Food blogger hosts intimate dinner party in chic Manhattan apartment

On this episode of ITK Eats: Dinner Party, join food blogger Cameron Rogers (aka @freckledfoodie) as she hosts an intimate and delicious dinner party in her stunning Manhattan apartment. From dinner to dessert to drinks, Rogers spares no detail and shares some tips and tricks along the way. 

Rogers is hosting 4 guests at her soirée, so she wants to make the perfect amount of food while also having a ton of variety on the table. On the menu tonight is an air fryer salmon, a crunchy green salad, as well as a pesto pasta salad. For dessert is a blueberry crisp with fresh blueberries that Rogers procured at her local farmer’s market. 

Rogers also wants to serve a fun drink, so she’s got a pineapple jalapeño margarita up her sleeve, and plans to keep the alcohol on the side. That way, anyone who wants to drink can add the tequila themselves, and for anyone who’s not drinking, they can keep it as a mocktail!

For the pesto pasta salad, Rogers combines cooked pasta with chopped baby cucumbers, grape tomatoes, pre-sliced kalamata olives, pesto, and a generous amount of feta cheese. The host places the salad in the fridge so that by the time her guests arrive it’s ready to eat!

Rogers is a huge fan of her air fryer, and recommends air frying salmon for a quick and easy main course. Using the air fryer also allows Rogers, who is a parent, to indulge in some rare “me time.” The food blogger seasons her filets with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and some lime juice before popping them into the air fryer. The end result is perfectly cooked salmon with crispy skin. 

When it comes to dinner parties, Rogers is all about the ambiance. Her personal aesthetic is “minimalistic, but a little bit elevated” so she sets the table with candles, flowers, and individual placemats. 

Rogers’ dinner party went off without a hitch. Guests raved about the salmon, as well as the blueberry crisp with French vanilla ice cream. They also loved the alcohol-optional pineapple jalapeño margarita. Aside from guests loving the food, Rogers’ dinner party had the signature sign of success: everyone asking when they could do it again!

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