This post features a delicious summer entertaining menu.
Oh, sweet summer! The warm breeze pouring through the open windows, the bountiful garden teeming with fresh flowers and herbs — the perfect setting for a relaxed meal outside. Here’s a simple summer entertaining menu for you to host your own elevated weeknight dinner or meal with friends: moules + frites.
Inspired by Entertaining with Beth’s moules + frites (mussels + fries) recipe, I bookmarked this months ago with excitement for the summer months. I wrote it on my calendar in the kitchen so I would glance at the words “moules frites” every so often, which served as a special reminder of the warmer days ahead and dining outside on our lovely patio. I had no idea how easy it is to make make mussels and Beth always brings her trademark cheerfulness and ease to each recipe, so I felt really equipped to take this on.
The Summer Entertaining Menu Prep
The prep for this meal was surprisingly simple!
I ran to our local fish monger the morning of our al fresco meal. The mussels were only $4/lb (I also had no idea how cheap mussels were until I saw Beth’s video) and ordered three pounds. The person who served me was very helpful — she told me to put the mussels & the ice (packed in the bag) into a colander as soon as I get home. She then said the colander gets placed inside a large bowl and put in the fridge. If the water drained through the colander, she said to dump it so the mussels don’t sit in fresh water as, of course, they live in salt water.
She told me that the mussels, if left to sit in the fresh water, would cycle through the water and the mussel “goodness” would dilute. So helpful! I was a good student and followed all of her directions.
We chose to go with frozen french fries for the frites, which is what Beth did as well. She suggested a specific Simply Ore Ida brand, but we couldn’t find it at our store. Instead, we went with skinny Ore Ida fry and they were delicious! So, not much prep here, aside from tossing with Herbes de Provence and Maldon Sea Salt, per the recipe.
I added fresh baguette to the table, mostly for my six year old who wasn’t ready to try the mussels, and also for the adults to soak up the flavorful leftovers at the bottom of the bowl. As an extra touch, I also added two aiolis to the table for the frites: garlic and lemon. Both were from Stonewall Kitchen and both were on point!
I found these sweet galvanized tins at a local antique store. It was one of those finds that I immediately grabbed as soon as I laid eyes on them. Know the feeling? I almost forgot about them until I opened the doors in my butler’s pantry and they were right in front of me. What a perfect vessel for these crispy frites!
The Al Fresco Summer Tablescape
This was a really casual dinner, so I just pulled a few things I had on hand to make our meal feel extra summery. Hydrangea paper placemats, white dishware, my Sabre flatware and tea towels as napkins (per Beth’s recommendation). I found the striped towels below which fit the color scheme, but I don’t believe they’re available any longer. I’ve linked a few other colorful summer tea towel options below (, as this was a great suggestion! Because moules + frites can be so messy, she suggested using dish towels as napkins. Genius idea and now I have a new set of cute kitchen towels!
We added a dinner plate under each bowl to catch any drippings and for the used shells. Per Beth’s suggestion, I also included a large bowl where people could discard their shells, which was a helpful touch. I paired my mussels with Sauvignon Blanc, as this dry white is a wonderful compliment to seafood. I was in heaven!
For an extra coastal French touch, I used a Spotify playlist called “French Beach Vibes”. It was the perfect touch. Even though we were sitting in my backyard in Pennsylvania, we felt almost as if we were just off the ocean somewhere.
We all made several comments about how delicious the meal was, as well as how wonderful it was to sit outside and be transported to the oceanside through flavor and ambience. The warm early evening summer sun was a pleasure, as we enjoyed our laid back, but elevated al fresco dining. My one year old even hung out in her high chair for an extra few minutes! What a treat.
This table would have obviously been beautiful with summer blue shades, paired with cream/white and blue or purple hydrangeas. It’s fun to get creative and play with various color palettes for each season. Just play around with whatever you have on hand, rather than stressing yourself out. Consider it a unique, curated table based on the finds in your home.
Ultimately, the best part is the food and the company, so try not to stress about the aesthetics and just let your creative side flow.
Summer Entertaining Menu: Hosting Inspiration
For this meal, it was fun to be intentional about running to the market for specific fresh ingredients for this menu, especially because I didn’t have the stress/time crunch of putting together a big meal and hosting a lot of people. These days our time is stretched thin given our no-longer-an-infant-and-now-an-all-over-the-place-toddler and my son. So, the few minutes I stole away to grab the fresh ingredients, paired with the excitement of casually hosting and the opportunity to be creative felt really nice.
Do you have any summer dinners that are your go-tos that you look forward to each year? This is now one on our list. I love creating new traditions with meals that anchor the seasons.
I hope you feel inspired by this simple summer entertaining menu and find it to be a good fit for you too!
Moules frites is where it’s at! Salud!
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This post was all about a summer entertaining menu.
Other breezy summer posts which may be of interest to you:
How to Host an Inspired Summer Book Club
What To Do in Lewes Delaware
11 Fun Things to Do In Kingston NY (& beyond)
