company

We had some company this past Sunday evening for dinner. What to make? I decided to go with something I've done before, chicken scarpariello. 

​​My guests brought a delicious assortment of cheese and crackers from Joe Leone's in Point Pleasant, NJ for appetizers. We had wedge of Brie, Jennifer's Homemade rosemary flatbread (very tasty),  ​34° Sesame Crisp Crackers and, under the Joe Leone private label, Parmgiano twists (think puff pastry baked with Parmesan Reggiano cheese) and country vegetable dip (yum!)

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My contribution was artichoke croustades from the April 1991 issue of Gourmet Magazine. I hadn't made these in years. I purchased a loaf of white bread from Delicious Orchards and had them slice it. I should have used a biscuit cutter to make the bread rounds to reduce the excess bread around the rim and doubled the filling as I thought they could have used a bit more. The artichoke croustades were delicious. The filling was a blend of chopped artichokes, a bit of scallions, mayonnaise and some Parmesan cheese.

I also made a wonderful chopped salad from the May 2001 issue of Gourmet Magazine. The salad had diced cucumbers, yellow peppers and red onions. Instead of chopped romaine, I used red leaf lettuce and grape tomatoes instead of diced tomato as I thought the grape tomatoes would have more flavor at this time of year.  The dressing was fresh lemon juice instead of vinegar, minced garlic, olive oil with salt and pepper. The combination of the vegetables and dressing made the salad refreshing.

I went with a Delicious Orchards apple pie topped with Talenti vanilla gelato for dessert. Easy!

Overall, delicious food and wonderful company completed a nice weekend.

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