DINNER WITH OSCAR
Home. Â I’ll go home, and I’ll think of some way to get him back!
After all, tomorrow is another day! ~Scarlett O’Hara, Gone With the Wind (1939)
Want to serve a warm and hearty dinner for a crowd around the television to see the Oscar’s? A huge pot of Vegetable Soup, with or without meat, and a basket of Corn Bread Muffins will have everyone awarding you praises for the casual comfort food served during the red carpet event Sunday night. Unless, of course, your friends are the type who dress up in formal wear to watch the festivities. In which case you’ll want to serve Shrimp Cocktail, Filet Mignon and Baked Alaska.
I’ve given the soup preparation made after a Corned Beef & Cabbage boiled dinner. You can make the corned beef for dinner, then use the cooking liquid as the base for the soup, which can be made well in advance.  Or you can begin by boiling beef soup bones. That’s pretty much all there is to that. Just bring to a boil and simmer the out of the bones in a pot full of water – with a tight-fitting lid – for at least twelve hours. Beef bones are very hard, and it takes a long while to extract all of the beefy bone goodness. Remove the bones and proceed with Stage One. If there is any meat on the bones, pick it off of the bones after simmering for just an hour or so, store in the refrigerator and reserve to add to the soup at the end. It doesn’t take a lot of beef to make a beef vegetable soup The bounty of vegetables tend to carry the dish. You can make this with frozen vegetables, but it won’t be nearly as good. Except for the corn, I always use fresh and local if possible. Easy shmeasy and memorable.
Today’s preparation is for the cornbread. This is a tried and true formula I’ve used for years, taking muffins to work to have with mid-morning coffee and a break. You can make them in advance, reheating them at dinnertime, but they’ll be a little better if freshly made just before serving. Serve with butter.
A good way to serve butter at a party is to soften it to room temperature, put into small custard cups and chill. Sprinkle with minced parsley or dill. Serve putting the butter knife (the small kind used at place settings) right into the butter. As it softens and guests help themselves, it stays better looking than stick butter in a butter dish that can get pretty sorry looking after a while. Put out several cups if everyone is gathered around the tv rather than the dining table. I’ve picked up individual butter knives from antique shops. It’s fun to have silverware of all different patterns. Gives the dinner a more casual demeanor. You can also buy small spreaders from kitchen supply shops.
