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What is your favorite meal to make when you have company? Please share your ideas for the whole meal
I tend to make the same meals. Either Lasagna or chicken Parmesan with salad and Italian bread. Roast Chicken or Pot Roast with mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies, and rolls.
I make a mean beef in red wine pudding. Its beef in red wine and balsamic vinegar slow cooked for about 4 hours, the 'pastry' is suet steamed pastry and scrummy, served with roast potatoes. Most people haven't eaten suet steamed pastry so it is a real winner. I serve it with traditional British puddings treacle tart or apple crumble.
Otherwise a selection of thai curries with prawn crackers, home made spring rolls and coconut ice-cream / lime sorbet.
The first takes the whole day to make the second is a throw together in a couple of hours..
depends on who is coming to dinner !!
i start out with antipasto
then go on to a soup or pasta dish
then either grilled chicken, chicken cacciatore, or shrimp scampi.
a salad and a dessert.
unless i am making something heavy like lasagne, then i skip the entre'
If the weather's nice, I break out the grill. Otherwise it might be grillades and grits, broiled or poached fish, eggplant parmesan with pasta, baked oysters, pork roast, or a curry.
We are having 8 for "Appetizer's for Dinner" tonight.
I am making Mussels marinara
Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail
3 Cheese White Wine Fondue & crusty French bread
My guests are bringing:
Chicken livers wrapped in bacon
Scallops wrapped in bacon
Pimento cheese in celery
H/M chicken salad on crackers
Assorted vegetables and dips
It usually depends on my mood and time of the year, but Chicken Francaise, or Pomodora are big hits here. I had company 2 wks. ago and dinner for 4 averaged $1.78 pp. 4 chicken cutlets Francaise, roasted root vegetables and potatoes, large Italian salad and crusty Italian bread.
Short ribs (braised) in red wine is a winner in Winter. Polish fresh Kielbasa and red cabbage, Pierogies, delicious. I always have soup and h/m spaghetti sauce in the freezer, just in case.
A great summer party is taco bar. Grilled beef and chicken (or pork and chicken) - two kinds of homemade hot sauce, red and green - guacamole or avocado chunks - lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion, etc. Let everybody build their own and let the Coronas flow!
When the weather is colder I like to serve my mom's brisket sauerbraten as most all the work can be done ahead and it's just reheated the day of serving. Then I add salad, a green veggie, and a carb or two, depending how many guests.
I almost always make these 2 things to start out with:
1. Mushroom & Onion stuffed Brie
You saute sliced mushrooms & onions on the stove, season with salt, pepper, garlic powder & a splash of worcestershire sauce. Slice your Brie in half, cover the bottom piece of cheese in mushrooms & onions, top with the other piece of cheese & bake at 350 until bubbly.
2. Cajun Shrimp
Large shrimp, shell ON, deveined. Thawed. Place in a pan, cover with an extremely generous layer of salt, pepper, louisiana hot sauce, lemon juice & worcestershire sauce. Use way more than you think you'll need because the flavor has to penetrate the shell. Next, top the whole pan with pats of butter, don't skimp on this, the butter melted with the hot sauce & lemon is to die for. I use 2 sticks of butter for a large pan of 2-3 lbs of shrimp. Cook on Broil for about 10-15 minutes.
Once I start out with those 2 things that take hardly any effort to make, I could serve sandwiches & everyone would leave happy
I AM having company...4 different couples for weekends and longer between now and mid December. I may, or may not, be working by then, so I'm hatching my plan right now. Everyone who hasn't had it already will get Chicken Dijon, which can be made ahead and popped into the oven, also frozen shrimp puffs which just get popped under the broiler for appetizers, 90 second Uncle Ben's rice is a life saver in any situation, and a salad of baby greens or spinach, sugared pecans, dried cranberries and raspberry vinaigrette. Also super yummy rolls or bread.
One thing is, I compartmentalize. I deal with one batch of company at a time, and I will have a page of notes so everything is planned out ahead of time. Others will want fresh seafood, I'm sure we'll slap some steaks on the grill, and have some pasta dishes. I make a mean pasta with roasted vegetables which I can pull off if I have time.
DH makes an awesome Caesar Salad, so we make that with steaks or fish.
For breakfasts I will have frozen berry muffins ready to roll, and maybe quiche or a breakfast casserole.
One main tool is we keep our company pretty drunk, so they don't care what they eat.
You saute sliced mushrooms & onions on the stove, season with salt, pepper, garlic powder & a splash of worcestershire sauce. Slice your Brie in half, cover the bottom piece of cheese in mushrooms & onions, top with the other piece of cheese & bake at 350 until bubbly.
Ok~So brie confuses me!
Do you eat the rind? It is hard & I don't like the taste of the rind but it seems when I cut the rind off, I lose too much of the brie.
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