Dinner Party: A classy warming winter meal for friends (vegan/gf compatible)

Dinner Party is a new feature I’m trying out. I’ll plan a whole dinner party for you, from shopping list to prep schedule to recipes. Do you have a dinner party coming up? Are there dietary restrictions to consider, specific ingredients you want to use, do you want it to be fancy/casual, small/big, cheap or quick, an activity for kids to help with? Send me requests!

This comes as part of some other changes I’m making to my newsletter format. I’m going to cut back on the essay-style writing to twice a month, and send out more free recipes and practical cooking features like this Dinner Party. Paid subscribers continue to get weekly recipes (which some of the dinner parties might rely on) and my profound gratitude!

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VIBE CHECK

So you’re having a bunch of friends over for a casual Sunday dinner. You want it to feel like something you just threw together but at the same time be kind of classy and impress even that one friend’s girlfriend from France. You don’t want to spend the entire day cooking but you want to serve a lot of people (you don’t even know exactly how many, why can’t people just RSVP, but you’re pretending you’re totally chill). Oh yeah, and one friend is vegan and another is gluten-sensitive.

Here’s a menu that’s based on fairly cheap easy-to-find ingredients that can still highlight some nice winter produce if you visit the farmer’s market. There are a bunch of snacks so your people have a wide time window to show up. There’s basically no last minute work for you — you don’t have to wear an apron over your outfit and you can sit with everyone instead of hovering over the stove. The food scales up easily and leftovers save well for later meals, so you can make a lot of everything.

THE MENU

This would serve 6-8 people comfortably. If you’re expecting a bigger party, get two baguettes, double the bean recipe and cook 5 lbs of potatoes. Maybe get another goat cheese log or add a hard cheese. You can double the apple crisp ingredients and use a bigger baking dish.

Starter snacks

• Mushroom pâté

  • Washington Post recipe (1x recipe) or Alicia Kennedy’s (paywalled) is good, but I added a quarter cup of pitted olives, an onion instead of shallot, dried thyme instead of fresh, skipped the cream cheese, and used a mix of parsley and dill. If you want to make it vegan, you can use Miyoko’s butter or just olive oil.

• Goat cheese log rolled in:

  • finely chopped toasted pecans + dried cherries (+ dark chocolate shavings if you have any)

  • smoked paprika (alone or with finely chopped roasted red pepper)

  • lemon zest + herbs de provence or cracked black pepper

• Baguette (or gluten-free crackers)

• 1 cup olives (Castelvetrano, if you can get them)

Main

• Big beans in caramelized onion + lemon broth (1x recipe)

• Smashed potatoes (steps 1-4 of this recipe), with 2-3 lbs of potatoes

  • Serve with whatever sauces you like. A selection of hot sauces or chili crisp, sour cream or labneh, pesto, chimichurri, green goddess dressing, tzatziki, a quick blended avocado-herb sauce. You can sprinkle some fresh parsley over it as well (if you have it leftover from the pâté)

Dessert

• Apple crisp with crystallized ginger (1x recipe)

• Vanilla ice cream (vegan if you want)

GROCERY LIST

You can buy everything 4-5 days ahead except for the baguette — just keep the dill and parsley sealed in a big plastic bag. The one ingredient to “splurge” on here (though it’s only a few more dollars than other types) is the beans. If you can get some Rancho Gordo Royal Coronas, please do it!

Fresh produce

• 1 lb cremini or portobello mushrooms

• 2 lbs (8-10) apples

• 1 bunch fresh parsley (for the mushroom pâté, and you can sprinkle some on the potatoes)

• 1 bunch fresh dill (for the mushroom pâté and beans)

• 3 medium yellow onions (2 for the beans, one for the pâté)

• 2 cloves garlic (for the pâté)

• 2 lemons (for beans, but you can also use zest for the goat cheese log)

• 1 bunch kale or spinach (for beans)

• 2-3 lbs potatoes (smaller ones like fingerling would be better, but if you don’t have many choices, Yukon > Idaho)

Dairy

• 2 sticks butter (for the pâté and apple crisp) or 3/4 cup refined coconut oil. Optional: additional stick of butter for serving with baguette

• 4oz plain goat cheese (chèvre) log

• 2 oz parmesan or pecorino (for beans)

• Vanilla ice cream (or a vegan ice cream)

Other specialty

• Fresh baguette

• Nice olives (Castelvetrano recommended)

