Natasha “Tash” Feldman loves a dinner party. It could be a sit-down dinner, a potluck, even a picnic. As long as people gather together for a meal in her company, she’s all in.

To that end, the Los Angeles-based chef, who has roots in La Jolla, has written “The Dinner Party Project: A No-Stress Guide to Food With Friends.” The book, which contains more than 80 recipes, is a breezy, confidence-building manual for those who are either new to throwing a dinner party or whose entertaining skills may have been dulled after isolating during the pandemic. Feldman keeps it light; there are as many goofy asides and puns as there are very useful tips and strategies that even the most self-assured dinner partier will find helpful.

The book was inspired by the 30-something chef’s own friends.

“The Dinner Party Project: A NoStress Guide to Food With Friends” by Natasha Feldman. Published by Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; 272 pages; $40.

(Harvest)

“I wanted to write this book before the pandemic and then sat on it for quite a while because, obviously, it wasn’t an easy sell when the whole world was shut down,” Feldman explained. “But I took the opportunity to start talking about it with all of my friends and family and people who are not comfortable cooks. And then there are some people that are comfortable cooks but become uncomfortable when it’s in a dinner party setting, because they feel like they have to be able to be something that is sort of supernatural and unrealistic.”

Feldman asked them what the hiccups were for them — and the easy parts — when it comes to hosting a dinner party. She wanted to know what they noticed at someone’s house that they like and dislike. She wanted to collect all the stumbling blocks they encountered or imagined and then figure out a solution. Then, she made a dinner party timeline, from just starting to think about wanting to have people over, to what happens once they’ve left and you’re turning to doing the dishes.

“I plot pointed every single thing that you could possible think about from A to Z and eliminated things that I thought were optional,” she noted. “Then, I broke down each one, providing options that could make you feel comfortable regardless of your cooking skill for every single step of that journey.”

So, while Feldman’s recipes — which range from cocktails, noshes and apps, and mains to salads and sides, pizza, tacos, breakfast for dinner, and dessert — are creative while still accessible, her dinner party advocacy is such that if you want to order in everything to alleviate stress, she’s fine with that.

“So much of the stress of a dinner party is getting in your head about it and then not being able to actually show up and have any fun, which is the entire point,” she said. “The point is to feel like you can be with your people and build and maintain community.”

A candid flowchart helps guide the party-planning process.

(Becky Simpson)

Feldman, who was raised in both La Jolla and Lake Oswego, Ore., felt the need for community so keenly in her 20s that she established what she calls “Friendsday Wednesday.” Every Wednesday she’d throw a dinner party using a Google Docs signup sheet for friends, who were welcome to invite others.

Now, on the other side of the pandemic shutdown, she believes it’s time to revive the dinner party as a low-stress way to connect. To help tamp down the stress, she’s created a flowchart, predetermined menus, and suggestions for different ways your dinner party could take shape. Maybe you want to cook the whole meal yourself. Maybe you want to share cooking with a friend and divvy up the responsibilities, or have a potluck. Feldman put together a timeline starting weeks before the event and takes you through the prep. She even has tips for “avoiding disaster,” like thoroughly reading through the recipe ahead of shopping and cooking so there are no surprises, or making sure to have enough clean plates and utensils.

Feldman provided three recipes from her book that are great examples of dishes that can easily be prepared in stages ahead of time.

Let’s start with her “Andy Approved Kale Salad.” Andy is her husband and he’s no fan of kale but loved this salad. Kale is a smart salad choice for an anxious cook because you can dress it in advance, and it won’t wilt. This salad is ultra-simple. The dressing is a mixture of minced garlic, lemon juice, mayo or Vegenaise, salt, black pepper, and extra-virgin olive oil. All it takes is whisking them together in a bowl and then storing in the fridge until you’re ready to toss it with strips of kale, salt, black pepper, chunks of fresh avocado, and grated pecorino Romano cheese. Feldman also anticipates potential questions with tips and timing suggestions.

