Happy Monday!
I had a dinner party last weekend and something went wrong. I thought it would be helpful for me to share with you since this is real life and very often (yes, very often), something does not go according to plan.
You are having your friends over for dinner. If something goes wrong, it will still be ok. Life will go on and you will not be scarred or lose your friends (unless you bring up politics at the dinner table LOL. That is a no-no unless you know your crowd.) Stay calm and roll with the punches. Always. Remember my favorite expression: “the way you do anything is the way you do everything.”
I was cooking for 6 people and I decided to make branzino filets with salsa verde as my main course. Complete menu down below. The day of the dinner party, I asked the fishmonger at Whole Foods to filet a bunch of whole branzini for me. An hour before my friends arrived, I was pretty organized so I decided to unwrap the fish, rinse them off, pat them dry and transfer them to a container so they’d be ready to get broiled right before dinner. I opened the package and the fish was a mess! Full section of bones in each piece of fish, collarbones attached, and it was a hatchet job on the fish flesh. I was so disappointed and then I was a little concerned because I could not serve the fish as it was and I didn’t have time to go to the store for more fish. I pulled out my fish tweezers and attempted to de-bone the fish which I did but they looked awful. I immediately sent my son to the closest market to buy meat that I could marinate and grill quickly - preferably hanger or skirt steak - which I could serve with the salsa verde. Two markets had neither so he picked up some flank steak. I quickly made my go-to marinade (linked below) and marinated it at room temp for an hour and preheated the grill.
If I didn’t have my son available, I would have sent Hubs out. If Hubs wasn’t available, I would have served only the fish and added cooked white beans or chickpeas to the salad to add more substance to the meal. My friends arrived at 6:30 pm and I did NOT apologize in advance. I did not act like my dinner was destined to be a failure. The show must go on. And it did and we had a fabulous evening because as I say all the time - entertaining at home is NOT about the food. Was it my best meal ever? Definitely not. Not every meal can be the best ever!
In my career as a cooking instructor, I have taught over a thousand classes. Stuff has gone wrong - power outages, faulty equipment, forgotten ingredients, inadvertently swapping ingredients. I survived it all and in fact, all those experiences have strengthened my confidence that I can overcome mishaps.
Because I lost a lot of time deboning the fish, I did not get to marinate fresh tomatoes that I intended to serve as an hors d’oeuvre, so I pulled a jar of Divina roasted tomatoes from the pantry instead. Delicious!
Here was the Menu:
Hors D’oeuvres
Toasted bread with whipped ricotta (recipe below) and Divina tomatoes
Fried zucchini flowers with Calabrian chili aioli (recipe for zucchini flowers from August 2023 and coming to the website soon)
Smoky eggplant dip with za’atar, radishes, cucumbers and crackers (dip recipe coming next week)
Marcona almonds (Trader Joe’s)
Dinner
Tomato, nectarine and corn salad with spicy pickled onions and mint (recipe for paid subscribers below)
Baby gems with white balsamic vinaigrette, radishes, cucumbers, avocado (recipe for paid subscribers here)
Broiled branzino filets with salsa verde (recipe from Quicker Than Quick p. 252 and p. 320)
Grilled marinated flank steak (I used all olive oil and omitted the sesame oil) with salsa verde
Herbed Summer Squash and Potato Torte
Dessert
Almond semifreddo (recipe from July 2023 and coming to the website soon)
Mixed berries
Whipped Ricotta Appetizer (sorry - no images. I was trying to calm down from the fish incident)
1 15-ounce container of ricotta
Zest of half a lemon
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 TBS olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
Minced fresh herbs if you like
Whisk everything together and refrigerate a few hours or serve immediately with an extra grind of black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Always taste before you serve and season accordingly. I like to make ahead and store in the serving dish. One less thing to wash!
Timeline
3 Days Before
Make spicy onions
Make almond semifreddo
Salad dressing
Wash Baby Gems
2 Days Before
Flowers (Trader Joe’s)
Make Calabrian chili aioli (literally Vegenaise + chopped Calabrian chilies to taste)
Set out platters
Day Before
Defrost lime juice and grapefruit juice
Make smoky eggplant dip
Slice summer squash for torte
Radishes for dip and salad
Slice cucumbers for dip and salad
Set bar (Hubs)
Chill waters
Day of Dinner Party
Buy fish and bread
Make salsa verde sauce
Whip ricotta
Grill bread
Wash berries
Fry artichokes or zucchini flowers
Layer torte
Marinate tomatoes for hors d’oeuvres (didn’t happen!)
Prep all corn
Remove dressings, dip, spicy onions, and sauces from fridge
Slice tomatoes and peaches for salad
5:00 Set table outdoors
5:30 Set up hors d’oeuvres
6:30 Bake potato torte
Reheat fried blossoms in the toaster oven on air fryer program
7:30 Broil fish (takes 4 minutes)
Assemble salads
PLATTERS AND SERVEWARE
Most of what I used to serve, I’ve already posted in previous entertaining newsletters.
But I just got some really lovely walnut serving pieces from Joseph Brody and I am totally smitten! I have a few spoons and turners and little mini items, but I really love the set for cake or pies. See dessert photo below. I will include some other pieces in my newsletter next week. In the meantime, I have a non-sponsored, non-affiliate discount Pamela15 for 15% off if you like any of his beautiful pieces.
Also, I served the potato torte right out of the Staub cast iron skillet. I have a few suede handle sleeves for my skillets if I serve from them. I bought them a really long time ago on Etsy. Similar to these
Even More Musings is an extension of my weekly newsletter, Monday Musings. My newsletter is a sponsor-free zone and is fully supported by readers like you. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to get Even More Musings! Each week, I share my tips and tricks along with a new recipe. For only $5/month or $50/year (less than $1 a newsletter), you'll also gain access to the entire archive, featuring favorites like My New Hyper-fixation High-Protein Fluffy Breakfast Bowl and the Hillstone Copycat Emerald Kale Salad. This week I am sharing a delicious Corn and Nectarine with Spicy Red Onions side dish/salad I served at my dinner party and it was fabulous. Add a piece of grilled fish on top and it’s a one-dish wonder!
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