« Girls Watch the Oscars | Main | Making Pizza with Friends »

March 1, 2005

Intimate Gatherings (2)

Jennifer and Jeremy gave Karen and I a cook book for Christmas in 1998 called Intimate Gatherings - Great Food for Good Friends by Ellen Rose and Jessica Strand. I don't use it as often as I should but the times I have pulled it off the shelf, the recipes inside have yet to disappoint.

The book is laid out in an interesting way. Like many cooks, the authors emphasize the importance of seasonal ingredients, therefore the book is broken into Summer, Spring, Fall, and Winter sections. Each section contains three sets of full menus that depend on the number in your party (two, four, and six persons).

Saturday night we had an old friend from college and her family over for dinner. I prepared the Winter Dinner for four persons (page 110), minus the Martini's with Caperberries and the Caramelized Banana Pudding for dessert (Ginger and Mike brought a fruit tart).

Cheese Torta

Fennel Soup with Roasted Garlic Croutons

Describing the above as a soup is a bit misleading (or maybe it is the description of the croutons). You take a slice of toasted rustic bread, slather it with roasted garlic paste, place it in the bottom of the bowl, and ladle the soup on top. The bread becomes soft after soaking up almost all of the liquid. While the constancy is not very soup-like, the tast is exceptional.

Bistro Skillet Steak with Reduced Burgundy Sauce
Hot Potato and Frisee Salad

A good night with plenty of wine and even well-behaved kids- but more on that later...

Posted by Rich at March 1, 2005 10:15 AM

Comments

Posted by: jeremygingerich at March 2, 2005 1:00 AM

Posted by: Rich at March 2, 2005 10:44 AM

Post a comment