Dinner Party: Sicilian Scroll and Sourdough Baguettes

Last night John, Molly, Colie, Kati and I were invited to Ben's for a dinner party. He has a beautiful apartment and it was wonderfully arranged for the occasion. We arrived around 5 and opened some wine and set out olives, cheeses, and bread to nibble on while watching the NCAA games.

One fun thing about Ben's place is that he is able to project his television. We were able to watch the game on a HUGE screen. Here I am in front of the projector drinking wine between the games.

The bread we snacked on before dinner was a Sicilian Scroll that I had made. This is a semolina flour based bread. Semolina flour comes from durum wheat which is what pastas are often made of. I used the recipe from Bread by Christine Ingram & Jennie Shapter. The bread turned out pretty well with a good crust and a soft, dense, slightly crumbly crumb.

This picture shows more of the detail of the crumb.

I also made sourdough baguettes. This was my first time using my recently made sourdough starter for bread. The timing of the evening was thrown a bit off and subsequently my baguettes dried out too much. Therefore, they didn't expand while baking and the crust baked much faster than the interior. They still look kind of pretty, however they weren't that tasty. It was a disappointment but I will try them again soon. I used the recipe and lovely tutorial from eGullet on Sourdough Bread. A fantastic resource.

John made his excellent broccoli and apple soup for the first course (there's John above). For the main course Ben made 3 quiches. The most interesting one was his 'experimental' quiche. It included asparagus, apple, and chevre. It was actually quite good. With some alterations in the spices it could be incredible. Kati brought an apple pie and a fruit tart from the Medici. The apple pie was really amazing. I will have to go to the Medici and try that again.

We had a great time, ate excellent food, and drank QUITE a bit of wine (there was a big wine sale at the Co-Op). We drunkenly promised to do this more often and I really hope that happens.

Some of the wine we consumed.