The party continues with the basis of all good dinner parties the food and the wine!! Keeping the inspiration of the French countryside, the preparation highlighted seasonal ingredients, robust wine, and delicious cheeses. With this menu I focused on highlighting a few flavors of mushrooms, summer tomatoes, and fresh herbs.
Keep reading for the menu, wine pairings, and full recipes after the jump!
The Menu
Cheese and Antipasto Platter
Braised Chicken with Shallots and Chanterelle Mushrooms
Haricot Verts with Herbed Brown Butter
Choco Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream from Cupcakes for the Kingdom
Cheese and Fruit Platter
The Wine
Red: Château Haut-Sorillion Bourdeaux Superieur 2014, France
White: New Clairveux St. James Block Viognier 2015, California
Non-alcoholic: Sparkling lavender lemonade, Trader Joe’s
The Cheese
A quintessential element of all French cuisine is the cheese board. For our cheese boards we chose the same cheeses with various items as the bookends on the meal. With three cheeses, they featured a variety of robust flavors for the palette. I went with a triple cream brie, a gouda marinated in syrah wine, and a 20-year vintage sheep’s milk cheese. For the antipasto platter, I added raw almonds and citrus marinated mixed olives. For the dessert round, we went with an assortment of berries and organic dark chocolate bar. Perfect for munching on during the movie. Also, the perfect bread to anchor each platter, delicious bread from Tantardini’s, a local European bakery.
The Cake
With every birthday, comes the cake. This cake was decked out and ready for the decadent evening. A four layer mini cake, it was the perfect size to feed a group of three and have a bit leftover. I ordered the cake from a dear friend, Erika Eliante, of Cupcakes for the Kingdom. It was cocoa cake with salted caramel drip and butter cream. Topped with a sprig of stock, three roses, and a magnolia leaf, the flowers anchored this delicious cake. A bit of decadence was added with an ombre application of gold leaf. And yes it tasted amazing!
Make sure to click on all of the menu items above for the full recipes!
This is the last post sharing the behind the scenes of our French Fete birthday. I hope you all enjoyed all the posts! See you tomorrow. (Now to go find more of that cake.)
Sources:
Linen runner: Crate and Barrel
Marble and wood platter, dishes, glassware: Target
Silverware: Walmart
Linen napkins and moscow mule mugs: World Market
Flowers, Wine, and Food: Trader Joe’s
Bread: Tantardini’s Bakery
Cake: Cupcakes for the Kingdom
Satin ribbon, floral wire, floral foam: Dollar Tree
Copper and patina vessels: Goodwill