Easy contribution: Rosemary breadsticks

We have friends who are the best when it comes to throwing dinner parties. What amazes me about this couple is not just what wonderful cooks they are, and they are, but how spontaneous they are about calling a bunch of people and saying, "Want to come over?" just hours before serving an elegant feast for a crowd. I aspire to get into the same rhythm, but whenever I think about having a last-minute get-together, I get caught up in thinking people need lots of time to plan, everyone's probably already booked, my house is too messy today, let's aim to do something next weekend instead.

Yesterday afternoon, Dave and I came home from doing errands to find a phone message from these friends: "Hey, we're trying to get something together for tonight, give us a call." And of course they didn't want us to bring a thing. I don't like to go to any party empty-handed, but since I knew they'd put together a perfect menu, I wasn't going to contribute an unsolicited side dish or salad. I opted instead to take an unsolicited appetizer: quick rosemary-parmesan breadsticks and some storebought pesto for dipping. Using rapid-rise yeast, these took about 90 minutes to rise twice and then just 20 minutes to bake. I got them out of the oven just before we headed to the party, threw a nice jar of spicy olives into my basket, and some chilled white wine.

Our friends served the breadsticks with their perfect dinner of grilled pork loin, fresh corn, Caprese salad, and a casserole called San Antonio squash, baked with cheese and fresh chiles. Everything was excellent.

We need to invite these folks for dinner at our house real soon to reciprocate, anad we will, you know... after I've had a few weeks to plan it all out.

Rosemary-parmesan breadsticks

1 packet rapid-rise yeast
2-1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing on breadsticks
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Fresh grated parmesan (or romano) cheese

In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix 1/2 cup warm water (105 degreese) with yeast. Let stand for five minutes. Add flour, salt, olive oil, rosemary. Mix with bread hook, slowing adding 1/2 cup warm water. Knead for five minutes. Let dough rise in bowl for 1 hour. Sprinkle a cutting board with flour and roll dough into a 6-inch-by-12-inch rectangle. With a sharp knife, cut across short side of dough to make 12 slices. Roll each into a long breadstick, folding and twisting to braid a little. Cut each breadstick in half, place on two parchment-covered cookie sheets. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan. Let rise 20 minutes. Bake at 400 in convection oven for 20 minutes. (Adapted from Cooking with Convection, by Beatrice A. Ojakangas.) Makes 24 breadsticks.