Last night, Eric and I hosted his mother (was her Birthday friday), Lorraine, his brother Marc-André, and his brother's girlfriend, Linda. I thought I'd make them an Italian dinner. The sciatica was flaring up, so Eric helped a lot and did great.
We started with some salmon rolls, a nice wine and this bit of anti-pasto/bruschetta kind of thing. Unfortunately, this pic is after it had been dug into, so it's not as pretty as it was at the start. I roasted some garlic and processed it with a bit of fresh basil and a good olive oil. Laid some of that down with some lovely balsamic vinegar, and then laid in the cut tomatoes in the middle, with just a bit of sea salt on them, then some artichoke hearts, cucumbers (seeds removed), fresh mozzarella, and then a bit more olive oil and vinegar drizzled over it all, and fresh basil leaves sprinkled over the plates (I made two plates).
Then, some cheesy breadsticks, as well as a long baguette of french bread, both warmed in the oven. That was followed by the tray of spaghetti, meatballs and sausage. The sausage came from a little place here where they're mad fresh. Really delicious. I made the sauce from scratch the day before, as well as the meatballs the day before, using the Sicilian family recipe for both. I laid some sauce down at the bottom of the tray (it is a HUGE tray), then sauced spaghetti in the middle, surrounded by meatballs and sausages cut into thirds, leaving a Zyliss cheese grater with some blocks of parmesean cheese.
That was followed up by a fruit coctail cake that Linda made, with a wonderful butter/sugar frosting poured over it. Sorry we couldn't get pics of everything.
I think they thought it was a bit weird that Eric and I were in the kitchen taking photos of the food.
Anyone want to join us for left overs?
We started with some salmon rolls, a nice wine and this bit of anti-pasto/bruschetta kind of thing. Unfortunately, this pic is after it had been dug into, so it's not as pretty as it was at the start. I roasted some garlic and processed it with a bit of fresh basil and a good olive oil. Laid some of that down with some lovely balsamic vinegar, and then laid in the cut tomatoes in the middle, with just a bit of sea salt on them, then some artichoke hearts, cucumbers (seeds removed), fresh mozzarella, and then a bit more olive oil and vinegar drizzled over it all, and fresh basil leaves sprinkled over the plates (I made two plates).
Then, some cheesy breadsticks, as well as a long baguette of french bread, both warmed in the oven. That was followed by the tray of spaghetti, meatballs and sausage. The sausage came from a little place here where they're mad fresh. Really delicious. I made the sauce from scratch the day before, as well as the meatballs the day before, using the Sicilian family recipe for both. I laid some sauce down at the bottom of the tray (it is a HUGE tray), then sauced spaghetti in the middle, surrounded by meatballs and sausages cut into thirds, leaving a Zyliss cheese grater with some blocks of parmesean cheese.
That was followed up by a fruit coctail cake that Linda made, with a wonderful butter/sugar frosting poured over it. Sorry we couldn't get pics of everything.
I think they thought it was a bit weird that Eric and I were in the kitchen taking photos of the food.
Anyone want to join us for left overs?
