A Winter Dinner Party Deconstructed

Happy Monday!  I know you guys love when I break down how to entertain at home and keep it easy and fun.  I just had a dinner party for 8 people and it was so enjoyable and very doable.  I will give you every detail I can think of!  And, you’ll be proud of me because a few days before the dinner, my husband’s family wanted to get together for dinner the night before and I had to cook a little for that. Soooooo, I took my friends up on their offers to bring something!  I will give you the menu with links to the recipes. One recipe is on my March 2024 class menu, so that’s not ready for you.  The salmon recipe is exclusive to paid subscribers (thank you!)

Then I’ll give you my schedule for how I did it all.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, here are my most important pieces of advice for entertaining at home:

• Commit to a menu ASAP and pick out recipes that are doable for you.  NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU MAKE.  A dinner party is NOT about the food.  Crazy, I know.  It’s about spending time with people and having fun.

• Do whatever you can in advance.

• Have the right attitude.  “I get to have my friends over.”  “I am looking forward to spending time with my friends.”

• If you have a spouse or partner, enlist their help ahead of time.  I have trained Hubs to deal with the bar and drinks, fireplace, music and washing dishes after guests leave.

  

MENU

Bar enhanced with fresh grapefruit juice and fresh lime juice; mint in a jar and orange peels in a jar.

Hors D’oeuvres

Spinach artichoke dip with chips

Stuffed mushrooms (made by my friend)

Dinner (I had to make two proteins because of dietary preferences)

Baked Chicken with Tomatoes (I omitted the olives since the salmon had olives and I used cherry tomatoes)

Salmon with with olive and roasted lemon relish

Cauliflower mashed potatoes with crispy onions

Roasted carrots, asparagus and radishes over whipped feta (recipe coming soon)

Butter lettuce salad with edible flowers, microgreens, chives and avocado and citrus/pomegranate (I used this dressing)

Dessert

Almond cake (made by my friend)

Fresh Berries

Below is a detailed schedule to how I prepared a few days before the dinner party:

Wednesday

• Wash 2 heads butter lettuce

• Make vinaigrette x2 (this can technically be frozen if you want to make very far in advance)

• Wash mint

Thursday

• Set table and buy flowers

• Grocery shop

• Salt chicken

• Make roasted lemon relish

• Squeeze juices

• Make food to bring to family dinner Friday night

Friday

• DIY color (I am still loving Madison Reed DIY Root Touch-up)

• Wash and style hair

• Prep veggies including cauliflower

• Prep dip (Do not bake, just assemble, cover and refrigerate)

• Wash berries

• Whipped feta

• Chill water

• Segment oranges and do orange peels (these are for drinks like a Negroni)

• 5:00 leave for family dinner

Saturday

• Pickleball

• Buy fish

• Chop chives (salad)

• Chop parsley (chicken)

• Halftime - shower and get dressed (yes, I was able to watch the football game with friends coming over for dinner!)

• Peel potatoes and place in pot covered with water

• 4:50 start chicken

• 5:15 chicken in oven, covered

• 5:20 Make cauliflower mashed potatoes and keep warm over simmering water (crispy onions are from a container from Whole Foods - add right before serving)

• 6:05 chicken out of oven to rest

• Pre-roast vegetables

• Bake dip

• 6:20 carve chicken

• 6:25 Put chicken in slow cooker (I ended up putting back in the cast iron skillet, covered, in 200 degree oven)

• Slice avocado - cover

• Set bar, turn on music, and light candle in powder room - Hubs

• Remove whipped feta, relish, and dressing from fridge

• Remove fish from fridge and have ready to go on a sheet pan

• 6:30 Friend arrive! Serve dip

• 7:00 Slow roast salmon

• Saute asparagus and add pre-roasted veggies

• Toss salad add oranges/pomegranate, avocado, flower petals and micro greens

• 7:30 serve dinner (I do buffet) light candles, put out water (have someone help you if you need)

DECOR

Flowers from Costco

White ceramic floral containers

Linen Placemats mine is a darker linen: Libeco Pacific Placemat

Linen napkins from a trip to Estonia but these are similar to the Sur La Table Chambray Napkins

Matte gold flatware from Design within Reach

Glassware old discontinued design from Crate&Barrel.  These are similar from CB2

Salt dishes (bought in Paris) with mini bamboo spoons

Continued below: recipe for salmon with olive and roasted lemon relish, all my serving pieces, my tip for footwear when I entertain, Hubs’s music choices.

Even More Musings