A lot of us have been in that large dinner party throwing situation, where we feel like being creative, trying something new or complex, only to end up being completely stressed out the night of the party and not enjoying the very company that made you want to have the dinner in the first place. I’ve done this more times than I can count…but the good news is that I’ve learned my lesson (maybe!) and how to avoid such stress…and so will you!
For the last five years, I’ve hosted a big family dinner for my Italian family each summer, now a fun annual event we all look forward to each year. The first couple times, I attempted new recipes or ideas (even this year I tried making homemade mozzarella day of…what was I thinking??) only to finally realize after some failed attempts that what I needed most for these large dinners was to rely on the simple and familiar recipes that I already knew. Not only did I reduce my stress 100x, but I also was able to enjoy my family and company by spending less time in the kitchen cooking.
Italian cooking makes this concept easy, as a lot of Italian recipes are actually very simple and fast, but fresh, and absolutely delicious. So, the answer to making crowd pleasing, simple food is this…focus on recipes that require less cooking and instead more prep, and with as few (but fresh) ingredients as possible! So many Italian recipes are just a matter of a lot of prep (washing, chopping, arranging, etc) and are much faster than slaving over a hot stove hours on end having to time each and every step.
With that said, time to introduce these crowd pleasers! One appetizer, one side, and one entree below to get you started and get your creative juices flowing…
Appetizer: Pecorino and Figs with Walnuts and Honey (serves 8-10 people)
I learned about this dish during a trip to Italy when my sister’s study abroad host parents served this before dinner. Traditionally, it only includes pecorino cheese, walnuts, and honey, but I’ve added figs which go with those flavors well, and are one of my favorite Italian appetizers.
What you’ll need: 1 container green figs, 1 block of pecorino cheese, 1/2 cup walnuts, honey for drizzling.
Start by selecting a flat, large platter. Cut each fig into quarters and spread out on the platter. Using a knife, cut off medium chunks of pecorino until the block is gone. These are not neat cuts; push the end of the knife into the end of the cheese and pull off a chunk. Messy, varying shapes gives the dish an elegant, yet rustic presentation. Spread the pecorino chunks onto the platter. Give the walnuts a rough chop if you bought them whole (or buy already chopped walnuts). Sprinkle the walnuts across the platter of figs and pecorino. Lastly, using a honey dipper or spoon, drizzle honey across all the ingredients on the platter. Add a little serving fork, some appetizer plates, and you’re ready to serve and mangia (eat)! See my point from earlier? This was just all prep and takes only minutes to prepare, but fresh ingredients and, I guarantee, delicious!
Main Entree: Chicken Cacciatore (serves 6-8 people)
This traditional Italian dish hits the spot every time. I’ve used this for a handful of events, from my annual Italian dinner of 15-20 people to an anniversary party of 75 people. Every time, it proves to be simple, delicious, and doesn’t demand a lot of my time or attention.
What you’ll need: 12-14 pieces of chicken; a mixture of both thighs and drumsticks, 1/2 cup water, 1-28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes (fine if it comes blended with herbs), 1-6 ounce can of black or green olives, 1 dozen cherry tomatoes, 2 bell peppers (1 green and 1 red), 1 medium onion (yellow, red, or cippolini), sea salt/course pepper/dried oregano for sprinkling, and extra virgin olive oil for drizzling.
Start off by browning the chicken. In a large pan on the stove top, on medium high heat, coat the pan with olive oil. Once the pan is hot, place the chicken pieces skin side down. Only add a handful of pieces, or whatever comfortably fits, at one time. You don’t want to squish the chicken in the pan, and you can repeat this as many times you need until all the chicken is done. Brown the chicken for 3-4 minutes, flip onto the other side and brown for another 3-4 minutes. This gets the skin browned so it gets crispy in the oven later instead of soft. As you finish each batch of chicken, move the chicken into either a roasting pan or a paella pan for the oven (anything big enough to hold all the chicken and has sides to hold the sauce and juices).
Once all the chicken is in the roasting or paella pan, pour the crushed tomatoes over the top and around the sides of the chicken, and pour the water into the bottom of the pan (not over the top of the chicken). Add in the whole olives and cherry tomatoes. Chop the bell peppers and onion into medium chunks and add to the pan. Sprinkle the top of the chicken and vegetables with salt, pepper, and dried oregano. Lastly, drizzle some olive oil over the whole pan of ingredients.
