Category Archives: Dinner Parties

Bastille Day was a wonderful excuse for a special family lunch.  Cooked on Bastille Day, posted the following Sunday.

This is what we ate and I have made some notes and stories on each recipe.

The highlight was definitely the dessert!

Originally I had planned to do a sit down entrée but the weather become gorgeous and warm and we decided, at the last minute to do a finger food entrée sitting upstairs on our deck in the sun.  My daughter told me that having warm finger food or an entrée like this is terribly fashionable in France these days!

I wouldn’t ever usually do two lots of pastry in one event.  Yes, I could have done it as a Frittata but my kids love these tarts so you can cheat a bit with the family…..

I could also have done baby Smoked Salmon Blinis which would have been really lovely, and my daughter would have enjoyed cooking those.  Even something as simple as French bread with cream cheese, red onion, baby capers and smoked salmon would be just as delicious.  These are just a few ideas for you, all from a little 200g packet of smoked salmon….:)

Casual Entrée                           Baby Smoked Salmon & Dill Quiches

Main Course                             Beef in Red Wine with Herbs

Potato Gratin

Steamed green vegetables in the steam oven with lemon juice and toasted almonds

French bread

Dessert                                      French Almond & Raspberry Tart with whipped cream

Well my first dinner party since I started this site just happened to be a Gluten Free event.  To be honest it’s not that difficult – just think fresh food and as long as you make everything yourself then you know exactly what is going in it.  I will list the menu then recipes to follow but not in any particular order.

Nuts and Olives to start

Entrée – Roasted Capsicum, tomato and cumin soup

Main Course – Osso Buco with Stephanie’s Gremolata, soft polenta and green beans

Assorted Cheese and Fruit

Dessert – Buttermilk Panna cotta, Slow baked Quinces in Verjuice and Almond Tuile

I have now done separate categories for each of these recipes so hopefully they will be easier to find.

We all had a great evening, the food and wines worked well together as did the mix of guests.  All the feedback was that the menu was ideal for a Winter dinner party and was enjoyed by all.

Thank you everyone for making it a special night 🙂

Ever since I started cooking as a teenager I loved having dinner parties.  I still remember my very first, in the little flat I lived in Ballarat in country Victoria with my sister.  I was about 18.  I also still remember what I cooked!

• Avocado seafood – you know, the 80’s version with prawns in the centre covered in thousand island dressing!
• Apricot chicken casserole with the packet soup mixed with a tin of apricot nectar with rice and 3 veg (you had to have your vegetables!)
• New York baked cheesecake!  Just in case you were still hungry….

I still remember that we all overate and felt sick as.  That was my lesson in serving three high fat & heavy courses.  Somehow that occasion always remained with me and I have always spent a LOT of time carefully planning my dinners so that my guests didn’t go home feeling over fed and sick in the stomach!  So that was and still is my biggest fear today.  Now we have all the other food allergies and intolerances to deal with.  What ever happened to the good old days when sometimes someone was ‘Vegetarian’? (and usually we didn’t invite them anyway!!)  Now at this stage in my life a lot of the women I know don’t eat wheat, we all prefer a lighter and healthier meal when we eat out and I am convinced that this is the way it’s going to stay.  Simon and I actually prefer an Asian diet so you will see lot’s of Asian recipes on this site and usually the only reason I don’t serve something Asian is that someone doesn’t like chilli which is painful as I refuse to cook Asian that hasn’t got a kick to it.  So when you read my menu from time to time you can get a feel for who is coming to dinner.  I am extremely fortunate to have encouraged and developed a love and passion of food into my children.  When you see the most tantalising, spicy food it’s usually for a family dinner with them.  My daughter has just returned from 4 years living in London and Paris so there are plenty of catch up dinners to be had.  My son also living either in the UK or Canberra, now they are both back in Sydney it is wonderful.  They are and always will be my greatest joy and the most appreciative dinner guests 🙂

Menu Planning tips:

Try to remember when you are planning a menu the following (and most important things)

• The Season.  This will tell you what style of food to cook.  Lighter in the warmer months, Warming, comfort food in the Winter.  Try to balance your meal, not all light nor all heavy. 
• What foods are in season?  Think fresh and use what is readily available.   Look at SBS site http://www.sbs.com.au/food/season
• The time of day and duration of event – A quick or light lunch or brunch is vastly different to a long evening dinner.
• Don’t over feed them, remember the old portion control!  By all means offer more but that means they have enjoyed it if they want seconds, so much better then being bogged down with a huge plate!
• What would you like to be served if you went out for dinner?
• Try to chose a menu that you can cook at least one course beforehand.   Out of the other courses try to make at least one of the components before as well, ie a dressing for a salad, the garnish prepared or anything  that will make for an easier plating and assembly.  This also makes for a more enjoyable dinner for you! 
• Keep it simple your guests will appreciate a beautiful, well cooked meal with fresh ingredients more than a tizzy meal that you are struggling with!  Always remember a plate shouldn’t look too fussy, that means that it’s been touched too much.

If you stick to these 7 tips you can’t go wrong.  A lot of people struggle with the amount of protein they should serve.  The general rule is more for men but usually it’s only about 2 palm size serves and 1 for women.  My biggest gripe at the moment is the size of the servings of pre cut salmon in the fish shop.  They are too large for a dinner party if you have had a entrée beforehand.  Pick out smaller pieces, cut them yourself or ask them to do it for you.  You only need about 120g per person and some of the fillets I have seen cut recently where at least 200g.

So drop me a note if you would like some help planning your next dinner.  I am going to try to put all my dinners on here now, some may and some may not have recipes but you could easily find one if you search for the name.  I will also try to include some information to fit into the boundaries of the 7 tips above.

Remember food is meant to be shared, it is such a wonderful way to socialise and enjoy the company of others 🙂