When I used to host dinner parties, I would plan far in advance. I would tweak a menu to accomodate everyone's tastes and allergies. I would plan how everything melded together, and I would spend the whole time in the kitchen ensuring everything was "just so" and missing a large part of the party.
Now that I am a mum, planning tends to be a few days before the actual party, when I have a spare moment to think about it and jot down a list. Grocery shopping is the night before or day of, and I seem to cram something else last minute into the mix. Inevitably, it seems to come together because the basics are there - good food, good wine and good company.
I did host a dinner party a few weekend's ago, and everything tasted wonderfully, even though I forgot to toast the bread for the mushroom toasts and bake the maple-glazed acorn squash. And something else I forgot....what was it??....oh yeah...I forgot to take pictures of all the yummy food! Sheesh! Sorry guys, you'll just have to take my word on it. Chalk it up to having a last minute errand, coming home to perform emergency napping skills on my wide-awake youngster, and trying to clean up a massive olive oil spill on the hardwood floor (at least they're shiny now).
Basically, what I'm getting at is that if I can do it, YOU can it. Especially if you have great friend who brings the wine and another who brings the super-yummy chocolate/cherry/marshmallow cake for dessert. Really, isn't that all you need for a dinner party - wine and dessert? The rest is basically filler.
So, we started off with a cheese platter that consisted of my favorites. Sorry, but as I much as I try (and believe me I TRY), I cannot stomach blue cheese or stilton. Instead I had brie, fontina and a really enjoyable soft Providence Oka cheese that was a bit milder and not as pungent as regular Oka (by the way, if you are a cheese aficionado, try the mushroom Oka cheese as it's out of this world). I intended to make mushroom toasts, but instead had mushrooms on bread. It was still yummy as the multi grain bread was so soft with a crunchy crust from Cobbs Bakery.
To go with the appetizers, and, really, the center of my whole meal was Smitten Kitchen's Grape Rosemary Focaccia. THIS was a masterpiece and I received so many compliments on it. It is definitely something you can play around with and switch up the ingredients (I would try plums or even cherries) and serve it for every meal you ever have for the rest of your life! It was salty, sweet and savoury. The woodsiness of the rosemary blended so well with the sweet, juicy Okanagan grapes. It really was lovely and needed nothing besides a gorgeous bottle, er, I mean glass of wine to accompany it.
The main meal was just roasted root vegetables - baby potato medley (including purple), green beans, carrots, zucchini and beets. All sprinkled with salt and pepper, chopped rosemary and olive oil. So basic, but basically so good!
The main meat was a Roast Pork Tenderloin brushed with a molasses/mustard glaze and served with a rum gravy. Oh yeah. It was a good as it sounds. I originally made this for Christmas dinner last year, and, long story short, it jumped out of the oven and fell on the floor. I immediately thought dinner was ruined, but everyone helped pick up the monster and we ended up eating it in silence as talking just seemed to waste perfect chewing capacity. This time, the meat did not fall on the floor, and everyone enjoyed it's caramelized crust and juicy (due to the brining) center. At any rate, this is a yum meal, and I find that you really can't go wrong with a roast pork. Everyone loves it because it's so tasty and comforting, and really easy to make.
Dessert was amazing, and we all went to bed after eating our second piece of cake and finishing it off the following day. Chocolate, marshmallow and cherries is a super combination. I'm going to fiddle with her recipe and make cupcakes cause they're smaller, and cupcakes can be frozen, whereas cake just screams to be eaten in it's entirety.
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