- Hi guys. So it is Saturday morning. And last night we just
got back from Ile de Re, and now I need to put together
this dinner party for 16. So this is a combination
of friends and family that we're having for dinner. All of them have been vaccinated. So that's sort of the one thing we've been really strict about here. We're vaccinated, but our
little daughter is not. So we wanna make sure
that everybody is safe, and then just to be extra careful, we're having everybody outside. So one of my secrets about
having a lot of people for dinner last minute, is
to do things semi-homemade. So that means I've gotta make some things and some things I already bought. And I'm telling you here in France, they make that really easy. So when I don't have time to
head to the big outdoor market, I go to this little place,
which has the next best thing. It's a co-op of growers in the region. You get the best produce,
the best vegetables. There's plenty of parking and
I can just run in and out. I have my little assistant
helping me with the shopping. We've loaded up our cart,
put our baskets in the car and got it done in 45 minutes or less. And just next door is a fabulous bakery for bread and dessert. Okay. So back from the market,
let me show you what I got that's gonna make this
party 10 times easier. First of all, store bought desserts, here in France, you can find
the most amazing desserts that are beautiful and delicious and will save you a ton of time. So here's what I got. I got two strawberry
tarts, look how gorgeous. It's a strawberry tart with whipped cream, and then you can see the cute
little chocolate medallion, the bakeries will put in the center. So that way your guests,
if they're enjoying it, they'll know where it came from. So we are gonna pop these in the fridge. So when one of the things we've realized, having all of these people
come for dinner is that, we did need an American style
fridge in our laundry room, because there's just no
place to put all the platters and the big dessert boxes when you're having a dinner for 16. There it is in all its glory. It's a tight squeeze, but I
tell ya' it does the trick. And of course, all of our
French friends and family... Oh, there's our laundry, lots of towels, all of our friends and family laugh that we had to break down
and get the American fridge. But, hey, if we want them all for dinner, that's what we gotta do. Okay. So I'm gonna put
my little box in there. You can see it's pretty big. So I'm gonna be able to
put all my platters here. I've got water chilling here. I saved these old French lemonade bottles 'cause they make for great water crafts that I'm gonna put on the table. And then we have two crisper drawers. And this is one of my favorite things, the drawer that pulls out, that we can put party platters here. So I'm probably gonna put
my cheese trays in there. It is a beautiful day today, which is fantastic because
we're gonna be able to have everybody outside. We have also opened the pool. So if people wanna go
swimming, they can do that. We've got our lounge chairs out. The grass has finally settled and we can put those out there. We couldn't walk on the
grass for a couple of weeks, but now it's looking really great. And we just had it cut yesterday and the tree is looking so good. Okay. Let's get back into
the kitchen, because now, I wanna show you what I
actually bought at the market, that's gonna make this so easy. Okay, here we go. This video is gonna be real vlog style, because I am moving at a clip
right now to get it all done. My husband has taken the girls and our house guests to the beach. So I have a few hours to prep. So to make the barbecuing even easier, my husband went to the butcher today that we have here in town and just picked up a bunch of brochettes. Now, I do have a video on this channel that will show you how to
make something very similar. So if you wanted to do
this style party at home, I will link to that video below. But here's what it is. And my biggest tip is when you buy something pre-made made like
this, put it in a casserole. So I'm gonna put them in here, that way, when it comes time to grill, I'm not like unpackaging all of this. I just take this casserole
out the barbecue. Alright, let me show you what it is. Okay. These look great. Let's see, they look beautiful. Perfect for entertaining. You have a piece of lemon here, the chicken, a slice of zucchini. So you've got a few vegetables. And then when the lemon
gets all warm and barbecued, it's really great to
squeeze onto the chicken. So if you end up renting
the house and staying here, the butcher is a great move
when you wanna entertain, but you don't have a lot of time. They just need 24 hours to put together this type of quantity. So we got 20 because there's always men who like to have two. Then the other thing
that I think is important to think through is, "What am I gonna do with this chicken after it's grilled and done?" Because here in France,
we have a first course. So as people are eating the first course and the chicken is being cooked,
that doesn't really work. So what I thought I would do is, before serving the first
