We are sitting back and feeling pretty good that our first monthly dinner evening was a success. After Max's birthday party back in April, I decided I'm still not comfortable enough with entertaining so I proposed we invite people over for dinner once a month. We are alternating the choice of who to invite. Last month's evening had to be postponed due to Kyle's hospital visit. This evening, I chose to invite Kristine and Michael Callaghan, friends of ours from church.
My intention of this evening would be an adults only affair, so my parents were kind enough to keep the kids for a sleepover. If it hadn't worked out, we would've survived, but the evening might have swirled a little more around the kids. Since the kids were not here, we were able to relax a little more and focus solely on our guests.
This was our menu...
Starter:
* Caprese salad paired with Bernard & Griffin Columbia Valley Chardonnay
Main Course:
* Pork Chops stuffed with proscuitto, pepperoni, provolone cheese and fresh basil
* Coleman roasted potatoes
* Italian grilled asparagus (brushed with an olive oil, lemon juice and garlic mixture)
* Ciabatta bread
* All paired with Saldini Pilastri Rosso Picano (an Italian red wine)
Dessert:
* Mixed berry sorbet garnished with fresh blueberries and raspberries
Overall, I think the meal pulled together nicely. The timing and pace moving from the starter to main to dessert was good. Everything from the Main Course was cooked on the grill. Each item sounds pretty impressive, but everything required five main ingredients or less (excluding seasonings) and was rich in flavor, yet simply delicious. I can't really comment whether the wine pairings were appropriate or not. Since I am a novice wine drinker, I relied on the wine guy's recommendations at the liquor store to make a selection. They tasted fine to me and the Chardonnay is completely gone.
Thanks for a lovely evening full of great conversation, Michael and Kristine. We look forward to the next time.
In August, we will be entertaining Kyle's parents and Uncle Cliff. They were to be our first guests in June, so it will be really nice to have them finally over.
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Let me know if you would like any of the recipes.
4 comments:
You had Pat Coleman come all the way from VA to make potatoes?
Otherwise it sounds like a wonderful menu and evening!
good one...
We never had luck preparing roasted potatoes on our own. They were charred on the outside, not completely cooked on the inside. Pat always talked about how they eat roasted potatoes all of the time, so I asked him for the recipe. I'm a recipe literalist, so it took a while to get a specific recipe out of him. Thankfully, we follow it by the book and now we have been eating a lot of perfectly roasted potatoes this summer.
LOL, Coleman potatoes.
We made the Coleman potatoes last night when my aunt and uncle (Colemans) were over for dinner.
We modify the recipe and the spices used to suit our whims of the day but we have had great luck, putting it on the grill about five minutes before we start cooking whatever meat we're having.
BTW, gutty performance for Norman on an awful day for golf.
Gosh next time I'm in town I'm coming to your house for dinner.
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