Each half year I try to host guests for dinner three times. Some are easy: Seder, sukkah, Thanksgiving. Since Seder and Thanksgiving are for my household, I do not count them, but still work on traditional menus and elegant presentation. Some occasions are semi-random: Shabbat Pesach, Shavuot. Others truly random. For Festivals, the occasion dictates much of the menu. Thanksgiving turkey, something with sweet potato, something with cranberries. Seder has its ritual requirements, shabbos Pesach dietary limitations that invite ingenuity, or at least variations from other shabbos dinners. Shavuot dairy
Shabbos gives complete flexibility.
I start with a nine square grid:
- Motzi, generally challah for a Jewish occasion
- First course: can be either an appetizer or soup. Both for Thanksgiving and Seder, one on other occasions
- Salad: avoid bean and potato salads, usually fresh vegetable based
- Dressing if not integral to the salad recipe
- Entrée: Meat mostly. And something I wouldn't ordinarily make for myself
- Starch: I happen to have a fondness for kugel
- Vegetable: what's on sale that week, simply prepared
- Dessert: Most often baked
- Beverage: wine more often than not
Challah recipes are mostly variants of each other. They will vary by number of eggs and by sweetness. The kneading also drives the final product. I start early in the morning, so the first rise is underway by the time I need to leave the house.
Wine is most often white, purchased from a place with an enormous selection. I set a price limit, then choose the one with the most intriguing name or label design. Never, or almost never, buy the same brand more than once.
All else needs exploration. I've collected cookbooks of various types for decades, creating a large collection. And I used to browse the public library collection in advance of guests. The internet has made much of this obsolete. I can search by course, by ingredient, by individual food mavens. For dessert I can make something with phyllo, though it has gotten unreasonably expensive. More often a nut torte or an apple cake or maybe a honey cake. Lots of variations.
The entrée is almost always poultry, chicken for its versatility, turkey for its simplicity. Kosher beef has gotten expensive and choice rarely goes beyond beef cubes or ground beef. Whole chicken can be roasted. Chicken parts can be prepared all sorts of ways. Kugel can have rice, matzoh, noodles, or potatoes as its base. These are all held together by eggs and liquid. Some can be made sweet, others better left a bit tangy. Salads are usually simple: Cucumbers with onion, tomato based salads, pepper based salads. I stay away from those potato or bean based. And dressing is a blend of acid and oil.
Soups have great versatility. Many are of regional origin with adds to the menu. They keep for subsequent meals. I've made fish soups, vegetable soups, cold gazpacho in tomato season, chicken soup with the requisite matzoh balls, grain based soups. All work well as starters.
Over about two weeks I get the grid filled out. Then I write all the ingredients on loose-leaf paper one dish at a time. Then on another piece of loose-leaf paper, I write down all the individual ingredients and amounts as some items appear on more than one recipe. I print each recipe if not already in one of my books. Then I go through my pantry, marking what I already have in sufficient amount and what needs a purchase. Non-perishables are added a few days before, perishables two days before. The day before, all recipes displayed on dining room table and all non-refrigerated ingredients placed adjacent to their recipe.
The morning of arrival begins at about 7AM with creating and kneading the challah dough. I find that hand kneading yields a better final texture than a dough hook. It then goes into an oiled bowl to be placed on the dining room table for its first rise. Next, treadmill, then OLLI classes or steer clear of kitchen until noon. Dessert next, as this keeps all day, and there will be competition for the oven later with the kugel, chicken, and challah. The afternoon anticipates a completion time. Salads keep, so that gets made while other things cook. A vegetable, other than roast beets, takes minutes. When I get home from class, I punch down the dough, take a small ceremonial challah portion, braid two loaves and let them rise for about 45 minutes, then into the oven. And assemble the kugel, chop what is needed for the soup, cut the salad ingredients, and prepare the chicken for either oven or stovetop.
All made about an hour before invitation time. Set table to look like shabbos. Clean table cloth. Kiddush cups, stemmed wine cups, five piece utensils at each plate, cloth napkins. Challah board with cover, sterling challah knife obtained years ago from a Hasidic shop on an infrequent visit to my hometown. Usually four places, occasionally one or two more. Always ample food. And all served in dishes intended for serving. A Challah tray with dedicated cover, soup in a white porcelain tureen, kugel unmolded onto a plate as is cake, entrée and vegetable on a platter. A hint of elegance that people would not otherwise do for themselves.
It's an effort. A protracted effort. A gratifying effort. It taps my imagination. It exercises my executive skills: planning, organizing, following through on individual steps, coordinating competing uses for oven, stovetop, and appliances, acquisition of ingredients, selecting utensils. It challenges my energy. In the end, it alleviates some of my post-retirement loneliness. People come for conversation and enjoyment. My efforts fulfill that.
