Entertaining: Labor Day Grill

Labor Day marks the unofficial end to Summer. Even without a calendar, it's hard not to notice the cooler evenings, the sun setting earlier every night and the leaves slowly turning to various shades of red, orange and gold. How about celebrating the end of Summer this Labor Day with a delicious, "mostly on the grill" early Fall menu?

This is a perfect menu for Labor Day entertaining. It celebrates the fruits and vegetables of the season in an uncomplicated way, allowing the taste of the food to be the stars of the show and it also let's you be outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Timetable

Day Before:

• Prepare the marinade for the pork in a resealable bag and refrigerate.
• Make the dressings for the Potato Salad and the Green Salad. Prepare the dressings in jars and refrigerate them until needed.
• Roast the cherry tomatoes for the salad. Once cooked and cooled, transfer them to a container with a lid and refrigerate.
• Make the Spicy Greek Yogurt, cover and refrigerate.

Morning of:

• Add the pork fillets to the marinade in the morning of the party.

Hours before:

• Prepare the shrimp, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to cook them.
• Prepare the fruit kebabs, place on a tray and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until you're ready to cook them.
• Remove the roasted cherry tomatoes from the refrigerator so they warm to room temperature before placing them on the salad.
• Prepare the remainder of the salad, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
• Make the salsa.

Once Everyone Arrives:

• Start the grill so that it's ready for when you want to start cooking. If you're using a charcoal grill, get the grill going about 30 minutes before your guests are due, this way the coals will be ready and waiting for you, it will make sure all the chemical fumes have burned off before you start cooking and the coals have burned down.

Tablescape

If the weather permits, serve this family style outside so guests can help themselves. Because this is a very earthy and rustic menu, go with an informal tablescape - lots of candles and use small jars as vases with small bunches of flowers.

For more Fall entertaining ideas check out this posting.