Wining and Dining to Excess, Italian-style

This past weekend, P and I hosted our first, hopefully of many, serious wine-pairing dinner party. I chose an Italian theme, predominantly because of the meyer lemon olive oil cake I wanted to make for dessert (more on that later). Although things got a little out of hand (see picture below, which does not include the half bottle of scotch nor half bottle of espresso vodka), and the party went way, way, WAY past my bedtime, it was a resounding success!

We started the night with some simple antipasti, which I chose to go with Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin brut champagne: crusty Italian bread with good olive oil and black sea salt, roasted asparagus spears, and roasted almonds.

Then, it was on to the table for the meal!

Primo was a trio of farmers market squash and ricotta: cold squash napoleon, stuffed squash blossom, and zucchini-ricotta fritters. The napoleon was made up of alternating layers of roasted squash/zucchini and ricotta (seasoned with salt and lemon zest), drizzled with meyer lemon olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt. The blossom I stuffed with a mixture of half minced roasted squash (same used in the napoleon), ricotta, S&P, and herbs de provence, baked at 350 for 15 min. The fritters were a Mario Batali recipe from F&W. Each element was yummier than the last! (I thought the fritters were particularly fantastic.)

We paired this with a Horton Viognier from Virginia, which has a light, floral and honey quality that worked nicely with the squash.

Secondo was a mustard and herb (rosemary, as is clear from the--pre-cooked--pic!) eye of roast (grass-fed, locally raised) beef tenderloin with taleggio-stuffed polenta and marinated heirloom tomatoes. The beef was an obvious pairing with an Emilio Moro Ribera del Duero 2006 (which we discovered in Barcelona), as was the taleggio. I know it's weird, but the wine has some sort of stinky cheese note in the nose (in a good way?)!

This course did not go as well as the last. I don't cook red meat very often, and this was obvious--it took much longer than it should have, and although we let the meat sit for 15 minutes, it still bled out everywhere when we sliced it (and honestly didn't look medium-rare, even though it was only 130 degrees internally). It was also, sadly, chewy (I think this was due to the cut) although the flavor was good! I prepared this by rubbing the beef with S&P, searing each side 3ish min, brushing with whole grain mustard, sticking in some rosemary, and baking at 350 for what seemed like forever (until internal temp reached 120).
I made the polenta by simply stirring 1 part cornmeal and 2.5 parts water, plus ~1 tsp salt over medium heat with a whisk about 15 min. Then I spread half the polenta in the bottom of a square baking dish, layered on slices of taleggio, topped with remaining polenta, and baked 25ish min at 350. This would have turned out wonderfully if the cornmeal didn't have a funny taste to it, kind of baking soda-ish--a friend suggested that may have been a result of the liming process of the corn.
The tomatoes, however, were delish! I riffed this from a F&W grilled bread and marinated tomato salad, doing only the first step and not using nearly that much olive oil. I used big, pink, mortgage lifters, red tomatoes from my boss's garden, and some sort of low-acid, sweet yellow variety.

Dolci was the aforementioned meyer lemon olive oil cake, which I used with some beautiful olive oil my mom bought us from California and using this CL recipe. I cut back on the lemon juice a bit (and replaced with water) to make sure the olive oil got to shine. It was dense and yet airy, kind of like a pound cake with air bubbles. And lots of lemon flavor! We had this with an orange and apricot compote (supremed orange, orange juice, chopped dried apricots, some apricot preserves, and a touch of water, all mixed together and nuked for 30 sec) and a Ricossa Antica Casa muscato d'asti--a yummy, sweet and bubbly white perfect for dessert!

That was end to the dining portion of the night, although, obviously, there was significantly more wine and liquor, not to mention some Dougie-learning and heart-to-hearts, to follow. I think our next wine dinner will be Spanish-themed. And hopefully slightly less boozy....