The best way to feel unity with your family, to be together, to chat is to get together for a family Sunday lunch. Sunday, as a rule, practically with the whole working population is a day off, just like with schoolchildren. Of course, each of us lives according to his schedule and schedule, and people who live under one roof cannot always come together on weekdays. But Sunday for a family Sunday meeting at a “delicious” table is the best fit.
Sunday lunch preparation
You need to understand that a delicious Sunday lunch requires some preparation. This is not just a quick whip on weekdays, it is a full-fledged table with various dishes, ranging from hot to dessert.
It is important to think through all the details to the smallest moments. Decide on the menu of a family Sunday lunch, prepare beautiful tablecloths, candles, get your favorite dishes and glasses. It seems that making dinner for the whole family is very difficult. But some of the nuances and tips that we will share today will help smooth out sharp corners, save time, effort and money. Let's get started.
Planning
As you know, a big lunch will consist of several dishes. But it’s not at all necessary to cook them right before serving. Having thought over the menu, you can choose dishes that are made in advance ("at night") and which must certainly be ready before home.
For example, if you decide to make fragrant steaks, it is better to cook them before serving. They are tastier when, as they say, "with heat, with heat." However, stewed vegetables, serving as a side dish for meat, can be made in advance. Or, for example, hotter - borsch or cabbage soup. They can be cooked the day before a family dinner. As you know, such dishes are tastier and more aromatic when they are infused (“reach”) and reach the top of their taste.
Teamwork
Cooking Sunday dinner is not only the duty of the hostess at home. Do not try to do everything yourself, alone. Attract your household, organize teamwork. You can easily entrust a man with meat or peeling potatoes. And the younger generation will be happy to participate in the preparation of culinary masterpieces.
It turns out that you remove part of the load from yourself and at the same time spend extra time together with your relatives and friends. Do not be afraid that the helpers ruin the dish or do something different from what you planned for the recipe. The atmosphere of community and team is much better for the family than the lonely proud independence.
Simplicity is the key to success
No need to try to do everything perfectly. You should not choose some very complex culinary masterpieces, the preparation of which will take the maximum amount of your time. You’d better cook one dish perfectly than in a hurry and make mistakes in all the complex dishes you have chosen.
You need to understand that Sunday lunch with your family is still not a festive feast, and it is better to cook simple and beloved dishes, rather than surprise you with refined but unusual cuisine.
By the way, purchased desserts can quite “participate” in your Sunday family meeting. For example, hot things will be made with your hands, and cakes or pastries acquired in cooking will simply become an addition and decoration to your main masterpieces.
The main thing in a family dinner is not refined, expensive dishes, but communication, warmth of the hearth, pleasant conversations and comfort.
Options for hot dishes
Of course, no Sunday lunch can do without hot. We offer you several easy-to-cook recipes that will help surprise and delight your home. For hot, you can choose both soups and meat or fish with a side dish. Think about what your household likes best, which will definitely be swept off plates in a matter of seconds. After all, it is very important for the hostess that the dish over which she had piled for half a day is pleasant and eaten to the last spoon.
Spinach cream soup with garlic croutons
To prepare a cream soup you will need:
- Potatoes - half a kilogram.
- Leek - One large stalk.
- Spinach - 3-4 large bunches.
- Low-fat cream - 500 milliliters.
- White bread - eight to nine slices without a crust.
- Olive oil - a couple of tablespoons.
- A few cloves of garlic.
- Salt pepper.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Then pour water into the pan, salt it a little and put the leek and potatoes there. It is necessary to cook vegetables until soft. While the vegetables are boiling, let's take on spinach. Hard tips should be cut off from him, and the base of the leaves should be cut arbitrarily into pieces. And add greens to boiled vegetables.
When the potatoes are ready, you can remove the pan from the heat. Allow the ingredients to cool slightly. Add a little salt, ground black pepper to the soup and beat everything with a blender. In the process of whipping with a slow stream, add cream. Then we put the pan on the fire for a couple of minutes, bring to a boil. The soup is ready.
