Please suggest some delicious mini-dinner combos

July 31, 2021 3:22 PM

What short-form delicious dinner can I prepare without dinner-party level menus in any season?

It's corn and peach season where I live, so next week I'm sending out an invitation for a few friends to pick up corn from their best local sources, which I will prepare, along with some kind of peach pie and local peach ice cream. That's it. No appetizers, sides, etc. I want to call this corn on the cob and peach blowout "a dinner."

What other, non-multiple course gatherings can I host that will be fun and delicious in summertime and beyond? Even if you live in a city without great local food sources, please suggest dinner gatherings people would enjoy without the three-course dinner party mentality that requires much more work?

posted by Elsie to Food & Drink (22 answers total)

Toast party. Obtain a few nice kinds of bread (rustic sourdough, multigrain, milk bread, …) and ask your friends to bring toppings (jam, honey, butter, sprinkles, ricotta, mascarpone, cream cheese, avocados, herbs, fruit, olive oil, fried garlic, cinnamon & sugar, sardines, tomatoes, garlic, pea shoots, pretty much anything you can imagine eating on top of bread) and toasters and set the loose to make the sweet and savory toast combinations of their dreams.

I called this a brunch, but happily would call it a dinner as well.
posted by A Blue Moon at 3:49 PM on July 31, 2021 [4 favorites]

Well, here’s the very best picnic: Homemade focaccia with cheese in and on the bread, garlic, fresh rosemary, lots of olive oil, pulled from the oven and wrapped hot so it’s still warm when you get to the picnicking spot. Beurre de barrate at room temperature. Ice cold cubed watermelon with fresh mint. Iced earl gray tea with orange slices and a dash of cherry bitters. That’s it, and it’s perfection. You could fancy it up with a bunch of cheeses, a salad, a tasty rose, but those four things are really all you need.
posted by shadygrove at 3:53 PM on July 31, 2021 [5 favorites]

Raclette
posted by tardigrade at 4:32 PM on July 31, 2021 [3 favorites]

Baked potato bar! A bunch of baked potatoes + bowls of any toppings that you're into. Could not be easier and everybody gets to do create the combination they want. We usually do: sour cream, chopped chives, shredded cheddar, chopped up turkey jerky. The possibilities are literally limitless.
posted by BlahLaLa at 4:33 PM on July 31, 2021 [4 favorites]

Any time you have a whole bunch of something good and you serve it simply and perfectly cooked, it's a celebration. The More With Less Cookbook has a whole set of menu ideas in the back for exactly this-- it's along the lines of "nice bread with toppings" and "salad bar" and "the heck with it, ice cream for dinner with fruit and granola."

Once my family of three bought a whole flat of strawberries and we sat down and ate them, all of them, with a pot of tea and some buttered toast. I'm mostly telling you because it is a treasured memory. You can certainly fancy up this idea-- just pick a whole lot of good fruit in season and serve it plain with a couple of nice breads, scones, and spreads, iced or hot tea, and some finger-foods and desserts. The baking and accoutrements can be done ahead. Have it early and call it high tea.

I would think that making a set of pies would be a nice dinner party and not too hard. Make or buy the pie crust and blind bake it ahead of time. Do two or three refrigerator pies the night before so they set, then do the pies with the lower temp first (like custard, berry, and quiche) then while those chill, do the higher temp pies (like apple and meat pies.) Then everyone can serve themselves, maybe put out a tea urn. An enormous batch of two or three variations of hand pies would also work-- fewer dishes. It is a lot of pie crust to handle but you can make big batches.
posted by blnkfrnk at 4:34 PM on July 31, 2021 [5 favorites]

One of the ideas in the More with Less cookbook, though more for winter, was a soup party. You make broth and bread, and people bring ingredients that go in soup (meat, vegetables, grains, beans, tofu). Fill your bowl and add broth.

In Germany, during asparagus season, restaurants serve asparagus with boiled potatoes and hollandaise sauce as a dinner. Add any fruity dessert.
posted by FencingGal at 4:41 PM on July 31, 2021 [3 favorites]

Grilled cheese party
posted by wats at 4:45 PM on July 31, 2021 [3 favorites]

Chili and cinnamon rolls? (This was a local fundraiser for a LONG time in my hometown.)

Taco bar? Omelette bar?

