Reply to Hosting dinner for six

Forum Index » Food, Cooking, and Restaurants

Reply to "Hosting dinner for six"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, I host a lot of dinner parties.  Here are some easy go- tos when I have a busy day and don’t want to go all out:

Always:
Charcuterie plate with 2 types of meat (I usually do a spicy sopressata and a black peppercorn salami),  3 nice cheeses (goat or other soft, blue, simple cheddar for less adventurous cheese folks), olives, grapes and/or berries).  I also slice a baguette thin, or offer some nice crackers, a couple varieties.

For dinner, some easy options are chicken parm—light coating of flour and shredded parm, sauté/brown the chicken, put in casserole and cover with Rao’s marinara, top with shredded cheddar and Mozzarella. Bake for 45 minutes or so.  Serve with pasta cooked in well salted water, a green salad.  This is always a hit, carb haters skip the pasta.  Have lots of salad and definitely a good homemade salad dressing.  Mine is that I mince 3 garlic cloves, put in a small jar with 2/3 cup good olive oil, 1/3 cup lemon juice, generous fresh ground salt and pepper.  Shake and rest for at least an hour.  For dessert, berries with whipped cream are always fine (I put just a teaspoon of brown sugar and a dash of cardamom in my whipped cream).

For vegetarians, red beans and rice is an excellent option.  Easy to put together and it is hands off.  Mildly spicy but generally acceptable.

Ina Garten’s Asian Grilled Salmon is great, with rice and the salad above.

Asparagus is so easy to sauté if you want an additional veggie.  Use butter, salt and pepper, go underdone rather than over.  Bonus points for adding the asparagus to softened shallots and garlic.

Good luck!

[/quote]

I would be polite and eat your berries with whipped cream, but I’d be disappointed by this dessert. I can’t speak for anyone other than myself but I hate fruit as dessert. Toss a slice of lemon pound cake in there! [/quote]

FFS. You can buy your own cake to wolf down. A healthy and delicious dessert for one meal is not going to kill you. [/quote]

PP here -- agree.  Many of my friends don't want a heavy dessert and prefer something lighter, which is why I do that.  I'll occasionally do something like a pavlova with lemon curd and berries, or a fruit pie.  But heavy apps, main, and dessert is a lot.  Most people want fresh and lighter fare to some extent.[/quote]

I mean, that is your perspective because that is what you like and possibly your family and certain people in your close circle. But to say “most people” don’t really care for much dessert isn’t true just because that’s what you prefer. I prefer fresh fare too. I actually don’t need any appetizers, let alone heavy apps. We just have different preferences. I would never buy/make/choose a fruit pie or pavlova. I don’t even need a BIG dessert or a complicated dessert. It could be a tasty cookie, some high quality chocolate truffles, a scoop of ice cream, or a pillowy macaron. Again, you do you and you know your audience. But to insinuate that everyone would rather a bowl of berries for dessert is maybe not being in tune that others may prefer something different than what you prefer. [/quote]

Lol at you saying you would never choose pavlova and suggesting macarons instead.  Lolololol[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics