#2: Kent’s Favorites + secret birthday dinner

Since Kent’s birthday was the next day and we were 2 weeks out from our wedding, dinner party #2 featured a significantly simpler menu than our first. I had only one untried recipe, and took the Easy Way Out (tm)  for dessert.

I had deemed this meal Kent’s Birthday Dinner, so he had approval rights on the menu. 

MENU

Speciality Cocktail

• Rosemary-Lemon Fizz with vodka or gin (from Dave's Dinners: A Fresh Approach to Home-Cooked Meals)

Appetizers

• Olives
• Cheese board with crackers (I forgot to write down what cheeses we had)
• Cantalope wrapped in proscuitto

Salad

• Iceberg wedge with bacon & blue cheese dressing (various recipes)

Main Course

• Peppercorn-encrusted Beef Tenderloin Filet (from Pioneer Woman Cooks)
• Green beans w/ red peppers & pine nuts (from my mom)
• Boiled Red Potatoes - with butter, salt & pepper

Dessert

• Bi-Rite Creamery Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

Wine

• 2008 Ladera Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
• Again, I forgot to write down the wines (I blame the Ladera), but they were tasty.

THE PREP

Shopping and cooking did not start nearly as early in the week this time, though I did again stick with the detailed prep plan.  Way. too. Detailed. 


A snippet.

      6:45 -  take out cheese, crackers

      7:00 -  take meat & butter out of fridge

      7:15 -  start boiling water

      7:30 -  meat  on stove

               -  start potatoes

      7:40 -  meat in oven

               -  peppers on stove

      8:00 -  serve salad

      8:15 -  server dinner

THE VERDICT

Dinner was a rousing success! Perhaps it was all the wine. The meat came out perfect. The potatoes were soft & creamy. And the ice cream cake was, of course, a well-received finale.

The tricky part of this menu was the blue cheese dressing. It was an unmitigated disaster. I made 3, yes 3,  different recipes and they were all terrible. In the end, I sent Kent to the store to buy edible dressing. 

I have a newfound respect for good blue cheese dressing and will continue my search for the perfect recipe. I suspect it involves buttermilk. I am not convinced mayo is required.

THE PRETTY PICTURES

You can see the complete Flickr gallery here.