My good friend David had another one of his very elegant dinner parties last Saturday night. He served a seven course meal for eight people and each course was truly delicious. Once again he got out the good china, silver and crystal and set a beautifully elegant dinner table.
Here is the dinner menu:
Amuse Bouche - caviar and creme fraiche on a nut and berry cracker paired with Champagne
Seafood - Lobster, crab and shrimp cocktail paired with a French Rose
Soup - Rustic garlic soup paired with a Napa Valley Fume Blanc
Grapefruit sorbet
Entree - chicken breast stuffed with pistachio, parsley and bread crumbs and covered with an apricot, mango and ginger sherry sauce. Served with lemon-scented saffron rice and steamed asparagus drizzled with balsamic reduction; paired with a Spanish Granacha
Salad - Baby kale in a blood orange, jalapeño, white wine vinaigrette sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and cashews, paired with Sonoma Pinot Noir
Dessert - Fresh strawberries topped with Grand Marnier sauce, paired with an Italian Moscato, or 20 year-old Port and coffee service. And, Julia Baker chocolates.
It was all extremely delicious and presented artfully. David is truly the master of the elegant dinner party.
20 comments:
Stunning photo, and menu!
Gosh I think I put on two kilos just reading the menu Sharon :) beautiful table .. but how come no delicious Australian wines :)
Is Dear David a chef?!! I'd gladly fly to Phoenix not only to meet the two of you but also to partake of an elegant David-meal!!
PS. My internet is spotty at my Méxican condo so I might not be able to comment every day.
My invite musta been lost in the mail. Darn. 'What a spread' as my grandmother would say.
Sounds like a special occasion!
I would be stuffed after that incredible meal! He must be a very accomplished chef, Sharon!
Elegant indeed!
Wow! Looks fantastic and such an ambitious menu. Bet it was a super evening.
And, Sharon, how do you return such a lovely invite? I have a dear friend who is a chef at a very well known restaurant in town and when I'm invited to dinner at her house it's really amazing. I find it difficult to invite her to dinner at my house. How do you even it out?
I'm swooning!!!!
(Sharon maybe you can explain why you call main courses 'entrées'? An entrée is a first course not only in France but also in Britain! I'm always baffled when I see this on menus in the US!)
Good question Ciel. I did some research and found this answer.
"Actually, there is indeed a good explanation for why Americans do this. They got it from the English. At some point in the 18th century, the English began using entree to mean "a ‘made dish’, served between the fish and the joint". But in French, entrée was defined as "qui se servent au commencement du repas" ("serving as the commencement of a meal"). So the English got it wrong first, and that "wrong" meaning simply stuck in America once it arrived here, while the French doubtless harangued the English so much about misuse of the term that the meaning was corrected in the U.K. (well, maybe not, but...).
In America the word eventually came to refer not to the 'made dish' (which was often a ham) but to the main course (usually a ham or some other meat)."
Merci ! :-)
With food like this, no wonder you've never had the urge to try McAlpine's!
Sounds like heaven.
Wow! What a generous friend. His menu sounds delicious and the table looks great.
Roseann, David is my best friend and we dine together quite often. So I don't think we even think about it. It might be different if it were someone I was not so close to.
Thanks for all of your kind words. The meal and the table setting were labors of love.
Sharon always downplays her involvement at my dinner parties. She is an invaluable asset and they wouldn't be met with the same success without her.
In addition to helping in the kitchen (Sharon is actually the more accomplished chef), she helps plate and serve. It's I who owe her!
xo
This is indeed a lovely table setting. I like to set a table, too, but in Florida my table setting tilts toward Italy, i.e., Italian majolica ("Deruta") plates, gold colored charger plates and French linens.
Interesting to read about "entree." I didn't know any of that.
Oh my!
Thanks for the explanation about "entrée" It makes sense now.
It is more than a treat for sure. It is indeed for the eye for the palate and for the memories.
Ted would have liked to go to this dinner party
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