Feeding a Gaggle

Dahling, those pants are simply divoon!

The Challenge
There is a gaggle of women coming to my house for dinner Saturday night. Women and food. This is a complicated arena in which to perform. The last time we all got together, there was (in my opinion) too much talk about who was too fat and who was envious of whose legs. Nobody was mean, in fact it was mostly self-deprecating which is worse if you ask me. But I saw how they were looking at the food, taking only a sliver of this, pushing that around their plate, denying themselves the dessert completely. The complexity of women seems greatly evident in their differing relationships to food.

Now that I am hosting, my challenges are:
1. Different grades of palates, some sophisticated some not.
2. Creating a menu so that they won’t eat self-consciously and run directly to an all-night Pilates class after dinner.
3. Putting out something interesting, as is always expected at my house.

The Menu
Flat breads and cheeses for early nosh. Plus, Escargots Vol au Vent. This is the rogue dish of the evening, snails in puff pastry with herby butter. The daring and intrepid will try them, some will be surprised and like them, some will not be able to surmount the textural issues. Some won’t even hazard a try, but I don’t care because it just means more for me.

Steak Salad. Replicating the one I ate at Pop! the other day, I’m using mixed greens dressed with a simple balsamic vinaigrette and crumbled Maytag blue cheese. Grilled and sliced flank steak will be laid over the top. This should satisfy the Gluten-Free girl and the Carb-Avoiders.

Couscous with Grilled Chicken. Using whole wheat couscous should satisfy the South Beachers. Couscous also challenges some people to think differently about what a starch offering can be.

Haricots Verts. With a kicky shallot dressing, these little French beans taste like Spring to me. They are good for everyone and so cute they won’t intimidate the Non-Veggers.

Creme Fraiche Chocolate Cupcakes. They’ll never know there’s creme fraiche in there until I tell them. They come out with a slightly tangy bite that pairs well with the dark chocolate. I’m topping them with a dollop of rum-sweetened mascarpone and an edible flower. Too pretty to pass up.

In the end, we will laugh more than we gripe and probably drink too much wine to even taste the food or remember to care about the size of our rumps.