Here are two, make-ahead brie recipes: PESTO-FILLED BRIE This is best as a make-ahead dish. 1 Baby Brie (1.1 pounds) 1 small clove garlic 1 bunch fresh basil (1 ½ t. dried) 4 T. unsalted, softened butter Squeeze fresh lemon juice Pinch of freshly ground black pepper 1 T. pine nuts or walnuts Chopped parsley Split brie horizontally into two layers and set aside. In a blender, chop garlic finely. Add enough basil leavesÂwashed and driedÂto make about ½ cup. Add half of the butter, lemon juice and pepper. Process until smooth. Remove and stir in nuts. Spread filling evenly onto one layer of cheese, then top with second layer, cut side down. Spread remaining butter around edge of cheese and sprinkle with parsley. To serve, cut into wedges. Make 24 hours before serving so all flavors meld. Serves 8-12. ____________________________________ BAKED BRIE WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter 8 cups sliced onions (about 4 large) 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme 4 garlic cloves, chopped 1/2 cup dry white wine 1 teaspoon sugar 1 8-inch-diameter 32- to 36-ounce French Brie, packed in wooden box (reserve box) 2 French bread baguettes, sliced Melt butter in heavy very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; sauté until just tender, about 6 minutes. Add minced thyme, reduce heat to medium and cook until onions are golden, stirring often, about 25 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup wine; stir until almost all liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle sugar over onions and sauté until soft and brown, about 10 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 cup wine; stir just until liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cool. (Can be prepare 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Preheat oven to 350°F. Unwrap Brie, reserving bottom of wooden box. Cut away only top rind of cheese, leaving rind on sides and bottom intact. Return Brie to box, rind side down. Place box on baking sheet. Top Brie evenly with onion mixture. Bake until cheese just melts, about 30 minutes. Transfer Brie in box in platter. Surround with baguette slices. Serves 8 to 10. Bon Appétit

Well, I'm definately going to save this thread, lots of good ideas here and I'll probably be roasting a chicken again. BF and I both don't do this very often as singles, (particularly mostly-vegetarian me) and we can't handle all the leftovers, but together . . . I had a lot of fun making a new chicken soup today! I invented a recipe and it is FANTASTIC. And the perfect soup for sping. I took all the ingredients of that ubiquitous restaurant spinach artichoke dip (sans tons of fat) and made it into a yummy soup. Here's how I did it if you want to do something similar. This is great for those on restricted diets. First, I boiled the chicken carcass in half water and half vegetable broth. Then, I put it in the fridge and waited until the fat congealed and then I skimmed that. Then I strained out the broth. Then, I picked all the little bits of meat off the bones and threw them in the pot. I could hear BF saying, "waste of time" but I was channeling my Bubbe, she of the hands continually bathed in chicken fat! There was a bit of bouquet garni seasoning already on the chicken. Then I added some small pieces of chicken, mostly white meat, that I had in the fridge. The rest was dead easy. I added a cup, maybe cup and a quarter of chopped, well-drained marinated artichoke hearts that I had languishing in the fridge, about the same amount of frozen chopped spinach, about 1 TBLSP chives (I can't have onions), 3/4 of a red pepper, chopped and sauteed in EVOO. About 1/2 tsp. oregano for seasoning. I didn't add garlic but I could have. I boiled this for 20 min. To "whiten" it I wasn't very systematic, I used up the bits and bobs of white stuff I had in the fridge--about 1 TBLSP of lite sour cream, about 1/3 cup of 1% milk, and about 1/3 cup of neufatchel cheese. You could use cream if you like, or real cream cheese. The sour cream wasn't necessary, I just had it to use up. Top with grated parmesean and serve with whole grain pita chips. DELICIOUS!

Just finished cleaning up. Whew. For a weekday night, this is kind of a late one. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't, ultimately, do anything too exciting. The parents let me know that they ate fish, so I mostly fell back on old standards. I had only about 3 hours to do the shopping and make the meal, and figured better safe than sorry. Here is the "in progress" view. I'm very anal about having all my stuff cut, marinated, and ready before any heat starts. We had chicken and shrimp shao mai and steamed dumplings. Then a vegetarian hot and sour soup. Turns out that batons of pork can be swapped for matchsticks of dried bean curd, and powdered vegetable stock mix does a passable job subbing for chicken stock. I hunted up every variety of dried mushroom in the house - black, shiitake, brown, and some weird chanterelle-like fungus - and made a mushroom stirfry with snap peas coated in honey and tofu soft-cooked in veggie stock. Then a fish - perch maybe? I forget - cleaned, scaled, scored, marinated, and deep fried in the wok, then covered with stewed tofu strips and mushrooms. It was cute. The vegetarians ate it. A little. A chicken and candied-almond dish. Broiled pork spare ribs. Etc. The French girl had been deprived of meat, I think. She filled her plate 3X. I beamed. I felt like a Jewish grandmother. "Eat! Eat!" Thank you all for your ideas and help. I bookmark these threads and come back to them for recipes and inspiration. This thread was particularly rich in dishes and recipes!

No worries, Bumblebeez! It was a good idea. :) Chase, that does look great! I'm definitely going to try it. It should work well with the kind of strudelly filo we get nowadays. We used to get it fresh, where the ingredients list said "flour, water and skill". The thick stuff they sell now has all kinds of glue in it and is tough! It would definitely hold up to all that parm though. I will be glad to have a dish where I'm not cursing it, since I'm not nearly good enough to make and stretch my own. Sleevendog, good point about being able to see what it is. Most of the company know borekes, and love them, but I think, without knowing why, that's why I was attracted to the idea of cups and the like. Your piggy-backing to meals comment sounds just like something my mother said when I was a teen: "Julia Child left an important step out of this paté -- it should say, 'Feed pot roast to your family' right here." :) I bet your spring rolls are awesome, but there's no way I'm going to be able to try something like that for this. The mini-skewers are an interesting idea, however. When I mentioned skewers at the beginning, I was thinking something like a satay, but thought Kitchendetective had the right of it on the eating. I might be able to do a mini-satay on an ended tooth pick, as well as the kind of combo you were talking about. Re planning, I don't know what's getting made this week either, or even if there will be company or not. :) But if there is company, it's probably not more than half a dozen people with small appetites. If I don't plan now, and start cooking and freezing over the summer, however, I'm not going to be able to do it myself. I have a good caterer, but home made is so much better than "out" food, and I have good freezers that don't ruin the food. :) So I'm gathering ideas, and in a few weeks I'll start to write menus, and do trial runs on new recipes. I appreciate all the ideas more than I can express.