Then there’s Feldman’s “Peel ‘N’ Eat Shrimp With ‘I’d Eat This on a Shoe’ Basil Dipping Magic.” This dish is also a breeze to create. Her tangy basil dipping sauce combines lime juice, mayonnaise, spicy mustard, brown sugar, chopped basil, hot sauce and salt. And, yes, you just whisk it all together and refrigerate it.

The highlight of the shrimp is the beer you cook it in. It sweetens and tenderizes it. You’ll need a large stockpot to fill with the beer, water, Old Bay seasoning, salt, a quartered lemon and a bay leaf. Once you bring it to a boil, you’ll add shell-on but deveined shrimp (don’t worry, she explains how to do this). To keep the shrimp from overcooking, you’re going to fill a bowl with ice and some water while the shrimp are cooking. They’ll be ready — think pink and opaque — after about 3 minutes. Then they go into that ice water until they’re cool to the touch, at which point you remove them to a bed of paper towels to dry. The last task is to toss the cooked shrimp in a mix of Old Bay, parsley and lime juice. Then, serve with the basil dipping sauce.

The last recipe is a hoot. It’s a Rainbow Cookie Icebox Cake that’s perfect for making when summer temps are just too unbearable for a hot oven. In fact, that’s how it came about — for Feldman’s bubbe (grandma), whose three kids all had summer birthdays in the sweltering summer environment of the Bronx. It’s become a Feldman family tradition.

This recipe is simply layers of chilled whipped cream and boxed chocolate wafer cookies. The biggest complexity here is dividing the whipped cream into four bowls and adding different food color to each bowl. You’ll line a loaf pan with plastic wrap, place a layer of wafers on the bottom and then, like lasagna, alternate layer the whipped cream with a layer of wafers, ending with the wafers. Cover it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The next day, release the cake from the loaf pan and then the plastic wrap. Feldman suggests serving slices with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.

“These peel and eat shrimp are great because you can make them a day or two in advance, and take them out of the out of the fridge 30 to 40 minutes before serving,” said Feldman. “You have a really beautiful entree that you can feel proud of. But all of the work is done in advance.”

The Andy Approved Kale Salad, with avocado chunks and a dusting of pecorino Romano, gets a thumbs-up from Feldman’s kale-averse husband.

(Alana Kysar)

Andy Approved Kale Salad

Though I’m a lover of just about any vegetable, my husband/roommate has a strong aversion to kale. When I asked Andy to test a bunch of kale salads side by side, he was VERY disgruntled. But when he tried this kale salad, he actually made an audible “yum” sound. It was almost disturbing — I thought perhaps he had been body-snatched. But, it turned out, I had just cracked the code on a kale salad. Kale salads are great for entertaining a large group because they can sit dressed much longer than any other salad, and often get better as the dressing is really absorbed by the kale. Love this salad and want to mix it up? Swap out the pecorino and avocado for chopped roasted almonds, a thinly sliced crisp apple and small cubes of aged cheddar.

Makes 6 servings

FOR THE DRESSING:
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
½ cup Vegenaise (or mayo)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

FOR THE SALAD:
2 bunches (about 2 pounds) of curly kale, ribs removed, cut into ¼-inch strips
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper, plus extra to finish
1 ripe Hass avocado, skin and pit removed, cut into chunks
½ cup grated pecorino Romano cheese

Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, ½ cup Veganaise (or regular mayo), 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Taste the dressing on a piece of kale and add extra lemon juice, if desired.

Make the salad: Dump the kale into a large serving bowl, sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper, and toss. Deep tissue massage half the dressing into the kale with your hands for a full minute to really break down the kale and make it tasty. Taste a leaf and keep adding dressing until you’re happy with the flavor. Add the avocado and gently toss to evenly distribute. Top with ½ cup grated pecorino Romano and extra black pepper.

Tips + Timing:

1. Make the dressing up to 2 days in advance and store in a jar in the fridge. Wash, dry and store chopped kale wrapped in a dry kitchen towel in a resealable bag up to a day in advance. Assemble the salad just before serving.

