Special Occasion
Casual Small Plates Dinner
8.03.07
VEW

This is one of my favorite ways to entertain because you get to taste a lot of different dishes and wines and there’s no pressure of having to have everything ready and warm at the same time.

Warmed figs with blue cheese, walnuts, honey and white pepper
Wine Pairing: Beppe Marino Bricco Allegro Moscato D’Asti 2003

Prosciutto wrapped shrimp with herbed goat cheese

Pan seared scallops with asparagus puree and porcini mushroom ragout
Wine Pairing: Caymus Conundrum 2005

Cannelini dip with rosemary and tomato on toasted baguette

Grilled tenderloin tip skewers with artichokes and rosemary
Wine Pairing: Numanthia (Toro) Termes 2002

Lava cakes with whipped cream
Espresso drinks… made to order

Figs

The Figs are pretty self-explanatory: for a nice presentation, slice each in half and cut just enough off the side they will lay on so that they lay flat. Top each with a piece of blue cheese and a walnut; warm under a broiler just until the cheese starts to bubble--about 1 minute. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with freshly ground white pepper.

Shrimp

These Shrimp are phenomenal and easy. A friend made them for me, I'm not sure where the recipe was from.

For the goat cheese mixture, bring about 3 oz. of goat cheese to room temperature to soften it, then mix in approximately 1 T minced basil, 1T minced parsely, a scant T of thyme and some S & P. Slice open the back of large, uncooked shrimp and stuff. Wrap each shrimp in a thin piece of prosciutto. Oil a grill pan with a little olive oil and cook shrimp for a couple minutes per side--until opaque.

Scallops

The scallops are loosely based on a Thomas Keller recipe that you can find in his French Laundry cookbook. Though a lot of his recipes are fairly out of reach whether due to time, cost, or hard to find ingredients, they are educational and fun to read and occasionally I find some that are great even when messed around with by casual cooks like me.

Cannellini dip

In a food processor combine, one can cannellini beans, 1/2 t garlic powder, 2t minced fresh rosemary and about 1/4 c olive oil. Process until smooth, add more oil if necessary for a nice consistency. I served this with sliced cherry tomatoes from the garden on toasted bread.

Skewers

Marinate tenderloin tips in olive oil, lemon zest, fresh rosemary, kosher salt and pepper. Add in one package frozen artichoke hearts. When you are ready to grill, simply skewer the meat and artichokes alternately and grill until desired doneness.

Lava Cakes

I have a number of lava cake recipes that I use for different occasions. Here's a great one http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/5429