Iana Benigno has done a Morroccan-styled party for 65. Cobalt blue plates. Deep magenta accents. Baby lamb chops. Savory flatbreads. Lots of rose petals, scattered around the entrance to her home and into a huge glass bowl on the buffet table.
She’s done paella, that born-in-Spain seafood-and-rice extravaganza, for 22 friends using a huge 36-inch pan. “We had a blast,” says Benigno. “We all put it together.”
And she’s done cocktail parties. Make that lots of cocktail parties, for her friends, her family, her husband’s business associates.
There is one thing, though, that Dana Benigno will not do and that is spend party time in her kitchen. That self-imposed mandate is a challenge since the open kitchen in her three-level, North Side townhouse flows to the dining area, the living area and out to the garden patio.
“If you go in your kitchen, everyone will be in there with you,” she says, standing in her home’s 4-by-4-foot culinary heart. “The way to keep people out of your kitchen is to not be in there yourself.”
Benigno’s solution?
The consultant/cooking teacher/chef does parties that are casual and easy-going. She plans menus rich in colors, textures and flavors. She aims for minimal last-minute cooking. She plots a preparation schedule, doing as much as possible in advance. She makes a detailed shopping list. She cleans up as she goes.
“My cooking is usually done by the time I get dressed,” says Benigno, who was busy arranging hors d’oeuvres on serving platters one recent evening, an hour before guests were slated to arrive for a 6 p.m., post-workday cocktail party. “Once people arrive, I’m out of here.”
She had, of course, already prepped the home for the party. The buffet table was covered in a bold blue, yellow and white cloth. A clear glass globe vase was filled with plump snow-white petunias. White platters, a mix of sizes and shapes, were positioned on the table–one had been set atop a clear glass cake pedestal for variety. A stack of blue cocktail plates sat next to a stack of white linen napkins.
A nearby credenza, covered with a similar cloth, doubled as the self-serve bar. Several bottles of a sparkling wine and sparkling water nestled in ice that had been piled into a huge silver bowl. Wine goblets were lined up alongside inexpensive tubular bud vases for the sparkling wine–a fun “Dana” touch that guests delight in. The number of chairs had been trimmed, the better to encourage mingling. And in the patio garden, purple and yellow pansies, hydrangea and a fragrant jasmine shared space with a few chairs, an occasional table, candles, subdued lighting and an ice-filled galvanized cooler holding wines and beers.
As easy-going as it all seemed, there was a reason for everything. She uses mostly white serving dishes and platters plus a few clear glass and silvery accent pieces. For color, she relies on the food and patterned tablecloths. “I still want color on the table, but I do it with cloth, not with the serving platters,” she says, “because white makes such a nice background for food.”
Where does she find such cloths? Among the inexpensive cotton and batik patterned bedspreads found at shops such as Urban Outfitters.
She is a firm believer in using real glassware. “Invest in inexpensive boxed sets and put those out for parties,” she says. Stores such as Bed, Bath and Beyond and Crate & Barrel, among others, offer such glassware. And use real cutlery–or opt for mostly finger foods, she believes.
As for the plates, she will put out real plates until the party tops more than a dozen. Then she shifts gears to paper plates. “You don’t want to be up all night doing dishes,” she says. “Get some fun paper plates and casualize the theme a bit.”
T minus 60 minutes
So at 5 p.m., with the evening’s menu taped to a cabinet over her work space–the better to remember all the items she planned to put out–Benigno began arranging food on platters. The cheese, the frittatas, the asparagus spears. She filled potato shells and slipped lamb skewers in the oven for a quick heat.
She headed into the garden for garnishes: the soft purple blossoms from a chive plant and pansies. “I don’t do lace doilies. I usually garnish with all natural stuff,” she says. “Right now, I have fabulous pansies. I pick things out of my garden that are edible. I garnish with beautiful lettuces, like rainbow baby Swiss chard, beautiful radishes–purple, red and white.”
When the garden doesn’t yield a bounty, Benigno looks to the vegetable aisle at the supermarket for garnishes.
By 5:30 p.m., rose wines are opened. Jars of caviar are put away. Baking sheets of extra hors d’oeuvres are returned to the refrigerator, ready for replenishing serving platters. Or, more often than not, she will ready a second serving platter with hors d’oeuvres, cover it and store it in the refrigerator until it’s needed on the buffet.
Soiled utensils are placed in the dishwasher. “That way I don’t have a giant mess in the kitchen when the guests get here,” she says.
