Greet your guests with a wow moment that sets the tone for your seated dinner party. Have a fancy celebration one night followed by a casual gathering the next. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres stay the same on both evenings — just the serving pieces change from evening to evening.
If you’re of a certain vintage, you may remember a dress shop in Pawley’s Island called Plain and Fancy. It was always fun to pop your head in because you didn’t need to have a particular mission in mind to make a visit. You might find a cute everyday something to wear in the plain category, or you might find an absolutely beautiful gown in the fancy category. And on a really good day, you might find both. Whether plain, fancy, or all of the above, you knew you would see something pretty.
Having a dinner party offers your guests a similar sort of anticipation — they know they will see something pretty, be served something yummy, and have interesting conversations, but the details won’t be filled in until they walk through the door. Having an outdoor dinner party adds a little extra something — it seems a little bit adventurous and a little bit like being on vacation, and it’s just different enough from the regular day-to-day to be fun. To keep up our casual and fancy theme, we’re going to talk about an outdoor dinner party — the casual version — and we’re going to talk about al fresco dining … obviously the fancy version, I mean we did just speak Italian!
There really is nothing like having company for dinner, and the effort spent getting everything ready is certainly repaid by fellowship around the table. But that whole part about the effort spent getting everything ready — it’s a little bit daunting, isn’t it? What if I told you that you could have twice as much fun without twice the effort? Here’s the plan — instead of one party, have two!
Hold on a minute … how is having two parties possibly less effort than having one party? The answer is when you have two parties two days in a row a lot of the leg work for the second party is already done. Many of the tasks associated with entertaining — straightening up your house, buying groceries, arranging a few flowers, etc. — take the same amount of time whether you’re doing them for one party or for two. With that thought in mind, let’s work out our game plan to have a lovely al fresco dinner on Friday night and a fun outdoor dinner on Saturday night.
The farther ahead you put your big weekend on the calendar, the more you can spread your tasks out and the more likely you are to have “yes” responses to your invitations. For our purposes, let’s imagine you have a date and guest lists nailed down, so we’re going to count down to the party weekend starting the Saturday before.
Wednesday — 2 days from dinner No.1
Buy flowers, cut new ends on the stems, and let them rest in a cool place for a day. Buy groceries. Bake cake unless someone is making it for you.
Thursday
Arrange flowers and gather the tablecloth, napkins, cutlery, etc. all in one place so everything is ready to take outside when it’s time to set the table. Make the fancy mashed potatoes, wash and snap the ends off the asparagus stalks and put them in the refrigerator in a glass of water, snapped end down. Peel the peaches and cut into sections. Put the blender carafe, rum, and peaches in the freezer overnight.
Friday — Al Fresco Dinner
• Three hours ahead: Assemble the salad with the dressing in the bottom of the bowl — don’t toss until party time. Take the asparagus out of the refrigerator, pat dry, place on a foil lined baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Make the slaw for tomorrow.
• Two hours ahead: Turn the oven on 500 F, prepare the tenderloin, and put it in the oven. Set the table.
• Thirty minutes ahead: Get the cheese straws and cheese and crackers ready to go. Turn the oven on 350 F; put the mashed potatoes and asparagus in. Make the peach daiquiris and put the full carafe back in the freezer.
• Party time: Pour the daquiris into glasses and serving carafe, take the potatoes out of the oven, check the asparagus for doneness, leaving thicker stalks in a little longer as needed. Toss the salad. Enjoy your party!
Saturday — Outdoor Dinner
• Four hours ahead: Assemble the ribs and put into the oven.
• Two hours ahead: Set the table.
• One hour ahead: Take the ribs out of the oven and let them rest while still wrapped up.
• Thirty minutes ahead: Get the cheese straws and cheese and crackers ready to go. Turn the oven on 350 F, put the mashed potatoes in. Make the peach daiquiris and put the full carafe back in the freezer.
• Party time: Pour the daiquiris into glasses; take the potatoes out of the oven. Take the slaw out of the refrigerator.
