October is my favorite month to be alive—yours too, I bet!—and one of the best for entertaining in Kansas City. The foliage is breathtaking, the air crisp and cool, the cashmere fresh from storage. For so many of us, October is also an action-packed, heavily scheduled month. Which is why I am offering some ideas for easy, casual ways to gather friends together this fall.
Everybody Likes a Pot Roast
In the fall, we crave heartier fare than summer’s ceviches and Caprese salads. My friend Brian Justice serves the most delicious pot roast at his cool-weather dinner parties. He uses a recipe called, simply, Pot Roast with Vegetables, which he clipped from the St. Louis Post Dispatch about 25 years ago. I asked him for it, and he emailed a PDF of the scanned clipping; its condition attests to the number of times this recipe has not failed him. Email me if you would like the PDF; I will send it to you (it is still readable) and any other recipes mentioned herein.
Since the roast is made with a mountain of vegetables, it’s all you need for a main course, along with some crusty French bread. Ina Garten’s Endive, Pear and Roquefort Salad is a brilliant first course. Should you have time to bake, food writer Molly Wizenberg’s Apple Tart Cake is a delicious and very autumnal finish to the meal.
If one or two of your guests is vegetarian, show them the love by making a separate, meatless pot roast. The Field Roast Grain Meat Company makes a “Celebration Roast,” available online.
Gather for a Chiefs Game (and Don’t Call Him Pat)
Our whole town is in love with Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes (his mom once tweeted during a game she doesn’t like it when broadcasters call him Pat), Travis Kelce and all our world champion Chieeeeeeeeeefs. This October we have five Chiefs games, which means five opportunities to invite friends over to watch the game. Tailgate food is the order of the day. You could serve Smoky Red Devil Eggs and cowboy caviar with tortilla chips during the game’s first half. At halftime, bust out the pulled-pork sandwiches and homemade mac and cheese (my recipe is crusty and extra-cheesy). During the third quarter serve Ina Garten’s Outrageous Brownies.
If you want to expand beyond beer, make a pitcher of mojitos or bloody Marys. Pinot noir tastes excellent with pulled-pork sandwiches.
Carry-In Q
Here’s a fabulous solution for the time-challenged couple. Invite some friends you are dying to see—as many as can fit around your table—for dinner at your house next Saturday night. Live your busy life and don’t think much about your dinner party until Saturday morning when you go online to Q39 (the late founder, Rob Magee, was a perennial winner on the competition barbecue circuit) and place your order for pick-up. Keep it simple. To feed eight, you want three full slabs of ribs, an extra jar of sauce and a half-gallon each of potato salad, baked beans, and apple slaw. Half-gallons feed eight to 12, so if you’re lucky, you’ll have leftovers.
Then divide and conquer. One of you sets the table with your prettiest, not-necessarily-matching tableware, and whips up a batch of Neiman Marcus cheese dip (see recipe below), which, combined with crackers, provides a simple homemade appetizer to serve with pre-dinner drinks. The other of you heads out to pick up the Q and swing by the liquor store for Boulevard Pale Ale (cold!), which tastes marvelous with the spicy ribs. As soon as the food arrives, transfer the sides to civilized-looking serving bowls and the ribs to a platter. Instant dinner party!
For dessert, carrot cake would be delicious and suitably autumnal. Buy one at a bakery if you don’t have the time or inclination to bake. But if you do, I have a recipe!
Cassoulet, s’il Vous Plaît
My cooking buddy Don Loncasty, the biggest food snob you’ll ever meet, sniffs at the very idea of making cassoulet. “Peasant food!” he calls it.
But I can’t think of anything more enjoyable than eating cassoulet with good friends on a cool autumn night.
Cassoulet—the robust, slow-simmered rustic French stew of plump beans, stock, and succulent meats—is the perfect one-pot party dish. For those obsessed with authenticity, making a cassoulet is a labor-intensive process, begun three or four days in advance. For those not above taking a few acceptable shortcuts (like using duck confit from Fareway Market* instead of making your own), a good cassoulet still is time-consuming, but worth the trouble.
The good news is you won’t have to spend a lot of time cooking any other menu items, because a cassoulet is a meal in itself. You want to serve it with nothing more than a simple green salad and a light dessert.
Explore Regional Wines and Cheeses
Is it just me, or is there something a little affected about the notion of a “wine and cheese party?” One pictures a gaggle of metrosexuals sipping and effusing about texture and complexity. It’s, well, a little cheesy is what it is.
All the same, there’s a lot to like about good wine and cheese. And it’s fun to explore new varieties and combinations with friends, in the comfort of a private home. The cool days of autumn are especially well-suited for organizing just such a gathering.
Call six or eight like-minded friends and ask each to bring a bottle and a wedge to share. Choose a theme, such as cheeses and wines from the Piedmont region of Italy; or Goudas from around the world with California reds; or New Zealand sauvignon blancs with English cheddars. The possibilities are many. You can then refer to your gathering as “The Piedmont party” or the “The Gouda party,” which has a much more original ring to it than “the wine and cheese party.”
Neiman Marcus Cheese Dip
My friend Joanna Glaze gave me this easy-to-make recipe. It’s her go-to for any kind of cocktail gathering. Although it’s only five simple ingredients, it has that “I want more” quality we hope for in anything we serve our guests. You can find the dip online, but this version incorporates Joanna’s tweaks.
- 5 green onions, chopped
- 8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
- 5–6 pieces of bacon, crumbled
- ½ cup slivered almonds, toasted
- 1 ½ cups mayonnaise (Duke’s tastes best) or to taste
In a medium bowl, combine green onions, cheddar cheese, bacon, and almonds. Mix well, then add mayonnaise slowly until it reaches a taste and consistency to suit you. The original recipe calls for 1½ cups but that’s too mayonnaise-y for Joanna (and me)! Mix until combined and chill for at least two hours. Serve with your favorite crackers.