At 6 p.m., just as she puts out small bowls with almonds and chips then dims the kitchen lights, the doorbell rings. Soon the sound of popping corks, the hum of conversation and the background music take over.
Benigno credits planning and common sense for her ability to remain cool as a freshly poured glass of pinot grigio throughout.
“I’m very realistic about how much work I want to do, what I want the evening to be and what I want to be doing during my evening–which is not reheating hors d’oeuvres and filling platters.”
It is a mantra worth repeating. Although we love to entertain at home, we clutch when faced with the prospect. According to a Bon Appetit magazine survey earlier this year, 78 percent of respondents said pulling the food all together was their “top entertaining worry,” while 77 percent freaked about carving out fun time for the host.
And while cocktail parties seem to enjoy an “I can do it” place between the challenges of dinners and brunches, there are those who seek a bit of coaching judging by the dozen-plus books Amazon.com lists on the subject–from “The Art of the Cocktail Party: The Complete Guide to Sophisticated Entertaining” (Plume; $13.95) to “Cocktail Parties for Dummies” (Hungry Minds, Inc.; $4.89).
Benigno’s a fan of cocktail parties for their easygoing feel. They are a good way to shoehorn a visit with perpetually busy friends into an after-work or pre-dinner time slot. And they can range from a cocktail-focused fest–a variety of martinis, for example, or a margarita mix-up–to the simpler wine and beer selection of beverages she was planning this recent evening.
“I will occasionally do martinis, but for this, [I] went with the summery feel of a prosecco and rose wine,” she says. “I’m not a big cocktail server just because they require shaking and mixing.”
A Boboli beginning
Benigno was not always so at ease in the kitchen. Born and raised in downstate Vandalia, Ill. (“Where salad constitutes anything with mayonnaise on it–including marshmallows and Jello,” she says), she headed, post-college, to an executive recruiting job in St. Louis where she met her husband.
“I remember the first guests we had,” recalls Michael Benigno, vice president for sales for office furniture Knoll’s central division. “We served them Boboli. [Dana] was like, `No, this is not going to work.'”
So Dana took cooking classes. At Williams-Sonoma. At Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco.
She headed to the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago and completed the cooking certificate program there just over three years ago. She began helping friends with dinner parties and giving cooking classes and giving advice. “My friends would call me and ask “Where do I get this?. … What would you serve with this? How do I prep this meal so I’m not in the kitchen?”
All those questions prompted her to launch chicagocooks.com in January 2001, a Web resource about cooking-related events, menus, party-planning tips, etc. These days, Benigno, 36, is busy running her Web site, teaching classes at cookware store Sur La Table (54 E. Walton St.) and coaching friends on their next party.
Melodic convergence
Her husband, Michael, 52, plays several roles in the evenings: opening wines, cleaning up (“Cleaning is my thing,” he says) and handling the music.
“Music is critical,” says Michael Benigno, whose CD system is set up to include Van Morrison to Dinah Washington. “I have been to parties when there’s no music, and you always know that something’s drastically missing.”
And when her 18-year old stepdaughter Dominic is not studying for exams, she pitches in as well–ironing napkins, helping in the kitchen.
Benigno’s parties always have a touch of whimsy, whether it’s the mini-sundaes she serves, scooping ice cream into votive holders and serving them with demitasse spoons, or the make-your-own-s’mores. At one party, where grilling was part of the evening, she used Carr’s HobNobs and assorted flavors of Ghiradelli chocolate. “When your grill is cooling down, you get a bunch of skewers and thread tons of marshmallows on. Grill them all at once.” Then pass a tray of cookies and chocolate squares and “people just slide off a marshmallow and take whatever they want.”
“She has a sense of style, sense of organization and good taste,” says party guest Linda Calafiore, director of scholarship funds at CHIC. “She knows that there is elegance in simplicity.”
Indeed, that’s what she urges those who want to entertain. Their biggest problems? “Timing and trying to serve a lot of hot hors d’oeuvres,” she says. “I believe people tend to start cooking an hour before people [arrive] because they think everything has to be so freshly made. They don’t realize that a lot of things hold up really well.
“I know the tendency is to keep working–detail, detail, detail–right up to the end, but the reality is: stop two hours before and get yourself ready because you can be ready and finish the details.”
Or follow advice from her grandmother, who loved to throw parties: “My Grandma Virginia always said, `Give yourself enough time to get ready, shower and then have a half-hour before guests arrive to sit down and have a cocktail.”
Countdown to a party
Here’s an easy to follow recipe for tossing a post-work sip-and-nibble fest and staying cool a la Dana Benigno.
