I purposely signed up for this particular week's diary because I knew that the week before I would be co-hosting the Northern New England Cheers and Jeers Meet-Up with our good buddy mayim at her lovey lakeside cottage in the lakes region of Maine. That, I figured, would give me some fresh insights into summertime entertaining. I was right.
Tonight I have a couple of recipes to share plus some observations and suggestions about entertaining a house full of people without breaking your back or your budget and preparing enough in advance that when your guests arrive, you can spend time with them instead of slaving in the kitchen.
Grab a cold beverage and a chair on the porch and follow me over the SquigglyDooDad™ (I prefer that to its proper name, "divider doodle") for some summertime entertaining tips.
Here's a little share from our meet-up:
Commonmass tends the grill at the meet-up: mayim and I decided to do a variety of sausages and hamburgers for the crowd of about 10 rather than something more complicated. I grilled some onions and green peppers on skewers to accompany the sausage.
Make What You Can the Day Before
This seems like almost ridiculously basic advice, but I'll admit I don't always follow it. For the meet-up, mayim and I got the shopping done in the days before and prioritized the recipes making most of the cold salads (such as her wonderful bean salad--I'll let her share the recipe with you in her own diary) the day before as well as the desserts. I coordinated prep work that could be done the day before such as shredding cabbage, so that assembling some of the salads the next morning was a cinch. By the time our guests arrived on Saturday, pretty much everything was ready to go except for the actual grilling of the meats and vegetables.
Pre-Dinner Munchies
I don't like to put out too much before dinner when I am having a small card party with dinner first but when I'm expecting a larger number (we were 10) of people who will be arriving over the course of a couple of hours I really think you should put out enough munchies of enough variety to keep them happy while everyone is arriving. Not to mention the fact that having munchies out helps the guests to avoid being blotto before the meal!
We did a variety of cheeses, flavored hummus, crackers and a wonderful fruit platter provided by a guest. Put cheese out early--most cheese tastes better at room temperature and will not spoil as quickly as you think. In fact, when I worked for The Cheese Shop of Concordmany kinds of cheese were set out on the counter every day and refrigerated only over night. My rule with serving cheese is to serve a couple of cheese I really like (that may be new to many of your guests) and one or two "safe" cheeses. Always, however, I serve good cheeses and cheese made by local artisans, even better.
Here are two recipes that are great at a party or meet-up like last weekend's: one which we did not serve at the meet-up and one which I did serve:
Peppadews Stuffed With Herbed Goat Cheese
This is so easy it's almost funny:
1 Jar of Peppadews or 2 jars, one hot, one mild
1 block of soft goat cheese with or without herbs. My favorite to use is a Maine cheese from down east called Seal Cove, but any good soft goat cheese will do.
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Stuff the peppadews with the goat cheese and place in an oven-proof dish that will also make a good serving dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Broil until just heated through. Serve with crusty bread. If you're having a garden party, provide some toothpicks for the guests to serve themselves.
This is a recipe I did make for the party. You'll need a food processor for this one:
Commonmass' Tex-Mex Tomato Salsa
1 large (28oz) can of good crushed tomatoes.
1/2 large white onion
4 large cloves garlic
2 to 3 Serrano peppers
Salt and pepper
1/3 to 1/2 a bunch of well-washed cilantro.
1tsp sugar
Coarsely dice onion and place in a saucepan with the serrano peppers. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. This process may sound strange, but as a result of parboiling the onions and peppers you can eat this salsa all day and get plenty of flavor and heat and no heartburn.
Drain onions and peppers and place in bowl of food processor. (For milder salsa, remove the seeds from some or all of the peppers). Add garlic cloves, mashed with the back of a knife. Coarsely chop the cilantro and add to processor. Add tomatoes, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Process until smooth. Check for seasoning.
This recipe is in the "do ahead" category: it will be much better if made the day before your party plus it is one less thing you have to do the day of.
Beverages
What mayim and I did was to provide beer--conveniently kept out of the fridge and in a cooler to maximize space--and soft drinks. Other people contributed other things to drink and there was no shortage. I made some sangria, which was a hit with those that like it. My slightly unorthodox recipe follows:
Sangria
6 large, juicy oranges.
One lemon
Sugar to taste
One bottle of light-bodied red wine
1/3 cup of port, or more to taste.
Juice the oranges and the lemon. From the lemon and one orange remove the zest first with a paring knife, paring in a spiral all the way around. Put the juice in a large pitcher and add a couple of tablespoons of sugar. Add port and red wine and mix well. Garnish pitcher with the lemon and orange zest spirals and a couple of slices of citrus. Make this the morning of your party and keep cool. The ratios of juice to wine can be adjusted to your taste, which is what makes sangria a flexible beverage for summer parties.
Grilling
There's not much to say here except be sure to inspect and clean your grill the day before. If you're using charcoal, hardwood charcoal is best but it does burn hotter, so you will need less. Because we wanted to keep our party simple, mayim and I opted to use standard, match-light charcoal. Gas grills are great, though I have to say I prefer the flavor of a charcoal fire. We made sure the oven was free to received the sausages and hamburgers and buns as they were cooked so that everything was hot when we served. The sausages were interesting flavors like basil and chardonnay, the hamburgers basic. If I am going to keep them hot in the oven as other things cook, I undercook the burgers slightly. I save any that are to be served rare or medium rare for the last batch.
With the burgers I served a home-made honey mustard among the other condiment:
Honey Mustard
1/2 cup dried mustard (we got ours in bulk at the organic foods co-op in town.)
1/4 tsp of salt or more to taste
Dash of freshly ground pepper
Honey to taste
Good wine vinegar to taste. I have made this with rice wine vinegar and sherry vinegar and white balsamic. Experiment for yourself.
Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Start with about 1 tblsp of honey and then add the vinegar slowly until you achieve the consistency you want. I like mine slightly on the thick side. Adjust the honey to vinegar ratio as you go along. This is definitely a taste-as-you-go kind of recipe. This is best made the day before.
Warning: this mustard will be HOT as well as sweet. Warn your guests.
This was delicious with both the hamburgers and the sausages.
Desserts
I think the best thing to serve at this kind of a informal cook-out is something light. Fruit with cream is always great. Mayim and I decided on two desserts: he mother's sour-cream cheesecake which we served with the last of my wild blueberry preserves from last year and a really neat ginger stout cake. I forgot to bring the stout cake recipe with me but mayim will certainly be willing to share it with anyone who asks. We chose a very basic cream cheese icing which complimented the richness of the Guinness and the bite of the ginger. This was also a simple cake--all the better for a cookout.
Conclusion
We probably made too much food for 10 but we had a great deal of fun doing it. Because we prepped and assembled so much the day before (bean salads and cabbage salads and stuff are great because they'll keep) Saturday morning was a breeze. By the time the other Kossacks began to arrive we had everything under control and were able to have a leisurely chat with our guests before I went down to the grill.
Simple but tasty entertaining with comfort foods is a great way to have a bunch of people over, have plenty of time to hang out yourself, and send everyone away satisfied. I think mayim would agree that having a planning and cooking partner that you work well with in the kitchen (mayim and I have been cooking together when she's in Maine for some time now) can really increase the host's enjoyment of the day of the party.
So, the floor's open? What are we cooking or grilling this weekend? What are your tips for making a 10+ person cookout a success? What's for dinner at your house?
Note: I am writing this from The Rock and have to drive back to Portland tonight. I may be underway when this diary goes up, but I will be around to answer questions and respond to the comments as quickly as I am able!