Local Luxury Dinner Party: Primo

For a more traditional primo course, I decided to serve a pasta dish. The hubby loves ravioli and fall squash makes a perfect filling. I was excited to find red kuri squash at the market and planned to use that in my ravioli. Since I was challenging myself to a homemade meal, why not make the pasta dough from scratch? Sure, I’ve never done it before, but what could go wrong? Let’s just say, it was a nice luxury to have three other courses to count on just in case.

I did some cookbook browsing and blog searching and found the proportions needed to make pasta dough. I settled on 4 eggs and two cups of flour. I knew I wouldn’t have time to make the dough, roll it out, and fill it on the party night. That meant making the dough the night before and letting it rest in the refrigerator overnight until Thursday. I pulled out a large, shallow bowl for mixing (I was afraid the eggs would roll all over the counter). First went the flour, then the eggs into the well in the middle.

I probably could have read a few more recipes for the proper technique, but I just dug in and starting mixing. The dough was interesting…and sort of wet and not sticking together as I kneaded. Solution? Add more flour of course! Problem? All the all-purpose flour was used up. My idea? Use the whole wheat flour that‘s still in abundance in the pantry. The result? Interesting. I wrapped up my ugly ball of pasta dough and put it into the fridge to rest. I figured it could think about what it had done wrong and the next day it would be ready to play nicely.

On Thursday night during my pre-party preparations, I started by cooking the red kuri squash for the filling. I had peeled and cubed it the night before. Dealing with squash can be dangerous and you don’t want to lose a finger right before your guests arrive. A quick boil in salted water (about 12 minutes) results in squash ready for the immersion blender.

An apron is essential in keeping your party dress clean! After pureeing I mixed in a few generous spoonfuls of my homemade ricotta cheese and a dash of salt.

I set this aside and hoped for the best as I retrieved the pasta dough from the fridge. Since I don’t have a fancy non-stick pastry mat for the counter, I tore off some wax paper and tried to weight it down to stay in place. I floured the surface (I had picked up more AP flour on the way home) and pulled out my ridiculously heavy and generally unwieldy rolling pin. Immediately I could tell this was not going to go well. The wax paper was sliding all over the counter, the pasta was sticking to the rolling pin, and my hands were quickly becoming coated in dough. I called in the hubby to hold down the wax paper, but it was too late. It was already 6:35 at this point (guests coming at 7) and I needed ravioli! It was printed on the menu cards! So I rolled and stretched and pulled the pasta as thin as I could. I cut it into shapes closely resembling squares and placed a dollop of the squash and ricotta mixture in the middle. As I pressed a fork around the outside of each ‘free-form’ ravioli, I tried to talk the pasta into performing a miracle in the pot. I put it back into the fridge to rest until it was ready to cook. Here’s a look at the disastrous rolling adventure.

As we were wrapping up the antipasti course, I went back into the kitchen to bring a pot of water to a boil on the stove. While that was heating up, I added a generous amount of unsalted butter to a skillet and turned up the heat. Once it started to foam I watched for it to start browning and waited for the nutty aroma to fill the air. At this point, the water was boiling and I dropped my ugly duckling raviolis into the pot and waited with anticipation. After a few minutes they rose to the top, ready to be smothered in brown butter and served. I put two raviolis into each bowl and topped with the brown butter. As I took the dishes to serve, I told the guests that I would not be offended if they decided not to eat the ravioli. I just needed them to smile nicely so I could have a picture for the blog. The hubby will eat any ravioli, so he dug in. I had to go back to the kitchen for a steak knife.

Once you could get through to the inside, the filling was delicious! The ravioli were more like a pierogi or a dumpling. They were pretty dense. But often the cook is her own harshest critic. Maybe they were being nice, or maybe they liked the ravioli blobs, but I was the only one who didn’t clean my plate for this course.

The beauty of a multi-course meal is that there is plenty to eat if you don’t like one of the courses. With that in mind, the next post will feature the main course:

NY strip steak with lime basil butter
Broccoli Romanesco
Roasted Atlas Farms fingerling potatoes and hard neck garlic

Until then, don’t forget to wear an apron and don’t be afraid to try something new in the kitchen!

Local Luxury Dinner Party: Antipasti

The next installment in the Local Luxury Dinner Party series is the first course, antipasti! My trip to Atlas Farm’s booth at the Copley Farmers Market yielded some beautiful heirloom tomatoes. These were some of the last of the season and helped preserve the feeling of summer just a little longer. I’ve shopped at Atlas Farm regularly over the past two years, so this year I decided to buy a share. They offer a great share program – prepay at the beginning of market season and shop all season until you use up your share (for $90 you get a $100 credit for the season). This lets you buy what you want and you never have to worry about bringing cash to the market. Whether it’s a farmers market, local food shop, or grocery store you can save a lot of time and headache knowing you have a reliable place to find your ingredients. Now back to the antipasti…

Since I was planning a four course meal I knew that the first course couldn’t be heavy or I would be left with a lot of leftovers. My first thought was caprese salad, but when I looked at make-your-own mozzarella recipes I quickly changed my mind. I remembered that my friend Katie over at Once Upon a Small Boston Kitchen had recently made homemade ricotta with a recipe from Barbara Lynch. I pulled up the recipe and headed out for some local milk. With just three simple ingredients, this was about keeping an eye on the thermometer and getting the texture right. The end result was a creamy fresh tasting cheese that paired wonderfully with the tomatoes.

