no-repeat gourmet night

Being a foodie household, we have a few foodie friends. And when the foodie friends get together, you can bet we eat well.

A few years ago, friends invited us to their summer dinner party. That tradition morphed into a semi-annual Gourmet Night. We usually pick a date and theme (last Fall it was “Tapas”), delegate the courses (appetizers, entrée, desserts, sides, etc.), then eat ourselves silly. This year, we came up with No-Repeat Gourmet Night. Translation: make something you’ve never made before. And instead of running screaming from the unknown, these dear friends dove head first into their projects. Here’s the menu:

Starters:

• Fried Polenta with Tomato Basil Sauce
• Sage Sausage Bites with Balsamic Apricot Dip
• Bruschetta with guacamole and tomato
• Beer-Battered Asparagus with a Lemon Herbed Dipping Sauce

Entrée and Sides

• Beef Braciole “Pinwheel-Style”
• Potato Rosettes (not the exact recipe used, but pretty close)
• Colorful Corn Salad
• Marinated Summer Beans
• Green salad with everything in it

Desserts

• Butterscotch chocolate brownies
• Peanut butter chocolate Bundt cake
• Chocolate espresso cheesecake with blackberry glaze

That last photo is a real teaser, isn’t it? My darling daughter made that (I helped with the glaze). Stay tuned for a cheesecake post in the near future.

To see more cooking action from Gourmet Night, click over to Jennifer’s site. For more tips, check out Works-For-Me-Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

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