Back in October, when I had broken my wrist, I threw together a beef stew
for myself to eat all week. One of my friends offered to do my
laundry....what a boon that was! She came over after I had eaten dinner to
pick up the clothes. Noticed the pot of stew, with dumplings, on the stove
and asked where I learned to make stew with dumplings, she hadn't seen it in
years.

My mom, i explained, blah blah blah.

I offered her some but she'd already eaten dinner. But I told her someday
I'd invite her and her husband for dinner (they are in their 60's and have
grown daughters, and have been like surrogate parents to me when I needed
them), and I'd make stew.

Well, someday is now. I invited them last night for tonight, and they will
be here in about 2.5 hours. The stew is on the stove. (A basic recipe, like
those posted here recently, nothing special, really, just good meat, some
onions, carrots and celery, onion soup mix (*Yeah, I know....so shoot me. I
like how it comes out with that!), red wine, plenty of herbs, paprika, black
pepper....cut up carrots, rutabagas and potatoes.)

Thing is, I'm not used to serving this for company....stew is sort of an all
in one meal, and when i served it for the family, that was all we had. But
for company...especially the first time I've ever entertained these folks, I
can't just stick a bowl of stew in front of them, ya know?

I have wine, I am making dumplings, so I don't really need bread for the
table...

But I think I need some sort of a first course at the table, besides cheese
and crackers to nosh on while we're in the living room.

But what goes with beef stew as an appetizer? Shrimp cocktail is too fancy
for such a homey dish (and I can't afford it). Soup---too much like stew.

What would you serve as a first course when beef stew is the main course?

They offered to bring dessert, so I have no idea what Dessert is.

I was thinking of running out to get some romaine, and making a composed
salad on a platter of romaine, red onions and oranges and grapefruits,
garnished with toasted walnuts and whipping up a creamy walnut oil
vinaigrette with white wine vinegar and some juice from the citrus fruits,
and some curls of very sharp cheddar. What herbs would go into that?

Whaddya think????

It seems right, and I have most of it here already (just have run out for
the greens and onions), but I wasn't sure if there was something better.

I like the contrast between the light and tangy salad as an appetizer for a
rich hearty stew, I think.