A dinner party for very important folk

The amazing, world-stomping (17 countries in one year!), Alphorn-tooting Madeleine Abromowitz graced the DC population with her presence this weekend. To commemorate the event, I threw a dinner party. And since the party was to be attended by Watson fellows and a Fulbright scholar, aka people who are "kind of big deals," I knew that I had to try my darndest to whip up the best that my little kitchen can come up with.



I had in mind a light summery meal of fresh bread, antipasti, and salads and my friends were nice enough to accommodate their contributions to that theme. On the menu were:

Two loaves of freshly baked bread
Roasted red peppers + mozzerella
Ina Garten's marinated artichoke hearts (recipe below)
Feta + watermelon + spinach + arugula salad
Pearled cous cous salad
Two types of quinoa (red and white!) salad by Rob and Roz
Zucchini corn cake by Colin
Potato salad by Helen and Bobby
Bean salad by Jess Engebretson
A fantastic peach pie by Madeleine
Chocolate cake

I had dabbled in bread baking the summer after my sophomore year but haven't really gotten back into it this past year for some reason. And because of this lack of expertise I decided to insure myself by making two different dummy proof bread recipes. In the end, the no knead bread didn't rise enough for some reason and ended up being dense and destined for a bread pudding. But the other bread worked out perfectly -- it was wheaty but soft with a nice crusty exterior. (I followed the recipe exactly except that I used 1 1/2 cups AP flour, 1 1/2 cups white wheat flour, and 3/4 cups of whole wheat bread and found it to produce a great tender to wheaty ratio.)



Aside from the bread, there was the antipasti spread. The roasted peppers in the middle are pretty much the love of my life right now. It is totally worth it to fire up the oven in the middle of a DC summer for an hour to make them. They are soft and sweet and wonderful and makes me wonder why I ever hated bell peppers in my childish days. Served with some fresh mozzarella and drizzled with olive oil, these peppers are the perfect accompaniment to a loaf of freshly baked bread. The marinated artichokes are also pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself. They're flavorful without being overly vinegary. And the advantage to starting with frozen artichokes is that it doesn't run the risk of being too mushy like the kinds that come in cans.

This dinner was yet another example of why I'm more of a food eater than a food blogger. I barely had the patience to take one food picture before rushing to tear apart the bread. Luckily, my friends knew me better than that and took better pictures than the blurry excited ones I ended up with on my camera. Still, no one remembered to take a picture of Madeleine's wonderful peach pie with a textbook lattice top crust before we all dug in excitedly.

Roasted artichoke hearts
Adapted and simplified from Ina Garten

24 oz frozen artichoke hearts
Olive oil
1 shallot, minced
juice from 2 lemons
1 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3 tbs capers
1/4 cup fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 350F. Toss artichoke hearts with olive oil, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Spread out on a sheet pan and roasted for 20 min. In the mean time, whisk together lemon juice, vinegar, shallot, mustard, and enough olive oil for the whole thing to be emulsified. Take the artichokes out and toss them with the dressing. Add the capers. Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes or in the fridge overnight. Top with parsley before serving.