As I mentioned last week, my weekend was full of dinner parties. Each one was an elaborate affair and therefore deserving of its own post, so I will start with Friday night. We invited three of Becca’s friends over, bringing our dinner table up to six people. We also had a vegetarian in attendance, which was a new challenge for us in terms of menu-planning. However, as is always the case at our dinner parties, we ended up with a towering mountain of food supported by several bottles of wine.
To start, Nick made a beautiful salad with spinach, pears, walnuts, dried cranberries, and feta tossed with just some olive oil and salt. Becca made an unbelievable pumpkin lasagna. Instead of the traditional tomato sauce used in lasagna, Becca used a mixture of pumpkin, cream, sage, and a few other ingredients. I made one of my standard sides: roasted brussel sprouts with mushrooms. I have made this recipe many times and it is delicious every time I make it. The recipe suggests chanterelles and/or oyster mushrooms, but I have used all kinds of mushrooms and it always turns out well. The recipe also asks you to fry shallot rings to add a little crunch to the dish. This is a great addition, but sometimes if I am feeling lazy I’ll just saute them instead. It’s a pretty flexible recipe, so tailor it to your own flavor preferences.
Our wonderful guests did not come empty-handed, either. One brought steamed spinach and another brought challah, still warm from the oven. Our friend Jyoti (of the wonderful food blog Hom Nom) supplied dessert with five different flavors of home-made ice cream: two kinds of peppermint, gingerbread, spiced apple, and the great mystery flavor: bacon.
After all this amazing food and several bottles of sparkling wine, I would not have even noticed that the meal was vegetarian (minus the bacon ice cream, of course). Even though we were all stuffed to the gills, we rallied from our stupors in time to decorate our Christmas tree.
Recipes for the lasagna and brussel sprouts after the jump!
The Infinite Table 