A Successful Dinner Party....

On Saturday night I gave a dinner party for myself and five guests. I generally find cooking three courses for six diners takes me right up to my comfortable stress threshold... beyond that we're into uncharted territory, and it's a good bet it'll involve temper tantrums a five year old would be proud of, and language that would make Gordon Ramsay blush.

I was determined that the evening would go without a hitch and without *much* swearing, so I plotted, planned and prepared as best I could in advance, hopefully avoiding the situation where I'd be in the kitchen for long stretches at a time, leaving my guests unattended to get into my drinks cabinet, and generally misbehave.
To this end, and thinking I'd go with a French Bistro theme - I decided to cook the following.....

Starter - Petatou.
I cooked these last week (and provided the recipe in the comments section here). Potatoes, Thyme, Olives and Goats Cheese....honestly, what's not to like?

Main - Boeuf Bourguignon.
A classic French bistro dish. I've never cooked it before, and chose it because it's a perfect dinner party recipe, tasting better cooked a day in advance to give the flavours time to come out and then re-heated on the night. I decided to serve this with green beans, Mustard and Tarragon Mash and Crusty Bread for mopping up.

Dessert - Tarte Tatin.
I've made this a few times before, and it's always a winner - I also made some creme anglaise to serve with it.

I made the Bouef Bourguignon the night before, and the recipe is easy enough - although skimming off the impurities and oil that collected on the top during the two hour simmer was a pretty labour intensive job. All this needed was re-heating.
I made the Tarte Tatin in the afternoon, giving it a couple of hours to cool down and be just warm when served.

When the doorbell rang, I'd already made the creme anglaise, peeled the potatoes for the mash and started making the Petatou. These Starters take a bit of cooking, and my friends stayed out in the kitchen chatting whilst I scurried around in the background cooking and drinking....a lot.

Finally, the starters were brought from the kitchen, my guests were seated (and just finishing their third bottle of plonk), and everyone tucked in. All that really needs to be said is that the plates were cleared entirely...which pleased me no end.

I always find it kind of disheartening when someone doesn't like what you've cooked. But, bravely, I try not to show it....the classic 'outside I'm smiling, but inside I'm crying' (and inwardly damning your eyes situation).
Whilst we were tucking into the starters, I was re-heating the Bouef Bourguignon and boiling my spuds (oooer) for the mustard and Tarragon mash.

Timing wise, it was perfect - around fifteen minutes after clearing their plates, I was serving the main course. This tasted better than I thought it would. Obviously, I'd tasted it beforehand, but the overnight stay in the fridge had worked it's magic and it tasted much better. Once again.....cleared plates all around - including the mound of mash.

Finally, I served the Tarte Tatin with the Creme Anglaise - three out of three, they ate the lot...even polishing off the remnants of the custard. (I think you'll agree, homemade 'proper custard' tastes amazing, so who can blame them, not me....I'd have eaten it from the jug if it wasn't considered uncouth).

So - we retired to the living room for a good middle aged Binge-drinking session, drinking more Wine, Champagne and polishing off my bottle of Remy Martin XO. My friends left at 2am, merry and not a little unsteady on their feet.

As for myself, I retired to bed a contented man.

Three courses (and accompaniments) for six, all out in good time, all hot, I didn't spend ages in the kitchen, no swearing and tantrums (much) and last but not least - they ate the lot!

So, there you have it - my most successful dinner party yet.