You know, it's really not fair. In the dinner party club rotation, I am after Tracie. And she pulls off the most amazing 7 course dinner party BY HERSELF. Ok, I helped by peeling beets, etc., but that doesn’t really count. But how am I supposed to top her? Since I am next, whatever I do pales in comparison! There have been studies on this particular dinner party phenomenon, of having to top the person who had one before you. On to the menu…
She started us out with a nice spread of delicious cheeses and fruit, including homemade butternut squash dip. She also had this pear chutney-type thing that I kept spreading over brie on a cracker—I think I ate about 10 of those.
Then we had a field green salad with roasted beets, tangerines and feta. The dressing was a tangerine/lemon/mustard. It was SOOOO good. I don’t even LIKE beets. Apparently, I hate the canned ones, because I actually ate the entire roasted beet which was placed on my plate. Since I peeled them, I thought I might as well try one. They were sweet and still had a nice crunch to them.
Of course, no event with Tracie is complete without her delicious roasted roma tomato toasts. She made them with a lemon goat cheese spread. The tanginess of the lemon with the sharp goat cheese contrasted beautifully with the sweet tomatoes. Soooo good. (It’s no wonder I stole it for my last dinner party…. Although hers admittedly was better.)
Then we had mini crab cakes with herbed aioli. My GOD I love crab cakes. The best I ever had were at Ruth’s Chris in San Diego. Just huge chunks of fresh crab served in a pound of sizzling melted butter. Tracie’s crab cakes were definitely on par. The flaky fresh Dungeness crab meat just melted in my mouth. Also, she used Japanese panko bread crumbs instead of regular commercial bread crumbs, which made the crab cakes very light and not all bread-y (which is the mark of a cheap crappy crab cake). Also, I admit when I make crab cakes I used the canned lump stuff. If you can afford the fresh stuff, it’s definitely worth it! The herbed aioli had lemon, garlic, parsley and chives. Not to overwhelming, just enough to add a bit of crisp flavor. I could have eaten about 24 of these.
The coconut shrimp with maui mustard sauce went perfectly after the crab cakes. Sapna helped with the frying, since she’s an expert. I admit, I’m not a fan of coconut UNLESS it’s wrapped around a shrimp. These were FANTASTIC. Crispy, with a juicy delicious plump freshwater shrimp inside. Quite the treat! And the sauce was made with pineapple, apricot and mustard. It was savory-sweet just like the shrimp and was amazing! In fact, Tracie and I re-made the recipe while we were studying for finals. Trusts and Wills are much more palatable after a delicious crispy shrimp.
But the true piece de resistance was the pasta with mushrooms and pumpkin gorgonzola sauce. I actually don't like pumpkin very much. But I was converted when I went to Bologna (which is famous for its stuffed pastas... and Bolognese meat sauce obviously). In Bologna, they love pumpkin ravioli, and I just had to take a bite and make sure it was gross. Oh god, really good pumpkin ravioli are fantastic-- no matter how little you actually like pumpkin. Just think of it as orange squash, and not that overly sweet nutmeg drenched stuff they try to pass off out of a can at Thanksgiving. Oh, but I digress. ANYWAY, this pumpkin gorgonzola sauce reminded me of Bologna. Creamy, delicious, with just a touch of sweetness. With all the tons of mushrooms and onions, it was actually not that unhealthy! In fact, Tracie confessed it was a Cooking Light recipe. If all "light" food tasted that good, I might actually be a size 6 instead of a... well... you get the point. ;-)
Sorry there are no pictures, I had some but they got lost in the ether of my computer...
