Fun and Easy Sunday Supper with friends

Saturday night our friends had a dinner party for us. Mike and Linda are great cooks, and dinner did not disappoint. Our appetizers were brochette and a beef tips dish. I am getting the recipes for you and me. The pasta course was to die for and from Lidia’s Family Table cookbook. It is Ziti with onions, Fennel & Sausage. You can get the recipe on epicurious.com or foodblogsearch.com. This was followed by a chicken and asparagus dish and finally heavenly light cheese cake.


Last night we had friends over that have moved with us from PA to CA and back to VA. They claim they will not be moving to TN. The dinner was to celebrate Livermore Wines. We lived in Pleasanton and they lived in Livermore while in CA. But all wine in the area is considered the Livermore Valley. The three were Ivan Tamas,1992, Murrieta’s Well, 1993, and Westover, 1995 All were Cabernet Sauvignon, but Murrieta’s Well calls theirs Vendimia Red. We rated Murrieta’s Well the best. However as we noted, no one was spitting any wine out.

We started the evening with sushi and potstickers that I bought at Wegman’s. We had a white Italian wine from Vianza with that. The first course I made from Sunset Magazine.
Asparagus and teleme tart. Serves 4-6 and very easy.
Ingredients:
1 sheet refrigerated pie dough
8 oz of teleme cheese or whole milk mozzarella (not fresh or water-packed)
I# asparagus trim ends and cut into 3 ½” pieces. Mine were very thick so I also sliced in half, additionally I would recommend that if your asparagus is thick to peel it. )
Pepper
½ t EVOO
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Unroll the sheet of pie dough and fold in half. Roll into a 6 by 16 ½” rectangle. Fit into a 4 by 14” rectangular tart pan. Press against sides and roll over the top with a rolling pin. Prick bottom of crust with a fork and bake until golden, 10-15 minutes. (Tart can be made in a 9” round tart pan; don’t roll out dough, can cut asparagus to fit.) Quite frankly the reason I made this is I had the pan and probably have not used since living in PA.
2. Line the tart with the cheese cut in thin slices. Toss the asparagus with EVOO and arrange crosswise over cheese, tightly packed. Bake until cheese melts, 15 minutes. Sprinkle generously with pepper.
3. Cool slightly and serve.
I made it earlier and baked while we were having the appetizers.
For the main course we had torranados that Jim grilled with Penzeys Chicago Seasoning and Wegman’s béarnaise finishing butter. I accompanied this with Julia Childs Epinards A La Basquaise. This is a gratin of Spinach and sliced Potatoes with Anchovies. Serves 6
Ingredients:
½ cup of grated Swiss cheese + 1/3 C
3 Cups spinach braised in stock
1# boiling potatoes
2T mashed anchovies or 1 T anchovy paste
4 T softened butter + 2T melted butter
1/8 t pepper
3 T white bread crumbs
Directions:
1. Julia recommends fresh spinach but I used 2 bags of frozen spinach thawed. I then braised it until dry in beef stock. I then put it in a towel and squeezed all the extra moisture out. To the spinach add ½ C grated Swiss cheese.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into slices 1/8” thick. Boil them in salted water for 5 minutes or until tender, but they hold together. Drain.
3. Lightly butter a 2” deep and 9” diameter baking dish.
4. Mix the anchovies, softened butter and pepper together in a bowl.
5. Spread half of the potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with half of the anchovy mixture and half of the spinach. Repeat with the remaining potatoes, anchovy mixture, and spinach.
6. Mix the remaining cheese and bread crumbs together. Spread the cheese and bread crumbs over the top of the casserole. Pour on the melted butter.
7. About 30 minutes before serving, place in upper third of a preheated 375 degree oven to heat through thoroughly and brown the tip nicely.
I also made this earlier in the day and was able to enjoy my dinner party. Kathy brought a wonderful brownie type dessert. It was chocolate so we enjoyed red wine and chocolate, a favorite introduced to us by the Concannon Winery on Valentine’s day.