course, grill the chicken, then put it on this thing, which I'm gonna keep in my
oven, so it's all ready to go and then keep them warm at a
200 degree Fahrenheit oven. That way, everybody can sit
down, enjoy the first course and the chicken will just be kept warm. The thing that I really love about the design of this
kitchen is the fact that, when you come out here,
you've got the service alley, is what I like to call it. So you can head out the kitchen door and the barbecue is just there. Or if you need to get to the fridge, you just come down here and
you've got the fridge there. So constantly during parties, I'm going from the fridge, to the kitchen, to the barbecue and back. So it seems to work out really well. Okay. One thing ready to go. Main course taken care of, check. Well, that was easy, main
course took about three minutes. Okay. Now, when it comes to the things that I'm gonna make from scratch, I always like to begin with
the most tedious things first and then work my way
towards the easiest thing. That way as the afternoon
wears on and I get more tired, things get easier. So for the side dish, I'm gonna be serving a
really simple potato salad with these delicious local potatoes. So they come from a
place called Noirmoutier, which is a little island,
not very far from here, it's a cute place to visit, but they're also really
known for their potatoes. So you'll see that everywhere here. And I had to get a few bags
because we have so many people and it's the only side
dish I'm gonna serve. So let's see, I've got, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, which, I know this looks
like a lot of potatoes, but I have five young men
coming all in their 20s. And one thing I have learned
about these young men is, boy, can they eat? So I wanna be prepared. I've got my huge pot of water here, which is what it's gonna take
to boil all these potatoes, it sort of looks like a witch's cauldron. But I use this pot when we're
making like (indistinct), they look like little
crayfish for a crowd, or when I make huge batches
of this potato salad. So it's kind of a twist on
an American potato salad, but it seems to go over very
well here with the French. So I do make it every summer. One thing though that
I have learned is that, the French really like
their potatoes peeled. Now, the American in
me would just cook them just like this with a skin on,
chop them and call it a day. But then there's always a
few comments about that. And then it turns into
a whole big discussion. So at this point I've given up
and I just peel the potatoes. This is why I start
with this recipe first, because there's no way I'm
gonna be up for peeling all these potatoes come four o'clock. I probably would just throw
them all in the water. Okay. Here I go, five
kilos of potatoes, peeling. (bubbly music) Okay, done. And it only
took me about 35 minutes, not so bad. Okay. I am going to put this
on high and let them boil away. Okay. Now for the entree,
cooked beets with a vinegarette is a really popular first
course here in France, especially in the summertime. And one of the things I love is, in France, you can
always find cooked beets. It is such a time-saver, since it could take up to an
hour to cook this many beets, look at this, I got them already cooked. Because they're so well cooked, I can just peel them
with my hands like this. So unfortunately, I don't have any gloves
with me to do this task. So my hands are getting totally stained. Oh no, I have never seen
beets stain this badly. These must be really high quality beets. Look at my hands. Oh my gosh. This brings new meaning to
the word caught red handed. At least it'll be a conversation piece. Now, in addition to the gloves, it also helps to use a
plastic cutting board. Normally, I prefer wood, but it would totally stain
a wood cutting board. So at least I had the
sense to use the plastic. So I prepped the beets
into little diced cubes in these low serving bowls. That way everybody can
just spoon in a little bit, because I have a couple of
entrees that I am going to serve. And then that way they don't
get too full on any one thing, if you keep the cubes nice and small. Okay. Beets are going in. All right, we got the
beets, we got the chicken, next, the dressing for the beets. This way, it's all ready to go. And all I have to do is drizzle it on top. I'm gonna start with about a tablespoon of my favorite Amara mustard, and it goes, then I'm also gonna add a little splash of balsamic vinegar, just in there. I think beets are really great when they have a little bit
of something sweet on top, because they can really
go sweet or savory. But especially in the summertime, I love to take them to
the sweet direction. Then I'm also gonna use
some grapefruit juice. Just add a little bit more acid, but also some freshness and sweetness, maybe about a half a grapefruit. Okay. Then you can just
stir that up like that. And at this point I do like to taste it, just to see if I like where it's heading. Oh, that's really good. The grapefruit gives it such
