This weekend I went to a dinner party at my sister Laura’s. A group of friends and I get together every few months and do a dinner with a theme. In the past we cooked out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (we tried to figure out how many pounds of butter were on the table) and we did a Iron Chef night with peppers. This weekend we all made Spanish recipes inspired by Mario Batali’s show Spain on the Road Again on PBS.
For appetizers Travis brought cheeses and chorizo. They were great, especially the blue cheese with an apple slice.
cheese plate
My sister Elizabeth made an empanada with sausage and peppers that everyone loved.
empanada
For dinner Laura roasted a chicken stuffed with sausage, I made spinach Catalan style with pine nuts, and stewed white beans. The chicken was great and I enjoyed the spinach but I wasn’t wild about the stewed beans. They were ok but I wouldn’t make them again.
dinner party
To finish the evening my friend Kristen made almond cookies and Laura baked apple slices that were both fantastic.
Spinach Catalan Style
adapted from Spain…On the Road Again
1/4 cup olive oil
18 oz baby spinach
1/4 cup pine nuts
Heat olive oil in large pan. Add spinach and wilt in batches if necessary. Toss with pine nuts.
Note: This recipe originally called for currants but I don’t like them so I left them out.
- I love this; it's like having another set of hands.
- Perfect for making ice cream and sorbet.
- One of my favorite Christmas gifts. Great for going from stovetop to oven.
- Another Christmas gift that is useful in the kitchen.
Thanks for the great idea of adding the apple slices to the blue cheese
my empandas were amazing!
[...] interesting topic. Just a week ago, I went to a dinner party with friends, the same ones that I did Spanish night with. It was a tasting night so everyone brought something to try. The host did 4 seasons of [...]