It takes forever to find a date. Babysitting/husband/partner/work/travel schedules have to align. But when that night arrives, you cherish it. You know what I mean, that evening when it’s just you and your girlfriends. The talk swings from houses to hair to new business ventures to books to how to form an LLC to the best kids’ apps to wine to how to tell your assistant her skirt is too short and on and on. Make it happen. And make it happen over dinner, at someone’s house. Restaurants are great but at someone’s house you can sit on the floor with friends and laugh and get to the table and grab a bowl of soup and then head back to the floor for dessert.
But we all know that everyone doesn’t eat everything. Now things get hard. What to cook?
The answer is soup – THREE soups to be exact…one meat, one seafood, one veg. Offer a Boeuf Bourguignon Soup (made in advance) and a side of noodles; Ina’s Seafood Chowder (made day of); and last, make Potato Leek soup (in advance) for a vegetarian option. Voilà! Problem solved.
That should cover just about anything people throw your way in terms of restrictions. Also, people always ask what to bring. Get someone to bring a salad – a great winter salad of under-appreciated collard greens and life changing crispy shallots. Ask another to bring dessert (which MUST MUST MUST be these amazing lemon bars!). Stocking up on wine goes without saying. Now go send an email to those friends and pick a date. You won’t regret it.
Tips and Notes
The Salad: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/collard-green-and-radish-slaw-with-crispy-shallots
The Soups:
http://www.marthastewart.com/296351/a-perfect-pot-of-boeuf-bourguignon-soup
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/seafood-chowder-recipe.html
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/potato_leek_soup/
The Lemon Bars! (I cut the sugar in these down to 3/4 of what it says)
savegourmet.com 