Emily Post's Great Get-Togethers (15 page)

Chillin’

W
hite wines and Champagnes should be served chilled—at about 45ºF. It can take more than two hours to chill a bottle of wine in the fridge (use the lower shelves; they’re colder), so plan ahead. In a pinch, place the wine or Champagne in a bucket and add half ice, half water. It will be chilled in twenty to thirty minutes. The freezer isn’t the answer: There’s a good chance that you’ll overchill and damage the flavor (not to mention forgetting it’s in there and having it explode!).

Red with Red and White with White?

N
ot so long ago it was tradition to only serve red wines with red meat dishes and white wines with chicken and seafood—and why not? They do a really good job of complementing each other. Today, there’s more interest in creative wine and food pairings. For example, a Pinot Noir pairs well with chicken, and a dry Riesling goes nicely with pork. When choosing a wine, don’t let cost, color, or where it came from be your only guide. It’s more important that the flavor complements the food and that it’s pleasing to the palate.

Hors D’oeuvres for A Tasting Party

T
his tasting follows the progression from whites to reds to sweet wines. Remember to have plenty of water—still and sparkling—and bread available in baskets on the tasting table. Each of these hors d’oeuvres can pair with several wines. Taste and see what you like best!

Crab Cakes, or Smoked Salmon
Toast Points, Crème Fraîche, Chives,
and Capers
with Sauvignon Blanc or Champagne

Prosciutto-Wrapped Melon, Pear,
or Asparagus
with Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, or Viognier

Tomato and Basil Bruschetta
with Sauvignon Blanc or Rosé

Mojo Shrimp Skewers
(page 124)
with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc,
Pinot Grigio, or Rosé

Curried Cashew Chicken in
Cucumber Cups
(page 183)
with Riesling, Gewürztraminer, or Viognier

Canellini Puree on Grilled Bread
with Olive Oil, Pine Nuts,
and Garden Herbs
with Chardonnay, Rosé, Beaujolais,
or Sangiovese
(This is a “bridge” hors d’oeuvre to go with white or a lighter red.)

Stuffed Mushrooms with Spinach, Bacon,
and Aged Gruyère
with Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, or Merlot

Horseradish-Crusted Hanger Steak with
Roasted Garlic Aioli on Crostini
(page 198)
with Cabernet, Merlot, Barbera, or Chianti

Spiced Lamb Riblets
(page 124)
with Zinfandel or Syrah (Shiraz)

Blue cheeses: a selection of
Great Hill Blue, Gorgonzola, Stilton,
and toasted walnuts
with Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc,
Sauternes, or Port

Little Chocolate Spice Cakes
(page 199)
with Port or Late Harvest Reds

T
he dinner party is our favorite way to entertain. As the host, you create an entire evening as a gift to your guests: from the music to the menu, the table setting to the atmosphere. Whether it’s an informal meal with a few friends or a showstopping four-course dinner for eight, the dinner party is the ultimate entertaining event. While it can be the most involved party, we think it’s the most rewarding. The day is done, work is over. There’s nothing to distract your focus and enjoyment of time spent with good friends, old or new.

What makes a dinner party a fabulous success? The four main ingredients are:

• Guests who mix well
  
• A fresh, interesting, balanced menu, well prepared and created to please
  
• A beautifully set table
  
• Relaxed, gracious, and attentive hosts
  

Add your personal style and creativity along with a detailed game plan, and it’s sure to be a success.

Party Notes: Planning your Dinner Party

D
inner parties are usually composed of three acts: predinner hors d’oeuvres and/or cocktails, the dinner itself, and after-dinner drinks and conversation. The menu generally consists of four courses: a starter, entrée, salad or cheese course, and dessert. It’s perfectly fine to serve only two or three courses. If you’re confident, you can certainly serve five or six. It’s better to pull off a small party perfectly than to find yourself overwhelmed trying to tackle a large dinner party or a complicated menu.

As with any party, your planning begins with:

• Stating your purpose: “just because” or a celebration
  
• Choosing your style: casual or formal
  
• Deciding how many to invite
  
• Planning your menu and the number of courses
  
• Deciding how you’ll serve it: passed, plated, semibuffet, or family style
  
• Creating a timetable for the evening
  

Often, the purpose of your party influences the other choices you have to make. Dinner with three or four close friends might be more casual than a party in someone’s honor. You may find that hosting a sit-down dinner for four to eight guests is manageable on your own, depending on your experience and comfort level. But with nine or more guests you’ll enjoy your party more if you can enlist a completely dedicated partner—friend or spouse—to give you a hand or hire extra help, either for the cooking, serving, or both.

