Project Food Blog: Luxury Dinner Party (Challenge #3)

ABOUT: 

Project Food Blog is the first-ever interactive competition where thousands of Foodbuzz Featured Publishers are competing in a series of culinary blogging challenges for the chance to advance & a shot at the ultimate prize: $10,000 & a special feature on Foodbuzz.com for one year.

Challenge Prompt: Celebrate! Whether you're an experienced host or an entertaining newbie, get creative & host a luxurious dinner party where your guests will discover new tastes & exotic flavors. Share your hosting secrets with readers, like how to cook for a crowd, plan a menu, or involve guests in the prep.

A REASON TO CELEBRATE:

This challenge couldn't have come at a better time, because yesterday was my 37th birthday. Age has never bothered me before, but for some reason 37 bothers me. I woke up yesterday with terrible back pain; I just felt old. However, as far as birthday celebrations go, it was a pretty good one...I had a multi-course dinner at Araka with my girlfriends on Wednesday, met a couple other friends at Monarch for dinner & drinks on Thursday, saw Anthony Bourdain speak on Friday, & threw a Spanish tapas tasting party last night.

MENU:

I chose to feature traditional Spanish tapas for us to taste...mainly because my husband recently started working as the Assistant Cheesemonger (Assistant to the Cheesemonger) at The Wine Merchant in St. Louis & we hadn't yet tried any of the Spanish cheeses & meats. Our main "luxury item" was Jamón Ibérico, the most expensive ham in the world. Jamón Ibérico is not widely available in the United States; in fact, it was not available at all until December 2007, because the USDA had not approved any of the Spanish slaughterhouses. We also tried Jamón Serrano, a spicy Chorizo, & three Spanish cheeses: Ros (aged sheep's milk cheese), San Simon (creamy smoked cow's milk cheese), & Urgelia (semi-soft salt brine-cured cow's milk cheese).

My menu also included a whole salt-baked red snapper. I wanted to feature a seafood dish, since Spain is--as Anthony Bourdain stated during his talk in St. Louis on Friday night--the best place in the world to eat seafood. I'd never baked a whole fish in a salt crust before but had been wanting to do so for a while. The fish was moist and flavorful, complimented with a garlicky Spanish allioli. Surprizingly, the allioli is made with only raw garlic, olive oil, & a touch of lemon juice...no egg yolks like a French aioli.

I was impressed with the gazpacho recipe I used; I liked it much better than the gazpachos I've tried in the past. Usually, I feel like I'm eating a bowl of salsa. This recipe, however, is made by blending some bread with the tomatoes, cucumber, & red pepper to create a thicker, creamier soup. I let guests season their own soup with black truffle salt & oil or smoked salt.

For dessert, I baked a Spanish chocolate truffle cake. With 2 1/2 sticks of butter & 6 eggs, this cake is very rich, dense & eggy. A bittersweet chocolate ganache topped the single layer cake. I made ice cream with a fruity Spanish olive oil to go with it...because no birthday party is complete without cake & ice cream.

Since I was offering a variety of berenars (snacks), I also put out a platter of mixed Spanish olives (thank you Whole Foods olive bar!) & almonds to go with the wines Jerad picked out: a 2008 Juan Gil Monastrell, a 2009 Dominio de Eguren Protocolo Blanco, & several bottles of Segura Viduas Brut Reserva Cava (sparkling, my favorite!).

RECIPES:

Gaspatxo Andalus (Gazpacho)

Orada a la Sal (Whole Fish Baked in Salt) with Allioli

Mona de Xocolata (Chocolate Truffle Cake)

Oli d'Oliva Gelat (Olive Oil Ice Cream)

HOSTING TIPS:

1. KEEP IT SIMPLE. There's no need to cook an entire 5-course meal; a platter of three or four really good artisan cheeses goes a long way. I prefer to make a few dishes to set out with a cheese platter, charcuterie, & olives for my guests to enjoy "buffet style." We all have more fun standing around & noshing from platters while talking. The last time I threw a formal dinner party, I spent most of the time in the kitchen...and I got a bit tipsy on wine & screwed up a couple dishes (as in not whisking oil into the salad dressing, just dumping vinegar & onions on the salad instead). A simple menu will let you enjoy the party as well.

2. PLAN AHEAD. Do as much as you can ahead of time so that you're not rushed at the last minute. A couple years ago, I'd invited people over for dinner but was way behind in my prep. In fact, I'd started nothing when people arrived. My guests asked if they could help, and I started assigning jobs...peeling garlic for chicken with 40 cloves, slicing vegetables for a tian, & destemming grapes. At one point, I found myself standing in the kitchen doing nothing while my guests were basically cooking their own meal.

3. BE FLEXIBLE. Sometimes things don't work out the way to you plan, so you must be willing to make adaptations. My Vitamix stopped working while I was making gazpacho last night; it just wouldn't turn on (and I thought those things were unbreakable!). Eventually, I had to concede that we weren't going to have gazpacho. I figured that we had enough other food, so it would be fine. I didn't let it bother me. Thankfully, though, the Vitamix started working again, so I made the gazpacho while my guests were there. It's always good to have a back-up plan in case something doesn't work out...like the oven gets too hot & burns the bread or your misbehaving puppy grabs a hunk of cheese off the table...hypothetically speaking, of course.

4. HAVE FUN! This is, ultimately, the most important part of throwing any kind of party. If you're stressed out about everything being perfect, it will kill your buzz (literally & figuratively speaking). My dinner party was a great time...and it wasn't necessarily because of the food...it was because there were lots of laughs with good friends.

My fav pic of the night: Jerad with our friends' baby.