2. The easiest way to remove the rib of the kale is to tear slits at the bottom of the leaf and hold the base of the stem with one hand and tightly grab the bottom of the leafy part with the other. Push the leaf up-stem to separate.

3. There are many types of kale to choose from. I recommend curly kale because I like how it holds on to the dressing, and the flavor is mild. However, if you can’t find it, opt for dinosaur (lacinato) kale.

4. Make sure you buy fresh kale. Before putting it in your cart, look around real fast and, when no one is looking, sniff that kale. If it has a fresh, earthy smell, you’re good to go. If it smells at all like a hard-boiled egg, don’t buy it. If you get caught sniffing kale, you can blame it on me.

Peel ’N’ Eat Shrimp With ‘I’d Eat This on a Shoe’ Basil Dipping Magic uses beer as a flavorful cooking liquid.

(Alana Kysar)

Peel ‘N’ Eat Shrimp With ‘I’d Eat This on a Shoe’ Basil Dipping Magic

I have always, always loved shrimp. When I used to visit my grandma in New York, I would gorge myself on amazing shrimp-laden Cantonese takeout until I would get physically ill. If anyone here is a fan of the show “The Good Place,” I’m Eleanor Shellstrop. I would gladly shove shrimp cocktail down my bra for later enjoyment. These Peel ‘N’ Eat Shrimp are easy easy easy and inspired by/adapted from my absolute favorite shrimp in all of the land, the shrimp on the menu at Son of a Gun (cue drooling).

I also need to give a special shout-out to my father-in-law, Aaron, who taught me the wonders of cooking seafood in beer, which makes the shrimp sweeter and, though I can’t prove it, more tender too. Now, go on and get messy with your people. It’s one of the most fun and delicious ways to bond. Oh, and put out lots of extra paper napkins or cloth napkins or paper towels! Bibs encouraged.

Makes 6 servings (about 7 shrimp per serving)

FOR THE BASIL DIPPING MAGIC:
4 teaspoons lime juice, plus more to taste
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup spicy mustard
2 teaspoons brown sugar
¼ cup finely chopped basil
1½ teaspoons hot sauce (I like Frank’s RedHot), plus more to taste
Salt to taste

FOR THE SHRIMP:
2 (12-ounce) cans of a lager, wheat ale, pilsner or pale ale
4 cups water
4 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1 lemon, cut into quarters
1 bay leaf
2 pounds shell-on jumbo shrimp, rinsed
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley leaves
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 cups ice
3 limes, cut into wedges, for serving

Make the Basil Dipping Magic: In a medium bowl, whisk together 4 teaspoons lime juice, 1 cup mayo, ¼ cup spicy mustard, 2 teaspoons brown sugar, the basil, and 1½ teaspoons hot sauce. Add extra lime and hot sauce and salt to taste. Refrigerate the dip until you’re ready to serve.

Make the shrimp: In a large stockpot, bring 2 cans of beer, 4 cups water, 2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, the lemon and 1 bay leaf to a boil over high heat.

While the liquid is becoming flavorful, prep your shrimp. For ideal peel ‘n’ eat shrimp, devein the shrimp without removing the shell. To do this, take a clean pair of scissors and cut a slit along the top of the shrimp to fully expose the vein and pull it out, leaving the rest of the shell intact. Look at you go! You’re practically a fisherman now.

In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons Old Bay, the parsley and 2 tablespoons lime juice. Set aside.

When all the shrimp are deveined, drop them into the stockpot and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the shrimp are pink and opaque, 3 to 4 minutes

While the shrimp are cooking, fill another large bowl with 2 cups of ice and add some water. When the shrimp are done, drain and add them to the ice water to stop them from cooking any further. Once they’re cool to the touch, after about 1 minute, remove them from the water, transfer them to a bed of paper towels, and pat them dry.

Toss the shrimp in the bowl containing your Old Bay-parsley mixture. Serve with lime wedges and the Basil Dipping Magic.

Tips + Timing:

1. Feel free to make the shrimp and sauce a day ahead of time and store in separate airtight containers in the fridge. Take the shrimp out of the fridge an hour before dinner, and toss in the lime juice–herb mixture just before serving.