Heat oven to 350° and cook for 2.5 hours (uncovered). This dish is cooked low and slow, which will result in the chicken being very tender and literally falling off the bone! Great thing about this dish is it takes less than 30 mins to prep, and then you leave it alone for the next 2.5 hours, giving you time to work on your other dishes. Pull it out of the oven, transfer to a serving platter, and serve immediately. Remember to include all the juices and sauce on the serving platter and use a platter with slightly elevated sides.
Side Dish: Eggplant Caprese (makes 24 individual servings/pieces)
Caprese insalata (salad) is one of the easiest, traditional Italian recipes you can find. It’s simplicity and few ingredients make it a large dinner party go-to, and is one of my family’s favorites. Caprese salad is simply slices (rounds) of tomatoes and mozzarella topped with a basil leaf. Rather than a traditional American salad that is tossed in a bowl, these are prepped as individual servings, and look beautiful spread out on a large, flat platter. Not to mention, the ingredients are the colors of the Italian flag (red, white, and green) so it can’t get anymore traditional Italian than that. 🙂 The Eggplant Caprese I’m going to share with you is a slight twist on the traditional caprese; the same ingredients, but I’ve added rounds of grilled eggplant. First time I made this, it was a hit with all my guests!
What you’ll need: 2 large eggplants, 3 large heirloom tomatoes, 2 large balls or logs of mozzarella, a small bunch of basil, extra virgin olive oil for drizzling, and sea salt/course pepper for sprinkling.
I like to begin by slicing and prepping all the ingredients at once, because after that, you are mostly building and arranging them together on a platter. Very fast! So, start by slicing the eggplants into rounds, about 1/4in thick. Then slice the tomatoes into 1/4in thick rounds, and same with the mozzarella. Line all of these up on a cutting board.
Heat a grill pan on the stove to medium low, and lightly cover in olive oil. Drizzle olive oil on all of the eggplant rounds, on both sides (eggplant absorbs moisture very quickly so it’s okay to be generous with the olive oil). Place your cutting board with the tomatoes and mozzarella as well as your serving platter to the side of the stove as you’ll be arranging the caprese as you’re grilling batches of eggplant. As many as you can fit on the grill at once, place the eggplant on the grill and cook for approx. 3 mins on each side. There should be visible grill marks on either side. Move these to your serving platter and spread out each round side by side so they are not overlapping. Immediately add a round of mozzarella on top of each eggplant, and then a round of tomato on top of each mozzarella. Putting the mozzarella on first before the tomatoes for eggplant caprese will result is slightly warm and melted mozzarella- yum!
Repeat these steps for every batch of eggplant you make. You can arrange the mozzarella and tomatoes while you’re waiting for the next batch of eggplant to cook. When all the eggplant is done and all rounds are arranged, place a leaf or two of basil on top of each individual caprese. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the entire platter, and finish it off by cracking some pepper and sea salt over the top. Finito (finished)! Serve these using a flat (pie) server.
I hope you find these three recipes to be as enjoyable, delicious, and stress free as I do! Don’t let the ideas stop here though- these are just examples of recipes with few ingredients and little cook time, using all fresh ingredients. Keep these recipe concepts in mind, and try coming up with some yourself! Have one to share? I would love to hear about it- feel free to comment below!
*Cooking tip: Don’t get caught up with measurements while cooking- especially for Italian food. All three of these recipes I shared, if you slightly altered the amount of ingredients you use, it wouldn’t matter. When I selected my eggplant, tomatoes, and mozzarella for Eggplant Caprese for example, I eyeballed how much of each ingredient I would need. Just make as many servings as you can out of the ingredients you buy. Learning to be a successful cook is learning and understanding your ingredienits and how they work with one another. Adding or subtracting ingredients is a matter of reacting to your food as you’re cooking, tasting, testing, and learning how all the flavors come together. Don’t be afraid to mess up (because you rarely can)!
Our most recent, very successful Italian dinner night!
Italian word of the day:
cena (ch-eh-na) = dinner