The Vegas Loyola gals plus our friend Alex decided to start a dinner party club, since we all love cooking and eating. Sapna hosted the first one, back in January, and naturally prepared us an Indian feast. (We wanted Sapna to make us Indian food, Alex to make us Armenian food, and me to make us Italian food. Tracie is British, so naturally we DIDN’T want her to make us British food… but then again maybe she could change our minds with some of the “jewels” of British cuisine… if they exist. Katherine is totally American, but she IS from Texas, which we don’t hold against her because she’s awesome, so maybe she could make us some Tex-Mex stuff.) But I digress.
Tracie with some of the spread
Sapna started us out with a variety of Indian appetizers, including homemade samosas stuffed with potatoes, peas, and spices, and other pastries with caramelized onion, and some with mixed mushrooms. These were served with a variety of delicious sauces, including mint, and tamarind/date and I forget what else. We sat in her Morroccan-inspired living room, which was featured on HGTV (I’m friends with famous people!). The main course was fabulous. We had stewed chicken in a flavorful broth, yummy basmati rice, chapati (an unleavened pancake-like bread, similar in flavor to nan, but not as thick, and not prepared in a tandoori oven), and delicious cucumber yogurt sauce. Alex brought some delicious pastries, and fun was had by all.
These chapati things are addictive
For my dinner party, as an appetizer I decided to make my delicious bacon-date-blue-cheese- things. Mostly because I wanted to eat them, and everyone loves them. I used Neiman’s Ranch uncured applewood smoked bacon this time, and it was yummers. I also wanted to do a nice cheese board, because this would distract everyone while I labored over the main course, a porcini mushroom risotto. So I went to Steve’s store to get the Arborio rice, cheese, and porcini. For the board, I picked a humbolt fog (yummy goat cheese), Spanish Mahon (mild cow’s milk), English cheddar (mmm one of my favorites), and a Roquefort (stinky French blue). The Roquefort was the real hit, it was tangy but not too stinky. I rounded out the board with some seedless red grapes, provencal black olives, pimiento-stuffed olives, and sesame water crackers.
The spread at my house
Now for the main course! I LOVE porcini mushroom risotto. My mom made it when I was a kid, and it’s a specialty of my dad’s region in Italy (oftentimes the relatives will prepare it when I come to visit, and I always ask for seconds). I got some recipe pointers from Checco, the amazing chef at my parents’ restaurant . He told me to sauté whole garlic in some EVOO until it was burnt, then to take it out. He said adding the actual garlic or onions would overpower the flavor of the porcini. Apparently shallots would be OK, but not necessary. (I just left them out.) I used dried porcini, which I soaked overnight in what started out as boiling water. I also used frozen porcini, which I defrosted overnight in the refrigerator. I diced them all up and mixed them together, and added them to the garlic olive oil and sautéed for about a minute. Next, I added some of the porcini water and then the Arborio rice (about 1 lb.) and a cup of chicken stock. I just used boxed chicken broth, and I threw in a porcini mushroom bullion cube for some flavor. I kept adding broth one cup at a time until the risotto was al dente (about 20-30 minutes). I then mixed in some EVOO, parmesan cheese, and some cilantro (I actually prefer it over parsley because it has a more tangy lemony flavor). And it was divine! Not the best I’ve ever had, but passably good.
The group at my house
To round out the meal we had some delicious pain rustique from Trader Joe’s (crusty French bread which is not all the way cooked, so 10 minutes in the oven makes it perfect), and a salad with homemade honey balsamic dressing, sliced strawberries, and toasted slivered almonds. For dessert we had mini-cheesecakes, also from Trader Joe’s. I LOVE that place. For the wine selection, we started out with an amazing 1993 Barbaresco (Produttori di Barbaresco). I break out the good stuff for special occasions. :-). Then we moved on to one of my favorites, Tuttobene, which is a new supertuscan; a Bogle cabernet; a Korbel rosé; and a Fantinel Pinot Grigio. Mmm! For our round of Trivial Pursuit, I broke out more cheese and some hard salami. Hehe, I don’t mess around when it comes to food and hosting!
