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snowy night in new england
my housemates and i had planned to have a few friends over for a nice little dinner, but unfortunately the weather got in the way and only one guest showed up.
here’s what we made:
as an appetizer we had an époisse cheese with baguettes and champagne.
janice made a vegetarian french onion soup from scratch, so no beef stock since she and the guest are vegetarians. the soup was amazing, you could taste the cognac and the gruyère was melted just right.. i could have melted gruyère anytime, let me tell you. we paired this up with a nice beaujolais nouveau.
the salad was a quick all organic salad that the guest brought over. lettuce, colored peppers, radishes, tomatoes, covered in feta cheese. she made a balsamic vinaigrette with a touch of maple syrup. the dressing was just amazing.. need to remember to get the recipe from her for the summer greens that we grow in the garden!
the main course was a “paella” of sorts. i made an asparagus risotto with leeks, shallots, orange zest, saffron and garlic. i used white wine (chardonnay, i think) and lobster broth and got it nice and creamy. daniel made the other part of the “paella,” a bouillabaisse of sorts. he made it with different types of clams, scallops, shrimp in a leek, garlic, shallot sauce. we then combined the bouillabaisse on top of the risotto and voilà! the wine was a nice, crisp sauvignon blanc.
for dessert we had a nice crème caramel that janice made all day. it was nice, creamy and had a nice subtle vanilla flavor; it was paired up with a sauternes i had bought earlier in the year just to have with this dessert. amazing.
this dinner definitely made up for having to shovel the driveway with all that snow, let me tell you.
