Entertaining

Home Cooking With Company Manners

Bucatini With Wine-Infused Meat Sauce: homey food that's guest-worthy, too. (Photo By Renee Comet; Styled By Lisa Cherkasky For The Washington Post)

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By Stephanie Witt Sedgwick

Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Entertaining doesn't always require a special occasion. Colleagues from out of town, neighbors with a spouse away or just a friend who happens to be free might join you for dinner. With little notice, they're not expecting much -- just a nice meal with the family. They'll say they don't want you to go to any trouble or change your plans because of them.

You can stick with a family-style meal, but there are ways to make it special. Bucatini With Wine-Infused Meat Sauce is a perfect choice: homey yet filled with the extras that make you confident you're serving something to be proud of. The sauce, rich with the flavors that long cooking brings, will fill the hollows of the pasta. Best of all, the dish can be prepared the morning of or a day in advance, so you'll be relaxed enough to enjoy the meal with your guest.

With the pasta, serve a green salad with shaved Parmesan cheese. In keeping with the weekday, family-night theme, a simple dessert is all you need: store-bought gelato and Italian cookies.

Stephanie Witt Sedgwick, a former Food section recipe editor, can be reached atfood@washpost.com.