Chart of Courses

2-COURSE
1st: Main Course
2nd: Dessert

3-COURSE
1st: Main Course
2nd: Salad
3rd: Dessert

3-COURSE
1st: Appetizer/Soup
2nd: Maincourse
3rd: Dessert

4-COURSE
1st: Appetizer/Soup
2nd: Maincourse
3rd: Salad/Cheese
4th: Dessert

5-COURSE
1st: Appetizer/Soup
2nd: Maincourse
3rd: Salad
4th: Cheese/Fruit
5th: Dessert

6-COURSE
1st: Appetizer/Soup
2nd: Soup/Fish
3rd: Maincourse
4th: Salad
5th: Cheese/Fruit
6th: Dessert

Invitations

D
inner party invitations run the gamut from e-mail to a phone call to a written invite. Whatever you choose, the invitation should clearly indicate the style of your dinner party, be it dressy, casual, or something in between to give guests an idea of what to expect and what to wear.

For a casual dinner, to which guests should be invited at least five days to a week ahead, phone and e-mail work well. Mailed invitations imply that you’re planning something more special, so send these out three to four weeks ahead, or even five to six weeks ahead for a holiday party.

Use your invitation to get your guests in the mood before the party begins. One of the best invitations we ever received came in a little box. Inside was a bottle filled with sand and a message: S
URPRISE LOBSTER BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR
J
AY!
We could hardly wait.
(For more on invitations, see Chapter 4, The Invitation Tells All, page 35.)

Dinner Party Checklist

• Hire or arrange for help
  
• Invitations
  
• Check the outdoors
  
• Clean your house or party space
  
• Decorations, flowers
  
• Linens: laundered and pressed
  
• Tableware (glasses, dishes, flatware): sparkling
  
• Atmosphere: lighting, music, fire in fireplace
  
• Menus and recipes
  
• To do lists
  
• Shopping lists
  
• Timetables
  
• Seating plan
  

“Places, Please”

B
e prepared to answer the question “Where should I sit?”
before
your party starts; otherwise, just when you’re preparing to serve dinner, you’ll have to stop and come up with a seating plan on the spot. Of course, place cards answer the problem completely, but even if you don’t use them, have a plan in mind—preferably on paper. As a handy reference for you, draw a diagram of your table, placing guests’ names where you’d like them to sit.

The goal of a good seating plan is to honor any special guests and pair up other guests so the conversation will flow. Here are a few tricks to make that happen:

• Usually, the host and hostess sit at each end of the table.
  
• Seat any honored guests at the host or hostess’s right: the man on her right and the woman on his right. If you have other honored guests, they sit at the host and hostess’s left.
  
• Don’t worry about “boy-girl-boy-girl.” If you have an uneven number of men and women, simply space them as evenly as possible.
  
• If you have more than one table, the host sits at one and the hostess at the other.
  
• In general, split up married couples and close friends—they tend just to chat with each other, and the point is to visit with people you might not see all the time. Seat any newcomer near the host and hostess, and place someone with similar interests on his or her other side. Of course, you don’t want to make people miserable—it’s fine to seat couples together who are newly dating, engaged, or married.
  
• Consider interests and temperament. Pair people who have similar interests. Pair shy types with outgoing types. If two of your guests are on the polar opposite end of any spectrum, try to seat them at opposite ends of the table. You want conversation, not a heated argument.
  
• Consider special needs. Seat a lefty on a corner so that he’s not throwing his left elbow at his dinner partner. A person who’s hard of hearing may be more comfortable with her best ear to the conversation or seated next to someone who speaks clearly.
  

Place Cards

P
lace cards solve the whole problem of guests shuffling awkwardly to the table. Place cards should reflect the style of your table. For a formal dinner, place cards are written on folded white or cream card stock. For a less formal affair, use colored papers and inks to complement your color scheme, decorate with shells or leaves, and prop against mini vases of flowers or wrapped chocolates—whatever you have on hand.

For a formal dinner, use titles and first and last names: Mr. Smith, Ms. Wang, Judge Stevens. Use first names only if two people have the same last name: Mr. Tucker Smith, Mr. Adam Smith. Among friends, use first names and add a last initial if needed: Caroline P. and Caroline B.

