Easy Entertaining for Beginners

By Kathy Hester

If you’ve read my other articles here, you realize I’m in love with my garden. While I’m patiently waiting for my first tomatoes and peppers, I’m occupying my time (and my dinner guests) with pesto.

You can make pesto out of almost any herb and a ton of greens as well. This means you can have pesto all year long. The traditional pesto is a combination of fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese and olive oil blended together in a food processor. You don’t want the consistency to be completely smooth, but slightly chunky.

Try a Mexican inspired pesto with cilantro, a bit of roasted chili and pecans. Sage is a great herb to use, but add in some spinach or parsley to mellow it out a little. One of my favorite mixtures is arugula and pistachios. My radishes are all greens this year, so I’ve been on the look out for radish green recipes. I came across a new recipe that uses radish greens and hazelnuts that I’ll be trying this weekend. Don’t forget about making a light mint pesto for a cooling summer salad. I like adding some lemon verbena or lemon balm to give it a little tang.

Make your dinner party buffet style so each guest gets to pick exactly what they want on their pasta. Have small bowls placed on square dinnerware salad plates to make the table look more interesting. On your computer, print out labels for the pestos that list the main ingredients in each. Cook up a few dinner shapes of pasta and have at least one whole wheat style for your health nut guests. You can keep them warm in slow cookers or pour hot water in a large bowl with each style of pasta.

You can also put out a few things to mix. Try a bowl of caramelized onions, torn spinach, roasted read peppers, crushed nuts, or anything else you think would be yummy. This way a guest grabs a nice dinnerware pasta bowl and adds pasta, a scoop of their favorite pesto and all the toppings their heart desires.

“Kathy Hester is a freelance writer who loves to entertain and write articles for “http://www.dinnerwarecenter.com/ Dinnerware Center, an online dinnerware store offering brand name dinnerware, flatware and glassware.  When entertaining she likes to use http://www.dinnerwarecenter.com/square-dinnerware.html square dinnerware.”