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My weekend entertaining - a French inspired meal
It has been a while since I have done any major entertaining, so I was very excited about this past weekend. I threw my sister and BIL a surprise 5th wedding aniversary party - and it WAS a suprise to them! Sucess!
I decided to do a French inspired meal when I learned that my parents had a bottle of wine that my sister brought back from France many, many years ago.
Here is what I chose to do:
Apps: I am so in love with verrines. If you are not familar (I wasn't!) the are very popular in France right now. The literal translation is a big taste in a small glass. I chose to do a crab and avacado combination. It was a hit on a hot afternoon!
http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2007/08/08/crab_and_avocado_verrine/
I did omit the grapefruit due to time limitations. I also didn't add in the ginger as I had elderly people in attendance. But I did make a trial for DH and we both agreed that it was good either way.
The next course: A Nicoise salad and this Red Wine Balsamic Chicken recipe (you might have to scroll down a bit)
http://goodthingscatered.blogspot.com/search/label/chicken
The cheese plate: The store didn't have the selection that I wanted, but I ended up with a very gooey Brie like cheese. This one was a hit! The second cheese was like a French swiss cheese. The last wasn't a French cheese but a English chedar cheese with stiltion blue cheese in the middle. That was also a hit w/ my crowd. And of course, it was served with grapes and a loaf of baguette.
The finale: Pink Champange Cake
http://goodthingscatered.blogspot.com/2010/02/pink-champagne-cake.html
My parents also had the hurricane glass was the table decorations for my sister's wedding, so that had a pink candle. Other items such as the napkins, straws, etc were all pink which is how I decided on the Pink Champange cake. Now I'm looking for my next entertaining event! :-)
Did anyone else do any entertaining last weekend?
Re: My weekend entertaining - a French inspired meal
YUM! Everything sounds delicious and elegant..nice & light meal for these hot summer days!
oops - clicked "post" before i was done. I cooked a birthday dinner for a husband and wife (catering is my part time passion). The meal started with grilled portabello mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash and red bell peppers topped with goat cheese croutons and drizzled w/balsamic vinaigrette. Dinner was individual beef wellingtons with horseradish cream sauce and grilled fingerling potatoes w/wilted baby spinach, tossed in truffle oil & sea salt...
Your menu looks beautiful. I had the IL's over for a "pool party". Our town has a very large pool and brought them as our guests and then everyone met back at our house for dinner. This isn't very gourmet, but here it is:
All made ahead:
Mexican Dip and Chips
Crudites and Ranch Dip
Grilled Chicken Shish Kabobs
Lemon Orzo Salad (someone on nest recipe?)
Sweet Corn Onion Bake (Tarheel's recipe)
Green Salad - brought by SIL
Dessert and Fruit from IL's
I let them help me out because I have two toddlers...
Happy Entertaining!