The Hostess With The Mostest

I returned from the Mennonite thrift shop with (among other things*) a 1970 copy of Betty Crocker’s Dinner Parties, a lovely nostalgic wallow in the days when entertaining guests called for the kind of advance logistical planning normally associated with invasions. Here is a fairly simple one, targeting the busy homemaker or working wife who needed to feed guests with a minimal amount of cooking. Note that they even provide a timeline and a market list. The cookbook authors call it “Deli Dinner in Disguise.”

Menu:

Barbecued Deli Chicken
Hot Spiced Fruit ‘n Melon
Onion Rolls
Garden Patch Coleslaw
Wine with Cheese and Crackers
Demitasse with Chocolate Mints.

Market List:

1 can (17 oz) fruit for salad
1 jar (10 oz) watermelon pickles
1 bottle dessert wine
Instant espresso
Onion rolls
Crackers
4 oz each Gourmandise and blue cheese
8 oz round Gouda cheese
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen peas
Chocolate mints
2 ready to serve barbecued chickens
1 pt coleslaw

Timetable:

20 minutes before serving:
Place chicken in oven
Set table
Arrange cheese tray

10 minutes before:
Slice and wrap rolls, heat
Prepare Hot Spiced Fruit ‘n Melon
Make Garden Patch Coleslaw

Garden Patch Coleslaw

1 package frozen green peas
2 T bottled Italian salad dressing
1 pint coleslaw (from delicatessen)

Place frozen peas in colander or sieve; run cold water over peas just until thawed, about ½ minute. Drain peas; place in bowl. Drizzle salad dressing over peas and toss until coated. Place coleslaw in serving dish, making a large indentation in center. Pour peas in center of coleslaw. 4 servings.

Hot Spiced Fruit ‘N Melon

1 can fruits for salad
1 jar watermelon pickles
¼ t. allspice

Combine fruits for salad (with syrup), pickles (with syrup) and allspice in saucepan; heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Serve hot. 4 servings.

(*a wonderfully kitschy pottery planter, a Gunne Sax jacket, and a 1954 paperback western with a cheesy cover that’s going to wind up on this blog, too).