It wouldn’t be a meal in our house without bread! To make sure I had a reliable recipe, I surfed over to the King Arthur Flour website and did a search for Italian bread. I decided on the Italian Sesame bread. Planning your time wisely is important in being a successful party host. The bread, cheese, and basil infused olive oil were items that I could make a few days in advance of the party. I started the bread dough first and made the cheese while the bread was rising. I love this bread recipe – no fussy proofing needed. Just measure, dump, and turn on the KitchenAid mixer to do its magic. It does take a few hours start to finish for the dough to rise, so plan to start early enough in the day. The loaf gets braided like a challah and then generously covered in sesame seeds. After a quick bake the loaf was light, airy and a perfect addition to the meal.

I wanted to incorporate my homegrown basil into the tomato salad, but just sprinkling it on top seemed boring. After about 20 minutes of harvesting my basil I added it to a jar and started to heat up some extra virgin olive oil. I poured the warm oil over the basil and let it infuse overnight. I strained out the basil the next day leaving lightly flavored oil.

To make preparations easier on party night, I sliced the tomatoes the night before. I also cheated on the local/homemade theme by picking up some olives and marinated beans and artichokes from the antipasto bar at Whole Foods. I wanted to have some snacks on hand for the guests in case something went horribly wrong and I needed extra time to get the meal on the table (you’ve got to prepare for anything when entertaining!)

A few minutes before the guests were due to arrive, I set up my ingredients and laid out the salad plates. As you can see, multi-tasking is also an essential skill to have for entertaining. I’ve got a few different things going at the same time. I like to get the messy stuff out of the way before the party starts and be able to spend time with my guests. So if you come over for dinner at our house, don’t be offended if I refuse to let you help in the kitchen. I like guests to come enjoy – and for you and me not to work too hard while you’re here!

After the tomatoes and cheese were arranged on the plates and drizzled with the basil olive oil, I switched to my party apron (café style, instead of a full apron) and preset the salads while the hubby chatted with the guests in the living room. My mom gave me pearls and Mastering the Art of French Cooking for my birthday this year, so I feel it is appropriate to always wear the pearls when cooking and entertaining.  And yes, I did arrange the tomatoes like a traffic light (red, yellow, green). Presentation is an important part of the meal! After a few twists of the peppermill and sprinkles of kosher salt, and we were ready to start the eating.

The verdict? Delicious! Each tomato had a slightly different flavor. The cheese was fresh and creamy. The oil added a subtle basil flavor into each bite. I think we all wiped our plates clean with the bread, which the hubby expertly sliced.

As we finished up the first course, I headed back into the kitchen to finish the second course. Stay tuned for the next installment: fall squash ravioli with brown butter sauce. It was an adventure!

Local Luxury Dinner Party: Planning the Party

This luxury dinner party was made in advance of the results announcement from round 2 voting in Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog.  While I didn’t end up advancing, I had a great time in the first two rounds and the dinner party was a success!

The first step in hosting any kind of party is to pick a theme and plan a menu.  The theme for this party, as given in the challenge prompt was:

Celebrate!  You've made it this far, and the next challenge is to hold a party for your friends and family.  Whether you're an experienced host or an entertaining newbie, get creative and host a luxurious dinner party where your guests will discover new tastes and exotic flavors.  Share your hosting secrets with readers, like how to cook for a crowd, plan a menu, or involve guests in the prep.

But what does luxury really mean?  And how do new tastes and exotic flavors fit with the luxury theme?  Does luxury mean rich, over the top foods?  Does it mean sparing no expense and picking up the rarest ingredients?  For my party I decided that luxury translated to a four-course, leisurely weeknight meal with all homemade dishes.  And it also meant the luxury of being able to purchase almost all of the ingredients from local farmers markets and vendors.

Like many home cooks, I often get stuck cooking variations of the same dishes each week.  So the hubby and I did a little brainstorming about what we don’t usually cook at home.  We quickly realized that Italian was a cuisine that isn’t represented often in our menus.  Sure we cook pasta every so often, but never a four course Italian meal.

Now that we had luxury + Italian decided, the next step was menu planning.  When we have guests over for meals, I like to ask if anyone has food allergies or severe food dislikes (some people just hate cilantro!).  Since this was a set menu, I wanted to make sure that our guests would be able to eat a little of everything.  For this party the parameters were no walnuts, fish, or excessive cream.  I added these to the list of the hubby and my food quirks and started making lists and researching recipes.

Instead of taking a detailed list with me to the market, I took an outline of the courses.  This meant the menu would be full of local, seasonal delights!  I visited my regular stops at the Copley Square Farmers Market - Atlas Farms and Stillmans at the Turkey Farm – and came home with most of my ingredients.  A quick stop at Whole Foods yielded some local whole milk and a few other ingredients.  With these fresh ingredients I created my simple, yet ambitious menu.

Since the party was planned for a Thursday night at 7 (I get home at 6), advanced preparation was necessary.  I put my list making skills to work and created a game plan for the week.

I left just a few things for Thursday and gave the hubby a honey-do list.  Luxury means pulling out the fine china and crystal!  We’ve been married for five years and have not taken full advantage of the beautiful set of china that we own.  This was the perfect reason to take out the goods and create a beautifully set table.  I added my grandmother’s candlesticks and candles to finish the look.

Another entertaining tip – know your limits!  With that in mind, I’m going to split this party into a series of posts for each course.  I’ll share tips, recipes, and pictures for each.

Thanks to Eric and Jen, our gracious guests, for waiting patiently while I photographed the dishes between each course.  And thanks to Jen for picking out a delicious Italian wine pairing for the meal.

Next in the luxury dinner party series, the first course:

Antipasti
Atlas Farm heirloom tomato salad
Fresh ricotta cheese, basil infused olive oil
Fresh cracked pepper

Assorted olives, gigante beans, and artichokes

Italian Sesame Bread and Olive Oil