With her debut cookbook Stay for Supper, home cook, supper club host and content creator Xanthe Ross weaves seasonal vegetarian recipes with advice on hosting and styling the ultimate effortless dinner party, whatever the time of year.
In the extract below, Xanthe shares some of her essential tips – plus a menu for the ideal springtime dinner party.
Tips for hosting
Presenting your food beautifully is of equal importance when cooking for yourself or hosting others. It truly elevates my enjoyment of eating when I’ve taken a couple of minutes to plate it nicely.
So, my advice to you is this: just as you work on building layers of flavour into your food, follow the same principle when it comes to plating, layer by layer.
Of course, this doesn’t refer to all the dishes, but it’s beneficial to consider the structure of the final dish when plating anything. So, build strong foundations by cooking a delicious dish and after plating it, consider what might lift it up. For me, it’s usually a fresh herb, either finely chopped or left as leaves, maybe yoghurt or crème fraîche, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and always sea salt and a good grind of black pepper. Chives and parsley are my most-used herbs as a garnish, I always have a bunch of each in the refrigerator. Don’t be afraid to play around to find your style. I will practise how I am going to plate a dish at least a couple of times before I serve it at a supper club so that on the night, with the added pressure, everything runs as seamlessly as possible.
I would also say that wherever you can, prepare elements of the dish, or the entire dish, in advance. Especially for soups and stews, as many of them will actually benefit from being cooked the day before, allowing the flavours to develop further. This also means that if you are hosting, you’ll have more time to focus on setting the table and being in a calm state of mind when your guests arrive. Preparing in advance even if you are just cooking for yourself or one other can make the process much easier.
Seasonal styling ideas
Being a host is about so much more than just cooking. With a little bit of effort, you can create a really beautiful setting that doesn’t have to cost a lot of money or take too much time. Once you have your core tableware, get confident with mixing and matching to create a beautiful tablescape. Once you start playing around, you’ll find your own style.
Don’t feel that you need to buy new things each time you host. Explore charity shops and antique markets, invest is some good-quality cutlery and linens, do some research on local, sustainable florists (although dried flowers are a cheaper and more sustainable option, too) and the rest will follow. Don’t be too precious about everything looking perfect and try to have some fun with it as the mood of the host definitely reflects the mood of the evening.
I love styling tables to reflect the menu and the time of year. In the spring I use bright table linens, lots of colourful candlesticks and candle holders and specific flowers to reflect the feeling of new beginnings. I will use blossom, greenery and of course daffodils on the tables to reflect the feelings of hope spring always brings for the warmer, brighter months ahead.
In the summer I try to demonstrate the abundance of these months by using fresh produce to decorate the tables and a mixture of colourful flowers. Since local, sustainable ingredients are so important in my cooking I try to reflect these values when choosing the florals for my tables. The result is that the table reflects the season because I’m trying to use what is available to me relatively locally.
In the autumn, a time that is still very abundant, I will move to more neutral tones that are reflected in nature at this time of year. I am a bit of a mushroom fanatic and so I try to get mushrooms, decoratively, on the table somehow and will go for cream or white candles and perhaps more of them, since the evenings will be darker.
In the winter, everything will be more pared back, with lots of candles and wintery smells. At my Christmas supper club in 2023, I had everyone stand up and do a giant cracker circle, pulling all at the same time. It was a fun way to get everyone together and cranked up the energy in the room for the rest of the evening.
Music is, of course, really important and again, with minimal effort can have maximum impact. A good speaker will go a long way, and a reliable playlist, too. In terms of lighting, I always dim the lights and lean on candles to do most of the work. Gentle lighting makes people feel confident and calm and harsh lighting can do the opposite. Even if you are only hosting a few people, I always think it’s a really nice touch to write out a menu for your guests. This makes them feel more special in the same way that taking a bit of time over the table styling, the right lighting and a good playlist will. All these factors are of equal importance to the food you are serving when hosting or running a supper club.
Enjoyment is at the core of my belief when it comes to cooking and eating. I encourage you to give yourself the time and space to cook and to make a moment out of doing so. Treat yourself to beautiful produce once in a while, put music on, make a drink and don’t rush the process. Being organised is essential to cooking and eating well, but a clean kitchen is good for the mind, too, so make sure you go into it tidily, and let the mess follow. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I have enjoyed creating them for you and I hope they inspire you to take time over making food for yourself and for those around you.
Your spring dinner party menu
