Hosting a G&G Girls Night In

Monday, March 24, 2014

I know I’m all grown up when the perfect “ladies’ night” is realized not through a boozy bar crawl, but through the following recipe:

-      A handful of friends

-      A couple shared bottles of wine

-      A nice home-cooked meal at my house

-      A 10 p.m. bedtime

It’s also possible that this isn’t part of my transition into adulthood, but just a midway point in my transition into full-on hermit-ness. I guess I’m okay with that. So long as the above list is present. 

And while my way-more-domestic (or perhaps just more kitchen-skilled?) friend Kate was supposed to do the hosting on this particular ladies’ night, I was happy to step in and do the honors at the last minute when her work got in the way. In fact, it was a role reversal that I’m pretty sure shocked both of us. All of us. Usually I’m the one rolling in all frazzled and late with whatever lame work excuse I have; meanwhile, she’s spent the last couple of hours preparing a spread of apps and accouterment and a meal that’s just about ready to take out of the oven. Damn her. So when she called me that afternoon in a panic to report she wouldn’t have time to go to the store or cook before the evening, I immediately thought, “HEY! This is my chance to shine! Or at least blog about trying to play last-minute hostess.” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it sure doesn’t hurt when all the ingredients for a fabulous meal is ready to go in the fridge. Everyone wins!

Fittingly, this week’s recipe was from a fabulous local lady-chef whom I admire, Julia LeRoy. I was worried that, since G&G meals are usually perfect for two people, making it work for four hungry/thirsty ladies would be a stretch. So I went back through my G&G files (gotta keep those recipe cards handy!) and pulled the easy Goat Cheese Gratin recipe from the Valentine’s Day meal archives. It was easy enough to just run by Savi Market, grab some goat cheese, crackers, and prosciutto (the rest of the ingredients I had on hand), and have a pretty fancy little snack to impress everyone with. (Had I planned ahead on this, G&G would have delivered all those ingredients with my kit... but alas - this was last minute so I had to leave the house). That little magic trick of a recipe is officially my go-to for any hosting duties. Or, really, any eating event ever. Deliciousness.

Now here’s the part in the blog where I admit another embarrassing fact about my naivete: even as a born-and-raised Georgia girl, I didn’t know which onions were Vidalias. (Is it the purple ones? The yellow ones? Are they skinny with the big green stalks? Am I even talking about onions anymore?) These Vidalias were much smaller than I’d pictured. But lovely nonetheless. The other fun thing to admit is that I’ve never considered onions to be something I’d want as an entrée or main dish. (Aren’t they just a delicious accessory ingredient? Surely, we aren’t going to chomp right into a whole onion and call that a meal?) But, ahhh, yes! I learned so much this evening! The Vidalias were lovely, sweet, and surprisingly simple to braise. Over the dirty rice, it was a perfect meal and flavor combination. So it turns out, you totally can eat a (braised) onion whole… and it is, in fact, amazing.

The beauty of this whole thing was that, for two people, this would have been a pretty big meal with the rice and cornbread and salad all together. But add an appetizer to that, it was just enough for four food-loving women. And very vegetarian-friendly which is always a plus in my lady crew.

Happy with our dinner, the best part was that we could save some room for dessert… or the other obvious hero of ladies’ night in: that extra bottle of vino.