When I give speeches on "Easy Entertaining" I always include a segment on what to do when something goes wrong. I tell my audience that it's always better to PLAN on something going wrong so they are not surprised when something goes haywire. Then they will more easily come up with Plan B (read: the answer to "Now what do I do!?")

This might be the night the grill canister goes to empty and you are half-finished grilling the chicken. You might find out you have a guest who's deathly allergic to shellfish and you planned to serve scallops. The souffle might fall. You get the idea.

I'll never forget one New Year's Eve. We were invited to an elegant party at a neighbor's house. The guest list included some of the area's glitterati and of course the movers and shakers. We were having a great time meeting new folks. The host and hostess went all out. They ordered beautiful food from a caterer. The food arrived ready to cook in disposable aluminum containers. They were given instructions to put the entree and side dishes in the oven at the set temperature and just take it out and serve when it was done. Everything seemed perfect.

The cocktail hour was very successful. The hors d oeuvres were prepared ahead and served at room temperature. The guests quickly gobbled them up. Time passes and we chat away.

Two and a half hours later we were all still drinking and waiting to be called to the buffet. Things were getting awkward. Some were starting to look at their watches and they weren't wondering if it was midnight yet. They wondered where dinner was.

In the midst of this I got a quiet tap on my shoulder. The hostess said, "Would you mind coming into the kitchen? I think I might need your help". I gladly followed her. She opened the oven and it became very obvious why she had a problem. She explained that the food had been in much longer than the instructions told her but it was not getting done. Since beef tenderloin was the entree we had to get it at LEAST to rare-to-medium-rare before we could eat it. What was so painfully clear was there was WAY too much food in the oven! The pans holding the beef, the potatoes and the carrots were jammed in the oven. The caterer had not thought at all about the amount of food our hostess would be trying to cook in one oven.

So...quickly....I had to think of Plan B. How could I help her get dinner on the buffet before everyone drown in their cocktails and they start dropping to the floor like the big ball in Times Square?

First we took everything out of the oven. We put the carrots in a series of bowls and cooked them one bowl at a time in the microwave.

We took the potatoes out and finished them up on the stove. That took up all four burners. They were browned potatoes now but at least they were not rocks.

We cut the tenderloin into smaller pieces instead of whole tenderloins so there would be more surface area that could cook and turned the oven to 500 degrees to roast the pieces as fast as possible. Because now the meat was the only thing in the oven this really took no time at all. In less than 20 minutes the dinner was finished and ready to serve. The meal was perfect.

One example of Plan B carried out with flying colors.

This one was pretty easy. It was just a matter of getting the food cooked. Others require damage repair or a switch in direction. Which leads us to a recent story. My friend Peter and I were both charged with bringing an appetizer to a party. Neither of us knew that was the case so we didn't consult one another. A couple of hours before the party I happened to call Pete on another matter and mentioned I was bringing an appetizer. He exclaimed, "I am too. I made my special antipasti platter". My heart sank. I had just spent an hour painstakingly laying out my own antipasti platter. We laughed and agreed we'd have plenty of antipasti NOW!

I got off the phone and thought about it. What could I do with some of the ingredients from my antipasti and make something different? One of the features I had incorporated in my antipasti platter were mushrooms I had marinated. I knew Peter would not have those in his platter so my goal was to figure out what could I do with them that might compliment the antipasti instead of compete against it. In short order I decided I'd go French instead of Italian. That would also give me a reason to use the proscuitto from my platter too. I hunted in my refrigerator and found a boxed pie crust and some cheese and I was in business. The recipe I am sharing with you is the result of Plan B.

Email me if you'd like me to keep coming up with Plan B ideas and stories. My goal is to give you the confidence and the basis of knowledge to be able to do dive into Plan B when you need one. FAST.

French-Italian Mushroom Tart

One pre-made refrigerated pie crust
16 oz button mushrooms
Italian salad dressing
2 Tbl butter
2 oz. Sliced proscuitto shredded or sliced cross-wise into thin strips
1 cup gruyer cheese shredded
one cup grated parmesan cheese divided
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 cup heavy cream
2 eggs

Put your pie crust in a 10" removable-bottom tart pan working the pie crust to the edges and up the sides. Partially bake the crust at 375 degrees for 9 minutes. It will be light beige. If the sides have tilted down at all just nudge them back up before it cools.

Cut the cleaned mushrooms in half and put them in a bowl. Pour Italian dressing on them to quickly marinate them. Don't drown the mushrooms; just wet them completely. Let them marinate while you go onto the next step.

Saute the proscuitto in 2 Tbl of butter just until warm. Drain the mushrooms and pour them into the pan with the proscuitto. Cook on medium for 5 minutes. Add the tarragon. Let this mixture sit while it cools.

In a bowl mix eggs and cream. Don't whip; just mix them with a fork until well broken up and stirred. Add half of the parmesan cheese and the gruyer cheese. Let this mixture sit 5 minutes.

Put mushroom filling in tart and spread it. Pour on eggs/cream mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes until set and lightly browned. When you pull the tart out of the oven sprinkle on the rest of the parmesan.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers. Good reheated too.

You can use the recipe as an appetizer or a brunch entree or even a lunch or light dinner served with a salad.

Enjoy! Zola