One of the reasons I enjoy eating in nice restaurants is the leisurely pace of the meal.  It’s wonderful to sit and talk, sip some wine and periodically have a steaming plate of food set in front of you.  I enjoy my food much more in this manner and find I actually eat less and am more satisfied then if everything arrived at once.  Wilson and I enjoy our meals at home in this same way, one small plate at a time.

Tonight's wine was Alexandria Nicole 2004 Destiny Red Table Wine.

Potato Cakes & Olive Relish

Our first course was a potato cake topped with an olive relish.  Wilson loves potatoes where as I don’t really care for them.  However, I am much more likely to enjoy a potato dish if it isn’t the standard mashed, baked or fried.  Getting a little creative, I topped a basic potato cake with a relish of jalapeno stuffed olives, roasted garlic cloves, green onion, pepper vinegar, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, lemon zest and fresh parsley.  The result, a boring potato is turned into something special we both enjoy.

Roasted Stuffed Poblano Peppers

For our second course, I roasted poblano peppers on the stove and filled them with charred corn, zucchini and oyster mushrooms.  Drizzled on top is a cilantro "creme" sauce made from silken tofu, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and of course cilantro.  It was a lovely compliment to the smokiness of the charred vegetables.  Breaking away from the ordinary, I opted to serve a side of caramelized onions instead of cooking the ubiquitous onion with the veggies.  Sweet and delicious, they should be served on their own much more often.

Very "woodsy" looking!

Whole Wheat Polenta Bread

Homemade bread and cheese are always a welcome addition.  Instead of serving bread and cheese at the start of the meal, I prefer to serve it at the end.  This way all the cooking and clean up is done and I can relax, sip my wine and nibble.

I like the crunch polenta adds to bread recipes and make a few versions of Polenta Bread as well as a Polenta Focaccia.  Recently I also made an Anadama Bread using polenta.  Tonight's version is based on the no-knead bread recipe with my changes being to use 1 cup whole-wheat bread flour, 2 cups ap-flour and ½ cup polenta.  I also used polenta for dusting.

Since this was a Spanish inspired dinner I served Mahon and Manchego as well as some goat cheese that I mixed with a bit of olive oil, minced olives, minced artichokes and herbs.

Dried Fruit Truffles

Dessert was dried fruit "truffles".  This is a fabulous way to satisfy your sweet tooth but still eat healthy.  The cinnamon and cocoa covered "truffles" are dried figs and sour cherries that I pureed in the food processor with a little vanilla cognac.  The semi-sweet chocolate covered are dried dates and blueberries pureed with huckleberry liquor. 

I'm glad that a leisurely meal of small plates is becoming more commonplace in restaurants and peoples homes, as it is a wonderful way to entertain and spend an evening.