Party Recipe: Sunday Lunch

So, you had a big party yesterday…the house is clean, lots of flowers and food on hand, guests are in town…how about another party?  A leisurely Sunday meal can be divine.  Rob and I hosted nine for lunch last weekend with a simple, meyer-lemon-inspired menu to celebrate Trent’s triathlon.   All together, it was just a half-hour to set-up and clean, a half-hour to shop and an hour to chop and cook. Easy!

The table: Here’s our newly painted slate gray dining room. Tablecloth, napkins, cabinet and glasses from Ikea.  Dishes from Williams-Sonoma everyday collection. French cafe chairs from Amazon.

The menu: To feed a hungry crowd in a hurry, I turned to easy favorites. Four rotisserie chickens from Whole Foods were the foundation. Good country bread and local  cheese: humbolt fog and truffle goat cheese.  A big green salad with a delicious lemon-mustard-garlic vinaigrette and pepitas. Picked up cauliflower, cilantro and apples at farmer’s market.

One of the guests from Saturday’s party brought a basket of meyer lemons and they got used in everything. My favorite was in a veggie roast: I chopped two heads of cauliflower and pretty carrots with an onion, two lemons and fresh cilantro. Tossed with olive oil, a little salt and pepper. Roasted at 425 until cooked and a little brown around the edges about 40 minutes. Delicious and great as cold leftovers too.

I wish I had taken more photos of the finished buffet. It was beautiful!  Trent’s aunt brought cheese biscuits, coleslaw and other treats to add to the feast:

The guests:  Trent’s parents and aunt came. My mom and Jean’s friend Kelly too. We sat and ate for almost two hours.  Lemon water and a slightly-sparkly bottle of french Chardonnay to accompany the meal.

The dessert: I made an impromptu apple blueberry cobbler using fresh ginger and a crazy mix of ingredients for the topping (meusli and crushed ginger cookies just to start). It went in the oven when we sat down to eat. So about an hour at 350. Plus, really tasty lemon sour cream cookies from Trent’s aunt, mandarin oranges and strong coffee.

Do you want to see another shot of those pretty flowers? I thought so: