The Bonus Entertaining Issue, Part I🍷
I've pulled together my top tips to help you thrive during the party period
I’m re-releasing my top entertaining tips to help you through this festive period. Follow this advice and you’ll not only throw a successful dinner party, but have a rollicking good time yourself. It doesn’t have to be stressful, let me show you how…
Part II The Menu will be out tomorrow.
Stress-free Hosting
Remember this mantra: the more you do in advance, the smoother it’ll go
INVITATIONS:
Invite everyone for the same time and check for dietary requirements, because there’s always one, isn’t there?
MENU:
Plan your menu 1-2 days in advance. Check you have all the ingredients and buy anything you’re missing.
Keep the menu simple. Cold starter, a hot main course plus 2-3 sides, and a dessert and/or cheese. More on this tomorrow…
Choose dishes you’ve made before to avoid unwanted surprises. Try to find balance between rich and light dishes, strong and subtle flavours.
COOKING:
Do as much as you can in advance and write yourself a prep list for the cooking if you want to feel more in control.
Ideally you’ll have everything ready (ie keeping warm or cooked and ready to reheat) for when your guests arrive, but a bit of last-minute cooking is fine. As long as you…
Avoid attentive cooking jobs or anything that smells strongly. The aim is to be holding a conversation at the same time as cooking so any cooking needs to be low risk ie chopping, plating, sprinkling, reheating. No deep frying or flambé-ing, please!
TABLE & SERVING:
Lay your table before everyone arrives. I prefer a less cluttered table as I want people to be able to see each other and reach the food and wine. A few candles and short flowers are nice, but I prefer any larger floral arrangements to be off to the side.
If you have enough, it’s easiest just to lay with all the cutlery people will need for the whole meal. Or encourage people to re-use, that’s the easiest solution!
One wine glass avoids too much washing up - people can rinse out their glass with their water if they want to change colour.
Don’t forget the water glass! Otherwise you’ll end up with very pissed guests.
Prepare serving bowls and platters before everyone comes and have them warming.
PRE-MEAL MOMENTS:
Have snacks such as crisps, olives or nuts out in bowls to keep people occupied when they first arrive, this will buy you time if you’re running behind, too. Those festive snack boards (below) are a lot of fun if you have the ingredients (and the patience).
This is the snack board we were given last year! If you want to serve cocktails, make sure you give this task to someone else so you can concentrate on cooking and hosting. Wine is easier to serve if you’re hosting alone.
And finally, lower your expectations of your self and the food. Don’t see this as an opportunity to show off your cooking prowess, but as a chance to make some easy, delicious food, drink too much wine and enjoy seeing your friends.