2. Each pound of jumbo shrimp (one of my favorite oxymorons) serves about 3 people at 7 shrimp each.

3. Cooking the shrimp with the shell on helps prevent overcooking and enhances the flavor. If you can’t find those with the shell on, you can use peeled and deveined shrimp.

4. If you have frozen shrimp, thaw them in the fridge overnight or, if you need them ASAP, put them all in a colander and run cold water over them until thawed.

5. Take a sip of the beer before you drown your shrimp in it. If you don’t like the way it tastes, you won’t like it on your shrimp, either.

Rainbow Cookie Icebox Cake is a no-bake treat that makes a splash at summertime parties.

(Alana Kysar)

Rainbow Cookie Icebox Cake

A traditional icebox cake (chilled layers of whipped cream and boxed wafer cookies) is a Feldman family favorite and the No. 1 choice for all birthday celebrations. Maybe it’s because the tradition started with my dad and his two siblings growing up in the Bronx, all having summer birthdays, and my bubbe didn’t want to turn the oven on? Maybe it’s because they’re easy and she was not at all a baker? Or maybe it’s just because it’s delicious. We’ll never know why it stuck, but I’m happy it did. My love for an icebox cake is only exceeded by my devotion to that New York bakery staple, the Italian rainbow cookie. Thus the rainbow cookie/icebox cake cake mash-up was born.

Makes 6 to 8 servings (1 loaf cake)

1 quart heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Green, yellow and red food coloring
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
½ cup (3 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped and melted
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 boxes of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers (or other thin, crisp chocolate cookies)
Flaky sea salt, to finish

In a stand mixer or with hand beaters, whip 1 quart cream with 3 tablespoons sugar and ⅛ teaspoon salt into soft peaks. (If using a stand mixer, cover the top of the mixer with a large dish towel for the first minute to prevent splashing as the cream whirls around the bowl.)

Once soft peaks have formed, add 1 teaspoon vanilla and whip until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes.

Divide the whipped cream evenly into four bowls:

• To the first bowl, add 6 drops of green food color, 2 drops of yellow food color and 1 teaspoon almond extract. Fold to incorporate.
• To the second bowl, add 6 drops of red food color and 2 tablespoons raspberry jam. Fold to incorporate.
• To the third bowl, add 9 drops of yellow food color. Fold to incorporate.
• To the fourth bowl, add ½ cup melted semi-sweet chocolate and 1 tablespoon cocoa powder. You know what to do. (The chocolate layer may look a little marbled, and that’s OK!)

Line a standard loaf pan with plastic wrap. Make sure that your wrap is long enough to cover the loaf pan once it’s full.
Place a layer of wafers (use whole wafers and fill in with broken wafers) in the bottom of the pan, then spread with a layer of half the chocolate whipped cream.

Add another layer of wafers and half the pink whipped cream, followed by another layer of wafers and the rest of the pink whipped cream.

Follow with a layer of wafers and a layer of yellow whipped cream and repeat, then a layer of wafers and a layer of green whipped cream and repeat.

End with a layer of wafers, a layer of chocolate whipped cream, and a final layer of wafers. Note: The loaf pan will be quite full and runneth over. Don’t worry. No one has ever been mad at too much icebox cake.

Cover tightly with the extra plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Pop the pan upside down and use a butter knife to release the plastic wrap. Unwrap, slice, and serve sprinkled with flaky sea salt.

TIPS + TIMING:

1. Make and refrigerate 1 to 3 days in advance. The cake needs to set at least overnight.

2. Don’t skimp on the whipped cream — the cookies will expand and you wanna see all those layers!

3. If you can’t find the thin, crisp chocolate wafer cookies, you can always use chocolate wafer sandwich cookies or split Oreos.

Recipes from “The Dinner Party Project: A No-Stress Guide to Food With Friends” by Natasha Feldman. Copyright © 2023 by Natasha Feldman. Reprinted by permission of Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Golden is a San Diego freelance food writer and blogger.