The antipasti included meats from the newly opened Italian specialty shop in Garwood, NJ called Bienvenuti. We also had some cheeses, marinated mushrooms and artichokes.
Then on to pasta number 1. I rolled out fresh pasta sheets using half flour, half semolina. I used the same pasta dough for both recipes. For the tortelloni, I made the filling in the Silver Spoon, but used butternut squash instead of pumpkin. Jeff helped me cut out the rounds and then I filled and shaped these little treats:
I served them with simple brown butter and sage - and a little parm never hurt. Delicious!
The next course was the real hit though. I once again turned to Mario Batali and he came through like a champ. In Molto Italiano, there's a recipe for agnolotti which calls for chicken and sausage. I instead used ground pork and ground veal. MMM! So the filling was made from the mixture of meats, onion, olive oil, fontina cheese, goat cheese, marjoram and salt and pepper. It was all minced together in a food processor to give it a very nice texture.I made up the sauce as I went along and I sure hope I can figure it out next time. I started by reducing some beef stock. I had a rind of Parmigiano Reggiano so I threw that in to the simmering stock (a trick I learned from Giada!). Once it reduced a bit I added a little tomato paste. It was a little salty so I stirred in some water and a little bit of unsalted butter. I spooned this into the bowls, topped it with the cooked agnolotti and some sauteed Cremini mushrooms. This was good! I delivered some to my parents too and they both gave it rave reviews.
Of the first 9 Last Suppers, this was our favorite. I wonder what the next 31 will bring...
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