A Red Wine Dinner Party

A slow braise, a glossy risotto, and dessert waiting in the fridge

February’s menu came together around a single, honest craving: slow food and meat that takes all day to cook.

There’s something about this month that makes me want a pot going on the stove before noon. I want the kind of cooking where the hard work happens in the background, where I’m not racing the clock when guests arrive but instead doing something easy, like ladling warm mulled wine into glasses. That’s the spirit behind this menu. Brine and citrus to start, then a slow-cooked center that holds the whole evening together, and sweetness that builds gradually from when guests walk in the door all the way through to the cherries on the chocolate mousse.

By the time people showed up to my dinner party, dessert was already in the fridge, the short ribs were long finished, the salad just needed to be tossed, and the mulled wine was quietly doing its thing on the stove. All I had left was the risotto, which I could actually enjoy making because everything else was handled. I know I say this a lot, but hosting gets so much better when the heavy lifting is behind you. You want to be assembling, not scrambling.

Here’s how the evening moves: guests walk in to mulled wine ladled straight from the pot into their glasses. Gildas are already out. When it’s time to pull everyone to the table, the bread, butter, and radishes come out as a kind of signal that dinner is starting. From there, send out the salad followed by short ribs and risotto together. After your entrees, if you want to migrate to the couch, chocolate mousse in coupes on the coffee table is an easy, elegant way to let the night wind down on its own.

The menu:

Mulled Wine

Gildas

Bread, Butter, and Radishes

Arugula Salad with Passionfruit and Roasted Scallion Vinaigrette

Miso Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

Red Wine Risotto

Chocolate Mousse with Red Wine Soaked Cherries

Recipes are below, each with notes on what to prep ahead, how to hold things, and what actually needs to happen right before serving. Follow them and the evening runs itself.

Also, Substack just launched an official recipe template, so everything here is more readable than ever.