So, Ladies' Cooking Night was again a success. Katie, my co-chef, and I whipped up a Napa-inspired meal to commemorate the time of year when wineries harvest their grapes. We found some great websites for recipes and divided the meal so I made an appetizer (pesto and sundried tomato crostinis), a salad (beet and goat cheese...sort of) and the main dish (pancetta and herb stuffed turkey breast) while Katie made the side (roasted veggies) and dessert (pineapple and raspberry upside down cake).
To be honest, I am more pleased with how the decor all turned out than how my own dishes tasted,I used a square vase and filled it with corks, with cut flowers in water in the center of it. Then, I used corks for the placecards as fun little accents on the table.
We had a bit of a timing issue because the turkey took longer than expected to hit its final temperature, so we started with the salad, which left the main dinner a little sparse. The beets I worked so hard on boiling (the sneak peek photo), peeling and marinaded were also a miss - I ended up leaving them out of the salad and keeping them on the side for those who wanted them. I was not one of them.
However, everyone seemed to enjoy the meal and was very sweet and complimentary. And this time we had all seven ladies, so it was nice to share a meal with the whole group.
Next month, it's on to Katie's house where she and Nicole will host a Halloween-themed dinner. Costumes are still to be determined...
1 comment:
It's hard to try a new recipe when serving guests. Tried and true is always best, I think. Then there are no surprises!
Looks like you all had a good time!
Post a Comment