The menu for the small dinner party I had- it may be one of the best meals I ever made

[cali]

I did a "small plates" thing.

tapenade

feta spread with mint

Thomas Keller's eggplant 'caviar'

french bread, flatbread

grapes

dandelion salad with poached egg and a shallot vinaigrette

mushroom duxelles, walnut and caramelized onion tart with gruyere and parmesan

chicken kabobs marinated in rosemary, lemon, olive oil and dijon mustard

cream puffs filled with grand marnier flavored creme patisserie and served with raspberry coulis, chocolate hazlenut sauce and fresh raspberries.

This was not an expensive meal to prepare at all. the only extravagances were a tiny bottle of grand marnier and the cheese.

[CherokeeDem]

1. Sounds lovely....

Particularly the tart... love that combination of ingredients.

A friend and I were just talking about dandelion salad a couple of days ago... I've always enjoyed it...

Your guests must have loved this....

[pinto]

2. OMG. My kind of meal. I really like a small plate array. These plates all sound great.

[laundry_queen]

3. MMmm. Sounds amazing.

It also sounds like a lot of work, LOL.

Seriously though, wow. All of it sounds really good.

[cali]

4. the only thing that was a lot of work was the eggplant 'caviar'

simple but it involves weighing down the eggplants and letting the cooked pulp drain, hanging up, thru cheesecloth, etc.

I had the mushroom pate that I make in the freezer so that was just throwing it in the food processor with a couple of ingredients. Tart shell unbaked in freezer. Pate a choux and creme patisserie are easy. (and I bought the bread).

[eridani]

5. Sounds really great!

Reading these elegant brags are one of my favorite parts of this group.

[cali]

7. It was fun to make and I didn't have to do any cooking that evening

just tossed the salad and put together the profiteroles

[locks]

6. Beautiful!

I'll try to be so innovative.

[Freddie]

8. Sounds delicious!

Very ambitious yet not "weird"
DH and I entertained last night as well:
Veggies & dip, salsa and chips
Hamburgers, hot dogs, marinated boneless chicken (grill)
Potato salad (store bought)
Coleslaw (homemade)
Salad (variety of bottled dressings)
Chocolate cake (from scratch)
Iced tea, soda, beer
Not a terrible amount of work (DH is grill master) and a good time was had by all.

[cali]

9. I love classic barbecues

particularly the first ones of the year

[spinbaby]

10. Yum

You can ask me over any time.

[MrMickeysMom]

11. Yeah, but the PREP?

I gotta hand it to ya… I would have loved being there!

[cali]

12. Coming to Vermont anytime soon?

I'd love to do a DUers dinner! (and the prep wasn't that bad. Gotta hand it to food processors)

[MrMickeysMom]

13. That WOULD be a good idea, wouldn't it?

Hmmm… Vermont….