Dinner parties make me think of Clarissa Dalloway, and the spirit of bringing people together, and celebrating the temporality of life with eating, gossip, intermittent awkwardness, laughter.
“Faint sounds rose in spirals up the well of the stairs; the swish of a mop; tapping; knocking; a loudness when the front door opened; a voice repeating a message in the basement; the chink of silver on a tray; clean silver for the party. All was for the party.”
- Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
To keep up my practice of cooking in a more sustainable way with school and life, I decided to transition to hosting a monthly supper club on the last Saturday of every month, where I open up tickets to friends, random people, the friends of friends to enjoy a three to four course meal. About a month earlier, I publish a menu with a theme, and open up the tickets on a first-come first-serve basis on partiful.com, which is this amazing free platform for invite design.
The first one I did was a 70s Italian Dinner Party with the menu below:
For the table: Whipped miso honey butter, bread
Apps: Winter caprese salad w/citrus, fennel, mozzarella
Main: Spicy pork ragu bucatini w/herby breadcrumbs
Dessert: Homemade sage ice cream w/evoo, frozen honey
And the second one was a Countryside Dinner—please feel free to steal any of these ideas!
For the table: Whipped carrot top herb butter, bread, crudité
Spring salad w/ asparagus, peas, mint
Main: Lemon cast iron chicken
Side: Roast purple potatoes w/labne, truffle honey, spicy green sauce
Dessert: Milk ice cream w/homemade strawberry jam
Hosting is a lot of work and prepping for the dinner takes me about a whole relaxed day or two, or a VERY VERY hectic half day. So here’s a bit of what I’ve learned on how to plan for a dinner of your own.
Lesson #1: MAKE MENU + LIST OUT!
(To combat being disorganized and overwhelmed)
About two or three days before the event, I sit down and make my menu (more on this to come). Once my menu is done, I list out each ingredient I need to make that dish below it. For instance, if a dish needs ‘pickled onions,’ I write everything I need to make pickled onions below it (Ex. vinegar, salt, honey, red onions, water), and then check off what I have already. With this streamlined list in hand, I can go to the grocery store in the coming days without being overwhelmed and get what I actually need. I’ll also add in the time it takes me to make that dish, and if it’s something I can to make ahead (which if you can, you should) or if it’s something to be made the day of. If this is the case, I’ll write down the ingredient prep needed for the dish beforehand (Ex. wash and chop all carrots!) to keep me organized.
Lesson #1A: How do I create a menu?
(Know your limitations, prioritize familiar dishes that you can make ahead in large quantities aka, keep it simple!)
I’m cooking out of my college apartment with no access to a car for large grocery hauls or sourcing particularly unique ingredients, so it’s important that I know my limitations. That being said, you should know your limitations before you create a menu (which also includes your budget, though I do a terrible job of this)! For example, if you aren’t close to any fish markets, don’t make fish! It’s also probably not the best time to concoct something unfamiliar or uber complicated while hungry guests are sitting there. After I’ve carefully considered these limitations, I ask the two questions below to come up with a menu:
Am I feeling a particular vibe or theme? If yes, I write this down. Your menu dishes will all be related to this theme then. (Ex. Under the sea, ‘I want my guests to be comforted,’ it also helps to look up quirky party themes lol)
Is there a particular ingredient I’ve been thinking about lately? You can make your whole menu around citrus, root vegetables, green food, for instance.
Once I have one of these big ideas, I’ll start coming up with my individual dishes. For instance, let’s say I chose the theme of Space (No idea why this came to mind haha) ✨
Appetizer/amuse bouche: Starting with the appetizers, I like to think of something I can make ahead so, I’ll think hmm… what is something I can make ahead that relates to space? Well, maybe an alien green soup? Okay, what about a cold pea soup then, I can prep ahead and chill? And what about as a garnish, I make star shaped pieces of crunchy radish? Pea tastes good with mint and pickled onion, so let’s decorate the soup with that too.
Ta da! Chilled pea soup with spring vegetable garnish. And there, you’ve come up with your first appetizer! You can also look at different restaurant menus for inspiration if you’re stuck. Sometimes it’s hard to make one decision (I feel like I need to be making something life changing/completely new and then I get paralyzed), so just remember that this is one dinner of many more.
Hot tip: Consider if family style or individual plating is better for the dinner and the context you’re cooking, hosting, and serving in.
Main: For mains, I like to focus on a protein or filling vegetable. For the space prompt, the first thing that came to my mind is shrimp! Shrimp is the epitome of alien, and my cousin once called shrimp ‘underwater cicada’ (which now lives in my head rent-free). Anyways, starting off with shrimp, let’s try to think of something that I can make in a large batch. So, shrimp… okay… what about a seafood stew then? With multiple different kinds of seafood, and keeping in the springtime thread, what about making it corn based? Or a seafood pasta? And what if I serve this in a large pot in the center, family-style, with a circle of different sauces or mini toppings (Banchan-esque) around it, kind of like a planetary system? And finally, what about a nice loaf of sourdough to go with that?
So, ‘planetary’ seafood stew with sourdough bread, ‘banchan,’ and dipping sauces (for the purposes of this walk-through only lol). And so on… Once your menu is done, make sure there’s some commonality between the dishes (ex. spring vegetables), and that the dishes are different from each other! If I’m making pasta for one course, I don’t want to be serving potatoes or crostini and a butter cake for dessert. If this were a real menu, I’d probably look over the double soups and think about what ‘banchan’ to make and if I have enough plates to pull this off.
Lesson #2: PREP! And clean beforehand.
(To make sure you can focus on the cooking and enjoy the day of)
The last point I’ll share is that you should follow your list, and do as much preparation before the day of. This includes cleaning, and considering how the table will be decorated. Clean your apartment first thing in the morning! My best tip is to set the table in the morning with the dishes that will be used for each course on it (Ex. all of my pink plates will be used for the stew, and I'll be serving at the table so I’ll need a nice ladle there). Consider interactive table decorations too! If no one knows each other, I like to put a jar of conversation starters and crudité out so people will be occupied while they wait. Hopefully with the prep you’ve done, you’ll have won the time to socialize a bit with your guests.
Anyways, I’m still learning how to host well (namely I need to budget better, not make new things on the day of, prep more), but hopefully some of these tips are useful! And let me know what you’d add to the hypothetical space-themed dinner.
My theme for my April supper club dinner this Saturday is *Surprise theme* (literally)—where I’ll be making every dish with a twist :) Thank you for reading, and sending this to a friend. Be kind, have fun! Eat well.
I'm obsessed with the concept of a 70s italian dinner party and ALSO your ice creams always sound and look so amazing