a delicious summary flavor. I think I actually want more grapefruit and I'm gonna add the whole thing, there. Then I'm gonna add a little bit of grape seed oil to the mix. I like the grape seed oil, because it will not change the flavor of whatever your base is. I think if you add olive oil is too heavy and it also is pretty flavorful. That I find it really changes
the flavor of a dressing. So that's something
non-flavored, the grape seed oil. Now, the more grape seed
oil we're gonna add, the thicker this dressing is gonna be. So I just really eyeball it. I keep going until it's
as thick as I want it, but I'll give you the
measurements in the descriptions. Then we're just gonna add a
little bit of salt and pepper, just to taste. Then that's all you have to do. I really like to prep
things when I'm entertaining in these clear glass containers, that way, when you're rummaging through your fridge, trying to find things,
you can see what's in it. Okay. I'm gonna pop this
in my little fridge here. Then the other thing I wanna
have prepped are my shallots. So I'm gonna up dressed the
beets with dressing shallot and some fresh mint. I think it's a really great
combination of flavors. And by having the shallots already cut and in my little container,
it'll just save a lot of time and stress when I'm
actually ready to serve it. I'm a big fan of planning all ahead. Bam, we just need a few. I'm gonna pop these in the fridge. And my other tip is keep
like-minded things together. So I've got my dressing. I've got my shallots one on
top of the other in the fridge. So when I'm looking for
both, they're both together. Then in addition to the beads, I'm also gonna be serving a gazpacho soup, because it's been pretty hot
here in the last few days, which has been so welcomed
after all of our rain, but I thought it would be
another refreshing thing that I could serve with the beets that I could put together really quickly, because that little farm market that I went shopping to today, also makes their own jams and jellies. I go there so often I have one of their frequent shopper cards. And when you fill it all
up, you get free gifts. So this month you can get
either their pure apple juice, which is fantastic or jams. Look at this, white
nectarine, how delicious. So I am just gonna cheat a little bit and use their artisan gazpacho
soup right from the bottle. So when it comes time to serve, I've got about five of these bottles. This is what I'm gonna do. Now, if you wanna make your own gazpacho, I have a couple of great recipes
I'll leave for you below, but if you can get it store bought, it will save you some time. And then I'm just gonna
show you how to garnish it, to make it look kind of semi-homemade. So I'm gonna use these little dishes, because I think they're pretty that you can see through them. And I like things that are footed. So that looks pretty good to me. So I've got some diced
cucumber that will go in there. And then one of the
things I love about France are the beautiful radishes you can get this time of the year. Look at these, aren't these gorgeous? These are called the
French breakfast radish. And I like them because
they're long and slender and they're really easy to dice. So we're gonna add some
of these, there we go, which will give the
gazpacho a nice little kick, because of their spiciness. And then to just finish it off, I'm gonna add some dill like that. And then the other
thing I'd like to do is, add some freshly cracked pepper, there. Now, you might be wondering
how I'm gonna go through 16 of these, while people are waiting, and that's where my daughters come in, they really love this whole
cooking and entertaining thing. And any time they can get
into like an assembly line of garnishing something
that's super easy like this, that they can't go wrong,
they're all for all. So they're gonna be my little assistants, helping me garnish all of these, when the time comes,
beautiful gazpacho soup, looks like I've been slaving all day long, or really I just opened a bottle. And then I also prepped a few of those smoked salmon appetizers
to also have on the table. The ones that you saw me make
in the French market video. So if you miss that recipe, I'll link to a here and
you can get caught up. Okay, the potatoes are cooked and cooled and now it's time to prep them. You don't have to do much to these, just a few little ingredients
is all we're gonna use. But here we go again
with the tedious part. So we are willing to dice these. And I like to advice them
after they're cooked. Because again, I find that they just hold their shape a bit better, but this will certainly be
quicker than peeling them all, say, "How am I doing on time?" It is 3:30. Okay? I've got people coming
at 7:30, that's okay. I feel like we're in good shape. I still have to set the table and get all of the appetizers ready. But most of those are store-bought, take a shower or do a few
simple flower arrangements, get the candles ready, I think I'll be working right up to 7:30. Luckily, everybody's home
now playing in the pool. So I will have some
helpers when I want them, don't want them yet. Given that time is ticking. I am going to start to
