Easy Grilling Dinner Party

Dinner Party Diaries: Volume 1: Issue 13

Sometimes it’s great to plan something a bit more fussy for a dinner party and other times you just want to toss something together and relax with your friends.  This Easy Grilling Dinner Party is definitely the latter of the two.  It was a busy week with not a lot of prep time, so we went the relatively simple route and cooked some burgers on the grill.  

That said, since I’m me, we couldn’t quite leave it at that.  We needed some appetizers and sides and, of course, a dessert.  However, I didn’t create all of the recipes for this one, so below you’ll find a menu mostly comprised of recipes involving very little prep from some of my favorite places on the internet as well as a couple of my standard go-tos for ready-to-cook items from the store.  

For appetizers, my plan had been to go with bacon-wrapped jalapenos and grilled shishito peppers.  I bought the bacon-wrapped, cream cheese stuffed jalapenos already assembled, so they just needed some oven time to cook.  This is the Grilled Shishito Peppers recipe from How Sweet Eats that I’d planned to use.  It just requires some grill time and then a toss with the remaining ingredients.  Plot Twist: I couldn’t find shishito peppers anywhere this week.  So . . . improv was required.  Instead, I picked up a bag of sweet mini peppers.  These are the kind that I usually use for stuffing with herbed cream cheese.  The only conundrum was that I had no idea how they would work on the grill and if the seeds would be too much.  Time to experiment.  Spoiler: they worked out great and I will likely repeat this version many times in the future.  

The main course was, as previously stated, burgers, which I bought pre-made from the grocery store.  However, just to keep things interesting, I picked 4 varieties: bacon & cheddar, cheddar & jalapeno, philly cheesesteak, and pepper & garlic.  For toppings, I had sliced tomato and red onion along with the usual suspects for condiments–yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, no sugar ketchup.  And since I could never forget the cheese, those options included: sharp cheddar, pepperjack, colby jack, and American.  

My sides were a Grilled Asparagus Caesar Salad (also from How Sweet Eats) and Dried Zucchini Strips with Chili Garlic Whip.  The Chili Garlic Whip is super simple.  I have to confess that, while the Dried Zucchini Strips were also simple, they require a LONG, low and slow roast.  So those are a make-in-advance and then just heat-before-serving.  Also, they cook way down, so it takes a lot of zucchini to make a fairly small batch of zucchini fries.  Honestly, next time I would stick with just regular Roasted Zucchini instead.  

Finally, for dessert I made a Strawberry Shortcake Poke Cake from All Day I Dream About Food.  That was the longest pole in this Easy Grilling Dinner Party tent.  However, it was delicious and provided a nice spring / summer dessert to top off the evening.  If you’re looking for something faster, I would suggest something more like a Strawberry Cream Cheese Whip.  

Oh, and we can’t forget about the wine.  We started off with a bit of a mind bender from Mumm–a sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon.  Yeah, you read that right.  I confess that we were both a bit skeptical when it was presented to us during a recent trip to Mumm Napa.  However, we were pleasantly surprised and had been looking forward to playing a round of “guess the grape varietal” with our friends.  Eating burgers on a warm, almost summer day seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.  If sparkles aren’t your thing, never fear.  The next step of the wine pairing progression for this Easy Grill Dinner Party was a Cabernet Sauvignon.  

Overall, this was a fairly easy dinner party with a limited amount of prep.  The only true challenges were the dearth of shishito peppers at all of my grocery stores and the long dehydration time needed for the Dried Zucchini Strips.  For the Day Of cooking, I split the cooking of 4 of the dishes–2 appetizers and 2 dinner time dishes–between the grill and the oven for convenience and cooking space management.  They could be used interchangeably if you are comfortable with both and have the space to spare on either one.  Check out the Advanced Prep and Day Of Timeline below to see the details of how much time you need and the order of operations for cooking on the grill and oven.

The Details

Number of People: 7

Serving Style: Appetizers on Table; Dinner & Dessert served Buffet Style

Guest Arrival Time: 7:00 pm-ish // Dinner: 7:30 pm-ish

The Menu

Appetizers

Grilled Mini Peppers

This was originally intended to be Grilled Shishito Peppers from How Sweet Eats. However, since I couldn't find any, I applied the same idea to Sweet Mini Peppers. I also used Queso Fresco instead of Cotija for the crumbling cheese.

