As I talk to other cooks, the issue of timing is always the one that is the toughest to tackle. How do you make sure that everything comes out tasting its best? I can’t say that I have mastered it perfectly, but more often than not, I succeed. Here’s how.
When entertaining, I make one “showcase’ dish and relatively simple accompaniments. This allows me to time my dishes effectively and frees me up to attend to the complex dish when needed. If I have to be in multiple places, cooking multiple complicated recipes, you can pretty much count on one of them not tasting its best. Simple is better.
For a seated dinner, I use one oven for cooking and one for keeping completed dishes warm. My warming oven is set at 225-250 degrees so that food will stay hot but not become overdone. These items are covered to prevent drying out and sometimes slightly undercooked so they won’t self destruct. It’s perfect for potatoes, stuffings, root vegetables, casseroles, and some meats. It’s not good for fish, shrimp, meats that require finishing, or tender vegetables. These items have to be done last-minute in order to get the best results.
Before owning two ovens, I relied on careful menu preparation. I made sure that my items could all either be held at one temperature and served from the oven, cooked last minute at high heat, or could go on the stovetop. All of my platters are intentionally oven-safe.
For a buffet, unless you have a staff ready to assist you, room temperature is the way to go. To me, there’s nothing worse on a buffet than a beautiful silver chafing dish filled with sad-looking contents. For the most part, I find sterno to be a pain because there’s no way to completely control the temperature, so it needs to carefully monitored. I would much rather offer good food that works best at room temperature than have my creations ruined by overgrown tea lights.
Here is one of my favorite room temperature dishes: It’s great for luncheons or light dinners in the fall. You can serve it with fondue for dessert if you feel sorry for your sterno:
By Ina Garten
Ingredients
• 2 pounds Grilled Lemon Chicken
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 large lemon)
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1 cup raw sugar snap peas, stems and strings removed
• 1/2 red bell pepper, julienne
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
Slice the chicken breasts diagonally in 3/8 - inch thick slices. Toss them in a bowl with their juices plus the lemon juice, olive oil, sugar snap peas, red and yellow bell peppers, lemon slices, salt and pepper.
Serving
Season to taste and serve.
