The menu that we served would be perfect for a traditional Easter Dinner but here it is in July and we served it and everyone loved it.
For Hors d’oeuvres we are having “Hipiti” Dip – a feta and sun dried tomato dip, kielbasa with purple horseradish sauce, and pecan chicken. We should have served a seafood hors d'ouvre and not the chicken Que Sera sera.
The first course was Crabmeat and Shrimp Salad over Grilled Orange Polenta with Herb Oil. (The next time I would do a plain polenta but that is my personal preference). This was paired with a 2002 Louis Jadot Corton Charlemagne French white burgundy rated 97 points by Robert Parker This deep golden full bodied wine is bursting with pineapple, passion fruit, citrus and tropical fruits and delicious toasty oak and wood flavors and aromas.
The salad has Greens, Dried Cranberries, and Blue Cheese with a Raspberry Jam Salad Dressing and we served this with a 2005 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay rated 92 points by Robert Parker. In the glass the wine displays our typical bright green, yellow-gold color. On the nose it is a big bowl of fresh fruit, with intense green apple, fresh honeydew melon, and citrus in the background. The flavors follow, leading with classic Napa Valley Chardonnay varietal character and showing strong Bartlett pear. The palate is one of fresh, huge fruit - lovely, luscious, and mouthwatering. So this wine should be really be rocking now.
Dinner was Ham served with Scalloped Potatoes and Pineapple soufflé. This was paired with a 1998 Chateau Latour a Pomerol rated 94 points from Wine Spectator. Tar, berry and dry stone aromas, with wet earth. Full-bodied, thick and chewy, with velvety tannins. Big and rustic, but I like this textbook Latour à Pomerol. Best in decades.
Dessert was our Homemade Birthday Cake (this is the only recipe we do not give out) served with my mother’s homemade lemoncello which we had just made this week.