July meme (catchup) - answer for 7/17
This one is for fufaraw, who asked: "For Nestra's dinner party (see 7/8), what's the menu? What do you enjoy prepping, cooking, presenting? And which of your favorites go together to make a nice meal?"
Unless we're talking about the Chef Edition dinner (Alton Brown, Julia Child, Eliot Spencer), where doing the cooking would be half of the fun, for a dinner party the more I can do in advance, the better. So, assuming the meal would be held in the fall or winter, here is what I would serve:
Pre-dinner:
Local beer from Urban Chestnut brewery. Chardonnay.
Homemade bruschetta with Stilton
Dried figs and dates
Sliced pears
Dinner:
Cabernet Sauvignon
Hard rolls from local bakery, butter
Beef stew with large chunks of beef, carrot, potato - made 1 day in advance.
Mixed salad w/ bitter greens and a shallot vinaigrette (balances out the heaviness of the beef stew nicely).
Dessert (which I prefer in the family room or otherwise away from the dinner table, as it's more comfortable):
Coffee and cocoa
A tray of different kinds of homemade cookies
Unless we're talking about the Chef Edition dinner (Alton Brown, Julia Child, Eliot Spencer), where doing the cooking would be half of the fun, for a dinner party the more I can do in advance, the better. So, assuming the meal would be held in the fall or winter, here is what I would serve:
Pre-dinner:
Local beer from Urban Chestnut brewery. Chardonnay.
Homemade bruschetta with Stilton
Dried figs and dates
Sliced pears
Dinner:
Cabernet Sauvignon
Hard rolls from local bakery, butter
Beef stew with large chunks of beef, carrot, potato - made 1 day in advance.
Mixed salad w/ bitter greens and a shallot vinaigrette (balances out the heaviness of the beef stew nicely).
Dessert (which I prefer in the family room or otherwise away from the dinner table, as it's more comfortable):
Coffee and cocoa
A tray of different kinds of homemade cookies