New Year's Dinner

($15 per person)

• Green Salad

Ginger-Macadamia Vinaigrette

• Sliders

Cheddar, Roast Red Pepper & Caramelized Onion Bruschetta

• Parsnip Soup
• Beef Wellington

Potatoes, Puff Pastry, Mushrooms

• Poached Pears

Vanilla Mascarpone

Dinner - Monday, November 30th

So, winding down from the Big Night Italian dinner I'm going to do some more rustic Italian for the next casual dinner. Since my pig heads didn't come on time we will be having that as a carryover from the last meal.

($15 per person)

• Porchetta di Testa

Pig's head cheese cured with garlic, rosemary, thyme, & marjoram Served with capers and pecorino

• Pekin Duck Breast

Endive, Orange, Almond, and Sauce Aigre-doux

• Vanilla Bean-Poached Persimmons

Brioche, Crème Anglaise

Thanksgiving Feast, November 16th

Thanksgiving Formal

Tell your friends there will be lots of food to go around - I can probably serve 15-20 people pretty easily.

• Porchetta di Testa

Pig's head cheese cured with garlic, rosemary, thyme, & marjoram

Served with capers and pecorino

• Pancotto

Bread Soup

• Seafood Risotto

Risotto with Shrimp, scallops & Marinara

• Herb Baked Fish

Which-ever fish looks best at this time of year

Stuffed with parsley, thyme, marjoram, rosemary & garlic - drizzled in olive oil

• Timpano

Baked, stuffed pasta - filled with all the best that Italy has to offer

• Florentine Roast Pork

Pork tenderloin roasted with garlic and rosemary

• Cheese & Salami Board

Three cheeses that won't be found in the other courses

A variety of salamis

• Focaccia Dolce & Coffee
• Tirimisú

This is a tentative menu, I just want everyone to have the heads-up for what's going to be happening. I'm not sure of the price just yet, but with the change of pacing that I just enacted I would say for this sort of feast plan to spend about $40-$50 on food and wine, it's all going to be together and I will get a bit more wine than usual. Plan ahead, bring a friend, have fun - that sort of stuff. I need to know pretty accurately how many people I will be serving otherwise my fridge won't be able to fit all the left-overs.

For those of you who are afraid of the course listings let me demonstrate how they will work: The Porchetta di Testa (since I have to buy a whole head) will be thinly sliced (as in paper thin) and garnished with capers and very small pieces of shaved cheese - you will take what you want from the plate, and no more, the Fritatta will also be quite small - think of it as a Hors d'oeuvre, Seafood risotto will be on a plate and you will take what you need, the fish will come in a similar size to this last dinner, the Timpano is presented as a whole and sliced to desire as is the Florentine roast pork, the deserts will be very small. You will be able to take as small a portion as you want and return for more if you want - these are not formal courses and their overall richness (in other words the amount of fat involved in making them) is not even going to stand up to the past two dinners. Also, you will be able to put nearly all of the savory courses on your plate at one time, so you should be able to draw a good conclusion for how much you need before you start eating.