Dinner’s for Eight: Parties on a Budget

This easy and delicious dinner looks and tastes as if it should take many more dollars--and hours--to prepare. It costs about $16, serves eight people . . . and you can make the whole thing ahead of time.

DINNER PARTY FOR EIGHT Fennel-Celery Broth Chicken With Red Wine Salad or vegetable Potatoes, rice, pasta or bread Almond Meringue Pie To help keep costs low: Buy whole chickens and use the necks and backs to make the broth for the fennel-celery soup. Look for specials on full-bodied varietal wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Burgundy. Serve either a large salad or a vegetable; choose according to your market’s produce prices. Serve the chicken with any starch you have in your cupboard--potatoes, rice or pasta.

COST

2 chickens, $6.20

1/4 pound bacon, 50 cents

1/2 pound (about 16) small mushrooms, $1

1 head celery, 50 cents

2 large onions, 35 cents

1 bunch parsley, 25 cents

1 small bulb fennel, 60 cents

1 bottle wine, $3.50

2 heads lettuce or vegetables, $1.25

4 eggs, $1.30 per dozen, 40 cents

Lemon and orange, 45 cents

Almonds, 50 cents

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate, 70 cents

Total, $16.20

CHICKEN WITH RED

WINE

1/4 cup flour

Salt, pepper

2 whole chicken fryers, cut into 8 serving pieces (reserve necks, backs and gizzards for broth)

1/4 pound salt pork or bacon, cut in small pieces and blanched

1/4 cup olive oil

16 small (about 1/2 pound) mushrooms, halved

4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

2 onions, cut in eighths lengthwise

2 stalks celery, chopped in 1-inch pieces

2 carrots, chopped in 1-inch pieces

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon thyme or to taste

1/2 teaspoon tarragon or to taste

Large pinch rosemary or to taste

1 bottle red wine such as Burgundy, Cabernet Sauvignon or Zinfandel

Mix flour with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge chicken pieces in mixture.

Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute salt pork until almost crisp. Remove meat from skillet, leaving rendered fat.

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to skillet and brown chicken pieces in small batches. Remove pieces as they brown on outside and do not cook through. If necessary, add remaining olive oil and saute mushrooms, garlic, onions, celery and carrots until just tender. Remove vegetables and drain fat.

Combine chicken, vegetables, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, tarragon, rosemary and wine in large casserole or pot. Cover and simmer 25 to 30 minutes or bake at 375 degrees about 35 minutes until chicken is tender. Makes 8 servings, 2 pieces each.

Note: To cut fat during cooking, skin chicken first. Dish can be made ahead and reheated. Skim any fat before reheating.

This light, simple soup with the faint flavor of licorice (from the fennel) is perfect before the chicken. FENNEL-CELERY

BROTH

4 to 5 cups chicken broth

1 small bulb fresh fennel, thinly sliced

2 stalks celery, narrow part only, thinly sliced

Salt, pepper

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Heat chicken broth in saucepan over medium heat. Add fennel and celery. Cover and bring to boil. Remove from heat and let stand 3 to 5 minutes. Vegetables should be slightly crunchy.

Season as needed with salt and pepper and serve 1/2 to 3/4 cup broth with vegetables. Garnish with little lemon zest. Makes 8 (1/2-cup) servings.

Note: To make broth, combine backs, necks and gizzards with 6 cups water, 1 small onion, 1 carrot and 1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped. Bring to a boil, skim, cover and simmer for at least an hour. Strain, and cool to skim fat.

You can whip up this low fat, no cholesterol feather-light meringue pie with just four egg whites and a little chocolate.

ALMOND MERINGUE

PIE WITH

ORANGE-CHOCOLATE

SAUCE

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces

4 large egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Scant 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsalted toasted almonds, chopped

Juice of 1/2 orange, optional

Chop 1/4 cup of chocolate and set aside. Beat egg whites until frothy and add cream of tartar. Continue beating until they form soft peaks. Beat in almond extract. Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.

Fold in almonds and 1/4 cup chopped chocolate. Turn meringue into 9-inch pie pan lined with parchment paper or Von Snedaker’s Magic Baking Sheets. Bake at 300 degrees 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until top is firm and knife inserted into center comes out clean. Center will be soft.

Remove meringue from pan and cool. Serve with chocolate sauce made by remaining 1/4 cup chocolate melting with orange juice. Makes 8 servings.

Note: Meringue softens when there is any moisture in air. Keep well covered before serving. Semisweet chocolate chips work well.

Von Snedaker’s reusable Magic Baking Sheets available at Bristol Farms, all locations; Cookin’ Things, Pasadena; A Store for Cooks, Laguna Niguel; and Let’s Get Cookin’, Westlake Village.