Dinner party

I have a rule.  No repeats.  At least not in terms of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.  I am behind many of the other BBA Challenge bakers and since each attempted loaf of bread imprisons me for at least the better part of a day, I am on a mission to keep moving forward. 

I have broken that rule only once—when the Portuguese Sweet Bread recipe chewed me up and spit me out and I was determined to have better results.  But my second loaf was not markedly better than the first, thus enforcing my conviction to keep moving forward.

No repeats.  But I have another rule too.  It goes something like this: The Barefoot Contessa knows what she is talking about. 

This weekend I spent time planning for some guests at dinner and was trying to keep it simple.  It is so easy to fall into the trap of wanting to impress.  So, as I often do when such occasions arise, I closed the Google “winter dinner party menu ideas” search screen on my laptop and asked myself, “What would Ina do?”

Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa, warns regularly against dinner party planning that keeps you locked in the kitchen while your guests are partying and also advices that what people really enjoy is comfort, not fancy:

“This isn’t the time to test that intriguing recipe from the latest Gourmet; this is the time for something tried-and-true that will make people smile.” 

Ina Garten’s philosophy about entertaining helped me reign in my visions of grandeur.

I considered my goals for the evening with our guests and came up with these: enjoying the company of friends without all of us having to pay for babysitters, pretending to be grown-ups with social lives, breaking the pattern of weekend evenings sitting in front of a Netflix, shoving at Dave on our too small couch.

Channeling Ina and holding fast to my hopes for our dinner party, I found myself in conflict.  The simple menu I was envisioning would include a fail-safe roasted chicken, a salad brought by our guests and some homemade bread.

Homemade bread!  It is baked in advance, freeing me from the kitchen. And it is an ultimate in the comfort food arena.  Ina would be so proud.

Sometimes in order to be true to one of your personal policies, you have to breach another. You have probably already done the arithmetic here.  My conviction to keep it simple was going to force me to repeat a bread recipe.  I opened my baking text to Pain de Campagne, a bread I tried first a few weeks ago and loved.

I feel a little sad that the battle this weekend in the kitchen, the encounter between Peter Reinhardt and his distant, aspiring  apprentice (me), the skirmish between said aspiring apprentice and her Kitchen Aid mixer, who has been rebelling against this challenge at every possible opportunity, that none of this brought me closer to my goal of baking my way through this cookbook.

But I feel good that I could perceive that of my two principles one stood higher, held more value, offered more reward.

As I am typing now I am realizing that I never posted a description of my first attempt with the Pain de Campagne.  I will get it to you this week.  For the time being, what are your favorite dinner party ideas? Remember, we are keeping it simple!

Here is the roasted chicken (I omit the dried plums): Apricot Glazed Roasted Chicken with Dried Plums and Sage.

Comments

[jen]

I was the lucky one on the receiving end of the dinner party... so I just had to comment! Even though you are not trying to.... you did impress....as always. the chicken was delicious... comforting and tasty! how do you keep it so juicy? and the bread... i had no idea you made...duh! i figured it was from some fancy organic bakery you must frequent. ha.

but the best part was that we all got to hang out and you were part of the conversation...not locked up in the kitchen slaving. kudos to your good planning and thanks again for the invite. it was nice to get off the couch watching netflix :)

[Jan Londoff]

Well I LOVE your space....sorry..Blog. I am not kidding when I say this...Dierbergs has great baked chicken.... Whenever I want to make a special dish that will take more time than I want to spend...I start with Dierbergs chicken....I am sure the other grocery stores are good also.

I have not read your (about me) story yet, but I am assuming you are a young housewife...among other things...Me....I am just young at heart.....maybe thats why I like the ready to go chicken...

Anyway, I am looking forward to future visits.....I love Ina too! Jan

[Emily]

Thanks, Jan. And, Jen, thanks for un-lurking and for coming to dinner. Let's do it again soon!