It always takes me forever to post our own dinner party, especially if we lost the wine competition... which we did :( But it was still a blast! Joe and I had been gone for a month down in Puerto Escondido (check out my travel blog: http://dashingboldadventure.blogspot.com/), and our dinner was scheduled for the Friday after we got home. Less than a week! So that's my excuse for making my fall-back spaghetti. I called for Zinfandel.
Snacks:
Cheese Drizzled with Olive Oil
Black Finger-Olives
Crunchy Parmesan Wafers
Marcona Almonds & Dates
First Course:
Caprese Salad
Main Course:
Roasted Carrots,
Spaghetti with Spicy Meatballs,
Olive Cheese Bread
Dessert:
New York Style Cheesecake with Kona/Caramel Sauce and Berries
Wine competition:
Wades 1st place with Opolo, Mountain Zin, 2014 (Paso Robles)
Gilberts 2nd with Dobra Zemla, Zin, 2014 (Amador)
Shetlers 3rd with the prettiest bottle of Poizin, Zin 2013 (Sonoma)
This was the first time Joe masterminded the entire meal. He said, "Let's make an entire meal with bacon!" So we did. He practiced on me with so many different recipes I was almost sick of bacon by the time our dinner party rolled around...almost. I didn't know bacon came in so many flavors and cuts.
We decided to let the Wades and Shetlers choose what wine varietal they thought would pair with bacon. It was interesting to say the least.
Starter:
Smoky Gouda with Bacon, Prosciutto and Crackers.
We also made this simple little delicacy of maple-bacon wrapped smokies (chicken and apple smokies to be exact). Just dump on a layer of brown sugar and bake them until the brown sugar is a caramelized gooey mess.
Salad:
Warm spinach salad of course. I sauteed the mushrooms and onions first, then tossed in the plain crunchy bacon, and topped it with some slivers of strawberries.
Main Course:
Twice baked potatoes with plain bacon.
Filet Mignon medallions wrapped with pepper crusted bacon and then topped with Cambozola cheese. Sorry for the photo without cheese, but we all attacked our food so fast I could only get a photo of Joe's plate, and he doesn't think steak and cheese should mix :)
Dessert: (You're curious about this aren't you)
I purchased a dark chocolate cake from the bakery (I don't know how to bake) and separated the two layers with a thin metal spatula. Once lifted, Joe lay paper-thin crispy bacon, and then put it back together again.
The wines were two Zins and a Syrah. The Shetlars won with a 2012 Mettler Old Vine Zinfandel. The Wades brought a 2011 Michael David Lust, also a Zinfandel. We presented a 2010 Syrah from Dobra Zemla.
