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It's that time of year again - we always have a fabulous dinner with our friends at the start of the year. We get together to make a large tasting menu, in total, 13 dishes. This year, we had the dinner a little early. and we were also a couple short since Dagmar and her husband has recently moved. We hope they'll join us again next year!
We had a lot of ideas for themes but in the end, decided not to have a theme at all. It turned out to be a varied meal, and everything was delicious. Each couple made four dishes, and I added a small snack and a drink, as usual.
![Untitled](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8643/16202883612_aed410cb29.jpg)
Our first course was a drink - Bellini Frutti which was basically sparkling wine with a purée of peaches, pink grapefruit and strawberries - and a caraway-spiced crisp bread topped with Dutch Prima Donna cheese and a fig compote.
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7468/16017886897_935a771555.jpg)
Next came a spicy gazpacho with a mint ice cream. Different and very fun!
![Untitled](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8643/16202883612_aed410cb29.jpg)
Our first course was a drink - Bellini Frutti which was basically sparkling wine with a purée of peaches, pink grapefruit and strawberries - and a caraway-spiced crisp bread topped with Dutch Prima Donna cheese and a fig compote.
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7468/16017886897_935a771555.jpg)
Next came a spicy gazpacho with a mint ice cream. Different and very fun!
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7556/16202883562_6f3077c4f0.jpg)
Erika and Micke made a lovely (but hard to photograph) rösti from sunchokes and potatoes. It was served with crisp bacon, raisins and a caper sauce. I loved it.
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7562/16202883052_1b63e846e0.jpg)
My starter was rice crisps - you simply deep fry spring roll wrappers, very fun! - with a mango salsa. I was planning to put lobster on top of this but it smelled a little funky so I didn't dare. It was certainly good on its own! It's also topped with a little bit of soy mayonnaise.
![](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8649/16017593059_aaba8d94db.jpg)
Micke and Erika made what might have been my favorite dish this evening. Arctic char with a beurre blanc and asparagus.
![](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8630/16177844766_8da0d641cd.jpg)
For my main course, I wrapped pork tenderloin in spinach and Parma Ham, and served it with fantastic cognac-laced mushrooms and a lightly pickled salad.
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7547/16016350950_ec5d94cd01.jpg)
We also had duck, with a sweet grape sauce and a garlicky potato mash.
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7513/16017888317_df6fae415c.jpg)
The final main course was a classic Beef Wellington from Lena. It was really pretty so I wish I had a better photo of it. The sauce was fantastic!
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This dish - deep-fried dumplings - was so weird I first wondered if it had been included in the cookbook (Dumplings all day wong by Lee Ann Wong) as a joke. The filling has white chocolate, wasabi and pretzels and on its own, it was pretty horrible. But as it turned out, it was really good! The dumplings took a lot of work, since the pretzels are sharp and prone to poke little holes, so I did a lot of patching.
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7570/16016351540_2667c14dfc.jpg)
This was so good it should be illegal. Chocolate dipped bacon with toasted almonds. Try this!
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7578/16177843436_7861e1842b.jpg)
Erika and Micke made individual cheesecakes with raspberry coulis, awesome!
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7570/16017592459_c10233d8c9.jpg)
My own dessert was a repeat - fried pineapple with caramel sauce, vanilla ice cream and salted peanuts. Yum!
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7516/15581292734_ba98a7dd7b.jpg)
Finally, our very last dish. Limoncello parfait with a raspberry coulis. The perfect to end to our wonderful meal.
Want to look at earlier years?
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011 - Around the world theme
2012 - Movie and TV theme
2013 - Different main ingredients
2014 - Different flavors
1 comment:
I always love seeing what you have for this special dinner. Must be a fun evening!
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