Hi Leslie,


This is what I do for a quick dinner, it's very easy :

For entry: cut  figs into half and put on top a slice of creamy goat cheese and a drop of olive oil on top. 5 minutes in the oven and it’s a nice combination of taste and texture.

Main dish: nothing easier to do than Salmon steaks, marinate them about half hour before in lemon juice, salt, garlic, onions and any fresh herb like dill, basil, parsley, coriander. Fry them in a pan for about 5 min. each side. And throw into a pot and boil very high quality potatoes, ones that have thin skin that you don’t have to peal and just cut in half, put some butter, salt and herbs that will go well with the fish.

For desert I would suggest thin pancakes, it takes some time but then you can warm it up quickly in the oven and it’s still in your 1-1.5 hour schedule, to be eaten either with sugar, chocolate or vanilla ice inside: throw into a bowl a cup of flour, 3 eggs, two cups of milk and a pinch of sugar. Mix it all and put in the fridge for 15 min. You can then start to make them, though be sure you use a good and very flat pan. Just need to warm up in the oven before serving.

I suggest arranging things so that much of the work can be done in advance and there is not a lot of actual cooking the day of.  The two words "dinner" and "party" are both relevant here.  If you are the sort of person who stresses, buy some good wine and serve everyone cocktails first.

Here is an example of a simple meal. I would go for low-key but beautiful. The key is practice. Try making everything several times beforehand, over the course of a week or two.

Starter: a warm vegetable soup. This you can make the day before. Pumpkin or squash is nice this time of year.  Before the party heat it up slowly and serve with some sour cream swirled in and some cracked black pepper.

Main course: pasta and seasonal vegetables. Buy very good-quality artisinal pasta and boil it in a lot of water (rolling boil!) with sea salt. It takes practice to do pasta well, but done well with some outstanding olive oil and some sauteed vegetables and herbs, it is very memorable. Scallops are easy to add, but you have to saute them at the last minute. For the vegetables, choose beautiful colors, maybe even some long string beans or some purple lettuce leaves for the plate. Just remember to get very good quality ingredients and not to bother them too much.

Dessert: go out and buy yourself something special, maybe a cheesecake or some very nice chocolates, the day before. Serve with coffee. If you want to cook something yourself and you are not a baker, you might try a berry cobbler. This can cook while you are eating dinner.

I second the point about wine. At my local grocery store here there's a bin of Perrin Cotes du Rhone, $9.99, which is very drinkable. I would not have guessed the price if it weren't for the twist-off (pour in the other room). The same guy makes slightly more expensive wines (including an organic one for around $15) which have corks.

Unless you are quite comfortable with cooking, a dinner party is not the time to try anything new (or at least more than one thing new).  The menus already suggested sound great; here's another one just for fun, if you have a very good fishmonger near you.

Starter: buy a platter of oysters from the fishmonger (you can ask him to open them for you), serve on a large tray on a bed of ice. Zero work, very impressive.  The price will depend on where you are, of course. If you have something to celebrate, serve these with champagne. **IMPORTANT** Buy shortly before eating (not more than a few hours; check with your fishmonger). Otherwise you will make everyone sick.

Main course: scallops, acorn squash puree, wild rice.  This means that you have to leave everyone after the appetizers and sautee the scallops. You can make the squash puree (like mashed potatoes) and rice before and reheat if necessary. If you don't want this cooking interlude, replace the scallops with fish baked in the oven -- time it to finish just before people arrive so you won't have to constantly check it. It can rest a bit. If your plates are not too fragile, you can arrange the squash and rice on them just before people arrive and leave them in a mildly warm oven (warm plates are nice too). So after the first course you just slide on the fish and go.

Pass around some good bread, sliced into manageable pieces. At this point you might serve a salad, but people won't necessarily expect this in the winter -- your call (depends on whether you have reasonable lettuce in November in your area).

Dessert: get some very high-quality chocolate ice cream and serve it in nice dishes with some chocolate shavings, and pass the whipped cream and sprinkles. You can scoop this before people arrive and put the dishes in the freezer covered in plastic wrap; it will look even more impressive in a frosted glass.