OH... for summer months especially, fruit pizza! Have everyone bring already prepped fruit to share, have already-made crust...
posted by stormyteal at 7:45 PM on July 31, 2021

Good, in season tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, good balsamic and olive oil.
posted by leastlikelycowgirl at 8:12 PM on July 31, 2021 [2 favorites]

Lavash or other flatbread. Ask people to bring raw or cooked vegetables, grated cheese, nuts, cubes or chunks of their favorite protein, and then run them under the broiled.

Or do the same with grilled bread and make bruschetta. That also lends itself to pesto, tapenade, or other delicious spreads.
posted by dancing_angel at 10:23 PM on July 31, 2021

A pancake party is fun:

Ahead of time, make a job lot of batter. Be sure to make plenty, enough for two to three pancakes per person.

Instruct guests to bring toppings, doing some rudimentary organising so that you don’t end up with half a dozen jars of Nutella. I used to (arbitrarily) split savoury/sweet toppings by guest gender, and suggest that guests think outside the box. Bananas were good, as well as shredded cheese, ham, cream cheese and smoked salmon. I would avoid anything you have to cook in addition like bacon or mushrooms, ymmv though.

Ask someone to bring a pan so that you can have two pans on the go (presuming you have one already).

Then the “entertainment” is the making of the pancakes themselves, which the guests do.

Be sure to rope guests into the clean-up of the kitchen as this party can make quite a mess. Oh, and beware in case your guests decide to flambé(!) (yes, really).
posted by Erinaceus europaeus at 4:04 AM on August 1, 2021

A roasted corn and peach relish would be tasty.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:08 AM on August 1, 2021

Zucchini, called courgette in England, is, or at least has been, an object of scorn in late summer because people with home gardens have more than they can consume and force it on their neighbors and co-workers. Numerous recipes have been developed to cope with the surplus, including salads, casseroles, and quick bread.

Later towards fall, apples and pumpkins take center stage.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:53 AM on August 1, 2021

Carne asada on a barbeque, with a couple of whole onions and store-bought tortillas and pico de gallo has been a very successful almost-no-effort party meal.

Cheese, charcuterie, and fruit also works for indoor settings. I've never had anyone complain that it wasn't a full dinner. But, perhaps I know weird people.
posted by eotvos at 11:19 AM on August 1, 2021

Grilled pizza- prep the dough into individual balls, and have guests roll out their own onto tinfoil and top to taste- then grill them! The tinfoil helps with pick-up and transfer to the grill; and keeps rogue toppings from falling into the grill.
posted by aint broke at 11:46 AM on August 1, 2021

We got our big white platter-made chimichurri and aioli, then grilled steak and roasted veggies and everyone just stood around our island and dipped and devoured. So good!
posted by purenitrous at 11:50 AM on August 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

My family does very much enjoy cheese and crackers for dinner once in a while. It scales well, it's easy to prep, and adding some extras (sliced fruit, olives, a garnish like fig jam, etc.) can make it go from simple to fancy-feeling without adding significant extra work.

I mean, you'll have the occasional heathen who slices the tip off of the cheese wedge, leaves behind the rind when eating brie, or uses the wrong knife to cut their own sample, but if I can hide my horror in the name of family harmony, so can you!
posted by caution live frogs at 9:58 AM on August 2, 2021

When tomato season comes, grilled cheese and tomato sandwich is a full dinner. Caprese or caprese on bread, also.
posted by away for regrooving at 10:47 AM on August 2, 2021

A roll-your-own burrito bar with a large variety of fresh and cooked ingredients (vegetables; meats; beans; rice) as well as salsas people can choose from.
posted by lathrop at 5:09 PM on August 2, 2021

A friend did a tater tot party once - she made the tots, we brought toppings and dips.
posted by sepviva at 5:36 PM on August 2, 2021

Potato salad bar. Cook the potatoes (dress very lightly with vinegar while warm). Set out (as much as you like of) homemade mayo, German potato salad dressing(vinegar, sugar, mustard), vinaigrette, chopped sweet and dill pickles, red onions, scallions, hard boiled eggs, green olives, chives, bacon, feta cheese, cucumbers, celery, jalapenos, herbs, red pepper, smoked paprika.

Stone Soup.

Chili. Start with a tomato-based soup (or go full Cincinatti), provide a couple types of beans, meat, sausage, vegetables, sweet potatoes, spaghetti, sour cream, cheese, onions.

I love corn on the cob, have been having it with various herbs and stuff added, in the style of elote.
posted by theora55 at 7:59 AM on August 3, 2021

Shitloads of charcuterie, or shitloads of fondue.
posted by jitterbug perfume at 10:15 PM on August 5, 2021