View Grilled Shishito Peppers Recipe

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

I bought these already assembled. My deviation from the instructions is that I do not flip them over halfway through the cooking. I place them on a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet and use the convection roast feature on my oven.

View Item

Main

Burgers (4 Options)

To give guests some options, I picked up the following variety of burgers from the grocery store: Bacon & Cheddar, Cheddar & Jalapeno, Pepper & Garlic, Philly Cheesesteak.  We served them with sliced red onion, Spanish onion, tomato, yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, and no sugar ketchup.  For cheese we offered sharp cheddar, Pepper Jack, Colby Jack, and American.  And, of course, we had keto buns, potato buns, and regular buns. 

Sides

• Dried Zucchini Strips with Chili Garlic Whip

Chili Garlic Whip

Ridiculously easy, this Chili Garlic Whip is delicious as a dip, a spread for a sandwich, or a component of a canapé. Try it out the next time you need an appetizer in a hurry or just want a quick win for your dinner party or backyard cookout.

View Recipe

Grilled Asparagus Caesar Salad

This was a very tasty twist on asparagus and will be making regular repeats in our house.

My concessions to my Time Budget were: I bought Caesar dressing instead of making my own, I roasted the asparagus in the oven at 425 F because the grill was occupied with burgers, and I used shredded Parmesan instead of shaved because I already had it.

My keto-fication: I made keto croutons using store bought keto bread drizzled with olive oil.

View Recipe

Dessert

Strawberry Shortcake Poke Cake

This Strawberry Shortcake Poke Cake from All Day I Dream About Food turned out delicious. There is some let things cool or chill between steps required on this one, so don't shortchange yourself on time.

View Recipe

Wine Pairings

• 2018 Mumm Napa Sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2018 Block & Tackle Cabernet Sauvignon

Getting Ready

Advanced Prep (2 or More Days in Advance)

Notes:

As per usual, the first part of prep is standard, meaning that you’ll see some version of these steps repeated frequently.  

Dried Zucchini Strips*

• If you are making the Dried Zucchini Strips, you may want to do so 2 days in advance purely for oven management purposes.  Or if you are working from home, you could just toss them in the oven before work and take them out around lunch time on any day before or even the day of your dinner party.  

• Make your Grocery List
• Go Grocery Shopping
• Pick up around the house (for any rooms / areas that will actually be seen)
• Plan out serving dishes & utensils (to make sure you have what you need, ready when you need it)
• Plan out eating plates & utensils (to make sure what you need will be clean and ready for guests)
• Make space in your refrigerator
  • Refrigerator – Here’s what you’ll be storing:
    • Burgers – I had 16, but obviously scale up or down to your number of guests.  
    • ~8 Raw Zucchini
    • 2 (2 pound) bags of Asparagus
    • Shredded or Shaved Parmesan
    • Caesar Dressing
    • Bag of Peppers – Mini Sweet or Shishito
    • Cheese for crumbling on grilled peppers – I get the big wheel of Queso Fresco from Sam’s.
    • Toppings for burgers – cheese slices, 1 red onion, condiments of choice
    • Container of finished / made Chili Garlic Whip – I used a 2 quart glass bowl with a lid that doubles as a serving dish.
    • Finished Strawberry Shortcake Poke Cake – I used an 8×8 inch casserole dish with a plastic lid. 
  • Counter Top
    • Keto croutons
    • 1 Large Tomato (or 2 smaller ones)

Day Before Prep

Notes: 

The goal of your Day Before Prep this time around is to get the dessert made and the veggie prep completed.  Completing the Chili Garlic Whip the day before is purely in the interest of getting it over and done with.  It takes 10 minutes even with clean up, but one less thing to do in your Day Of Timeline is still one less thing.  

