Another fabulous night! Celebrating Lidia and everything Italian. We met at Angi's and sipped some fine wine and began our evening feast with Betty's
Swiss Chard and Ricotta Crostata. I need to remember this in the spring an fall when we have an abundance of swiss chard. Seriously - 3 pounds! Healthy and delicious!
While the soups were warming up we enjoyed some taleggio, dried sausage and crackers... olives and maybe a little more vino.
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| Jeanne, Nina and Cindy |
Our first course was Lidia's vegetable soup with poached egg... minus the egg but with a roasted chicken. Jen improvised and it was simply yummy with a hearty slice of toasted bread.
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| vegetable chicken soup with toast crostata |
We then made our way to the table. Angi always has the table set so pretty.
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| Jen, Nina, Angi, Betty, Cindy, Jeanne, Denise |
Our 2nd starter was Jeanne's
Wedding Soup ~ the picture doesn't do it justice. The meatballs were flavorful and moist... the broth was full of depth. Simply delicious.
Next up was our main course. We enjoyed Angi's
braised beef in Barolo, creamy polenta (thank you Nina! Jordan and I enjoyed the left overs the following day). Warm creamy cheesy polenta - how can you go wrong?!?!
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| braised beef in Barolo |
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| creamy cheesy warm polenta |
I made two salads and of course forgot a picture... I made a
Belgian endive & walnut salad.
The bitter endive, with the sweet crunchy apples and the nutty flavor - so much going on in a salad!
We also enjoyed an
arugula with ricotta salad. Actually I used shaved parmesan instead of ricotta cheese. What was fun about this salad was the ground almonds in the salad dressing. Quick easy and flavorful.
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Denise & Nina
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Finally dessert! We had 3 delicious choices. Choose?!?!? I chose all 3 - how could you not?
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| roasted pears and grapes |
Then we had fresh berries with zabaglione! Cindy had a few egg yolks, sugar, marsala wine and a whisk and worked her magic....
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| Eggs being whisked over double boiler |
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| Cindy whipping up the zabaglione |
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| fresh berries and zabaglione |
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| Angi prepping the fruit cups |
Our last yummy dessert was made with fresh ricotta, raisins soaked in rum.... pine nuts... Denise brought an Italian cheesecake. I was about to pop!
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| Italian cheesecake |
We had a special guest join us while finishing dessert - Captain Fingers. I believe Nina fell asleep humming the jazzy tune "A Little Bumpin"..... don't ask!
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| Nina, Jeanne, Betty, Angi, Jen, Denise, Jen & Cindy |
Another successful and filling evening with my cooking club gals! As always - thank you!
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| swiss chard crostata |
