A Dinner Party (with Lots of Dietary Restrictions) Deconstructed + an Insane Tomato Salad with Tonnato Sauce!
Happy Monday!
As promised, here is the dinner party with ALL the details. If you remember, last week I shared some tips for hosting guests with dietary restrictions. Here’s the actual dinner party deconstructed where I had to avoid gluten, pork, beef, lamb, shellfish, salmon, beets, olives, mustard, onions, and garlic + one vegetarian guest. No problem!
Menu
Bar: Orange peels, fresh grapefruit and limes juices, jalapeno, mint, cucumber slices
Hors d’oeuvres:
Goat cheese dip with dates, smoked almonds, fried rosemary (+ crispy onions on one side) recipe from December 2023 online class
Fried artichoke hearts with Calabrian chili aioli (recipe for paid subscribers in last week’s newsletter)
Loaded white bean “hummus” (hummus recipe with white beans swapped for chickpeas - makes it smooth and creamy!) with crudites (baby cucumbers, purple radishes), pesto minus the garlic, toasted pine nuts, roasted Divina tomatoes (I used roasted garlic olive oil in the dip in place of fresh garlic)
Crackers and GF (These crackers from Eataly are so good. Plus I love Ines Rosales olive oil crackers. I served these Trader Joe’s GF crackers.)
Dinner
Eggplant Milanese with basil-jalapeno sauce (recipe from June 2024 online cooking class ;I used Aleia’s GF breadcrumbs)
Spicy Caesar salad with GF breadcrumbs (used Jeff Nathan Creation panko) (garlic-infused olive oil in dressing instead of fresh garlic and omitted the mustard)
Sautéed Corn with chives (cut corn off cobs and saute with butter and salt. Garnish with minced fresh chives.)
Grilled chicken paillard with cucumber-tomato salad (served pickled onions on the side) and dill-tahini sauce (omitted garlic and used garlic oil; recipe for paid subscribers from this newsletter)
Reserved cucumber-tomato salad with added chickpeas for vegetarian guest
Grilled vegetables (zucchini and yellow squash) brushed with olive oil mixed with Spiceology Greek Freak seasoning
Fresh berries (one friend brought)
GF Chocolate Chip Cookies (one friend brought)
Assorted McConnell’s ice creams
Platters and Decor Pieces
Blue and white hydrangeas from Trader Joe’s in acrylic container similar to this
Shagreen Placemats by Tisch New York (I have a light blue color that I don’t see on their site)
Salt cellars from Serax that I bought at Merci in Paris
My board with the goat cheese dip was a custom gift from Thomas Hayes. Any skinny board works. Bowl from Materia Lumina (I don’t see this bowl anywhere.)
Hummus in Heath Ceramics bowl
Fried artichokes in wood bowl from ages ago and aioli in Staub ceramic mini cocotte
Chicken in ceramic tray from Hudson Grace
Zucchini on platter from Nickey Kehoe (no longer available)
Salad in platter from Hudson Grace
Eggplant on huge wood cutting board, sauce in Farmhouse Pottery mini pitcher
Here was my schedule. Skip this if you don’t need help with prepping ahead and timing your meals when entertaining. If I prep something ahead and I can store it in the same thing I am using to serve it, I do that!
2 days and 1 day before
Buy and arrange flowers (I do NOT spend a lot of money or time on florals.)
Make goat cheese dip
Make garlic-free pesto (can be frozen)
Prep veggies for hummus
Cut corn off the cob
Prep chives
Basil-jalapeno sauce
Wash little gems
Make Caesar dressing
Shave parm
Pound chicken
Dice cucumbers for salad
Make pickled onions
Make dill sauce
Make GF breadcrumbs for salad
Chopped smoked almonds
Set buffet
Chill waters - sparkling and flat
Set bar (Hubs does this)
Defrost juices (I freeze my citrus juices for entertaining)
Spice mix for chicken
Saturday
Calabrian chili aioli
Season chicken
Make white bean hummus
Roast eggplants and Bread them
Bake them
Fry artichokes in advance. Keep on wire rack.
Preheat grill
5:45 roast zucchini
Pull dressings, dip and sauces from fridge
Light candle in powder room
Slice tomatoes for salad
6:30 Guests arrive set out goat cheese dip, white bean hummus
Reheat artichokes in toaster oven/air fryer program 10 min
7:15 Reheat eggplant
Reheat grilled zucchini
Grill chicken
Season cucumber salad - sumac, salt, pepper, lemon juice
Saute corn
Dress salad
7:30 serve dinner
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