Kelly Rossiter
READ MORE ABOUT:
When I first started working for Planet Green my posts were geared to people who didn't have much experience in the kitchen. The plan was to give people some advice on stocking their kitchens, and starting out with some easy recipes and then work their way up to giving a dinner party. Well, I'm giving a dinner party this week and it's time to walk you readers through the steps to having a successful (hopefully!) party.
The first thing to think about is the reason for the party, a family birthday, a holiday celebration, or an evening with friends. That provides you with the tone of the party, whether it will be an informal family buffet for lots of people, or a formal sit-down dinner. It also dictates your guest list. Those are the two most important decisions to make before you do anything else. In my case, I am having a dinner for 4 total strangers. My husband works on the board of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario and they had a fund raising auction in the fall. I donated a dinner to be cooked by me, using all local and seasonal foods. These two couples paid $250 for the pleasure of eating at my table, so beans on toast isn't an option. I have decided to go very formal, with all my best china and silver.
Once you know the tone and the guest list, you have to figure out a menu. I like to use recipes that I have tried before so that there aren't any unpleasant surprises at the last minute. I am adding one new recipe this time, but it looks pretty straight forward, so I don't think I'll have any problems. The other important thing for me is to make things that can be done in advance as much as possible. I always mess things up if I have to do too much at the last minute. Given that this isn't a party where the friends might join me in the kitchen and lend a hand, I have to be really organized.
The last element in deciding the menu is what foods are available right now. After scouring the farmers' market for the weeks, I have a pretty good idea of what I'll find there on Thursday. If I can't get what I want, then I have one day to revise my menu to incorporate whatever is on offer. Luckily for me, my guests wanted to be surprised by the menu, rather than receiving it in advance, so I can make any changes without having to let on. Everything I am serving will be cooked on Thursday, or early in the day on Friday and other than the soup and crumble will be served at room temperature so everything will be ready when the guests arrive, well, in theory anyway. Some of you will recognize a few of these recipes from Planet Green or TreeHugger. Here is the menu:
Appetizers
Yogurt Biscuits with Rowe Farm Herbed Sausage and Ox-eye Daisy Capers
Pickled Jerusalem Artichokes
Pickled Fiddleheads
Soup Course
First Course
Asparagus Tart with Maple-cured Bacon, Morels, Ramps and Fifth Town Goat Cheese
Main Course
Spring Radish and Potato Salad
Salad of Spring Greens with Pea Shoots and Labradour Tea Vinaigrette
Asparagus with Wild Mushroom Mustard Aoili
Grilled Lemon and Garlic Leg of Ontario Lamb
Dessert Course
Rhubarb Crumble
A Variety of Artisan Cheeses from Ontario and Quebec
The pickled fiddleheads, ox-eye daisy capers, wild mushroom mustard and Labrador tea vinegar all come from Forbes Wild Foods who always have great foraged food on offer. All of the vegetables come from local farmers and the meat is organic Ontario lamb from The Healthy Butcher. The cheese for the tart and the dessert is from About Cheese where my son works. They specialize in Canadian artisanal cheese, so I might stray a tiny bit from my mandate of Ontario foods to include the fabulous Quebec cheeses being produced now, and I might even stray as far as Salt Spring Island which has some great cheese. I guess I have to wait to see what's ripe and ready to eat.
Next step: cleaning and planning
Difficulty Level: Easy
-
- {}
