Italian Dinner Party

This past Saturday, I had the first of what I hope to be a monthly gathering filled with friends and good food. It was my first time hosting a dinner party, and not just catering for one, so I wanted it to be perfect. My main reason was so my friends could taste the fruits of my labor in the kitchen, instead of just hearing me talk about it. Unfortunately, since it was so last minute, I did not have a lot of time to plan and prepare my Italian-themed menu. After posting about Elizabeth Restaurant (you can check it out on my home page if you haven't already seen it) I had to dash around and get ready for the approaching evening. After getting a wonderful french baguette from a local bakery, I headed to the grocery store with a meager grocery list that consisted of surprisingly few things. Upon getting back home, I thought of what I needed to do for each dish and it seemed pretty manageable, at the time. I started with mixing the meat and other ingredients for my homemade meatballs. Since it was my first time making meatballs completely from scratch, I followed my tried and true favorite Gourmet Magazine's pasta guide. The recipe seemed delicious, including a mix of ground veal, pork and chuck, torn french bread and aromatics like garlic, onion and herbs. Once I formed 20 little meatballs, I put them in the fridge to get started on my next task- a spring-pea pesto. Using a combination of green peas, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, olive oil and garlic, I created an unexpectedly simple but fresh and flavorful sauce that will be good to have in my arsenal. My next job was the garlic bread, which was to die for. Using the crusty baguette and a combination of garlic, parmigiano-reggiano, butter and oil the garlic bread was crunchy and rich with real garlic flavor. Since I used a mortar and pestle to crush the garlic, all the flavor was released, making a lovely addition to my pastas. After putting the halves in the oven, I needed to start cooking my meatballs. This proved to be not as simple as I had expected, I learned several oil burns later! When my friends arrived, they all brought something. From an arrangement of spring tulips to homemade brownies, the meal was complete and close to perfect! After our large Italian dinner, we sat around and played Catch Phrase. The evening proved to be a success, and the food was delicious. I can't wait till next months dinner party!