The first thing you want to do is create your menu, which should be based on the season and to include foods that every guest will feel comfortable digging in to (aka know your crowd).
My dinner menu consisted of:
- Pumpkin-Cider Cocktail
- Winter lager (for the men)
- Brie en Croute with cranberries and walnuts
- Prosciutto Stuffed Figs Stuffed with Goat Cheese
- Acorn Squash Soup with Fresh Sage and Parmesan
- Arugula Salad with Dried Cranberries, Walnuts and Goat Cheese
- Savory Pumpkin Lasagna
- Apple Tart
Pumpkin Cider Cocktail
1 liter of apple cider (the good stuff)
1 liter of ginger ale
1 can pumpkin (or one cup of real pumpkin puree)
1/4 cup pumpkin pie spice (cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, sugar)
Add vodka, rum or bourbon to spike it up a bit
Mix all together, chill and serve with frozen cranberries as a garnish. Your guests will LOVE this cup of cheer.
Winter Lager
Our personal favorite is Shiner Cheer with hints of toasted pecans and peaches. When you set out drinks you wish to keep cold, put them in a nice bucket with ice instead of a cooler, it's much more becoming and easy for guests to see where the drinks are.
Brie en Croute
1 medium-small wheel of brie
1 puff pastry
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 Tbsp agave nectar (or honey)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
First, pull your puff pastry out to thaw then mix your cranberries, nuts, agave nectar and brown sugar together. Make sure the filling has enough agave nectar. Cut the brie in half so you have two big flat pieces, spread 3/4 of the mixture in the middle, place one half on top. Wrap up your stuffed brie with the puff pastry, putting the wrapped side down. Put the other part of the mixture on top of the brie and bake at 350 degrees at 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with water crackers.
Proscuitto-Stuffed Figs
16 small fresh figs
1 package of proscuitto
1/4 cup goat cheese
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp agave nectar (or honey)
Clean and wash all of your figs then gouge a small hole in each fig. Then grab a piping bag (or make your own with a plastic bag), soften your goat cheese and spoon into the piping bag. Stuff each fig with a generous squirt of goat cheese, then wrap each one with proscuitto. Drizzle with agave nectar mixed with the pumpkin pie spice and back for 12 minutes on 350. These will melt in your mouth!
Acorn Squash Soup
I have blogged about this one before and it was so good I had to make it again for my dinner party.
3 acorn squash (one half per person)
1 bunch of fresh sage
1 carton of chicken stock
3/4 cup heavy cream (or milk)
parmesan cheese
6 shallots
1 leek
bay leaf
olive oil
salt
pepper
Slice the acorn squash in half, slice up a few leaves of sage, a bit of leek, one shallot and place inside of each half. Drizzle with olive oil and a little shake of salt and pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for one hour until soft. While the squash are softening in the oven, slice the rest of the shallots and leek and place in a generous portion of olive oil in a Dutch oven on medium heat.
Once the shallot mixture gets golden add chicken stock and bay leaf. Once the acorn squash is soft, remove from oven and let cool. Once cooled, peel off skin and dice into inch size pieces and add to soup. Blend soup with emulsion blender until smooth, add heavy cream, more leaves of fresh sage, salt, pepper and simmer for 15 more minutes then it's ready to serve. This velvety, savory soup is so comforting your guests will beg for the recipe.
Arugula Salad
I wanted the salad to be a palate cleanser before the main course, I made it pretty simple and the peppery arugula did the trick.
1 bunch of arugula
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup halved walnuts
3 Tbsp crumbled goat cheese
Lemon-Agave Dressing
juice from two lemons
1/4 cup agave nectar
salt
pepper
olive oil
Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl, agave nectar, salt and pepper then whisk in the olive oil to taste.
For the salad simply assemble in a nice wooden bowl, layering the arugula, nuts, cranberries then top with the goat cheese. Let guests drizzle their dressing up their salad.
Pumpkin Lasagna
This lasagna is savory and fantastic for guests.
1 box of lasagna noodles (oven ready, wheat or regular)
1 can of pumpkin puree
1 package of sweet Italian sausage
1 yellow onion
1 package of fresh mozzarella
parmesan
fresh basil
1 zucchini
tomato sauce (homemade or jarred)
bechamel sauce
1 egg
salt
pepper
fresh sage
Dice up your onion and saute in a pan on medium heat, in a separate pan cook the sausage (out of the casing). Once onions and sausage are cooked, add tomato sauce and start on your bechamel. To make a bechamel sauce start with butter in a sauce pan on medium heat, when melted add a bay leaf then whisk in the milk until nice and thick. Set aside and make sure not to burn.
Mix pumpkin puree with the one egg and set aside. Slice up mozzarella into thick slices, chop up fresh basil, slice zucchini in small, thin slices and grate fresh parmesan. Choose a fancy 9x11 dish and start to layer. Start with tomato sauce at the bottom, then noodles, pumpkin sauce, bechamel, mozzarella, parmesan, basil, zucchini and sage. Then continue to layer until you've reached the top of the dish. Save enough tomato sauce, bechamel and cheeses for the very top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. This lasagna perfectly balances the zesty tomato, heaviness of the pumpkin and lusciousness of the bechamel plus the buttery cheeses. Your company will definitely be wowed!
Apple Tart
6 granny smith apples
1 pie crust
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
apricot jam
Skin the apples and slice up into thin parts, toss in a bowl with apricot jam and spices. Then pile onto the crust which has been rolled out. Overlap parts of the crust onto the edges of the apples. Brush a bit of rum on top of the tart and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Serve with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream. This is an excellent way to end your meal, it is light, crunchy and the pumpkin ice cream makes everyone go back for more.
Enjoy this fantastic menu with your loved ones this holiday season!
xoxo Lo