• Enjoy your party!
Party Recipes
Eating dinner outside has a certain timeless appeal. During the hot, hot, hot days of summer, al fresco dining really isn’t a practical option as tempting as the lush green of the outdoors looks from the safety of a nice, air-conditioned room, but we’re just about to turn the corner into early fall when bearable days start to pop up more and more often. When you see the first nice weekend on the horizon, you’re all ready with a game plan to make the most of the wonderful weather and provide a fun evening for your friends whether you choose casual, fancy, or both.
Peach Daiquiris
This recipe is from my father. These work the best if everything has been in the freezer for a while.
½ can frozen lemonade
2 to 3 ripe peaches, peeled and cut into slices
Small glass of rum (the amount of rum is at the bartender’s discretion)
Ice
Pour all of the ingredients into the blender, fill with ice, and blend until smooth.
Whole Tenderloin
This recipe is from Barefoot Contessa Parties by Ina Garten.
1 whole filet of beef (4 to 5 pounds), trimmed and tied
2 tablespoons soft butter
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 500 F. Put the beef on a baking sheet and pat dry with a paper towel. Spread the soft butter all over the beef. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for exactly 22 minutes for rare and 25 minutes for medium-rare. Remove from the oven, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and rest the tenderloin at room temperature for 20 minutes. Uncover, cut strings, and slice into thick slices.
Fancy Mashed Potatoes
This recipe is from In Order to Serve II, the Charlotte Christ Episcopal Church cookbook.
8 to 10 medium potatoes (I use unpeeled red potatoes, but you can use any potato and peel them if you wish)
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream
½ cup fresh chives, plus 1 tablespoon reserved
4 tablespoons butter
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Wash and cut the potatoes into chunks and boil in salted water until tender — about 30 minutes. Mash the potatoes and stir in the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Stir in the ½ cup of chives, salt, and pepper. Pour into a greased 2-quart casserole and dot with butter. Bake for 25 minutes and garnish with reserved chives.
BBQ Ribs
This recipe is from somewhere on the internet, I don’t know where. A few years ago, our family had a rib emergency. My husband needed ribs for dinner; it was almost dinner time; restaurants were closed for Memorial Day; and — did I mention — I had never cooked ribs? This was a true emergency, according to my husband, and possibly life threatening, so I googled around and found this recipe to cook ribs on the grill in 1 hour. They were totally edible after an hour, but I now cook them in the oven for 3 hours and they’re even better!
1 rack of St. Louis style or baby back ribs (about 3 pounds)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
Barbecue sauce — any kind that you like will work. I’m very fortunate that my son-in-law shares the special sauce he makes with us.
Salt and pepper
Turn the oven on 350 F. Combine the 4 spices in a small dish to make a rub. Roll out a big piece of extra-large, heavy-duty aluminum foil, and place the ribs meat side down. Take a sharp knife and remove the membrane from the back of the ribs. Brush some sauce, sprinkle some salt, pepper, and a little bit of the rub on the ribs and then turn the ribs bone side down. Brush some sauce, sprinkle some salt and pepper, and then sprinkle the rest of the rub on the meat side of the ribs. Fold the aluminum foil over the ribs starting with the short sides, and then fold the long sides together, rolling them into a tight package around the ribs. Put the package on a baking sheet — in case the foil springs a leak — and put in the oven for 3 hours. I sometimes brush on some extra sauce at the 2-hour mark; if you do this, be sure to wrap the ribs back up tightly before putting them back in the oven. They can rest in their package until you’re ready to serve them.
Slaw
This is more of a method than an exact recipe.
1 small head of cabbage
Scant ¼ cup of white vinegar
Scant ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar
Scant ½ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
Combine the vinegars with the salt and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until they are dissolved. Whisk in the mayonnaise until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Chop the cabbage in your preferred shape, put in the bowl with the dressing, and mix until the cabbage is thoroughly coated. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
