I threw a butter themed dinner party 🧈🎈
and I won't shut up about it!
in case you haven’t heard (aka seen me spamming you about it on my instagram), I had A BUTTER PARTY! I’ve been wanting to throw a dinner party ever since I moved to LA last year so I decided it was time to finally do it for my 32nd birthday last week. I had my friend to help me host/prep which made it way less intimidating, and honestly — it turned out BETTER than I even imagined!
if you haven’t already seen, I’ve shared my prep days in part 1, part 2 and part 3 already, and I’m so excited to show you the final spread and how the party turned out. I started by planning the menu a few weeks ahead of the party and prepping a big list of everything I needed to buy, including supplies + groceries. then I spent about 3 days before the party doing as much prep work as I could in advance — making and freezing the cakes, mixing together the compound butters, making the salad topping, etc. I found that splitting it up like this was a really helpful way to make the entire process more approachable and the day of the party a lot easier. once thursday rolled around, all I had to do was bake the focaccia, roast the chicken and potatoes and assemble the cake. we set up a table outside and had all the food ready when my guests arrived in the early evening. for drinks, we pre-made a batch of dirty martini mix so that we could just stir portions with ice for ease before serving, and then had a big bowl full of ice to chill bottles of my favourite orange wine.
the full menu is below, with a couple of the existing recipes I used linked. today I’ll be sharing the butter lettuce salad recipe with hazelnut-sesame crunch, which is inspired by a salad I love (and eat frequently) here in LA. the hazelnut topping is kind of like a savoury granola — it’s super crunchy, sweet and salty and pairs so perfectly with the punchy dressing and salty cheese.
THE MENU
compound butters:
hot honey harissa butter
roasted garlic + herb butter
sea salt lemon butter
roast chicken with garlic herb butter
butter lettuce salad with champagne vinaigrette + sesame hazelnut crunch
roasted sweet potatoes with whipped goat cheese, brown butter + pistachios
pistachio olive oil cake with lemon swiss meringue buttercream
I have tons of photos to share and I can also write up a more detailed description of how I planned and executed everything if y’all are interested for your own dinner party needs! in conclusion, I obviously HIGHLY recommend throwing a dinner party. I love feeding people good food and it’s such a fun way to get friends together to eat and mingle (and still go home at 9:30pm since it’s a dinner lol). more to come!!!
butter lettuce salad with champagne vinaigrette + hazelnut-sesame crunch
this is inspired by a salad that I always get at one of my favourite wine bars here in LA. it’s quite simple, but the punchy, vinegar-y dressing and the incredible savoury hazelnut crunch topping really make it special. the cheese adds a salty kick — at the restaurant they use an aged cheddar but I decided to do parm here. can confirm both are fab!
½ cup good quality olive oil
¼ cup champagne vinegar
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp honey or maple syrup
1 clove grated garlic
½ tsp sea salt
1 head of butter lettuce, washed + torn
3 heads of little gem lettuce, washed + torn
lots of freshly grated parm
fresh herbs for topping (chives and/or parsley), if desired
for the hazelnut-sesame crunch:
1 heaping cup hazelnuts, chopped or pulsed into small pieces
¼ cup sesame seeds
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp maple syrup
starting by adding all of your dressing ingredients (olive oil through sea salt) to a jar. whisk or shake vigorously until smooth and emulsified. taste and add more salt/vinegar as needed (it should be tart). set aside.
to make your hazelnut-sesame crunch, first preheat your oven to 325F. mix together all ingredients in a bowl until well combined. spread in an even layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake for 10-15 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until brown and toasted. make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn! remove from the oven and let it sit for at least 20 minutes to cool down and get crispy. store in a container in the fridge until ready to use.
to assemble the salad, add your lettuces to a large bowl and drizzle with some of the dressing. toss to coat, then top your salad with a few handfuls of the hazelnut-sesame crunch and as much parm as you want. enjoy!
all of my dinner party recipes will be published in the coming weeks for my substack subscribers so stay tuned! xoxo