We had lovely guests, who work with Scott, over for dinner last night. I enjoy putting on a dinner for new friends. Here’s what I made:
Pumpkin Apple Soup (simple soup of onions, pumpkins, apples and chicken broth pureed.) It’s creamy and delicious without the cream! I made this the day before and just heated it up before the guests arrived.
Basically use a 2-4 pound pumpkin and one onion and one apple per pound of pumpkin (I used a four pound pumpkin and used 4 onions and 4 apples). Cut the pumpkin in half and get the stuff out of the center– then cut it in wedges and peel the pumpkin. Chop the remaining flesh into small chunks. Chop the onions and saute them in a half stick of butter. Then add the pumpkin chunks and your peeled and cored apples. Add Chicken Broth (I used one and a half of the tetra pack versions) until it covers the pumpkin and apples plus a bit more. Bring to a boil and simmer until the pumpkin is soft. Turn off and let cool a bit and then blend (I had to do it in batches) until pureed. Reheat, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and serve.
Mixed Green Salad with oranges, pomegranate seeds and goat cheese (I subbed mixed baby greens for the arugula in the recipe and added a bit of Dijon mustard to the dressing). I served this on a platter while i finished the ravioli. It was pretty– I wish i had taken a picture!
Mushroom Tortellini (from Eastern Market–that place is amazing!) with a browned butter sauce of shallots and mushrooms and Parmesan. This is an eyeballed-rough recipe: 1/2 stick of butter heated until just begining to brown, add 1 finely chopped shallot and sliced mushrooms. When mushrooms seem well sauteed, add juice from 1/2 lemon and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Spoon butter-mushroom sauce over tortellini and top with generous covering of freshly grated Parmesan.
And to end it– the never fail Bittersweet Molten Lava Cakes. I served them with honey vanilla Haagen-Dazs, but the dulce de leche and vanilla swiss almond are also great. We ate these on the roof admiring the view of DC.
