Project Food Blog Challenge #3: Host a Luxury Dinner Party

So, don't get too excited -- I didn't actually make it to the third round of Project Food Blog. (Let's face it, when this thing started I had five loyal readers; so as far as popularity contests go, I'm not quite there yet.) But, I do want to send a shout-out to all those who voted for me -- thank you! And, on the positive side, I did get a lot of great exposure for the blog, and I also added another eight readers (welcome!) -- so that's definitely a good thing. Anyway, because Foodbuzz wasn't set to announce who advanced to the next round until Friday at 12p Pacific time, the next challenge's post would have to be up by 3p Pacific time on Sunday, and I was heading out of town for a wedding, I decided that I would take on challenge three just in case I made it to the next round. So, on Monday I pulled together a guest list and then worked through some ideas for a menu.

Though my original thought was to celebrate the flavors of Wyoming (e.g., bison or beef), I decided that since (a) I am not the resident grillmaster, nor have either of use ever grilled bison meat, (b) bison meat (especially choice cuts) can be quite expensive, and (c) bison meat is not easily accessible in this town, I opted to feature salmon as the main dish instead. I briefly considered going with my standard mustard-roasted salmon with lingonberries entree, but opted to branch out instead and try a new recipe. (Something that is quite a no-no when hosting a dinner party, I think -- always nice to know that a recipe tastes good and/or works before foisting it upon unsuspecting dinner guests!)

Since the challenge instructed bloggers to introduce their guests to "exotic flavors," I scoured the Internet and came up with this Food & Wine recipe for pomegranate-glazed salmon. I followed this recipe pretty much to the T, though I decreased the salmon portions from eight fillets to six and subbed in extra lemon juice for lime juice in the marinade. Also, since Laramie isn't home to a Middle Eastern grocery store, I had to make my own pomegranate molasses; I used this Alton Brown recipe. It took me about two hours of simmering on low (compared to Alton's suggested 70 minutes) to get the sauce to thicken to the right consistency.

As to the rest of the menu, I opted to start the meal with an appetizer platter with hummus, pita wedges, and fresh veggies. The meal itself included a organic baby spinach and arugula salad with bosc pears and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing (shown above), green beans with pine nuts in a shallot-butter sauce, butternut squash served over pearled couscous, and the aforementioned salmon.

The original plan for dessert was to serve individual molten mocha chocolate cakes, but right before I was about to make the batter I happened to double-check my ramekin situation, and found that I only had three ramekins of the right size, when I needed six. Time for Plan B! Since I had some apples on hand (the salad was originally going to feature both pears and apples), I decided to throw together a quick apple crisp to serve with vanilla bean ice cream. Not exactly the sophisticated dessert I was going for, but it definitely worked in a pinch.

As to the dinner party itself, I think it turned out better than expected. I ended up not figuring out my timing well (again, a result of making all of these recipes for the first time that evening), and we ended up sitting for dinner about 30 minutes later than I had planned. All of my guests were extremely gracious however, and did not seem to mind the wait for food.

Admittedly, I can count on one hand the number of dinner parties I have hosted, and this one brings up the grand total to two. The dining room set you see in the pictures here was my first "Big Girl" purchase that I made when I was living in Chicago. Prior to my move to Wyoming, I invited my best friends over for a little dinner party shindig (which featured the afore-mentioned mustard-roasted salmon with lingonberries recipe!) to make use of the lovely table (bought from Carson Pirie Scott, which no longer exists in downtown Chicago).

I am shy by nature, so hosting a dinner party is a bit nerve-wracking for me, and I was queasy all day long just thinking about all that I needed to accomplish in order to end the evening with happy guests. I made numerous trips to the grocery store during the day, remembering at the last minute one more ingredient that I had neglected to purchase during the previous shopping trip. I spent some time early in the morning prepping a few ingredients, including the pomegranate molasses, the salmon marinade, and the salad dressing. Everything else was started around 4 p.m. I think the major learning lesson from this challenge was twofold: (1) Use tried-and-true recipes (thankfully, all of my dishes turned out well, but I could have greatly diminished my stress level by practicing the recipes beforehand instead of making my guests the guinea pigs) and (2) Stay organized -- having all the ingredients on hand at the beginning would have significantly decreased my needing to return to the grocery store seemingly every other hour.

In the end, given that my guests said they would gladly welcome another invite, I think the dinner party was a success. (Thanks for coming!)