy comfort food.

We never eat it because it's a meal that's all about pasta, and that is not generally how we eat. I'd be disappointed if I were served baked ziti at a dinner party. I'd eat it to be polite, but would take a small serving and make do.

I'd be thrilled to have baked ziti because (same) I rarely eat something like that at home or a restaurant. I would be excited to try out their sauce. Because sauce is always different everywhere. It's one freaking meal.

It’s one freaking meal is right, so put a little effort into it. Ziti is weekday food.

+1

If you're putting on a dinner party for your spouse's work colleagues, why would you serve food for a crowd of teenage boys?

[Anonymous]

I think braised lamb shanks (if your crowd eats meat) is a very good hands-off, but dinner party worthy item for this situation. This is the type of thing that you could even cook the day before and then warm up right before serving. Braises tend to taste better after a day.

You can make them either sort of Greek or Morroccan style:

Greek:https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/greek-style-slow-cooked-lamb-shanks/009xlflr" target="_new" rel="nofollow"> https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/greek-style-slow-cooked-lamb-shanks/009xlflr
Moroccan: https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/moroccan-lamb-tagine

Serve with either mashed potatoes, rice, or couscous. Salad. Done.