How to Plan a Perfect Party

A dinner party is a creative challenge. It’s not one single brilliant dish that counts, but the total presentation.

Candlelight always helps. And when you set the table, play up the season with clusters of brightly colored flowers and napkins. Even the rhythm of the meal is important: Don’t rush it. You should aim for a leisurely pace. Serve the salad separately to space out the courses. And don’t leave your guests lingering at the table for the whole meal. Let them finish off their dessert and coffee in the living room; great after-dinner conversation can take place once a change of scenery has occurred.

But the first thing you should do, long before the party begins, is make sure you can manage all aspects of the meal--the shopping, cooking, serving and clean-up. Be realistic. If you can’t handle everything yourself, enlist some help.

The next step is to choose a main course. A full-bodied choice such as beef, lamb or game requires hearty accompaniments. Poultry, fish and seafood, depending on their preparation, tend to be lighter and more mild. Keep in mind the season and your guests’ food preferences. The way the food looks on the plate is also important. Consider color and composition as you serve the food.

In the menu that follows, scallops assume center focus. The sweet-and-sour mustard glaze makes the scallops less mild than usual, but they still aren’t as dominant as red meat. Spring rice with carrots, ginger and cilantro is a great complement both in taste and color, while sesame-buttered green onions add color to the plate. Slices of lemon are a refreshing garnish. A chilled dry rose, such as one from the Provence region of France, works especially well with this menu.

A bright-tasting cucumber salad creates a simple, upbeat introduction to the meal. Dessert is the easiest of all: raspberry gelato , smothered with sugared, sliced fresh strawberries and finished off with a little Champagne. Sip the remaining Champagne along with the gelato. Butter cookies or thinly sliced pound cake complete the dessert. If you like, serve chocolate truffles to cap off the meal with coffee.

Very little else needs to be done. Just enjoy the momentum of the evening along with the guests.

DINNER FOR SIX

Cucumber, Red Onion and Watercress Salad

Pan-Fried Scallops With Sweet-and-Sour Mustard Glaze

Spring Rice with Carrots and Fresh Ginger

Sesame-Buttered Whole Green Onions

Raspberry gelato

Sauce of sliced strawberries and Champagne

Butter cookies or pound cake

Chilled Champagne

Coffee

Pickled cucumbers make this salad especially attractive because their texture is firm and they don’t need to be seeded. The salad can be mixed ahead, refrigerated, drained at serving time and then mixed with a touch of oil to round out the flavor. The bitter watercress adds color and contrasts nicely with the cucumbers. Edible flowers make an excellent garnish.

CUCUMBER, RED ONION AND WATERCRESS SALAD

11 large (about 3 pounds) pickling cucumbers

2/3 cup (1/4-inch) diced red onion

3/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon safflower oil

Salt

Freshly ground white pepper

3 large bunches watercress, washed, crisped, stems removed

2 tablespoons snipped chives

Peel cucumbers, then score with fork. Thinly slice. (Best done with thin slicing disc of food processor.) Combine cucumber slices, red onion and vinegar in large bowl. Toss well. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 8 hours.

Drain cucumbers. Toss with safflower oil. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Arrange watercress leaves in wreath design on 6 serving plates. Arrange cucumbers in center. Garnish with chives. Makes 6 servings.

Note: Seasoned rice vinegar, available in Asian section of most supermarkets, is blend of mild rice vinegar with perfect balance of sugar, salt and water. If using plain rice vinegar, adjust salt, sugar and water to taste.

The cooking for this dish is best done at the last minute; it takes less than 10 minutes. If necessary, the scallops can be cooked in advance, kept at room temperature for up to an hour and reheated in the glaze. However, it’s important to avoid overcooking the scallops.

PAN-FRIED SCALLOPS WITH SWEET-AND-SOUR MUSTARD GLAZE

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon safflower oil

1 3/4 pounds sea scallops

1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

4 teaspoons honey

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Dash cayenne pepper

Salt

Shredded zest of 2 lemons

2 lemons, scored and thinly sliced

Heat butter and safflower oil until hot in 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallops and brown on 1 side and saute until just opaque, about 3 minutes, depending on size. Remove scallops as cooked onto warm platter. Do not overcook.

Carefully add vinegar to skillet. Boil over high heat until reduced to 3 tablespoons, about 2 minutes.

Add any scallop juices that may have accumulated on platter, along with mustard, honey, lemon juice and cayenne. Stir well to combine. Boil until very thick and coats spoon, about 2 minutes. Add scallops, stirring to coat. Heat 20 seconds. Do not overcook.

Serve hot, browned side up, lightly drizzled with glaze, salt to taste and add lemon zest. Garnish with lemon slices. Makes 6 servings.

This brightly colored rice side dish also partners well with Asian-inspired dishes or simpl e grilled meats, poultry or fish. It makes a great salad base for leftovers, which means you may want to double the recipe. The food processor makes fast work of mincing the garlic, ginger and carrots in one simultaneous motion. Substitute minced fresh parsley for the cilantro, if desired; the taste will be different but still excellent.

SPRING RICE WITH GINGER, CARROTS AND CILANTRO

3 tablespoons safflower oil

1 (1 1/2x3/4-inch) piece ginger root, peeled and minced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

2 medium carrots, peeled and minced

1 1/2 cups long-grain rice

3 3/4 cups chicken broth (preferably low-sodium)

Salt

Freshly ground white pepper

1/3 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Heat safflower oil until hot in 2-quart pot over medium-high heat. Add ginger, garlic, carrots and rice. Cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking or burning. Add chicken broth. Bring to boil.

Simmer, covered, until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, about 20 minutes. (Can be served immediately or refrigerated as long as 3 days or frozen up to 3 months. Gently reheat in microwave oven or stove top, adding water as needed to moisten rice.) Just before serving, season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in cilantro. Makes 6 servings.

Whole green onions suggest spring much like asparagus. It’s curious that we rarely see them presented this way, considering their availability, price, taste and great beauty. I first came across them when I worked in the celebrated kitchen of Fredy Girardet in Crissier, Switzerland. Girardet was instrumental in reviving the green onion that had been out of fashion in Europe since the 18th Century. For the best presentation and to ensure even cooking, the green onions should be the same size, which means you will most likely have to buy more than three dozen to end up with enough uniform-size green onions. The sesame oil brings out the flavor of the green onions without dominating them.

SESAME-BUTTERED WHOLE GREEN ONIONS

36 green onions

2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Leave roots on each green onion. Trim all but 2 inches of green parts. Use string to secure green onions in neat bunches of 6.

Bring enough salted water to boil to cover green onions in 4-quart pot. Add green onions. Cook until white ends are just tender (pierce with knife). Drain. Cool in ice water. Drain and wrap in paper towels. (Can be cooked several hours ahead and kept at room temperature.)

Melt butter with sesame oil in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cut off strings from green onion bunches. Add to skillet. Cook quickly until hot and evenly coated, shaking pan often to coat green onions and to avoid burning them. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot, arranged attractively. Makes 6 servings.