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Food for Thought Friday: easy hosting ideas from my little summer gathering 📝
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photos today were taken by my awesome friend @nadiadeala
Hi friends!
I hosted three lovely ladies for dinner this week, and it made me SO SO happy! It's the first time I've cooked for a group in my apartment since the pandemic started - which is wild to me as I used to host dinners ALL the time previously. It also means I felt a little rusty on my host timing/planning, but dinner turned out well, so I thought I'd share what I made. I cooked it all intuitive cooking style, without recipes, and everyone loved it :).
I'm all about "one bowl wonders," even or especially for a small, casual dinner party. This week I was cooking for a friend who is gluten-free, and I was craving something different, so I decided to make an Asian-inspired cold noodle salad. I partially chose this because it can be served room temp/cold, so I could get it done beforehand and not worry about it getting too cold or overcooking.
I used both soba noodles (100% buckwheat) and black rice noodles (single pack; multi-pack) because that's what I had - which was nice because they were slightly different textures too! (I did cook them separately so I could make sure I cooked each kind correctly, which was the right call because they ended up taking different amounts of time even though the packages both said 5 mins. Reminder to always trust your judgment/taste over what it says on the package! The package is a good guideline but not always the rule.)
For inspiration, I glanced at this recipe from Heidi Swanson's Near & Far, but definitely did my own thing. While the noodles were cooking (in 2 batches), I sautéed a bunch of farmers market veggies simply with oil and salt: zucchini, purple cauliflower, yellow and purple peppers, and small spring onions. I added the elements to a big bowl as each one was ready: noodles, colorful veggies, plus some quickly-toasted sesame seeds, and the green parts of the spring onions, which I left raw for contrast. Then I tossed it all with rice vinegar, coconut aminos, lime juice, some smoky chile flakes, a little honey, paprika, and fresh ground pepper. I kept tasting and adjusting till it tasted well-balanced, and I topped with some fresh cilantro at the end. Now that I'm thinking about it, a dash of toasted sesame oil would have worked well too!
I also wanted to serve some protein on the side/to go on top, so I quickly sautéed some minced garlic in olive oil seriously like 1-2 mins max), and then added two packs of frozen raw shrimp. I tossed it around and put the lid on, turned it down to medium/low, and let it cook gently since my guests were arriving slowly at different times. Shrimp cooks very fast (a pro) but also overcooks easily (a con) so since my friends were running late, cooking it at a gentle pace was my adaptation to keep it warm while preventing it from overcooking as they arrived. I ended up with a brothy, garlicky shrimp that I served on the side and my guests put on top of their noodles! It was perfect :)
Here's a closeup of my bowl:
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Finally, I made a very quick fresh salsa with some fresh corn I needed to eat! It was simply raw fresh corn, tomatoes, cilantro, salt, and some lime juice. (I normally would have added a red onion but I ran out of time! It was still great!)
We snacked on that with some tortilla chips throughout dinner, and for dessert I served just blackberries and figs from the farmers market. That local summer produce makes it easy to impress without doing much!
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^me in hosting mode, more great pics by Nadia!! ♥️
That's all for this week! Happy cooking!
Love,
Jess
PS. Shoutout to my amazing writing club ladies, who were my guests in the above pictured meal! We've been writing together (just for fun) about every 4-8 weeks for the last two years. Writing club worked well on zoom and has been a major source of sanity in the pandemic! Here's how our writing club works: each time we read through a list of prompts (usually these from Cheryl Strayed), pick something we're vibing, write for 30-40 mins, and then we read our writing aloud to each other. We take turns hosting, but no writing prep is involved in this club, which I think helps it thrive despite busy schedules! We all write on our own/for work, but this is our fun + safe place to express whatever we feel like it. It's THE BEST! Highly recommend starting your own!
Also gonna shout out my friends, because they are all amazing entrepreneurs (and writers)!
Here's a blurry pic of us in our cozy element :)
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All photos are taken by me and recipes written by me, unless otherwise noted.
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Hi, I'm Jess! I help health-conscious, busy people transform their cooking from chore to lifestyle through intuitive cooking, which I teach through online classes, free content, coaching and more. This is my newsletter, Food for Thought Fridays, where I share highly actionable tips and inspiration to help you cook more intuitively (which makes cooking feel easier and SO much more fun!). Once a month, I share a recipe that's really worth making, and I only share those with my email subscribers. Sometimes the text above may include affiliate links, meaning (at no additional cost to you) I get a commission if you click through and make a purchase. This helps me to continue to share free content, so I would love it if you buy through my link! Thank you for supporting Garlic Press Jess!
I currently work + live on land that is the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone. And I can't wait to eat at Cafe Ohlone! Check out this article about them.
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