Hosting a dinner party is a fun social affair, but if one of your guests is gluten intolerant, it can seem like a challenge to accommodate him or her. If someone is highly sensitive to gluten, they can have a reaction if their food simply touches a gluten-containing food, so its important to be vigilant about maintaining a gluten-free environment. It will probably be easiest on you to make the entire meal gluten-free, and there are lots of great recipes that gluten tolerant and intolerant guests alike will enjoy.
Drinks
The first menu item you need to plan for is the drinks. You can still provide your other guests with gluten-containing drinks, like beer or whiskey, but make sure that you have gluten-free options as well. Wine and gluten-free beer are great choices because you won’t have to set aside time to make cocktails, but if you do want mixed drinks, opt for some margaritas or mojitos. Rum, tequila, and most vodkas are gluten-free, so you can easily pair them with juice or soda for an easy drink.
Appetizers
When planning the appetizers, you do have a wide variety of gluten-free options. You can still serve a gluten-containing appetizer if you want, but keep that appetizer separate from the gluten free one to avoid cross contamination. Some great gluten-free options include hummus and veggies, salad, seasoned roasted nuts, spinach and lentil soup, or coconut shrimp (made with GF bread crumbs).
Entrées
If you’re worried about preparing a gluten-free main course that’s still hearty and delicious for all guests, don’t worry; there are many tasty dinner recipes that do not contain gluten. Take advantage of other fresh ingredients, like chicken, pork, beef, fish, rice, vegetables, herbs, spices, and gluten-free pastas and flours. A few choices include oven baked salmon with a honey-dijon glaze and roasted asparagus, lasagna with sliced zucchini instead of pasta noodles, or a sage and apple stuffed pork tenderloin.
Making a gluten-free dessert can seem overwhelming at first since most cookies, cakes, and pies contain gluten, but this is a great opportunity to think outside the box! You can either go simple with some fresh fruit and a whipped cream topping, or you can go all out with a gourmet crème brûlée. Even if you still want to prepare a delicious chocolate cake, you can find many gluten-free flours made from coconut, almond, or soy.
