Tonight, I hosted my first real dinner party. Because I felt compelled to show off my newly acquired cooking skills, I decided to invite a few friends over to sample the best that Chez Moi could offer.
The actual prep process started earlier this week, when I made polenta and experimented with deep frying techniques to make polenta fries. The process continued last night when I made creme brulee & began brining a chicken. Unfortunately, that was the easy part.
The actual day of work was quite involved. I had to get the place cleaned up in the morning. Then in the afternoon, I had to plan out everything and execute as close to flawlessly as possible. I ended up deboning the chicken and marinating it first. Then I continued on to cutting up a pound of onions to be caramellized for French Onion Soup. Next were croutons for the French Onion Soup. I then followed up with breading the polenta for frying. Finally, I readied the romaine hearts & asparagus for grilling.
Once everyone arrived, it was a mad dash between cooking and eating. I'd finish off one dish, serve it, join everyone else for consumption and then rush back in the kitchen to prepare the next dish. This frenzied tradition started with the French Onion Soup, through Grilled Romaine Hearts, Asparagus, Polenta Fries and finishing with the Herb Roasted Chicken. By the main meal, I was actually able to sit down and relax a while. IOW, catch up on wine compared to everyone else.
I finished things off with the tried and true creme brulee. I love my kitchen blow torch. And everyone else did as well. ("Fire! Fire!") ^_^
Overall, I think it went really well. The food turned out well minus mishaps with half of the polenta fries and the not so great beurre blanc. The guests enjoyed all the food, and I think a good time hanging around & vegging was had.
However, I must say that it was a *lot* of work for one person. I can't believe how many times I stopped to do dishes or to clean the counter top before continuing cooking. I honestly think that I spent most of today standing vs. sitting like I normally do. In any case, I think it was well worth getting the real life experience of hosting this kind of affair...just don't expect me to do it again any time soon.
