Impromptu entertaining can be the best kind. Hugo Arnold caters for a gaggle of unexpected guests
I know I'd said "just come" but I didn't actually mean it. The discussion had been about children, and how planning was such an inherent part of descending on another family. We'd made light of it, saying it didn't worry us if people dropped in unannounced. My wife has a thing about "open house". Our friends were en route from the Continent to the west of Ireland and just wanted something simple. The trouble was, there were six of them and the soup wasn't going to stretch. To add to this, the idea of "just a bowl of soup" for friends we hadn't seen for more than a year seemed churlish.
I went shopping. Chicken is always a winner with children, but time was short. Still, a chicken, split down the back, opened out and grilled flat, cooks in half the time, I thought, so that sorted out the main course.
If I could get a hand with the potatoes, the idea of roasting them with rosemary was tempting, and for a bit of greenery, buttered cabbage would do the trick. Which left the start and finish. Rhubarb is hard to resist at this time of year. Those dusky pink strands may be bitter in their raw state, but stewed with a little sugar they would collapse into the basis of a fool in no time. Lots of cream went on the shopping list.
And finally, what were they all going to eat on arrival? We needed something that was easy and quick, that could be eaten with fingers and would be enjoyed by children and adults alike. We went for warm flat bread and dips. All of the shopping was done at my local market and the children happily dashed about, keen only because what they usually see as a chore was being changed into game. We made it back just as the house filled with voices, which left the cooking to do.
Oven on, I combined two chickens with some olive oil and lots of lemon juice and set them aside. The store cupboard items - tins of chickpeas, a jar of tahini and flat bread from the freezer - came into play. Which left lots of chopping, peeling, slicing and combining, which everyone seemed happy to do as we sipped glasses of wine.
Entertaining needs to be easy. Anything too complex and the whole event becomes too stressful. The French are particularly good at this, buying pâté and charcuterie, and making use of somebody else's pastry skills. I'm all for a plate of cold meat to start a meal for large numbers. And the Italians are particularly good when it comes to bottling - try their grilled artichokes, peppers or aubergines. A collection of all of these with some olive oil looks and tastes decidedly more than the sum of its parts.
These days it is quite possible to buy the whole lot in, everything helpfully packaged with serving suggestions lest you are unable to combine said items on a plate. I recognise the need for convenience as much as the next person. But the idea of dressing up this kind of food and passing it off as your own seems a conceit too far. What are friends for if not to share the intensely enjoyable art of cooking?