Fast Entertaining The Perfect Meal to Prepare for a Last-Minute Get Together
Dinner parties are a blast and usually coincide with a lot of preemptive planning, but not always. Maybe your work week was too crazy and you didn’t have time to prepare, or the get together came up unannounced and you barely have time to make a store run. Either way, you need to come up with a meal plan and fast! If you serve an easy appetizer, it will give you a little time to whip up that entrée and dessert, and lucky for you, we have a plan.
As an appetizer, consider making some baked brie. All you have to do is wrap the cheese in puff pastry, cut the excess off the sides (adding a little decorative piece on top if you’d like) and bake it at 375 degrees for around 18 minutes. Slice up some apples, arrange some artisan crackers or bread, and you have a super easy appetizer that looks pretty classy! For wine, try pairing the brie with Cavit Chardonnay.
There’s nothing easier to whip up than some simple pasta. While there are tons of pasta ideas out there, we think a nice shrimp scampi is a good last-minute choice. All you have to do is cook some linguine and then sauté shrimp in a pan with some garlic and pepper. Stir in some white wine and lemon juice, throw in some seasonings and you’re done!
Since the first two courses are a little on the heavy side, think about something a little lighter for dessert, like nice roasted pears topped with mascarpone. This is super easy to make and requires very few ingredients. To start, drizzle some olive oil on halved pears and bake for around 20 minutes until they’re soft. While the pears are roasting, mix together some pumpkin seeds, almond, brown sugar, oats, salt to taste and some additional oil. Spread the mixture out on a baking sheet and pop in the oven for the last 10 minutes. Once everything is baked, scoop some mascarpone onto each plate, add a pear half and then top it all with the nut crumble.
The best thing about these three courses is that they can be used to spark ideas too. Don’t like brie? Try a different type of cheese. Hate shrimp? Throw something else in there and create a different type of pasta dish. Can’t stand pears? Maybe try apples instead and make your own deconstructed pie. But no matter what you change, make sure you get those wine pairings right, because your guests will need something to sip on.
