Two words, Pez!

Yah that’s a good theme. A good idea is piaya. It’s rice dish from Spain. It includes: Spanich brown rice with spicy spanish sausage,bacon(optional),shrimp,red peppers,green peppers,tomatos, onion,and mushrooms. It’s delicous. You just cook the rice and everything else. You put the rice into a nice big bowl and toss the rest with it . Maybe as an appetizer you could make a red,green,and beef squewers. Maybe flan as a dessert. Hope this helps!

The only thing about a kabob is – you’ll have to be working at the last minute when you want to talk to your guests. Why not make a ‘stew’ that can be mostly done the night before – let the flavors settle, reheat and finish it with the final ‘fresh’ ingredients and herbs right before the party? It could make your evening less stressful…..

You could buy a selection of mid-Eastern starters (e.g. hummus, babaganoush, spicy olives, vegetarian stuffed grape leaves, warm pita bread) and then make a Chicken Tagine/Couscous.

Here’s a relatively good for you recipe – yes, I took some shortcuts on basics but the recipe is good enough to stand it, as long as you buy reasonable brands.

Here’s a recipe for 6-8 people:
1. Buy a 2 1/2-3 lb container of chicken pieces.
2. Slice two large onions (can be done the night before)
3. 4-6 cloves ‘worth’ of pressed garlic (can use jarred or tube)
4. 2 carrots, sliced
5. 2 turnips, peeled and sliced
6. 2 celery stalks, sliced
7. 1 tsp of ground cumin
8. 1/2 tsp each of ground turmeric and ginger
9. 1 bay leaf
10. 2 1/2 cups de-fatted chicken stock (can buy or you can make it the weekend before and freeze it)
11. 1 tsp paprika
12. 1 cup cooked ***** peas (can buy canned – drain and rinse).
13. 1/4 tsp saffron –
14. 2 small zucchini, sliced
15. 3-4 TBSP lemon juice
16. Ground black pepper and cayenne (or harissa)
17. 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
18. 2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
19. Multiple boxes of Near East couscous grain.

The night before the party – remove the skin from the chicken. Saute the onions and garlic over medium heat in minimum olive oil. As you know, once you get them started you could substitute some broth, but I like the oil better. Once the onions are tender, add the carrots, turnips and celery and saute another couple of minutes. Add the chicken. I like to brown it a little but you have to time it so that nothing else overcooks. Saute it a few minutes, then add the cumin, ginger, turmeric, bay leaf, white win, chicken stock and salt to taste. Stir together and bring it to a simmer.
Simmer gently for 45 minutes until the chicken is almost falling off the bones. Since it’s a stew, you can actually take it to this point the night before the party. Cool and refrigerate.

As an alternative – if you DON’T want to do it the night before, use de-boned chicken. It won’t be quite as flavorful but it will cook a lot faster, and with this being a braise, you don’t have to worry about it getting tough…..

The night of the party – reheat the Tagine starter. Add the paprika, chick-peas, saffron, zucchini and lemon juice, simmer 15 minutes until the zucchini is tender but still bright green. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne. If you can find jarred harissa (e.g. they have it and preserved lemon at Williams Sonoma), leave out the cayenne and let your guests each add the harissa themselves at the table.

The fast Near East couscous cooks in the microwave (yes, as a culinary school grad, I realize you may be gasping in horror at this point – if so, you can do it in a saucepan on the stove – but if you micro it, you don’t have to watch the stove.

You can either serve the Tagine and Couscous separately – and let the guests construct their own, or, you can lay the couscous in the bottom of a large glass see-through casserole dish and lay the saucy Tagine on top.

make a giant salad using avocado, apple and roasted cashews and assorted greens. dress with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, ground pepper and salt. this tastes and looks wonderful if your avocado and apple are in heavy pieces.

on the side, i suggest one grilled sirloin steak, sliced up for your guests. serve with french bread and garlic butter. dont forget to have green olives for everyone. this will be delicious and decently caloric so you have good fats and protein in your dinner. we all need this, especially when dieting….

Go get a rachael ray book for entertaining… can’t be easier than that…

chicken ggrillied

Going for a mediterranean theme will give you lots of healthy options….lamb kebabs w/ veggies, stuffed grape leaves, etc.

Make sure you have some tzatziki and hummus on hand with pita wedges or some marinated cheese – oh, now I want to come to your house! ;0)

Is 4 people a party does that count you too? Get the KFC family bucket.

Juss joking kabobs sound good (chicken instead of beef?) don’t over do the spices though I think most people like their food well seasoned but too many herbs and spices is not my idea of a good time and it’s not easy on the tummy I actually like your party idea as is maybe check on-line to find a wine that will pair well with your meal and serve dessert too but something lite nothing heavy and not to much with frosting your a cook so you’d know better about that. Just make sure that everything is cohesive from start to finish ( i saw that on Top Chef) Have fun!!

pumpkin pie for dessert!

This site has a lot of really awesome Morroccan recipes! Enjoy!