Most impressive Dinner Party

[gastronomy]

Okay hounders- looking for inspiration- I have many up coming dinners to host- Some of my faves are Roast Chicken, Osso Bucco, Short Ribs, Bolegnese (Hazzan) and so forth.... Now lets here yours! :)

[whatsfordinner]

I've been thinking about making Paella for my next party.

[KiltedCook]

Chicken de Paola - Mix together herbed cream cheese and chopped sundried tomatoes. Form into 'golf balls". Wrap a boneless, skinless chicken breast around a golf ball and then wrap that in puff pastry. Bake a sheetpan full at 400F for about 45 minutes.

Paella - with mixed seafood

Anything "en papilliote" including whole fish

Pescado Cubano - whole fish or side fillets baked in white wine, onion, garlic, green olives, tomatoes, capers, herbs and spices.

Cornish Game Hens stuffed with garlic and glazed with 8 Minute homemade Orange (or other citrus) Marmalade.

[OrganicLife]

This time of year I like to do New England nights.

First course is salad made with mixed baby greens (from my garden), walnuts, raw corn, dried cranberries, and goat cheese tossed with olive oil and sea salt.

Second course is Fresh steamers with a broth of water, beer, sea salt, chopped shallots, and parsley.

Third course is a green bean salad made with steamed green beans, smoked mozzarella, black olives, red potatoes, and olive oil. I season it with coarse pepper and garlic, then toss in olive oil. It's very healthy and refreshing.

Then come the lobsters! Served with butter and sliced fresh fruits as a pallet cleanser.

Dessert is fresh strawberry shortcake.

[Amuse Bouches]

For dessert -- Pavlova. A large meringue with the addition of vinegar and cornstarch (4 egg whites, 250g sugar, 2 T cornstarch, and 2 T white wine vinegar, plus vanilla, preheat oven to 350, lower to 300 when put in meringue, bake for an hour), topped with mounds of unsweetened whipped cream and lots of fruit. If fruit isn't peak, adding a little syrup (I like balsamic and brown sugar with strawberries, or last week I added some lime juice and coconut syrup to mangos) or roasting the fruit is nice.

[Janet]

Question: fancy impressive or casual impressive?

Casual: fried turkey; grilled flank steak with corn on the cob smothered in basil butter; garlic/butter dungenese crab ; Swedish meatloaf with a sherry mushroom gravey.

Fancy: individual Beef Wellingtons; whole lobsters; chicken breasts wrapped with Ky. country ham cooked in a mushroom wine sauce; scallops and beef tenderloin stir fried with snow peas, homemade beef comsome and homemade tomato aspic with beef tenderloin as the main course

[gastronomy]

hmmm- this all sounds so good- questions to be answered: mostly 4-6ppl. so small dinners- we bbq a lot aorund here so some different ideas are welcome- more on the casual side but impressive! :)

[enbell]

How exotic :) For a new twist on my go to rack of lamb, our friends roasted a whole side of lamb last year in a pit in their back yard. Everyone loved it, plus the enitre process was a great part of the entertainment for the evening. Could you do somethinglike that?

[MMRuth]

Those all sound delicious - and some favorites of mine - but my first question is - will it be warm in your area right now? I'd probably go with lighter things, and will put my thinking cap on!

[gastronomy]

Yes yes yes!!! However it is always warm in my area- Live in Nassau Bahamas- I read your posts all the time- very excited to see what you come up with!

[MMRuth]

Ach - now I'm challenged - will really have to think about it. BTW - could you get my Bahamian lawyer in Nassau on the phone for me;-) How many people do you anticipate cooking for? That might help inform my ideas.

[gastronomy]

Good luck with your lawyer! :)- 4-6ppl....

[MMRuth]

This is a lovely soup to start with - you can make it fancier by serving some crabmeat with it:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/27844...

Make sure to read through, b/c I think I left out an ingredient in the original post. No heat involved in preparing this.

[MMRuth]

Excellent cake - if you have access to key limes:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/278646

[chowser]

This looks really good. I was thinking of trying a key lime pie/cake idea (from a thread a few weeks ago) for my son's birthday. Do you think this work if I baked it in a 10" pan instead?

[MMRuth]

I honestly don't know - I know that there are conversion links out there somewhere, but it's really just an issue of the volume that the pan can take. I have made this recipe successfully in a mini bundt pan - filling them about 2/3s up.

[MMRuth]

Another dish that is easy to make - if you have access to decent salmon - is grav lax, as an appetizer or hors d'oeuvres - I always get raves when I make it. Happy to post a recipe for it - and the mustard sauce - if it sounds appealing.

[gastronomy]

ohh yeah please do- I usually make a smoked salmon spread- i would like to try something different! :)- be happy to post that if you would like!

[MMRuth]

Gravlax - adapted from the Cafe des Artistes recipe:

2 lbs center cut salmon, skin on, cut in half
2 T aquavit (or vodka, if you don't have Aquavit)
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 T crushed black peppercorns (I put the peppercorns in a ziplock bag and go at them with a hammer or the side of a meat tenderizer)
4 oz fresh dill sprigs

Put one half of the salmon skin down in a container, sprinkle the aquavit equally on the two halves of salmon, mix the sugar/salt/pepper and rub some on each half of salmon (you'll have some left over). Place the dill evenly over the salmon, over, flesh side down with the other half. Cover with remaining sugar/salt/pepper mixture. Cover w/ saran wrap and weigh down with a heavy can. Leave out for 6 hours, then turn the salmon over, recover, weigh down, and refrigerate. I refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours, which is usually enough, though you can do it for longer. Turn the salmon once or twice again during that time. To serve, remove the mixture on the flesh and slice - you can either slice thin, to serve on bread/toast points as an hors d'oeuvres, or slice thicker pieces (as if you were cutting bread - maybe 1/4 inch) and serve as an appetizer. Will post the mustard sauce later ....

[MMRuth]

Here's the link to the mustard sauce recipe (posted about seven months later!):

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/4696...

[Dommy]

How about grilling up some Seafood. It's always a nice refreshing way to enjoy the weather. This thanksgiving we grilled up some Spiny Lobsters, made some "cole slaw" with Jicima and Apples and then made up some Oyster Stuffing... It was GREAT! :)