• 1 lb dried beans. Rancho Gordo Royal Coronas are what I recommend, but the Rancho Gordo cranberry beans are also good, or any kind of dried cannellini or Great Northern beans

Pantry Items

• Olive oil

• Sea salt and black pepper

• Dry sherry or sherry vinegar or red/white wine vinegar (for the pâté)

• Optional toppings for goat cheese, like pecans, dried cherries, roasted red pepper

• 2 quarts broth or stock or Better Than Boullion base (for beans)

• 1/2 cup panko (for beans)

• Sauces for the smashed potatoes, see above for ideas

• 1/4 cup white sugar (for apple crisp)

• 2 cups rolled oats (for apple crisp)

• 1 cup AP flour (for apple crisp)

• 1/2 cup brown sugar (for apple crisp)

• 1/2 cup crystallized ginger (for apple crisp)

Spices/Seasonings

• paprika or herbs de provence or cracked black pepper (for goat cheese)

• dried thyme (for the mushroom pâté)

• 1 teaspoon miso (optional, for beans)

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (for apple crisp)

WINE PAIRING

A full-bodied white or orange wine would go well with everything. Probably something not too acidic so that it’s not overwhelming with the lemony beans. You could start with a slightly fizzy Pet Nat for fun, and then move into something bigger. Here’s an orange I’ve been liking a lot lately.

PREP:

Must be done in advance

The night before

1. Soak the beans. Rinse and put them in some containers or bowls (that you cover with plastic) with at least twice as much water as bean. Leave in the fridge.

Three to four hours before

1. Start cooking the beans. Rinse them and put them in a pot with the broth or stock. They should be covered by 2 inches of liquid, so add more if necessary. Mix in a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for ~2 hours.

Can be done in advance

1. Make the mushroom pâté (30 minutes)

2. Make the goat cheese log (10 minutes)

   1. Spread the topping ingredients out on cutting board, piece of parchment or wax paper, or Silpat. Gently roll the log over the ingredients until completely covered.

3. Assemble the apple crisp (20 minutes) but don’t bake it yet

4. If you want to make a sauce for the potatoes, you can do it ahead, or just serve stuff from your fridge like hot sauce.

The last 2 hours

You could probably do all of this in an hour, but I don’t want to leave you rushed. If you haven’t gotten to the apple crisp or goat cheese log, you can make them while you’re doing everything below.

1. Pull the goat cheese and butter from the fridge, so they can reach room temperature.

2. Prepare your vegetables:

   1. Dice 2 onions and tear up the kale for the beans.

   2. Wash and chop potatoes into bite size pieces.

3. Preheat the oven to 420°F for the potatoes.

4. Start boiling the potatoes in salted water.

5. On another burner, caramelize the onions and add them to the beans (it doesn’t matter if the beans aren’t done yet). You can use the same pan to toast the panko (steps 3 & 4).

6. Once the potatoes are soft, remove them to a bowl. Smash them up a bit, coat with olive oil, salt and pepper, and spread them out on a sheet tray. Put in the oven and bake until well-browned and crispy, 30-45 minutes.

7. Finish the beans by adding kale and the juice of 1 lemon. Turn up the heat to a rolling boil if there’s still a lot of liquid in the pot or keep it at a simmer if not. Once the kale has cooked and the liquid is reduced down to however much you want (enough for a couple ladlefuls for each person), taste and add more lemon juice, salt, or miso. Turn off the heat and leave the beans covered.

8. Pull the potatoes from the oven. Turn the oven off, and then when the guests arrive, slide the potatoes back into the off-oven to keep warm. If they cool down too much, you can always turn on the broiler to heat them up right before serving.

9. Get the garnish ready for the beans, so that guests can serve themselves: Chop some dill, put the panko in a bowl, grate the parmesan. Set out sauces for the potatoes.

10. Slice the baguette, and set it out on a board with the goat cheese. Put the mushroom pâté and olives into bowls.

11. When you move into dinner-mode, serve whatever’s left of the baguette with the room temperature butter.

12. Set the oven to 375°F for the apple crisp. Put it into the oven about 45 minutes before you want to serve dessert (start checking it at 30 minutes though). Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

What I’m Cooking

A Template Recipe for Mushroom Carbonara

I’m experimenting with more “template recipes” like the fruit crisp — recipes with a few staple ingredients and simple steps, and how to riff on them for your own variations. This recipe is for paid subscribers!

Mushroom carbonara