Recipes for when you're having a friend over for dinner and want to engage with them and not a hundred-step recipe.
Cooking is easy until people are watching you and expecting to be fed.
Hello, chefs.
One of the expected but still devastating effects of a home renovation is not being able to have people over for dinner. Hosting is my super bowl and I went from doing it every week to not at all for months.
Some people get their kicks from extreme sports. I get mine from the chaos and adrenaline that is cooking for others. Will things be done at the same time? Will I set off the fire alarms and smoke out the house? Will things taste good? Will I undercook the meat and make everyone violently ill? Who knows! Who could predict! What fun!
My brother-in-law and I have a master plan to write a cookbook for hosting one day. Not just recipes that feed a crowd, but recipes to pair together, recipes that are adaptable for various diets, and most of all:
Recipes that don’t require you to ignore your guests to not f them up.
Recipes that you can mostly prep in advance so you can actually engage with people are the stars of my culinary show. I can’t wait to share them all with you for as long as you keep giving me a home in your email inbox.
This week:
We had chorizo breakfast tacos, crispy chicken thighs on a beet and arugula salad, chili crisp salmon and cucumbers, Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce, turkey and ricotta meatballs, and so. much. english. muffin. bread. But the real star this week:
I made the best chicken pot pie of my life, paired with my new favorite salad, martinis, and my all-time favorite dessert pie, for the first friend who’s been to our house for dinner in months. It was lovely. No notes. You should do the same. Call someone you haven’t seen in too long, ask them if you can cook for them, and make them this meal. Light a candle and throw on some jazz and call yourself a person who hosts dinner parties.
-Faith
If you’re making this as a meal:
Make your oatmeal pie first, several hours before dinner. You can pop it back in the oven at 250 before serving.
Prep your salad dressing, marinate your onions, and toast your almonds after that. Keep them at room temp.
You’ll want to be putting your pot pie in the oven just as your guests walk in the door. Start cooking it about 45 minutes before they arrive. You can cover the gravy mixture when it’s done and leave it on your stove until you’re ready to cook it. Just don’t top it with the pastry until it’s go time.
Smitten Kitchen’s black bottom oatmeal pie
This is one of those desserts that you’ll think was all a dream the next morning. It inexplicably is every good thing about dessert all in one: there’s gooey chocolate, savory oats, a little caramelization going on, buttery crust, and a crisp top layer that just delivers.
Trust Deb on this one. I don’t par bake my crust. I find that a slightly smaller pie plate does better than my wide one.
The Salad
This is a Faith Benson Special™️. I made it three times this week and can’t get enough, which is embarrassing, because it’s a salad. But here we are.
Dressing (bigger batch): In a mason jar with a lid, combine 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, a drizzle (~2 tbsp) honey, salt and pepper, and 2 tsp celery seed. Yes! Celery seed!!!!! Shake well.
Spicy honey roasted almonds: On a baking sheet, mix as many slivered almonds as you want with a drizzle each of olive oil and honey, salt, and as much cayenne pepper as you like. Bake at 375 for 3-5 minutes until toasty. Watch ‘em.
Marinated onions: In a small shallow bowl, combine 1 thinly sliced red onion, enough red wine vinegar to almost cover them, then olive oil to the top of your onions. Let sit at room temp until serving.
Assemble! Right before serving, toss mixed greens with your dressing. Top with thinly sliced apples, drained onions, and almonds.
Sarah Copeland’s chicken pot pie
It’s a literal hug for your tastebuds. I don’t know how else to describe it. Plus, there’s a very specific joy that comes from making a gravy, and this one’s easy. Serves 4 very hungry people, or 6 people who are saving room for dessert.
Follow the recipe as written, and take extra care that your puff pastry stretches over all edges of your baking vessel, lest you end up with swamps of gravy on top rather than crispy pastry.