How to Throw a Dinner Party

With recipes

I think dinner parties are going to become my new thing.

The thing with dinner parties is that they’re not nearly as hard as they might seem. We all know the over-the-top kind—the thematically put-together meals complete with appropriate plateware and matching glassware that made careers out of the likes of Martha Stewart. While I appreciate these displays of talent, it’s not the style I go for when I’m hosting one of my own. After all, I have to enjoy myself, too—and I don’t have Martha’s eye for the details.

I had my friends over for dinner recently and wrote all about the behind-the-scenes process for executing a meal that leaves your guests impressed without any back-breaking kitchen labor.

It’s all about the prep, man..

The Menu

First

Winter Kale Salad with cranberry, cabbage and Asian pear vinaigrette

Main

Brick Chicken with herbs, ginger nuoc cham, cucumber and squash

Side

Chow-Mein Rice Pilaf with scallion and schmaltz

Dessert

Tiramisu

Recipes

Ginger-Garlic Nuoc Cham Dressing

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp water

• 2 tbsp sugar

• 2 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 clove of garlic minced

• 1 inch knob of ginger minced

Method:

• Combine ingredients in a container with lid

• Attach lid and shake to combine

• Taste for additional seasoning

Pear-Dijon Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• ½ of a large Asian pear, peeled and cut into chunks

• 1 tbsp dijon mustard

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1 tbsp rice vinegar

• EVOO to emulsify

Method:

• Place ingredients (except for EVOO) in a blender, or a cup with an immersion blender

• Blend until loosely combined

• While blending, stream in EVOO until emulsified and creamy

• Season with salt and pepper to taste

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Herbs and Nuoc Cham

Ingredients:

• 1 fully deboned chicken, seasoned with salt and air-dried in fridge overnight

• 1 tbsp neutral oil

• Salt and pepper

• Picked cilantro leaves

• Picked basil

• Picked mint

• Sliced jalapeno (optional)

• Nuoc Cham (see above)

Method:

• Season chicken with salt one day in advance and leave uncovered, skin-side up on a tray fit with a wire rack in the fridge overnight

• When ready to cook, heat a Dutch oven or stainless steel pan on medium-high heat and sear chicken skin-side down in neutral oil with a weight on top to ensure full contact with the surface

• Once golden-brown, remove and transfer to a sheet tray to finish cooking in a 400F oven

• Once breast reaches internal of 160F, remove and allow it to carry-over until 165F

• Slice and arrange in platter

• Top with herb salad and your Nuoc Cham vinaigrette

• Serve with wedges of lime

Chow Mein Rice Pilaf

Ingredients:

• 3 ½ cups of rice (I used Jasmine)

• 1 small onion, diced

• 1 packet of dried chow mein or ramen noodles, broken up

• Juice of 1 lime

• 1 tbsp of butter

• Sliced scallion for garnish

• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• In the same Dutch oven you seared the chicken in, heat 1 tbsp of butter and add onion to sweat, scraping bottom as you go to release the chicken fond

• Add rice and noodles and parch in oil, two minutes constant stirring

• Add stock, salt and pepper, and bring to boil

• Cover and reduce to lowest flame, leave gently cooking for 20 minutes without lifting lid

• Lift lid, check doneness

• Once rice is cooked, fluff it, adjust seasoning and finish with lime juice and scallion