The Dinner Challenge

[Lindacakes]

After many years of thinking about it, I have started a discussion group with five members.

To get this group off the ground, I enticed the group members over with dinner.

I asked the seemingly innocuous question, "Does anyone have any dietary concerns?"

Well, crap. There's a vegetarian. No meat, no fish. There's one with acid reflux. Nothing spicy, no tomatoes, no citrus. There's one that just plain skeeves at mayo and something I don't remember. There's one person, bless her heart, who hasn't voiced a need.

My first dinner began with olives, dried apricots, almonds and white wine. We had lemon sole, spanikopita, Moroccan spicy carrots and more white wine. Dessert was chocolate mousse with whipped cream and espresso. Everyone loved it, although no one touched the apps.

It set me back $200.

We are about to meet again, and I need to serve some sort of dinner at the ungodly hour of 6:30, since that was decided the best time to meet. That gives me almost no time for food prep after work.

I've already decided on brownies with cherry sauce for dessert. I've already decided on red wine, since I have three bottles on hand. During a freak out last night at Costco, I got mashed avocados, a huge bag of multigrain chips, hummus and a hunk of cheese.

I'm thinking I'll do a nice guacamole with chips/hummus with chips to start.

That leaves the middle thing. Since I'm planning on us being able to graze, to eat sitting on the couch, etc., I want food that can move comfortably. I'm thinking a casserole of some sort -- maybe wild rice, broccoli, cauliflower and cheese.

Does anyone have any ideas for that casserole thing or a substitute?

Does anyone have any ideas for how to deal with this challenge? I'd like to offer food and drink and make it nice and homey, but I can't do this time-wise and money-wise. I was going to do pizza, but then my acid reflux person reminded me about the tomatoes.

Argh. Help.

[GordonCooks]

Cooking for such diverse restrictions is a challenge. I would probably pick a theme like mexican or asian - have them fill their own tacos, ssams, or spring rolls as desired from a tray of ingredients

[judiu]

How about a white veggie pizza? Does the acid reflux person eat garlic? Does the vegetarian eat eggs? I, personally, love a white pizza with broccoli and garlic. Blanch the broccoli first, just to take the curse off it, top your cheese only pizza with it, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with minced fresh garlic (NO GARLIC POWDER PLEASE), fresh Parm, and maybe some black pepper and bake. Maybe a nice roasted veggie plate? You could do asparagus bundles with bacon, and with roasted red pepper strips for the vegetarian. Deviled eggs are always good. HTH!

[jgm]

How about pasta with a sauce, such as Alfredo, that is not tomato based?

Soup: vegetable, potato, etc. with something fancy such as basil oil or pesto on top. Especially with potato soup, you could make grated cheese, bacon, sour cream, and anything else you like with potatoes, available for people to fix as they wish. Or mac & cheese?

You could do pizza, actually. Find a "white pizza" recipe that doesn't have tomato sauce on it. A friend of mine has dough ready and shaped into individual pizzas, with bowls of toppings available for people to make their own.

Risotto with vegetables? I like to add asparagus, yellow pepper, and diced seeded tomato. You could throw shrimp in, too, or serve a small piece of grilled salmon on top.

Quiche?

Edited to add: I also have an acid reflux problem. The small amount of tomato in the risotto isn't enough to bother me. It's added at the very end, so you could take out one portion and add tomato to the rest.

Edited September 16, 2008 by jgm (log)

[tino27]

Blanch the broccoli first, just to take the curse off it ...

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LOL!! What on earth does that phrase mean?

[Badiane]

If you hop over to the dinner thread, there is a lovely looking beef noodle casserole that was posted over the weekend and is near the bottom of the current active page. It looks delicious and completely harmeless...a green salad and some buns and you'd be in business!

[Lisa Shock]

How about salads and quiche and a nice sorbet for dessert? If the vegetarian eats eggs it can be a tasty and inexpensive meal.

[Kerry Beal]

I make a nice eggplant casserole that might fit the bill.

Peel and slice the eggplant into 'cutlets'. Flour, egg wash, some sort of crumbs, drizzle with olive oil and bake in hot oven until nice and brown. Layer of eggplant, top with some bechmel, grated cheddar and swiss cheese, sauted onion, keep layering and finish with some cheese.

Bake about 350 for 45 minutes or so until nice and bubbly.

Reheats well.

[judiu]

Blanch the broccoli first, just to take the curse off it ...

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LOL!! What on earth does that phrase mean?

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To knock the essentially "green grassy flavor" out of the broccoli, and tenderize it a bit. Sorry for the obscure reference!

[Shelby]

Blanch the broccoli first, just to take the curse off it ...

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LOL!! What on earth does that phrase mean?

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To knock the essentially "green grassy flavor" out of the broccoli, and tenderize it a bit. Sorry for the obscure reference!

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I like it!! I learned a new phrase today!!!

[KarenDW]

what about offering to provide the dishes and beverages, and other provide the food? Each to his or her own liking. Could start a discussion just about that...

[lala]

I agree with Karen! Make it a potluck, and each one can bring a dish to suit their own needs.

[Lindacakes]

You guys are great! Thank you for the ideas -- I'm going to use them. The white pizza with broccoli and garlic sounds excellent. I'm wondering how acid reflux and garlic mix . . .

I also thought of roasted veggies or some sort of crudite -- I'm either going to do that or the white pizza for this round.

It has also occured to me that it might work to do a wonderful dessert (which is my specialty and can always be done ahead of time) and then just do munchy finger food.

I think that would actually be liked -- last time, the morning after when I washed the dishes I really had to laugh. Because I'd never seen cleaner ramikins in my entire life, I mean, I think some people must have licked them clean . . .

The brownies will be Nick Malgieri's with Valrhona and the cherries imported from Italy.

There must already be a thread about this, but times have changed. I would never have dared (and I think for me, never would) express a food need. I was raised to choke to death on that liver rather than admit I didn't like it . . .

[Lindacakes]

The potato soup idea gave me the idea of stuff-your-own potato, which could be fun . . .

[CaliPoutine]

If you hop over to the dinner thread, there is a lovely looking beef noodle casserole that was posted over the weekend and is near the bottom of the current active page.  It looks delicious and completely harmeless...a green salad and some buns and you'd be in business!

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I think she's serving a vegetarian too.

How about a potluck?

[jgm]

There must already be a thread about this, but times have changed.  I would never have dared (and I think for me, never would) express a food need.  I was raised to choke to death on that liver rather than admit I didn't like it . . .

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For me, this is a real issue in entertaining. I'm fortunate enough not to have health problems that require a particular diet, but if I were, I would be inclined to tell my hostess, "Just do whatever you want to do and I'll eat whatever will work for me." And I'd have a snack before leaving home. In fact, I do this a lot; I try to watch calories, but still want to have lunch with friends at restaurants. The obvious solution to the problem is to eat something before leaving work, and have a salad at the restaurant, perhaps even bringing my own dressing.

A couple of years ago I volunteered to do hors d'oeuvres once a month for a friend who had a gallery; in my community they have a "Final Friday" event where participating businesses would stay open late and offer beverages and snacks. I got so sick of hearing about people who couldn't eat dairy, wheat, tree nuts, etc etc etc I wanted to scream. This particular business always offered fresh vegetables, cheese and crackers, and other things in addition to what I made, and other businesses offered other things, so it's not like there would be a lack of variety. But certain individuals whined incessantly when I made something they couldn't eat. I was relieved when my friends went out of business and closed the gallery.

By the way, I also have an acid reflux problem. Maybe your friend is trying to control hers with diet, but there are excellent, affordable medications on the market. Nexium allows me to eat whatever I wish.