Penny Pinching Entertaining At Home

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I’ll post specifically about putting on a fantastic but cost conscious Thanksgiving table in a week or so. In the meantime, in the face of the current crisis more people are turning to (or maybe that should be re-turning to) home entertaining. There is even a new acronym to describe the phenomenon. It’s called getting CREAM’ed. Can’t Afford A Restaurant Eat At Mine.

Unless you are forced into that most horrendous of situations where you are entertaining to impress a boss or prospective client, then the thing to remember is that the people you are entertaining are friends. They do not want you to get into more debt than your average third world nation simply to have them over for dinner.

The tastiest and trendiest of dishes often started out as poor mans’ cuisine, soups or stews or combination dishes made from leftover or common local ingredients to feed the hungry bellies of the working class. Not all of the ingredients traditionally seen as low value have remained that way. Salmon was once thrown on fields in Scotland as fertilizer and lobster was a staple of the poor but base your dinner party round either of these today and you’ll be looking at spending a pretty penny before you even start.

Your final selection of dishes will depend on where you live and what you can easily source locally of course but look for inspiration at Chinese, Indian, Thai, Scottish, Irish and Moroccan/Middle Eastern recipes. Each of these cuisines are famed for being full flavored and varied and yet the ingredients need not be particualrly hard to come by or expensive. Think of the fabulously warming Irish Colcannon and Irish Stew, Scottish Cock-a-Leekie or Cullen Skink soups, Indian curries and Chinese noodle dishes. The fabulous aubergine or chickpea dips of the Middle East make great starters simply served with salad and you can’t beat seasonal fruit dipped in chocolate for a delicious but cost effective dessert.

When inviting guests it is normal for them to enquire what to bring. The standard answer may be ‘…just bring yourself.’, but these are not standard times. Do not be shy to suggest that your guest bring a bottle of wine or a piece of cheese, a bunch of grapes or after-dinner mints. Be specific with each request and each guest will be more than happy to participate leaving you free to concentrate on the main dishes.