One of my favorite things is bringing together family and friends over a good meal. There’s something about cooking and eating together that just feels good — especially when you’re sharing recipes that have a lot of meaning, or dishes into which you put a lot of love. Growing up in a family of five, we always looked forward to meals together as a time for us to all gather and come together despite our busy schedules. Even now, whenever we’re all home for the holidays, we often spend a lot of time together in the kitchen, just cooking, eating, chatting, and laughing.

The same goes for dinners with friends, whether it’s a small get-together or a large feast. Especially when I lived abroad, cooking and eating with friends was a way to share our roots. I’ll never forget the first time I cooked a full Thanksgiving meal from my tiny kitchen in London (it was not easy to find a turkey in a grocery store in the U.K. in November, so I had to sub in a roasted duck – still delicious!). It was an especially special meal because, for many of my friends, it was their first Thanksgiving dinner. I did a similar thing eight months later in July for the July 4th holiday — hosting an Independence Day picnic in Regent’s Park, complete with pigs-in-a-blanket, lemon squares, and ants-on-a-log.

Above: Thanksgiving in London (top photo); July 4th in Regent’s Park (bottom photo).

Yet cooking for a group, especially if you’re bravely hosting on your own, is not always an easy feat. As we’re now in the thick of the holiday season, here are some tips and lessons I’ve learned over the years — hopefully these will be helpful for you!

• Plan ahead: There’s no substitute for good planning; while you can definitely put together great last-minute meals, when you’re cooking for a big group, it can be helpful to organize ahead to figure out what you’re planning to cook, where you can pick up ingredients, and how to manage your oven and burners on the day of your feast.
• Consider your group: It’s good to know if any of your guests have food allergies or restrictions ahead of time, so you can plan your menu accordingly. For example, if you’re planning a roast dinner and you have some vegetarian friends joining, it’s good to think of an equivalent veggie-friendly main dish, so they’re not just eating beans and potatoes sides.
• Prep, prep, prep: Whenever I’m planning a big dinner or meal, I always think about what prep I can do ahead of time to make things less stressful on the day of the meal. For example, you can chop veggies ahead of time, prepare mixes or batters to put in the fridge, or sometimes even fully bake your dessert a day or two before (some pies or cakes taste even better after sitting for a day or two).
• Keep it simple: While I’m guilty of usually going for elaborate recipes, I’ve found some of the best meals I’ve put together for groups are those that involve simple ingredients and steps. Half of the fun of a big dinner is having time to sit down and eat and talk with your friends — you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen or keep your friends waiting until late at night for your meal to be ready!
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help: While your inner host/ess may try to do everything, inviting others to help you cook or prepare a dish can be a more fun and less stressful way to host a dinner. There are a lot of fun recipes that can involve prepping or cooking together too (i.e. build-your-own dishes).
• Remember to have fun: This is the most important thing to remember when cooking or hosting a meal: don’t let the process or prep overwhelm you, and don’t be down if your dish doesn’t turn out exactly as you planned (the love you put in it will still be there) — just have fun!

Happy cooking, and happy holidays!
–Ash