multitask now a little bit, now because, I also have to
get my shallots caramelizing. So I'm gonna put these
caramelized shallots on top of my potato salad, which is not only really delicious, but also looks really pretty too. But they do take a little bit of time. So I'm thinking, while I'm
slicing all these potatoes, they could be here
caramelizing away, right? Two tasks for one. So I'm probably gonna have
to do these in batches just because you don't
wanna overcrowd the pan, otherwise they won't caramelize very well. I also recommend a non-stick
pan, something like this. And then we're going
to put our first batch of shallots in there. And then I'm gonna add a
little salt and pepper. Once these get nice and caramelized, then we're gonna add a
little balsamic vinegar just to sweeten them up. Back to the potato cutting. This is fun, because I
have my shallots here, I've got my potatoes and I'm getting two things done at once. This is how it really all
gets done, to be honest. So I have cut all my potatoes, here they are in this ginormous bowl. So watch how easy this is, this is like the easiest
trick in the book. I'm making a dijon tarragon
potato salad, right? So in the States, I
would do the mayonnaise and then I would do the mustard. But here in France, you
can get it all in one. So I love this stuff. This is my new favorite friend. It is the Amora Mayonnaise Dijon. So all I have to do is open this jar. And then for this quantity,
I kind of just eyeball it. I will give you the
recipe that serves eight. And if you need to serve 16,
you can then just double it. But probably I start with like
three to four good dollops. 'Cause you don't want it too dry, (indistinct) first, let's see. And you really wanna make sure that these potatoes are
cooled, because if they're not, they'll start to absorb that mayonnaise in a way that will then make your salad a bit dry because you won't
have any more dressing. It's sort of all go into the potato. I'm also gonna add some
salt and some pepper. And then the finishing touch is some of this beautiful,
fresh tarragon, look at that. Isn't that gorgeous? The French cook with a lot of tarragon. So you get really great
quality tarragon here. We don't cook that much
with it in the States. And sometimes it's hard to find. And I think that's because
we just don't buy it a lot. I haven't had it. It has almost like a
licoricey flavor to it, which might sound strange, but it pairs really
well with dijon mustard. In fact, I have a recipe on the channel for some dijon tarragon
chicken, that's really good. And it comes together
in 15 minutes or less. So I will be sure to leave that below. Because we have so many potatoes here, I am adding a good amount of tarragon. So this might even be like
a half a cup going in. The seagulls are at it again. I feel like I don't even
need music for this party because they bring their own ambience. Okay. So let me show you
how I'm gonna plate this up. I am still working on
collecting our serving pieces for this house and I don't
really have too many, I'm sort of running out now, but I do have one more
of these bowls left. So I am gonna use these. These were fantastic, I actually got these at
Ikea, believe it or not. I think I need a few more. So I have one of these and then, anytime I'm mismatching serving pieces, I usually take one as the centerpiece. So I'll put this in
the middle of the table and then I'll take these two smaller ones. They're actually oversized soup bowls, but I think they would work. And then I put them on
either side like that. I find when you have a lot
of people down the table, it's better to have more serving pieces, because sometimes I find
people will serve themselves and then they don't pass the dish. And so the poor people at the
end are left sort of like, "Ooh, what's down there?" This way, I like to have at least one of the same thing for every... I don't know, four to six people, because it's a lot easier
to pass among six people than to take a dish and pass all the way down to guest number 16, if you're guest number one. So that's my philosophy. Then we are gonna take
these gorgeous shallots that are all caramelized, see how yummy. And we are going to put those on top of the potatoes. So I usually do that with two forks and just kind of spread them around. This is kind of the best part. So don't be chincy. Yeah. And then I'll put a
little bit garnish on top. Voila. All right. Things are filling up, but here goes the potato salad. Alrighty. Okay now, let's talk
about the French apero. The apero is the aperitif
or the French cocktail hour. And most of the things in
that can be store bought. I like to do a combination
of starchy things, fresh things, spreadable things, also something called the
(indistinct) aperitif. And (indistinct) aperitif can look like many different things. And in fact today, I was able to buy one at our local bakery. This is a baguette
that's covered in cheese and has been stuffed with a
certain thing type of tapenade. I think it looks like a tomato tapenade. So I'm just going to reheat this, moments before people arrive. And it would be super delicious. However, if you cannot get
this at your local bakery, I wanted to share a recipe with you for a fabulous (indistinct) aperitif that uses basic ingredients that you can make in your own kitchen. And you'll have a taste of France, okay? You can use any type of mixes you like, the cake base is basically the same. So I will leave you a
few flavor combinations in the description if
you wanna switch them up. But mine is gonna be goat cheese and dill, which I think is a really
great flavor combination for summer. Okay. You're gonna add three
eggs into a medium-sized bowl. You're also gonna add a half a cup of milk and a half a cup of this
plain vegetable oil. And then you just whisk this up. I think Americans don't
think of little cakes as like cocktail food, but a savory cake is really
delicious, with anything bubbly. And then I have a cup and
a 1/3 of all purpose flour. I'm gonna add one packet of baking powder. So this is how it comes in
France, which is kind of funny. It comes to these little packets, like as opposed to the tins
that we have in the U.S, where we measure out. So I will measure this and I will let you know how much it is. But I think it's about two
teaspoons, if I had to guess. Everything will be in the description. And then I'm also gonna add
a teaspoon of salt, there. So, it seems pretty salty. But again, we want this to have
a real savory flavor to it, I've tried it with a half a teaspoon and I've tried it with a full teaspoon, it's much better with a full
teaspoon, so there it goes, so you get the benefit of
all my trial and errors. Okay, there. Then you're just gonna put the flour into this egg milk mixture,
once it's nice and smooth, then you can add your mixes. So I'm gonna use about a
1/3 of a cup of goat cheese that I'm going to crumble by hand, just because I couldn't
get it here crumbled. Quality of this goat
cheese is so fantastic. Oh my gosh, this looks so delicious. And then I'm also gonna add about two tablespoons of
fresh dill, in that goes. And a little freshly cracked pepper. But if you wanna a little bit of a kick, you could also add an 1/8 of
a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. That would also be pretty good. Okay. Look, it's all
ready to get mixed up. How easy was that? You're just going to gently
stir everything together. Then I'm just going to pop
it in my grease tin here. Do make sure you grease it. And even if it's non-stick,
I always grease non-stick, but I'm gonna bake this at 350
for about 20 to 25 minutes. In it goes. Hey, I think the cake is ready. Let's take a look. Shall we? Yummy. Look at that, can you see? See it's all golden brown and puffed up. I'm gonna let this cool, jump
in the shower, get ready. And then we'll set the table
and get ready for drinks. Okay. I am all cleaned up, and now I am trying to cease
the pool at the backyard. 'Cause all of the penny revelers
have now vacated the pool and now they're in the shower. So quick. Let's set the table. So one thing that I have
learned over the years is that, you cannot fight the apparel. And basically what that means is, as much as I would love to set that table with a gorgeous setting
with flowers and candles, put all the plates down and the glasses. That's not the way it's gonna go down. And here's why, because everybody's gonna wanna sit there with their drinks and snacks
for at least two hours, then the table needs to be set. So I don't know, I've gone
back and forth on this, because if I set the table,
it'll become a big mess by the time dinner is ready. So I'm gonna try it differently this year. Basically, here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna set this table with
all of the apparel snacks. And then when it is time for dinner, lots of little helpers are going to come help me set this table. That's the nice thing about my
French family and our friends is they're always willing to help and the kids love to help too. So I'm getting all the glasses ready. I'm getting all the placemats. I've got my trivets, my napkins. In fact, I'm gonna get
these other trivets. I love these. Look at these. These are these really
fabulous nautical rope trivets that I found at the Sailors
Co-op, that was awesome. So I'll grab those and then let's see, I can find some silverware,
it's all in here and they can just get it. So I'm gonna try that this time. We'll see how that goes. Then, I'm gonna use these little
citronella candles because, now that the good weather has
come, so have the mosquitoes, they have arrived. So I think we're gonna need at least four of those down the table, then I'm gonna put these little candles with the hurricane (indistinct) down, for a little bit of ambience, right? So we got our functional candles,
keep away the mosquitoes. And then we have our pretty
candles for a little decor. There we go. That's kind of bugging me that
that pool is looking messy, but my husband promises,