10 DAYS BEFORE
– Invite guests. If the gathering is large, stagger start times to ease the pressure on the host and hostess.
– Plan menu. Choose foods that complement or are based on a theme. “I usually have a little bit of theme–though not with Mickey Mouse ears,” she says. “I don’t like it when people serve themes that don’t go together. Like margaritas plus chips and salsa, then caviar.”
– Choose foods that are easy to handle, colorful, tasty at room temperature and varied in taste and texture. “Pick foods you can put out and replenish once,” she says. “I don’t try to serve hot things because you’re always getting hot stuff out of the oven.”
– Need some help? For up to about 12 people, you can do a self-serve bar. Place a wine bucket (or other similar container) at another location in the party/patio area so guests can refresh their drinks easily. If party numbers grow beyond 15, Benigno suggests hiring help–usually a bartender–through an agency or staffing service. (One staffing service we called quoted us a $25 an hour rate.) “You tell the bartender what you’re going to be serving and they come an hour ahead to help with set up,” she says.
1 WEEK BEFORE
– Adjust party numbers depending on RSVPs. Plan five to six hors d’oeuvres per person.
– Adjust menu to exactly what you want to make. Don’t try to cook everything yourself. Find the best you can buy and supplement your menu.
– Analyze menu for shopping/preparation schedule. (What can be made in advance? What must be done the day of the party?)
– Go down menu and compile grocery list.
3 DAYS BEFORE
– Working from menu, check that you have appropriate serving platters and utensils for each item.
– Clear space from your refrigerator and freezer so you will have room to store baking sheets of partially prepared foods.
– Make sure you have cocktail-size plates, napkins, cutlery (if necessary).
– Make sure you have sufficient barware.
2 DAYS BEFORE
– Grocery shop.
– Make manchego and chorizo frittatas. Arrange on baking sheet, cover and refrigerate.
1 DAY BEFORE
– Make potato shells for stuffed mini Yukon gold potatoes.
– Make lamb skewers. Cool; arrange on baking sheet; cover with foil; refrigerate.
– Grill asparagus. Prepare lemon mayonnaise
– Using a mini-scoop and small dishes, scoop ice cream into dishes. Arrange dishes on serving tray. Cover with plastic wrap. Store in freezer.
– Set buffet table with serving platters and appropriate serving utensils.
– Move chairs away from the table and leave only a few around to assure that guests mingle.
Morning of
– Put a small vase of flowers and clean towels in guest bathroom.
– Shop for baguettes (have them sliced) and fresh fruit or garnishes.
– Arrange flowers for buffet. Make sure all food is ready to be put out on platters.
1 hour before
– Ready self-serve bar: Set out 6 bottles Italian sparkling wine (Nino Franco Rustico Prosecco); 3 bottles rose wine from Provence (Mas de Gourgonnier); 12 bottles microbrewery beers; 4 bottles San Pellegrino sparkling bottled water.
– Put ice in containers for chilling wines. Chill several bottles of sparkling wine, beer and water.
– Arrange at least three cheeses–a firm cheese (such as cheddar), a creamy (camembert) and a blue–on serving tray; garnish with fresh fruit. Choose fruit that will not discolor.
– Place assorted baguette slices (plain and pecan raisin) in a basket. Set next to cheese. Cover bread and cheese with a cloth napkin.
Pipe red-pepper garnish on frittatas. Fill potato shells and garnish.
30 minutes before
– Heat lamb skewers. Arrange on platter with bowl of tzatziki sauce.
– Arrange cooked asparagus on platter with dish of lemon mayonnaise.
10 minutes before
– Put marinated olives, gourmet chips and tamari roasted almonds in small bowls; place around party area.
– Open two bottles of still wine
5 minutes before
– Wipe down kitchen counters. Store extra food so it is ready for replenishing platters.
– Check music. Dim lights. Pop the sparkling wine.
— Judy Hevrdejs
Easy fixings a la Dana Benigno
These bites of flavor from Dana Benigno’s repertoire draw their inspiration from the Mediterranean. Buttressed by grilled asparagus served with a lemon mayonnaise, a cheese assortment and fresh fruits, the finale is a cool mini-scoop of a favorite ice cream or sorbet served in tiny dishes (or food-safe glass votive candle holders) with demitasse spoons.
Manchego chorizo frittata bites
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Baking time: 40 minutes
Yield: 60 pieces
– “They also are good hot, cold or at room temperature,” says Dana Benigno, “and during a cocktail party most everything goes through all those temps at one time or another.”
