As some of you know, I’m a part of a Supper Club. Our small group meets monthly with each person taking a turn as the host. In our club, each person can decide whether they’d like to cook, choose a restaurant or host a potluck meal. Most of the time, our ladies cook dinner. Last week was my turn, and I wanted to do something that was elegant, but simple to put together.

The Menu:

• Starters: Olives, almonds and mustard batons
• Soup: Curried carrot soup served with a dollop of sour cream
• Entree: Spanish roasted chicken with chorizo and potatoes
• Dessert: Pear crisp and vanilla ice cream

Now, I know this doesn’t simple, but a lot of the items were prepared ahead of time, which took the stress out of putting this meal together after work. For example, I prepared the batons two days before and froze the uncooked strips. I also made the soup and crisp the day before, which meant the day of, I had a pretty short to do list.

On the day of the dinner, I started by baking the batons and arranging the almonds and olives.  While the mustard batons baked, I pulled the soup out of the fridge and started warming it on the stove. Next, I took the pear crisp out of the fridge and let it start coming to room temperature. About an hour before I wanted to serve dinner, I put the Spanish chicken in the oven. Then, as we ate our chicken, I turned off the oven and put the pear crisp in to warm with the door slightly ajar.