Dinner Party Menu Planning...need some advice. (Updated, proposed Menu on pg 2)

Cook a sauce piquante the day before and then put it on the stove top a couple of hours before.

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Is this going to be a formal sit down meal? Casual sit down meal? Will you be serving the courses yourself or will they serve themselves?

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Well, it's going be casual. I had planned for it to be a buffet style and have everything lined up on a table in chafing dishes.

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What foods that you cook does your Mom like? Does she want you to prepare some of her favorites that you make or surprise her?

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She's a creole woman. She loves seafood. She loves dishes that are tomato based. She really doesn't care for steak so that's out. She wants me to make something that surprises her that she never had before. Sunday night, I experimented with a new dish it was called Baked Catfish Creole. The base is made just like your typical shrimp creole, but the difference is that you layer a casserole dish with catfish and spoon the creole based of the catfish and bake it. The dish is served over rice. My wife and I loved it!

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It will be easier to suggest when we know a little more about the meal.

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I agree and I apologize that I wasn't clearer in my initial post.

I'm wondering should I only make one type of appetizer, entree, and dessert or should have make two of each to have a little variety?

beef tenderloin is always good/easy to do. add some rolls and condiments. you can also go with an easy ap such as an artichoke dip. find a good dessert that you can pick up (chocolate truffles etc).

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Make twice baked stuffed potato's and have asparagus. Make a nice house salad

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this too

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Why not four or five course? Most of the parts can be made in advance, and heated or whatever at the moment

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Just didn't want to over extend myself because I don't know how much help I will have. But yes, I agree with you.

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I'm not a big fan of chafer meals

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:onlybecauseyouwon'teatmycookin:

Sorry about the typos. I'm on my phone in between some meetings.

Okay, so maybe you're thinking heavy cocktail food situation, here. I love being able to eat at my own pace, cocktail and visit. Is that what you're thinking? If so, you'll need things that hold for awhile in chafers without overcooking etc.

Sounds like shrimp creole would be a good choice, and would stand up well to a buffet line. Salad and maybe corn machoux,french bread. Chocolate something for dessert.

The recipe below for Crawfish Beignets is always a hit. We serve them a lot during the cocktail hour before dinner. You can make them up ahead of time and keep them in the fridge. They do have to be fried just before serving, but that takes no time and with them all made up and the sauce made and ready to serve, there's nothing to them. They have the seafood requirement your mom likes and they would be a surprise unless you've made something like them before.

Something people don't have a lot at home as a starter is a soup and they really like that.
You could make ahead a roasted red bell pepper soup served in cups. Garnish with toasted almonds and chopped chives or thinly sliced green onions. You either load the soup on a tray and pass them or put it in a crock with small cups and let them garnish themselves. A shrimp or lump of crabmeat floating on top is another garnish possibility.

I have a white cheddar soup in the recipe book that's really good and well received at parties, if that might interest you.

You could also do a corn and andouille or crawfish or shrimp or crabmeat bisque.

Here's a recipe from Masson's Beach House that I love. You can make it ahead of time and bake just before putting it out or serving. You'll have to make the hollandaise, the day of, but you can hold it in a thermos for about 3 hours.
Crabmeat and artichoke

Makes 6 servings

2 bay leaves

6 fresh cooked artichoke bottoms (can add the meat from the leaves too, if you wish, and use some of the leaves to decorate the plates)

2 ounces white wine

1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat

1 cup grated Swiss cheese

¼ pound butter

1 egg

½ bunch green onions, sliced thin

½ cup bread crumbs

1 pinch cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

1 pinch leaf thyme

Hollandaise sauce

Saute sliced green onions, cayenne, thyme and bay leaves in the margarine about 3 minutes. Add wine and crabmeat. Fold in the egg and bread crumbs. Form crab mixture such that a generous amount fits on top of each artichoke bottom. Sprinkle with just a bit of grated cheese and bake in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes. Top with hollandaise sauce and serve. Outstanding!

Would your Mom enjoy shrimp and grits? You can probably hold the shrimp in a chafer if you can control the temp okay or you can just put it out as a meal rather than sitting out until they're ready. I made a very good and easy version and it's tomato based, so it hits the creole aspect that your mom likes. I usually make the sauce ahead of time and add the shrimp right before serving. Grits can be made ahead of time and baked again to warm. We do it all the time, that way. It's in the recipe book. I don't think the recipe looks near as good as it is. I wouldn't even make it at first. When my Mom made it for me, I was sold. I had it for some friends and two of them took the recipe and served it 3 times in 2 weeks. It's a good dish for a crowd. I use it for football game watching a lot.

What about a good bbq shrimp for a crowd? I always think that's fun, sort of like a crawfish boil since every is busy peeling and chatting.

Crawfish dishes hold really well in chafers. Crawfish cardinale is delicious and you could put out baked puff pastry cups for them to fill with the mixture. Have some nice asparagus and a tossed salad to go with it. The asparagus will hold pretty well in a chafer, also. You can substitute crawfish for shrimp in the shrimp and grits dish.

Bread pudding would be a good dessert if your Mom likes that.

Still thinking...let us know if anything triggers other ideas you have about this and we can go in other directions.

The crawfish beignets are a lot of fun to serve because they're so different and the sauce is really good with them.

The recipe book I was referring to is the TD recipe book in the first post in the recipe thread at the top of the page. There are a few recipes that haven't made in into the book that are in the thread, but most are there thanks to Wink. You'll see the recipes I was referring to even though my name isn't next to them. No names are listed. My crawfish cardinale recipe is there on page 53. It's from the old Plantation Cookbook by the New Orleans Junior League. You'll see quite a few recipes from that book. It's a worthy purchase because it's tried and true. You can probably get a good used one on Amazon.

On the cardinale, I also serve it as a cocktail food that you load onto toasted French bread, but I have served it as an entree in the puff pastry shells and it's mighty tasty that way. Some folks put it over pasta, as well.
My corn and whatever soup is there. Mr. Balls makes it regularly for his wife to earn hunting nights. Mine has the option of andouille, crawfish, shrimp or crab.

The white cheddar soup and shrimp and grits recipes are there. I haven't posted a roasted red bell pepper soup, but you've already made one, so you have one you like. Mine is a pretty simple one with the base and cream.

I don't make desserts myself. I'm just not interested in making them, but I like to eat them. I'm sort of tired of cheesecake. Seems to be a go to dessert. I never tire of a good bread pudding, but my favorite dessert is creme brulee.It's so fun to brulee the sugar with the torch. The guests get all excited and impressed with that, though there's nothing to it. It's a show. Have whatever desserts are your Mom's faves.

If you can't find a recipe I listed in the TD book, let me know and I'll look up the page for you.

One more idea is shrimp and crabmeat stuffed eggplant. Those are make ahead and I love, worship and adore them. Don't know if that's something different for your Mom or not.

Oh, and without the shrimp in it, you can make the sauce for the shrimp and grits, days ahead, actually. Another reason it's a good recipe for a crowd when you're making a lot of other things.

Do tell us what you decide on and report back when it's said and done. Your Mom is going to have a great birthday party!