Project Cooking: Fancy Dinner for 18

Cooking Discussions
41

Trying to guess as well - cauliflower au gratin?

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42

@mig this all looks excellent and I will be stealing several of your ideas! Coincidentally I JUST put that cookbook on hold.

A few thoughts:

  1. Are you serving starch? The salads and veg all look wonderful, but some kind of potato or bread would make it feel more like a complete meal for those who are accustomed to having a more substantial side.

  2. Does grapefruit feature heavily in the salad? Just a note of caution that many people avoid it altogether because of interactions with meds (psychiatric, chemotherapy, etc.). You might want to forego or at least have it be a minor player.

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43

Shouldā€™ve mentioned- that was a bit of crab cake. One of the guests at the trial run doesnā€™t eat red meat, so there was a tray of crab cakes as well.

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44

Re the pine nuts: yea, they are very expensive, and that dish already has a lot going on. I donā€™t think they are needed.

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45

Oh, and funny you should mention microgreens: At the farmers market on Friday, I took note of some on offer - such a thing is very fancy/unusual for this area. Like, very. They were cilantro micro, which Iā€™ve never seen before, and the farmer let me taste them. I loved them ! I donā€™t really think they go with the flavor profiles I have going on, unfortunately. Iā€™d love them on something like a fancy fish taco.

The carrots were on a bed of thyme whipped ricotta. It was good, but I preferred the basil whipped ricotta I made at Xmas. I might pivot to that, then top with something complimentary. I want to make the carrot dish for mom with the extra veg I have, so Iā€™ll play around.

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46

I was very drawn to some arugula microgreens I saw Friday at my co-op but they would not have gone with anything I was planning on eating this weekend.

Not cheap but less than pine nuts: chopped Marcona almonds make an entirely acceptable substitute. But I agree with you: that salad doesnā€™t need either of them.

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47

Iā€™m sorry, didnā€™t mean to suggest the carrots needed something, I thought you were indicating that you thought they needed something . . . sounds like Iā€™m misunderstanding. No worries. Sounds like youā€™re ready for this! Should be great.

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48

I may be too late to the game, but I have found pots de creme to be an excellent dessert for a fairly heavy meal with beef. It supplies a beloved taste and texture and comes in a serving that does not make you feel like putting on your sweats and collapsing in a recliner.

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49

Love Marcona almonds as a garnish. A little bit goes a long way. I make the container I get at Market Basket (less spendy than most places) last a long while.

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50

I remember when it seemed that macadamia nuts were the ultimate. I recently had some and wished they were Marconas.

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51

What about a flavorful, crunchy topping for the carrots? Thereā€™s a fantastic Pistachio Dukkah recipe on food 52 which is great with carrots or butternut squash. You could toast the dukkah in olive oil, then pour on top of the carrots/ricotta. And you wouldnā€™t have to worry about more flavor in the ricotta.

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52

Also statins, which are really common.

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53

And hormonal birth control

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54

Putting on my geeky drug development hat on here. Grapefruit and/or the juice can interfere with a wide-range of drugs that are metabolized by an enzyme called CYP3A4. There is a compound in grapefruit which interferes with the the expected breakdown of some drugs, increasing the absorption which can lead to consequences in some people. Best to avoid this situation for a fancy dinner party!

Enjoying this thread @mig.

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55

Blood oranges could be the answer.

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56

Or, people who need to avoid grapefruit can push it aside and eat the other vegetables/fruits.

57

And necessary for ribeye dinners :wink:

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58

Unless itā€™s in the dressing.

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59

I never met a bite of citrus that kept its juice to itself, except for, perhaps, a very neatly sectioned tangerine.

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60

Grapefruits are not the only citrus fruits which have those compounds - they are also in different orange types, limes etc.

The problem is that the compounds are also in the juice which most likely will become part of the vinaigrette/sauce of the dish by simply putting grapefruit in the dish. I would just provide each guest a list of the planned dishes beforehand and so everybody can make their decision what to eat

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