We make crackers from white bread. We cut them into pieces, dry in the oven. In a separate bowl, mix olive oil and chopped garlic. Bread each cracker in this mass and add to the cream soup.
Salmon steak with vegetables
Fish is always a successful and win-win dish. If you have not decided what to cook for Sunday lunch, then you will not find anything better than a fish steak .
To prepare you will need:
- Salmon steak (at the rate of one piece per person).
- Frozen or fresh vegetables (green beans, green peas, sweet bell pepper, tomatoes).
- Salt, spices for fish, ground black pepper.
Steaks must be seasoned with salt, pepper and spices and fry in vegetable or olive oil on both sides.
While the fish is grilling, you can do cooking vegetables. Here it is worth deciding what you want: boiled vegetables for a side dish or, kind of, fresh vegetable salad. We recommend making vegetables hot. To do this, cut them all into large pieces, fry in oil for several minutes. So they will not lose their useful qualities, they will remain crispy, but they will be hot, which is what we need.
Meat with vegetables in foil
If among your household there are no fish lovers, then it is worth cooking hot meat. We suggest you make a delicious meat steak with vegetables in the oven.
To prepare you will need:
- Meat steak (we calculate the portion, as is the case with fish).
- Three small potatoes.
- A bunch of greens (dill or parsley).
- Two middle carrots.
- Cherry Tomatoes - 5-7 pieces.
- Champignon.
- Salt, pepper, spices for meat (to taste and optional).
Just say that while you are cooking, it is recommended to preheat the oven to 200 degrees and prepare the foil of the required size. You can make a dish in a baking dish, but we advise you not to be too lazy and pack meat steak in portions.
So, if the menu of Sunday lunch includes hot meat, we try to purchase it in a trusted store. The meat must be fresh, high-quality, because the taste of the dish will directly depend on this.
We beat the steak a little, sprinkle with spices, salt. We cut the mushrooms in half, as did the cherry tomatoes. Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes. You can do the same with carrots, or you can rub it on a coarse grater.
We lay the prepared products on the foil layer in layers: potatoes, meat, mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, greens. You can optionally add a little grated cheese on top. Close the foil, wrap it in a bag and send it to the oven.
Vegetable salad
As we already said, try to choose dishes that are simple and easy to prepare when you decide to organize a Sunday lunch. Recipes with photos can be found in the cookbook, or you can simply experiment with existing products. Of course, no one has canceled the "Olivier", beloved by all. But, you see, this salad, as a symbol of the New Year, is not suitable for a family Sunday meeting, in spite of the love for it among all members of your family.
To make a light and tasty vegetable salad, you will need:
- 200 grams of champignons.
- 10-12 pieces of cherry tomatoes.
- Two pieces of big bell peppers.
- String Beans.
- Green pea.
- Salt pepper.
- Olive oil for salad dressing.
Mushrooms should be cut into halves and sent to the pan to stew. Beans should also be put there. While the mushrooms are being stewed, you can chop the bell peppers and tomatoes. Then we mix all the ingredients in a beautiful bowl, season with herbs, olive oil. Salad ready.
For sweet
As for desserts, then the choice is yours. You can buy something unusual in the store for the whole family for Sunday lunch, or you can cook it yourself if the skills in the art of baking and free time allow.
If you decide to please the household with baking, then we recommend simple to prepare and extremely tasty homemade tea biscuits.
For cooking you need:
- Two eggs.
- 100 grams of sugar.
- 50 grams of butter.
- Two tablespoons of cocoa powder.
- Half a teaspoon of soda.
- Ground cinnamon.
- Ground cloves.
- Flour - 700 grams.
All the ingredients for the dough will need to be mixed, gradually introducing the flour. The dough should not stick to your hands, be as soft and supple as possible. We roll it into a large layer, from which cookies are cut out using molds. They are baked in the oven, heated to 200 degrees, in just seven minutes.
You can decorate with glaze made from one egg and icing sugar, or just pour over honey. Sunday lunch is ready!