A Dinner Party (Recipes from pages 64 and 128-135)

My dinner party last weekend was a hit, thanks to great guests, wine and conversation, but also to three standout recipes from Martha and one from Epicurious.com to round out the mix.   I generally find it risky to make even one previously untested recipe for a party, and four is unheard of, but luckily, these were all winners. 

For appetizers, I borrowed two recipes from the article highlighting Buvette, the Manhattan bistro featured on pages 128-135.  I chose the walnut pesto and the pomodorini tartines.

http://www.marthastewart.com/874281/buvette-pomodorini-tartines

http://www.marthastewart.com/874292/toasted-country-bread-walnut-or-hazelnut-pesto

Ready for spreading

Pomodorini Tartines

Walnut Pesto

Both were excellent and received high marks from everyone, but my friends raved about the tartines.  I had doubled everything except the capers and fresh oregano when my original looked much more green than the magazine photo and even with twice as much spread, every last bit was gone.  It seemed not to matter that I used mozzarella cheese instead of the Stracchino called for in the recipe, which I could not find anywhere.  If I ever do track down Stracchino I’d like to try the recipe again to see if it’s even better.

I couldn’t find a main course recipe to complement the Buvette appetizers in the magazine.  Shrimp stir fry?  No.  Tofu?  Definitely not!  The Milanese would have worked, but one of my guests does not like fried food, so unable to knock out another Martha recipe I turned to Epicurious.com.  I found a recipe for sea bass with a tomato, onion, and anchovy sauce that seemed to fit the bill and had four forks with 36 reviews.  It was delicious! 

 http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sea-Bass-with-Tomatoes-and-Onions-4252

I used angel hair pasta instead of the “crouton” called for in the recipe, which was more substantial and was nice to sop up all of the sauce.  So glad I did, because my guests’ plates were completely, literally completely, empty.  I had one bowl’s worth of pasta left over which I was excited to find in the fridge the next day, until my two-year old turned from her own dinner and gave me a “what you have there?”  She proceeded to devour it, anchovies and all!

What I keep thinking about though is the dessert.  I made the chocolate pots du crème from the Valentine’s Day dinner for two, but quadrupled the recipe.  Not having ever made or eaten a pot du crème, I assumed from the pictures that it would have a consistency of pudding or custard.  Instead, it was very, very dense, incredibly rich, and completely delectable.  It was also very easy to make and perfect for a dinner party because it could be made the night before.  I usually skip recipe instructions to “strain” custard, but I was too worried about messing this one up. 

Considering the few and fairly microscopic lumps that actually were strained out, however, I think my first inclination was right.  I would skip that step next time, but that’s the only thing I would change.  And, there definitely will be a next time. 
-Jacqui

http://www.marthastewart.com/874411/chocolate-pots-de-creme

So good!