We start the day a few days beforehand, planning a menu and finalizing what we need to make and purchase. Then on the cooking day, we head out to a fun grocery store (this time it was Sendiks) and buy good quality ingredients. Then we regroup at whoever's house we're cooking at (this time it was at the Taylor's) and plan out the cooking times. Dinner is generally around 6 p.m., with appetizers to keep folks happy until we're ready to eat.
This time we went with a French bistro theme, making beef burgundy as our main dish. To round out the meal, we started with a variety of French cheeses, red pears and cheese puffs. Then we had shrimp brochette and a cherry tomato salad. Along with the beef were garlic green beans, potatoes Lyonnaise and French bread. Dessert was profiteroles with coffee ice cream inside. We had a couple of wines, too.
David has made puff pastry from scratch before, so we used the recipe he had (which turned out GREAT), taking turns stirring it in the pan before piping. Most of the dough was used for dessert, but we added a little cheese to some and made the cheese puffs from the same recipe. 
While we were working on that, Chip prepped the beef to get it ready to slowcook in the oven. He also was our potato man, peeling and then slicing them (using a mandoline, thank goodness).
Then we took off the shells and tails of the shrimp, chopped lots of herbs and cut tomatoes for the salad. (note: the tomatoes in the shrimp picture here are for show, and those are fresh bay leaves)
Everything came together rather nicely, though the potatoes took a little longer to cook, as we made massive amounts of them (we cooked for 12, which included us). We decided to plate the food for folks, rather than do family style, as it would take a little less time and would evenly distribute the beans. Plus, we liked the thought of getting to serve everyone--don't you just love to sit back and relax and enjoy a good meal without any work? Yeah...
Everyone demanded dessert right away, so we cut the puff pastries and scooped ice cream shortly after dinner. They were devoured pretty quickly... 
We might try Mexican next time.
Book recommendation: Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
Recipe recommendation: Gougères
Movie recommendation: Bottle Shock
6 comments:
wow, looks like loads of foodie fun!
You might like to pop along to the DCM blog, there's some news for you there!
it looks so delicious!
I gotta get back your way to have some more Dave Taylor Cake! :)
What fun! Wish our friends were more into food. I would love to be part of this kind of group.
Yes, we're quite blessed to have folks who like to eat, too! Someone was thanking me a while ago for the fun treats and I said that's only half of it--you have to have an audience that appreciates it, too. :)
Gianna--you should try his pie, too. Mmmmm....
That looks like a delicious meal! And you've got my stomach grumbling for French food now...beef burgundy sounds a lot more exciting than my leftovers, lol!
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