• Dried Zucchini Strips* (See Notes above)
  • Cut zucchini into spears.  I targeted about ½ inch thick and about 4 inches long. (15 minutes)
  • Toss in a zip top bag with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and avocado oil.  (5 minutes)
  • Line rimmed baking sheets with aluminum foil and a wire rack insert.  Spread the zucchini spears out in an even layer on the racks.  (10 minutes)
  • Roast in a 250 degree F oven for 4 hours or until dehydrated.  (~4 hours inactive time)
  • Cool and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
• Grilled Asparagus Caesar Salad
  • Rinse and remove woody ends.  Store in zip top bag in fridge.(10 minutes)
  • Make keto croutons (10 minutes active + 40 minutes in oven at 250 degrees F)
• Strawberry Shortcake Poke Cake
  • Make cake (20 minutes prep + 35 minutes baking)
  • Cool cake (1 hour inactive time)
  • Make strawberry sauce and pour on cake (30 minutes)
  • Chill in fridge (1 hour inactive time)
  • Make whipped cream (5 minutes)
  • Frost cake (5 minutes)
  • Chill in fridge (2 hours or overnight)
• Chili Garlic Whip
  • Make Chili Garlic Whip and store in an airtight container in the fridge. (10 minutes)

Day Of Timeline Guest Arrival: 7:00 pm // Dinner: 7:30 pm-ish

• 5:00 pm (T – 2h)
  • Grilled Mini Peppers
    • Rinse and dry peppers
    • Crumble cheese and store covered in fridge
  • Dried Zucchini Strips
    • Take the finished strips out of the fridge.  If you have a double oven, place them uncovered in a casserole dish in the smaller oven on “Warm” (or 180 degrees F).  If you do not have a double oven, I suggest either placing them in a casserole dish crockpot or in a covered pan on the stove on lowest heat setting.  If using a pan on the stove, wait until another hour to put them on to heat.. 
• 5:10 pm (T – 2h 50m)
  • Set out drink glasses (wine, water, etc.)
  • Set out appetizer plates and forks
  • Put your serving dishes in an easily accessible location – 
  • Line rimmed baking sheets with heavy duty aluminum foil and wire racks (Bacon-wrapped Jalapenos, Asparagus)
  • Line your “raw meat transport tray” with heavy duty aluminum foil
  • Clear space for your “burger assembly area” (burgers, buns, toppings, condiments)
• 5:30 pm (T – 2h 30m)
  • Complete any topping and condiment prep
    • Arrange slices of cheese for burgers on serving plate(s), cover with plastic wrap, and place back in the fridge.
    • Slice onion, store in zip top bag in serving dish for easy retrieval.
    • Slice tomato, cover with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge.
• 6:00 pm (T – 1h)
  • Burgers
    • Take burgers out of the fridge to come up to room temp.
  • Grilled Asparagus Caesar Salad
    • Toss asparagus with salt and pepper.  Drizzle with avocado oil.  Lay out on rimmed baking sheet lined with heavy duty aluminum foil and a wire rack
• 6:15 pm (T – 45m)
  • Turn the grill on high to heat.
• 6:30 pm (T – 30m)
  • Bacon-wrapped Jalapenos
    • Put in oven 425 F – 25 – 30 minutes (convection roast); Check after 15 minutes and adjust remaining time as needed
• 6:40 pm (T – 20m)
  • Grilled Mini Peppers
    • Toss peppers with oil in zip top bag to thoroughly coat
• 6:45 pm (T – 15m)
  • Bacon-wrapped Jalapenos
    • Check Bacon-wrapped Jalapenos and reset timer for another 5 – 15 minutes depending on your oven
  • Grilled Mini Peppers
    • Roast Peppers on Grill – 500 F
    • Sprinkle with flaky salt and crumbed cheese and place in serving dish on table
• 6:55 pm (T – 5m)
  • Bacon-wrapped Jalapenos
    • Remove Bacon-wrapped Jalapenos from oven and place on serving dish on table
    • Re-use the rimmed baking sheet with wire rack insert for the Asparagus (if needed)
• 7:10 pm (T + 10m)
  • Burgers
    • Start cooking burgers on grill
  • Grilled Asparagus Caesar Salad
    • Place asparagus in oven at 425 degrees F for 7-8 minutes
• 7:20 pm (T + 20m)
  • Grilled Asparagus Caesar Salad
    • Move asparagus to serving dish, toss with Caesar dressing, keto croutons, and shredded or shaved Parmesan
  • Burgers
    • Take all condiments and toppings out of the fridge and set them in your designated burger assembly location with the buns