But planning the evening was not an easy task since I am a person with a limited free time. So, I made sure that all was as organized as possible. I therefore give you my guide to planning a party based on my experience!
First of all I took a piece of paper and made a few lists:
A. What I will Cook.
B. Shopping list: Ingredients + extras
C. In what order I would do those things.
List A was not difficult to do.
There would be 7 people eating so I decided to offer 2 main dishes with meat, 1 salad, grilled vegetables, bread and mashed potatoes.
But because I was working until 2 that day I chose easy recipes that would take as little time as possible:
Mixed salad (which I bought in a bag cut and washed) with sweet corn and raisins and dressing
Mashed potatoes with cream cheese and parmesan cheese
And finally my dad who is also a kitchen enthusiast offered to make the vegetables with halloumi cheese in his kitchen and send them to me.
On to List B. I wrote all the ingredients I needed to cook. I also checked my drinks. I needed a red wine and some sodas so I added those as well. Ideally you can shop all the items you need the day before so that you have more time on the day of the event. I wasn't able to do so therefore I moved on to List C.
For this list I wrote all the things I needed to do. And I mean ALL of them. How long would it take me to make each food, at which time I would clean and cut the vegetables, tidy the house, cut the bread etc etc...
I begun by peeling and cutting the carrots. I put them in food bags so when the time came to use them they would be ready. I did the same with the beef. Since I was going to cook two dosages of the thermomix food my ingredients were in their bags clean and weighted.
I then prepared the chicken. I washed and cut it, put it in the roasting dish, add the seasoning, the onions and some olive oil and covered it. I then put it in the fridge until the time I would cook it.
Following was getting the house in order and washing any dishes I had in the sink.
2 hours before my guests arrived I begun cooking my beef. In the meantime I begun peeling the potatoes which would take me some time. Once the first dosage was cooked I put it in a pan with a lid to keep it warm and started the second. At that time I also put the chicken in the oven since it would take it an hour to cook. I then continued with the potatoes. I cut them in small pieces and cooked them so that I would mash them easily.
As soon as my guests started coming I made the salad and the cheesy bread since they needed the least time but needed to be as fresh as possible.
Fortunately all went according to plan and the night was a success!
But here are the general tips you should always take into consideration!
1. Make your lists.
2. Make sure you have enough food according to the people who are coming.
3. Try to cook it as late as possible so that it is warm when they arrive.
4. Make sure you have enough drinks.
5. Whatever you can prepare early on do it. However small it is it will save you time.
6. Use food bags. They preserve the vegetables and the meat. (Note that different ingredients last different time)
7. Know which food is served in
8. Enjoy your evening and if something doesn't turn out the way you planned it don't worry. Chances are that your friends will be having so much fun they won't even notice!
