6/27/2010 our dinner party

we've had chef ethan stowell and angela over to the house a few times, but they're always working when they get here. so we thought it'd be nice to have them over for dinner and we'd cook. or rather matt'd cook and i'd make dessert. so we had them, jeff and a date, as well as ben and deedee over.

we managed to get 80%+ of everything done on saturday, thank goodness!  matt spent a bit slicing and dicing the mangalitza pork leg.

we had harry's bellinis with this prosecco and the appys

pork rillette with white wine mustard and cornichons on baguette

pork rillette with same mustard and pickled figs

...with japanese knotwood honey.

i think this was my favorite

morels fried in the pork fat, stuffed with goat cheese topped with pork cracklin's

uh yum! (at least mine were, without the mushrooms)

then we moved to the table

ok, it's not the best pic of our guests, but i like the pic

course 1:

chilled heirloom  tomato soup (thanks chef holly!) served in chilled bowls. it's so simple and so yummy!

course 2:

handmade fettucini with red pepper sauce and tiger prawns.

matt nailed the pasta. ethan (a great chef who knows his pasta, you can buy it in several local stores!) really complimented matt on this. he said matt got the 'toothiness just right'. and while i might be biased, i have to agree. this was really just fantastic.

palette cleanser:
blood orange granita

main course:

milk-braised pork under carmelized milk sauce.

there wasn't a dirty plate left. meaning people were licking the finish off the plates. ethan, ben and a couple others even went back for 2nds!

dessert:

white chocolate brie cheesecake on a bed of dark chocolate nibs.

this was the 1st time i'd made this in this size serving, and it was probably the most trouble i've had making it, too. but in the end it turned out ok.








and then we served coffee with options of port or brandy after, but as it was a sunday night and some people had to get up for work, we pretty much called it a night shortly after everyone was done.

angela retelling a story

and ben's response

thanks marianna for taking this picture!

L to R, back row: Marianna, DeeDee, Libby, Angela

L to R, front row: Jeff, Ben, Matt, Ethan

- - -

PS - the aftermath LOL