It’s been five months since I kicked off my series Cooking for Friends on Instagram. In that time I’ve hosted 21 get togethers for friends which as I write that out feels like…a lot! There’s been a BLT brunch turned pond hang, dinner for six with ribeyes and a smattering of summery salads, a weekend camping with homemade marshmallows, black pepper tofu and smashed cucumbers for a vegetarian crowd, and so much more.
My hope is that it’s been a way to show people all the different ways you can gather with friends. Who says hosting has to mean dinner? Lunch can be just as exciting. There’s no set rules required about the amount of dishes you have to make, or how many courses need to be served. And while I love a decked out table setting, sometimes paper plates and disposable napkins are just fine. For me, hosting is a way to make my friends feel like they’re being taken care of. It’s an opportunity to be creative of course, but also to create an environment where (hopefully) people feel totally comfortable.
For my latest dinner I was hosting 13 friends for a watch party for the finale of Chimp Crazy, the show my husband just spent the last three years shooting. While I love a big sit down dinner, this event begged for something more casual. I wanted everyone to help themselves and perch up wherever they could find a seat with no silverware required. The other requirement was that I needed to make all the food well in advance and that it could hang out for a few hours until my friends showed up. Enter, taco night.
The joy of taco night is that there’s nearly endless possibilities for what that could entail. Fried fish topped drizzled with crema and pico counts as taco night (filing that one away for next summer…) and so does browned ground beef doctored up with premade seasoning tucked into hard shell tortillas. This was my version:
Pork shoulder braised in spices, tomato paste, and chicken stock until shredded and saucy
Pulled chicken (from our own chickens!), for those who didn’t eat pork
A big pot of pinto beans simmered until perfectly tender
Crunchy slaw made with savoy and red cabbage
Tomatillo salsa verde
Pickled red onions
Sliced jalapeños
Hot sauce
Store-bought flour and corn tortillas
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