Welcome to Stress-Free Entertaining!

A note about the recipes in the class:
most of the recipes have been written in a ‘per person’ mode to make it as easy as possible to calculate quantities. Where it didn’t make sense to write in a per person way, I’ve left the recipes serving 2 or 4 or however many I would normally cook for at once.

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note: The video covers all the written content in the next slides.

Simple Stress-Free Menus

Bonus 15 Minute Menus

NOTE: Click on the icons above to access all details about the menu including the problem solving and planning guides.

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Cheat’s Guide to Easy Entertaining

I’ve included suggestions for lazy-cooks with each menu to give you specific examples of the ‘smart’ ways to cut corners.

1. Use your shopping skills and out source where possible.
This is huge! Easily the biggest opportunity for making your entertaining easy.

The French know a thing or two about out sourcing. A Parisian hostess wouldn’t dream of preparing three whole courses from scratch herself. She’d put her shopping skills to good use.

For example she’d get a good quality pate and a baguette for an almost instant starter. Likewise for dessert, she would make the most of her favourite patisserie or bakery. Or load up on fresh berries from the market with lashings of double cream.

2. Delegate.

I used to feel compelled to do everything myself but these days I’ve discovered the joys of delegating. While the obvious benefit is having less to do, I’ve found that it also brings everyone together. Much more inclusive and collaborative when everyone is contributing.

If you’re struggling to let go. Try little steps at a time. Trust someone with the wine or dessert or get someone to do an appetiser. I’ve also found that the non-cooks generally love to be given the option to make a financial contribution – a massive help if you’re like me and spend a disproportionate amount of your income on food.

3. Simplify the menu.

It’s easy to get carried away with multiple different courses and sides when you have a lot of mouths to feed. But here’s where you can really save on time. For example one larger serving of a great salad is far easier to make and looks more beautiful than 3 or 4 smaller fiddly offerings.

4. Serve family style.
Large platters in the middle of the table not only take the pressure off having to find enough space in the kitchen to line up 10 individual plates, it’s interactive and fun to share.

It also means that everyone can load up on things they love and skip out on anything not to their taste without having a guilty pile on their plate at the end of the evening.

5. See the tips for minimizing washing up.
Lets face it, this is the least favourite part of entertaining for even non-lazy cooks.

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Top 5 ways to Minimise Cleanup Time and Mess

As much as I love having people over and spending hours pottering in the kitchen, I’m not a big fan of cleaning up. Especially when you’re tired and your guests have left you with a bombshell for a kitchen.

I’m always on the lookout for tips to keep the piles of dishes at bay.

1. Reuse as you go.
This is the biggest potential saver of mess. If you need a spoon, reach for the one you’ve already used rather than grabbing a clean one every time. Same goes for pots and pans. A quick rinse will have most things ready to go again in only a few seconds.

2. Serve in the cooking pot.
The whole idea of transferring your creations to a separate platter or serving dish is great if you have an army of servants to help clean up. But not a great idea if you’re the cook and the cleaner. If your saucepans aren’t good looking enough for the table, it might be better to invest in more attractive cookware and skip the serving ware.

3. Go disposable.
If I’m cooking for a big occasion, I always invest in some foil trays to use instead of my roasting pans. At the end of the night, they go straight in the bin which is a double bonus because roasting pans tend to be difficult to clean.

4. Recycle.
Compostable or recyclable plates and cups will certainly save on washing up. These days you can get really funky disposable bamboo plates that look great, are lovely to eat off. I’ve been known to use them for larger dinner parties and haven’t had any complaints.

5. Make the most of any chance to clean.
I know it’s a pain to ‘clean as you go’ but it does make a massive difference to the size of the pile of dirty dishes you need to contend with at the end of the night. Over the years I’ve embraced this necessary evil and am super grateful for it. These days I always take the time to stack the dishwasher and get a load on after the main course plates are cleared. Then usually by the time the guests have gone I can empty the ‘dish’ and fill it up again.

BONUS idea!
6. Take up any offers to help.
I used to have an automatic ‘no I’m OK’ response to offers to help me clean up. A few years ago I started taking people up on their offers. If you think someone is genuinely keen to help, let them! Just remember to give specific directions so their efforts are as helpful to you as possible.

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7 tips for kitchen confidence

It’s one thing to be happy cooking for yourself or your family, but inviting people into your home for a meal can stretch the confidence of even experienced cooks. Here are 7 tips to help you become fearless in the kitchen.

1. Acknowledge your fear.
The first step to solving any problem is to admit that there is a problem in the first place. Same goes for fears. Its amazing how something simple as telling it like it is can make our fears seem less scary and overwhelming.

2. Feel your fear.
Take a little time to get to know your fear. Facing up to the fear can bring it back into perspective – at the very least it means you know exactly what you’re dealing with.

3. Ask yourself ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’
What’s the worst thing that can happen if you completely burn dinner? It will be a waste but you can always dial a pizza or have some cheese and crackers handy.
And if your souffle doesn’t rise? It will still taste sweet and lovely – maybe call them berry puddings to manage expectations.

4. Then cook it anyway.
Show your fear who is boss. Invite some mates over, get into the kitchen, and give it a go.

5. Prepare ahead as much as possible.
There’s nothing like having things prepared ahead of time to take the pressure off the cook. Even getting things ready a few hours ahead of time give you confidence because you know you’ll have time to fix any disasters that do arise. It takes some planning but it’s worth it when you’re confident, relaxed and sipping champagne with your guests.

6. Take the pressure off yourself.
People are always so appreciative of being cooked for, myself included.
There’s something special about home cooking that fulfills needs on so many levels. Remove the pressure to produce a fancy restaurant meal. Trust me, none of your guest are expecting restaurant food and they probably would prefer to eat your home cooking anyway.

7. Don’t forget Henry’s ‘Golden Rule’ of Stress-Free Entertaining…
Don’t be a jack of all trades and master of none. Focus on doing one thing really well and keep everything else as simple as possible.
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Easy Quantity Calculator

When I’m entertaining, I focus on getting the right amount of food for the ‘main event’ and let the rest fall into place. If you know there’s enough of the main course to satisfy everyone, you won’t have to worry about your guests leaving hungry.

The main protein tends to be the most expensive part of the meal, so getting this amount ‘just right’, also helps in the budgeting department.

For each person you’ll need ONE of the following:

– 200-250g (7-9oz) meat, fish, poultry, tofu etc

– 1 medium eggplant or 2 field or portabello mushrooms

– 3 eggs

– 125-150g (4-5oz) cooked lentils, beans, chickpeas, quinoa etc (about 1/2-3/4 can)

– 100g-125g (3-4oz) dry pasta or noodles

Take this as a starting point, you’re feeding a rugby team, you might like to increase the quantities. But most people will be satisfied within this range.

Then make sure you have 1-2 sides and you’re all good.

I see starters or appetizers and dessert as ‘bonus’ so don’t stress about them.

And if you’re still nervous…

Try my ‘insurance policy’..
Have plenty of great sourdough bread on hand. That way you know that no one will leave hungry, and if there are heaps of leftovers you can slice and freeze for later so it won’t go to waste.
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Class Recipes

The Stress-Free Entertaining Class eCookbook

Is NOW AVAILABLE – Click on the cover above to download…

Any questions?

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch
jules@thestonesoup.com

With love,
Jules x