Delightful do-ahead dinners

How to take the stress out of a dinner party? Serve dishes that can be prepared in advance, says top London chef James Ramsden. Photographs by Yuki Sugiura

THE CHEF JAMES RAMSDEN is a proponent of do-ahead dinners, and for good reason. Starting out in 2010 as an enthusiastic cook hosting supper clubs for strangers in the home he shared with his sister, he had no choice – his kitchen was in full view and there was no way he’d be able to feed 20 people if he started from scratch in the evening. Cooking as much as possible in advance, then, was essential, and it ‘wasn’t the restriction it first seemed’, he writes in his book, Let’s Do Dinner. ‘It meant I could be organised hours before the first knock on the door, and could talk to guests when they arrived instead of being wedged in the kitchen.’

Ramsden now runs the acclaimed Pidgin in east London and will open a sandwich and craft beer shop in King’s Cross this summer. His get-ahead mantra remains undiminished. ‘I’m convinced that this is the ideal way for anyone to cook for guests, as it eliminates one of the greatest stresses of feeding people – that of being in a deranged flap when it comes to dinner. The cooking side of things becomes so much more enjoyable, too. You are not racing against the clock, but rather taking things at your own pace’.

Even if the menu is just for four, making elements such as pastry, dressings and lightly cooked vegetables the day before means that, come supper time, Ramsden promises, ‘you are in a state of complete control and composure’. Let’s Do Dinner: Perfect Do-ahead Meals for Family and Friends, by James Ramsden (Pavilion Books, £12.99), is published on 10 September. Order your copy for £10.99 plus p&p at books. telegraph.co.uk or call 0844-8711514