Small Dinner Party Menu Ideas
Small dinner parties for social gatherings or special occasions encourage conversation while satisfying taste buds. Many small dinner parties only consist of a handful of people, generally 4 to 10. You can have a simple or elaborate small dinner party, depending on the purpose. Select flavorful foods based on the preferences of your guests. Does this Spark an idea?
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Menu Planning
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Select foods based on the guest list. For instance, if someone is allergic to nuts, avoid putting nuts in the salad. Choose foods that everyone will love. This is easy to figure out if you know your guests well. However, if you are inviting people you don't know, ask everyone if they have any food allergies or preferences. This is a respectful measure that is sure to be appreciated by your guests.
If your party is formal, you can hire a gourmet chef to do all the cooking so you can focus on entertaining. Formal dinners include gourmet dishes such as herbed salmon and asparagus or roasted quail with butternut squash. Fried chicken or spaghetti and meatballs is a good choice for a less formal dinner party.
Rib Roast-Beef with Horseradish Cream Sauce
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The Chef Menu website recommends a rib roast-beef with horseradish cream sauce. This is a tantalizing meal for meat lovers. Verify that all your guests enjoy eating meat before making this dish. This dish includes a 9 lb. rib roast with bones and a special homemade horseradish sauce.
The sauce is made by mixing 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, 1 1/2 tsps fresh lemon juice, 1/4 cup creamy horseradish sauce and 1/2 teaspoon sugar for extra sweetness. Season your thawed roast with salt, pepper and herbs. Wrap your roast in loose foil and place in a large roasting pan. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and allow the roast to cook for over an hour. This recipe is enough to feed 8 guests.
Include other side dishes, such as steamed asparagus and carrots or a baked potato. A salad is also a nice addition to this meal. Prepare a green salad with fresh romaine lettuce, avocados, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Serve strawberry shortcake for dessert.
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Ground Buffalo Stuffed Peppers
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Ground buffalo stuffed peppers is another mouth-watering meal. Buffalo is a flavorful, low-fat alternative to beef that has become increasingly available. Use a large bowl to mix 3 lbs of ground buffalo and seasonings. Add 1 tbsp of rosemary and chives and mix well. After mixing the herbs, add 1 tbsp. of pepper, a chopped onion, a can of tomato sauce and 3 eggs. Mix your ingredients thoroughly. Clean the insides of the green or yellow bell peppers and fill them with meat.
Poke a small hole in the bottom of the bell peppers and put in a baking dish. Cook at 300 degrees for one hour or until the meat is finished cooking. The top of the meat should be browned when finished. This recipe is enough to feed 8 to 10 guests.
You can also make vegetarian stuffed peppers. Slather butter, salt and pepper on chopped vegetables, such as carrots, celery, and artichoke hearts. After the vegetables are seasoned, fill your peppers and place them in the oven when the beef peppers are about half way done.
Rice makes an excellent side dish for this meal. Serve chocolate mousse for dessert.
Herb Salmon with Spinach
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Herb salmon with spinach is a simple yet elegant meal for a dinner party. This dish is very easy to prepare and cook. All you need is salmon, your favorite herbs and a few spices, along with butter. Prepare one to two salmon steaks or fillets for each guest. Pour 1/4 stick of melted butter on each piece of salmon. Then sprinkle salt and pepper along with your favorite herbs, such as parsley and sweet bay leaf or rosemary. Set your oven to 200 degrees and slowly bake your salmon for thirty to forty minutes, depending on the thickness of the salmon.
Thaw out two or more pounds of frozen spinach , slather with butter and add to the oven when the salmon has about ten minutes left to cook. Prepare a green salad with chopped avocados, tomatoes and cucumbers. Serve the meal with Merlot and feed your guests pecan pie for dessert.
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