With the weather still dicey, we canceled dinner reservations and stayed in.  After a four person shopping extravaganza at Zupan’s I made Christmas Pasta, based on a recipe from Rachael Ray Magazine. My changes: I didn’t use any EVOO — who needs it when cooking pancetta and sausage in a non-stick pan?  I used all spicy sausage, no mild, and skipped the veal.   I didn’t think it needed that much meat and I was right.  I also added a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes.  This was very good - special without being too rich.   (Though there’s no way was this is a 30 minute meal.  An hour at least.)

With a nice salad, and a 2005 Montaribaldi Barbera d’Asti, we were all content to snowbound.

Tags:

Related posts:

• Successful Dinner Party (0)
• My Chicken and Pear Salad (0)
• Grilled Steak Salad with Mustard Tarragon Dressing (0)

We hosted some friends for a dinner party this Friday.  Given the weather, I’m glad they all lived very close! As I tend to forget these things I’m blogging the menu:

Appetizers:

• Rosemary/Lemon White Bean Dip
• Crostini
• Bias Cut Carrot Slices
• Maple Spiced Nuts  (I added a bit of cayenne as well.)

Dinner:

Beef Tenderloin with Roquefort Sauce.   From 150 Best American Recipes and oh so good.  We forgot to add the creme fraiche to the sauce but it was so good I’m not sure it’s worth it to add the creme fraiche.  I was nervous about cooking my first tenderloin and it turned out fabulous.  Jim did most of the actual cooking on this one - so I can say that without blushing.

Wild Rice Pilaf (Gourmet Cookbook - a fine basic pilaf.  Recipe said it served 8 and it would have served 12 easily)

Sauteed Red Kale with Pancetta (Adapated from Gourmet Cookbook Kale with Bacon)

For dessert we had Cranberry Poached Pears.  I took the advice of one of the reviewers and added a bare touch of ground cloves.  This was a nice, refreshing dessert after the rich tenderloin.  We garnished with a dollop of creme fraiche and chopped toasted filberts.  A sprig of mint would have have been nice.

Beth brought a great Casa la Postole Cabernet and I opened an ‘05 Caymus Cab.  The Caymus needed decanting and breathing and turned out fine after a few hours.   I preferred the la Postole but they were both great with the beef.

Tags:

Related posts:

• Snowed-In Neighborhood Party (0)
• Snowpocalypse! (0)
• Snow! (0)

I made this one up tonight to take advantage of leftover roast chicken and gorgeous local pears. Knowing I wanted to make a salad I’d blanched extra green beans with dinner the night before. Here are instructions to make enough for dinner for two

Put the following in a large bowl:

• equal amounts of Romaine (torn into bite sized pieces) and baby arugula
• 1 large cooked chicken breast, cut into 1/2″ cubes
• 1 large D’Anjou pear, cut into 1/4″ to 1/2″ cubes
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1 cup chilled blanched green beans, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 ounce Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue, crumbled

Sprinkle with kosher salt, and generously grind black pepper on top. Lightly dress with Sherry Vinegar and your best extra virgin olive oil. Tossez-vous.

Tags:

Related posts:

• Successful Dinner Party (0)
• Snowed In Dinner (0)
• Grilled Steak Salad with Mustard Tarragon Dressing (0)

While I’ve been pretty sure there was no need to find a recipe better than the Gourmet cookbook’s simple roast chicken with pan gravy, I nonetheless tried a new recipe for a butterflied chicken roasted on a bed of aromatics and bread.  The bread & vegetables make a lovely crusty dressing.   It’s a keeper:

Lex’s Roast Chicken

Tags:

Related posts:

• Centralia, WA (0)
• Yes there are more kitchen pictures (0)
• Words I Can’t Write (0)