Dinner Party #1

When I started this blog, I led off with an introduction about the joy of nurturing people with good food, good company and good conversation. As time goes on, I'm going to lay out dinner parties you can throw -- food that is both easy enough for anyone to prepare, as well as a plan for making it happen in the midst of busy weeks and hectic lives. Here is the first one.

Menu --

Antipasto platter
Lasagna (possibly with meatballs and sausage, though this is optional)
Ceasar salad
Dessert

Here's how you make it happen day by day:

Your dinner party is on a Saturday which in this chronology is Day 8.

On Day 1, which is the Saturday before your party, you go food shopping and buy all the ingredients for your sauce (and meatballs and sausages if you choose to go with that sauce), and lasagna.

Day 2 (Sunday) -- make the sauce (and meatballs and sausages if you're not going with marinara or Bolognese sauce).

Day 3 - Day 5 (Monday - Wed) -- you can pretty much take it easy, but if you have a burst of energy, and a dedicated dining room you won't be using until your dinner party, set the table one night so you won't have to do it on the day of your party. On one of those nights, you can also make your salad dressing . . it tastes good when it's got a few days for all the flavors to meld together and for the sharpness of the garlic to mellow just a bit.

Day 6 (Thursday) -- assemble the lasagna (including veggies if you go with that variation), cover tightly with foil, and put into the back of your refrigerator.

Day 7 (Friday) -- on your way home from work, or in a bit of free time that day, go back to the supermarket and pick up ingredients for the salad and your antipasto platter. (More on that later). If you haven't done so yet, set your table.

Day 8 (Saturday) -- in the morning, either make some brownies (using previous recipe), or buy a nice assortment of Italian pastries (assuming you live in part of the country where that's possible), or some other favorite dessert from a bakery. (Of course, you can bake something more ambitious yourself, but this is all about keeping it simple!)

In the early afternoon, arrange your antipasto platter -- this can be as simple as an assortment of Italian meats (prosciutto, salamis, pepperoni, etc.) and cheeses (boccocini of fresh mozzarella, fontina, chunks of parmigiano, etc.), and you can also add various veggies such as olives, marinated artichoke hearts, and roasted red peppers, all of which are available in your grocery store, usually in the same aisle as canned tomotoes or near pickles and condiments. Keep this in the fridge until about 30 minutes before your guests arrive, but take it out a little early to take the extreme chill off, as all the food will taste a little richer if it's not quite so cold.

An hour before your guests are expected to arrive, cut and wash your lettuce, and put it into a salad bowl in the refrigerator to crisp. At the same time, take the lasagna out of the fridge and let it start to come up to room temperature. Don't worry about the cheeses going bad -- it won't happen.

If you are serving meatballs and sausages, put them in a sauce pan and turn the stove burner on as low as it will go. Let them come up to temperature very slowly, stirring every 15 minutes or so. It will not only keep them moist but will perfume the whole house.

When you expect your guests (this is different from the time they actually arrive, for if they're anything like my friends, no one will be on time) pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

When a critical mass of your guests arrive, put the lasagna in the oven, removing the tin foil and just draping it loosely over the baking dish.

Enjoy the antipasto and some cocktails with your guests.

After the lasagna has been cooking for 30 minutes, remove the foil. In theory, it should cook in about 45 minutes, but the only way to be sure that it's heated all the way through is to poke a finger right into the middle -- if it's so hot that you can't submerge it into the center, then it's done. The outer edges should be bubbling.

When it's done, take it out of the oven, cover tightly with foil, and set on the stove. Put a few toothpicks in the top of it so the foil won't stick to the cheese.

Toss and serve the salad at the table. (A real Italian meal would serve salad AFTER the main course, which is also an option, but most Americans are used to salad first.)

When the salad is done, remove the foil from the lasagna, bring to the table and serve it, along with the meatballs and sausages if you have them (if you don't, don't worry -- the lasgna is enough of a meal!).

After a sufficient respite from dinner, serve your dessert.

At every opportunity, take your guests up on their offers to help clean up, and when they ask what they can bring for dinner, suggest a nice bottle of Chianti or some other Tuscan red wine. You can also get a guest to bring dessert fairly easily and then it's one less thing you have to do!

Remember, your guests will be eager to dine with you -- they would probably be willing to pay for dinner in a restaurant for the pleasure of your company, so don't feel bad about asking them for wine or a dessert for this party, because odds are it's still cheaper than going out to dinner would have been. People love to pitch in -- they're usually just too daunted to throw the dinner party by themself.

So there you have it . .. .a meal everyone will love, and a plan to do it bit by bit, a day at a time.

Enjoy!