Birthday Party Dinner?
I am going to throw my boyfriend a Birthday Party dinner tomorrow night, and I am inviting some of our closest friends over to my house. I want to cook something delicious and exciting, but I don't want to do too much shopping. One of the people coming over is also breasfeeding her 1mo. son, so I have to take that into consideration. She doesn't seem to have any picky eating habits or dietary needs, but I am going to double check with her tonight to see what she can or can't eat.
I went for dinner to a fancy restaurant in my city at Christmas time this past winter, and our table had two delicous salads (descriptions taken from their menu):
Spinach Salad | baby spinach, vanilla poached bosc pear, toasted walnuts and crumbled blue cheese tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette.
Asparagus Salad | mixed greens tossed in a honey shallot balsamic with shaved parmesan and prosciutto wrapped grilled asparagus.
I am pretty positive that I want to go with one of these two salads.
The part that I don't know about is the Vanilla Poached Bosc Pear (although I just I found a recipe I think here: http://my-indulgence.blogspot.com/2005/08/pearscan-you-ever-get-enough.html )and the toasted walnuts. The blue cheese and baby spinach won't be too much of a problem, neither the raspberry vinaigrette - although if anyone knows of a good tried & true recipe for that it would be appreciated. I am also at a lost for the honey shallot balsamic sauce and the proscuitto wrapped grilled asparagus.
I think that chicken would be a good main course option, but I don't know what to do for it. I want something fancy and good, but I don't want something that will take me an hour per serving - I am serving 6 people most likely. Everyone also likes red meat, so that is also an option, if I can find a good fancy dish - I don't really want to do burgers, steak, or ribs. If anyone can suggest a good wine also, that would be fantastic.
Thanks :)
I went for dinner to a fancy restaurant in my city at Christmas time this past winter, and our table had two delicous salads (descriptions taken from their menu):
Spinach Salad | baby spinach, vanilla poached bosc pear, toasted walnuts and crumbled blue cheese tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette.
Asparagus Salad | mixed greens tossed in a honey shallot balsamic with shaved parmesan and prosciutto wrapped grilled asparagus.
I am pretty positive that I want to go with one of these two salads.
The part that I don't know about is the Vanilla Poached Bosc Pear (although I just I found a recipe I think here: http://my-indulgence.blogspot.com/2005/08/pearscan-you-ever-get-enough.html )and the toasted walnuts. The blue cheese and baby spinach won't be too much of a problem, neither the raspberry vinaigrette - although if anyone knows of a good tried & true recipe for that it would be appreciated. I am also at a lost for the honey shallot balsamic sauce and the proscuitto wrapped grilled asparagus.
I think that chicken would be a good main course option, but I don't know what to do for it. I want something fancy and good, but I don't want something that will take me an hour per serving - I am serving 6 people most likely. Everyone also likes red meat, so that is also an option, if I can find a good fancy dish - I don't really want to do burgers, steak, or ribs. If anyone can suggest a good wine also, that would be fantastic.
Thanks :)