A Formal Dinner - Just Not At the Dining Room Table

These beautiful elderly clients wanted to have a dinner party and enjoy having friends over. The hostess wanted everything to be perfect since this was the first dinner party in quite some time but as the numbers grew from 10 to 12, then to 14 and finally finished off at 16 her anxiety increased. It was too many to sit around the table, but her desire was to have a formal type of meal.
A couple of weeks earlier I had come over to prepare dinner for them and thoroughly enjoyed the time. They are both over 35 years my senior so the life stories shared as we sat down together at dinner were a wonderful treat. We had Caesar salad, coconut curry lamb shanks cooked slowly with turnip, onions, potatoes, as well as baby carrots, fresh asparagus (both of which I cook in a little chicken broth). Dessert followed in the form of a chocolate shell holding the individual serving of tiramisu, along with a delicious strong cup of coffee. She joked that this rare late day cup of coffee would keep her awake but it was worth it to enjoy such a luxury with her dessert. He savoured every mouthful of the lamb – his favourite meal, and shared with me stories of how they met, of war, of business, and his pride in their blended families.
To have a dinner party without the dining table means food that is flavourful, looks elegant when plated, can be eaten without a knife so as not to unbalance your dinner plate perched on your lap trying to cut some piece of food.
Here is the simple menu we used for this elegant dinner party.
- Lamb chops (individual chops cut from the rack of lamb) marinated in lemon juice, lemon rind, fresh chopped rosemary and thyme, minced garlic, salt, olive oil and red wine. These can be BBQ’d or cooked under the broiler. As my client had neither they were cooked at 500F for about 15 minutes. A good butcher can cut this meat perfectly for you.
- Saffron risotto made with chicken broth, white wine, grated romano cheese, freshly chopped parsley, salt and saffron
- Whole new carrots steamed in chicken broth then tossed with a touch of olive oil and seasoned
- Fresh asparagus steamed in chicken broth then tossed with butter and seasoned
- Slow roasted cherry tomatoes with olive oil, balsamic, garlic, salt and oregano
- Dessert was once again the individual chocolate shell tiramisu cups and a coconut rice pudding that was a dessert the hostess has loved serving at her dinner parties.
The lamb chop is easy to eat with your fingers and doesn’t have a messy sauce to worry about. Saffron rice is a comfort food texture and fresh slightly crisp vegetables are easy to eat with a fork only. The colours of the saffron rice and fresh carrots and asparagus are warm and inviting.

This is a spot to muse, ramble, share...to put in readable form sharable pieces from the new venture. It will give updates and tales that come from culinary mentoring, preparing, serving and sharing meals with those who are not so mobile anymore and small dinner parties for those who love a little soiree.