1 pound uncooked chorizo
12 eggs
1 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
Salt, freshly ground pepper
1 package (16 ounces) thin spaghetti, cooked to package directions, drained
1 cup grated manchego or Monterey Jack cheese
Roasted pepper sauce, see recipe, or parsley sprigs
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove chorizo from casing. Cook over medium heat in a large skillet, breaking meat up with fork to crumble, until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
2. Whisk together eggs and cream in large bowl; add garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Add spaghetti, chorizo and cheese. Toss together until combined. Pour mixture onto 15-by-10-inch jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper. Bake until set and slightly browned, about 40 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes.
3. Cut into bite-size circles with 1 1/2-inch biscuit cutter or small juice glass (or cut into 1 1/2-inch squares or diamond shapes). Serve warm or at room temperature. Garnish with roasted pepper sauce or parsley.
Nutritional information per serving (or “bite”):
99 calories; 55% of calories from fat; 6 g fat; 3 g saturated fat; 57 mg cholesterol; 6 g carbohydrates; 5 g protein; 120 mg sodium; 0 g fiber.
Roasted pepper sauce
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Yield: 2 cups
1 container (8 ounces) refrigerated roasted red pepper dip
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
Salt, freshly ground pepper
Mix red pepper dip with softened cream cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for up to 3 days. Pipe or spread onto frittata bites.
Nutritional information per serving:
19 calories; 68% of calories from fat; 1 g fat; 1 g saturated fat; 4 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrates; 0 g protein; 23 mg sodium; 0 g fiber.
Lamb skewers with tzatziki sauce
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Chilling time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 30 skewers
– “These may be prepared a day ahead then stored in the refrigerator. They should be reheated before serving with a tzatziki sauce that you’ve purchased at the supermarket,” says Benigno.
2 slices white bread, crust removed, soaked in water
2 pounds ground lamb
1 tablespoon each: chopped parsley, chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon cumin
1 clove garlic, pressed
Salt, pepper
Fresh mint and lettuce leaves
1 container (8 ounces) tzatziki sauce
1. Remove bread from water; squeeze out excess moisture. Combine soaked bread, lamb, parsley, cilantro, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Cook a small amount of the meat; taste for seasoning. Adjust seasoning.
2. Press 1/4 cup of the meat mixture around a 7-inch wooden skewer to form a 4-by-1-inch log shape. Repeat with remaining meat mixture, using about 30 skewers. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
3. Prepare grill or heat broiler. Grill or broil skewers until meat is well browned and done, about 6 minutes per side. Arrange mint leaves and lettuce leaves onserving platter. Spoon tzatziki sauce into small dish; set on platter. Arrange skewers on platter.
Nutritional information per serving (or skewer):
77 calories; 58% of calories from fat; 5 g fat; 2 g saturated fat; 21 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrates; 6 g protein; 52 mg sodium; 0 g fiber.
Stuffed mini-Yukon gold potatoes
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 40 pieces
Benigno uses American caviars in several colors: a black paddlefish caviar, a red flying fish roe and a green wasabi-infused roe.
20 small (about 1 1/2 inches) red or Yukon gold potatoes
Olive oil
Salt, freshly ground pepper
2 containers (7 ounces each) creme fraiche
1 teaspoon minced shallot
5 teaspoons caviar
1. Wash potatoes well; pat dry. Pierce with fork. Microwave on high for 3 to 4 minutes until slightly tender; let cool.
2. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Slice potatoes in half crosswise; slice small piece off both ends so potatoes sit flat. Scoop out potato with small end of melon baller or small spoon, leaving enough around edges and bottom to form shell. Reserve centers for another use.
3. Brush or spray potato shells with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place, cup side up, on baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove; cool.
4. Mix creme fraiche with shallot. Spoon into potato shells. Top each with about 1/8 teaspoon caviar. Arrange on platter.
Variation: You can fill the potatoes with hummus and tabbouleh: You will need about 2 cups (16 ounces) each prepared hummus and prepared tabbouleh. Spoon hummus into potatoes (or into a pastry bag fitted withplain tip; pipe hummus into each shell). Spoon a small amount of tabbouleh on each hummus-filled potato.
Nutritional information per serving:
38 calories; 29% of calories from fat; 1 g fat; 1 g saturated fat; 4 mg cholesterol; 6 g carbohydrates; 1 g protein; 10 mg sodium; 1 g fiber.
— Judy Hevrdejs