The Dinner Party Game Plan

J
ust as you need a timetable to do your shopping, cleaning, and cooking, it’s important to create a game plan for your actual party so that the evening’s events flow smoothly. If you end up serving dinner two hours after your guests arrive, there’s a good chance they’ll be (1) starving, or (2) too full of hors d’oeuvres and (3) too full of cocktails. Begin by dividing the evening into three acts:
gathering and cocktails, dinner,
and
after dinner
. The following sections approximate times for each part of the evening and each course of the meal:

Gathering, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres:
Plan on forty-five minutes to one hour from the time guests arrive. During this time you’ll greet guests, take coats, make introductions, serve drinks and hors d’oeuvres, finish any dinner preparations, and prepare food for service. (It’s probably the busiest hour of the party.)

Dinner:
Depending on the number of courses, dinner itself lasts about forty-five minutes to an hour or an hour and a half, including clearing and serving. The following is a guide for the approximate timing of each course. (Clear the table only when
everyone
is finished with each course.)

First course (soup or appetizer): 10 to 15 minutes

Main course: 20 to 30 minutes

Salad/cheese course: 10 to 15 minutes

Dessert: 10 to 15 minutes

If you’ve done a particularly good job with your guest list and seating plan, lively conversation may extend these times. Just take it as a compliment to your hosting skills!

After dinner:
This is the time to serve coffee, tea, and after-dinner drinks such as cordials, Port, brandy, or single malt Scotch, perhaps accompanied by special chocolates or walnuts for cracking. It’s the cozy time to continue conversation and begin to wrap up the evening and lasts anywhere from a half hour to late into the evening.

So, to recap, if you invite guests to arrive at 7:00
P.M.
, plan on:

Serving dinner between 7:45 and 8:00

Dinner lasting until 8:45 or 9:15, depending on the courses

Guests departing between 9:45 and 11:00 (or later!)

It goes without saying that the evening can certainly be extended if your guests are having a great time. How many times have we looked at the clock to see that it was after 11:00 and the party was still lively? If you really have to call it a night, however, it’s up to you, as the host, to gently guide the party to its end.
(See Chapter 2, Producer, Director, and Star, page 15.)

spring dinner party for 8, in 3 or 4 courses

FIRST COURSE

Louise’s Spring Pea Soup
(opposite)

and/or

SECOND COURSE (OPTIONAL)

Composed Salad
(a plated—as opposed to tossed—salad, such as sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil)

MAIN COURSE

Grilled Wild Salmon Garnished with Lemon and Parsley

Cold Asparagus with Champagne Vinaigrette
(page 12)

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
(page 84)

DESSERT

A Trio of Sorbets and Little Cookies

A Bowl of Strawberries or Cherries
(to eat out of hand while lingering)

(For a fall dinner party menu, see page 80.)

Louise’s Spring Pea Soup

This is our dear friend Louise Roomet’s version of an Elizabeth David classic. While it’s simply delicious as a chilled soup, it’s just as wonderful served hot. The vibrant green makes it the perfect soup for Christmas dinner. This soup is easily adaptable for vegetarians. Serves 4 to 6

1 medium-size head iceberg lettuce

1-pound bag frozen peas (baby peas are sweetest) or 1¾ pounds fresh peas in the pod

2 tablespoons butter

3½ cups water

2 teaspoons salt

1 to 2 lumps (teaspoons) of sugar (optional)

Optional garnishes: Mint sprigs, pea shoots, edible flowers, black sesame seeds

1. Remove the tough outer leaves of the lettuce. Wash and cut the lettuce into quarters, then into fine strips, ¼ to ½ inch wide. Shell the peas if using fresh.
   
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the lettuce strips and the peas. Cover and cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, as the lettuce begins to cook down. Add the salt and sugar to taste.
   
3. Add the water. If using fresh peas, cook further until the peas are tender. No further cooking is needed if using frozen peas.
   
4. Using a blender, puree the soup (in batches, if necessary).
   
5. Refrigerate, or return to the pan to heat to serving temperature.
   
6. Serve in bowls and garnish with mint sprigs, pea shoots, or edible flowers, or sprinkle with black sesame seeds.
   

Serving it Up

T
here are two basic ways to serve at a dinner party—the seated meal and the buffet—and each has variations. Pick the one that best fits your needs and style. Each style is adaptable, and we like to mix it up. Generally, we plate the first course—soup or appetizer—and have it on the table when guests come in to dinner. When everyone is finished with the first course, we remove the plates and invite guests to serve themselves the main course from the buffet. Then we clear the main course, plate the dessert, and serve guests individually at the table.

Serving at the Table

When guests are seated at the table, there are three ways to serve the meal:

Served.
This is the most formal style. Servers bring the food on platters and serve each guest each course individually. This is hard to do alone—you’ll need to hire help or enlist a partner or a good friend. Each platter or dish is presented to the guest’s left, starting with the guest of honor on the host’s right, continuing counterclockwise around the table, ending with the host.