he's gonna come clean it up. So we will just leave that there. And we will concentrate right here. Okay. Now, I have taken this cutting board out because I'm gonna put the glasses on there just so they don't scratch the table, because I don't have a tray yet. So we are going to come in here as planned and get our glasses. Let's see, what is everybody gonna drink? If I was to guess, I would say, we're gonna get a couple
of these champagne glasses. We're either gonna fill
those with just some cremant, some sparkling wine. I'm gonna get the cassis, because sometimes the ladies like to put a little cassis
in their champagne glass, I'm going to definitely
get out the Ricard here. This is a very popular drink
here in the summertime. And you serve it typically
on ice with water. So that means I'm gonna need one of these little (indistinct). I think I'm probably gonna
take the two glass ones. Here we go. We'll take some wine glasses
because we definitely will have people who might
like roussanne, here we go. And for the Ricard, we are
going to use long, tall glasses. 'Cause the idea is, you
fill it up to here about, with the alcohol and then you allow people to put their own amount of water. It's kinda like putting
cream in your coffee. Everybody has the amount
of water they like best. So I never serve someone, a Ricard with a water already poured. I give them the drink and
then the water on the side and they do it themselves. And then for the kids, we'll do a little bit
of this Framboise syrup, (indistinct) it is a fun drink in France is to serve this with a little bit of the French sparkling lemonade, which
isn't really like lemonade, it's more like a Sprite, to be honest, but that would be called a Diablo. And we will serve those for the kids. I'll take out some of
these cocktail napkins. Well, I think that's a good start. Okay. Now let's talk about the
snacks we're gonna put out. I have a selection of (indistinct) set that I'm gonna put out, some
tereso, some spicy ones, some traditional, and
my husband always says, "It's best to slice a few, because it always looks so
much more inviting that way." Now, for the store bought snacks. This is what makes this really easy. So I have my little appetizer dishes here and then I just love
these little cheesy snacks which you get in grocery
stores, they are so delicious, but these are almost like
little sadly cookies. They're crunchy and cheesy, so good. I'm gonna serve some of these delicious little crackers here. And those are always good. I'm also gonna put some
of these radishes out that we had from the gazpacho
garnish, because radishes, especially in the summer,
especially tonight, 'cause it's really hot
are very refreshing. So we're gonna put some of those out and they look so great too. And then maybe some nuts. Now, I know this looks like
a lot of food and snacks, but this can go on for two hours. And I just wanna make sure that people are not like starving. And we are 16, so we're gonna
really load everybody up here. There, so we've got all of
our store bought snacks. We can put these out, let's
put these on the table. Our table is coming together. So I like to just sort of
fickle all these around, knowing there's going
to be a lot of activity here for drinks. We don't wanna crowd it and we'll put the radishes down here. So I have something starchy on that end, something fresh here. And then we'll do another sort
of salty starchy thing there. And then, I don't have any flowers growing on this property right now. So I am just gonna be using
greenery from our garden. So I've got some laurel
leaves, some grape leaves, and I just put them in little vases, because that's all I got. And sometimes you just
need a little greenery to show a little bit of life. I think that does wonders to a table. Okay. This is our (indistinct). This is what it looks like on the inside. See how delicious, it's
really moist and springy, filled with goat cheese and dill. Now, these would be pretty big portions. So I'm gonna actually cut this into cubes and pop them on a plate. So there we go, I think I'm all set. Our guests will be here any minute and I really wanna make sure that I take the time to visit with them. So I'm probably gonna sign off, if I can get a shot at the end
with everybody at the table and the lights twinkling,
I'll definitely do that. Everything went off without a hitch, the soup was a hit, the
salmon was totally refreshing. Everybody enjoyed the beets, and even the citronella
candles completely worked, they kept away the mosquitoes
and they looked so pretty too. And the best part was because
it was all prepped in advance. I got to sit there at the
table and enjoy it all. And as the night wore on
and the lights came up, it was so much fun sitting at that table. Under the pergola with
those twinkling lights, even the weeping willow tree was lit and it looked beautiful. This is the exact kind of evening that my husband and I always hoped for when we started out on
this French house project. In fact, we had such a good time, they all came back the
next day for the leftovers. We added a few things to the buffet, set that table back up and
they all came back over and we did it all over again. So much fun. Next week, we'll head to
the French (indistinct) for some fabulous fines. I'm a woman on a mission.
