How to Manage Your Dinner Party
April 6, 2009
After about 40 dinner parties in the past two years, a ten-person dinner party should be a very easy thing to do. But to allow myself to enjoy the party as much as our guests do, I need to do a lot of detailed planning. Good planning in advance also lets me maximize the quality of food I serve. Cold food needs to be cold and hot food needs to be hot when you serve them. My kitchen is just an average kitchen with a four burner stove and one oven. It would be impossible to make a roast chicken, baking bread and a dessert all at the same time. So for all these reasons, party planning is one of the most important parts of entertaining for me.
The dinner party we organized last weekend required even more precise planning. My past parties were mostly for my friends and family but this time was an official dinner party that included the American Ambassador, the Mayor of the Monrovia and other government officials among the invitees.
My friends are used to enjoying themselves between the courses, even if it takes a long time, but I really wanted to make this party seamless. Timing was very important. Not only I have to cook, I also have to eat the food and chat with the guests and unfortunately I don't have a remote control to cook my food while I am eating so I have to select a menu which I can cook ahead of time and at the same time it has to be something that gets better if you cook it a day before. Also most importantly, you have to pick something you have made many times if not at least once so you know what to do. My final menu for last weekend's dinner was:
Appetizer
Gourgere
First Course
Zucchini Three Ways
(Cold zucchini soup; zucchini pancake with basil and scallion cream; marinated zucchini crostini)
Main Course
Oxtail braised in Shiraz with truffle mashed potatoes
Dessert
Lemon ice cream
Pecan bar
Gourgere is a cheese puff. You can either make them a couple hours ahead and leave them at room temperature or up to one week ahead and reheat in the oven for five minutes before you serve. Gourgere is a great appetizer because it looks fantastic and smells awfully good but it also tastes good even when it gets cold. It goes really well with sparkling wine or rosé.
Usually, there is more time for the first course so I make more complicated things if I want to. For this dinner, I decided to make three different starters with zucchini - all three of which could be cooked ahead of time so that I could hang out with the guests when they arrived. I picked zucchini because I knew I could find it at the market. Liberia is a very difficult place to plan the menu because you never know if something is available by the time you go shopping. It is important to use the ingredients in season in your country.
I make cold soup for almost all my dinner parties. It is perfect because you can cook it in advance and put it in the fridge until you serve. Also, for the last 6 years, I lived in places where it is hot all year so cold soup is very appropriate. This zucchini soup is an adaptation from my favorite split pea soup recipe. Instead of using split peas, I used zucchini. It worked really well.
Marinated zucchini crostini is super easy to make. Zucchini is marinated in garlic oil and some lemon juice and the zucchini soaks up all the good flavor while you marinate. You have to make crostini and then put some marinated zucchini on the top and garnish with shaved parmesan cheese.
Zucchini pancakes are also a great party food. Although I keep them warm in the oven until I serve, the room temparature ones are equally tasty. You need zucchini, flour, some sugar and salt and egg whites. It takes about 30 minutes to drain the water from the zucchini but otherwise, the active cooking time to make the pancakes is very short. Among the three zucchini appetizers, I think this one was the favorite.
For the main course, I did not really think much. Luckily, I did not have to worry about making a separate dish for vegetarians this party and so I decided to make braised oxtail. This is one of the dishes that is much better on the day after you cook it. Although it takes two days to season the meat and about 4 hours to cook the meat, all this can be done in advance and then all you have to do is bring it back to a boil about 45 minutes before you serve. I made this dish 4-5 times before and it always works well and I know well now how to do it so I don't get nervous. It tastes absolutely wonderful and people love it. I usually find oxtails at the supermarket here but just to make sure, I visited the store one week before and placed the order to pick them up three days before the party. The recipe I always use for the braised oxtail is from Zuni Cafe cookbook. Zuni cafe is my favorite restaurant in San Francisco and I am sure you can will find this recipe a masterpiece. Make sure to make more than you need for your next day meal. I made one extra pot for only us. I posted the oxtail potpie recipe before and it is a great use of left-over oxtail.
I usually like to serve a light dessert. I don't like to serve pies or cakes for dinner parties. I prefer desserts that have great flavor in a small portion so it is not difficult for my guests to finish the dessert. The lemon ice cream recipe I have is great after the rich oxtail. But I did not want to serve ice cream just in the glass bowl so I decided to make the frozen fresh lemon cup to hold the ice cream. This extra effort makes your ice cream look more sophisticated and is great for the ending of your dinner party. This lemon ice cream recipe doesn't use eggs so I also didn't have to worry about using uncooked eggs in a place like Africa where that can be dangerous.
Dinner party tip summary
1. Visit the supermarket before you plan the meal. You need to know what you can get and what you can't. And use seasonal ingredients.
2. Pick a dish that you have made before. A dinner party is not a time for you to experiment.
3. Pick the recipe that you can make as much in advance as possible.
4. Have a backup recipe in case you have to change the menu last minute because of a lack of ingredients (it happnes to me sometimes).
5. Try to pick dishes that require different cooking processes. Don't pick dishes that all require the oven for every course.
6. Write the menu on paper along with all the ingredients you need. Even the ingredients you think you have it for sure. Check what you have in your pantry and mark the ingredients you need to purchase.
7. I make a shopping list by each course. You probably need the same ingredients for multiple courses but it seems to help remind me how much and why you need that particular ingredient. Also mark where (which store) you get if you are planning to go to multiple stores.
8. Write down a cooking schedule as detailed as possible starting from the days prior if you plan to make something ahead of time. Then make a more detailed schedule of your actual day of the dinner party by the hour. Mark as you finish each task. I have a template in MS Word to plan everything above and other information including the wine paring and plating plan for every single dinner party. I recommend to make one that suits your needs.
9. Keep the kitchen clean as you cook. This way you always have everything you need for each step of the cooking.
10. Most importantly, now that you are so organized... enjoy your own party.