That’s right. You are invited dinner! There are few things in life that are more satisfying than a really wonderful, savory, completely mouth watering meal. One that not only satisfies the tastebuds, but tickles the olfactory first. When you add a perfect beverage, most assuredly a fine wine, to that meal, it is elevated to a whole new level of satisfaction. Now, to make it a perfect dining experience, add a group of your favorite, wonderful people.
This is a dining recipe we will want to repeat more and more as the holiday season gets into full swing. We enjoy sending out the cards that state, “You are Invited to Dinner.” Needless to say, we enjoy receiving these invitations as well. And folks, the major holidays are just around the corner. Being the fantastic hosts and hostesses amongst your peers is important to us. This is how we all want known to our special friends and family.
Even before the “You are Invitation to Dinner” cards are filled out and slipped into the envelopes, we have planned the menu. As a fantastic host and hostess this holiday season, we shall choose to be a trend-setter. It will not take reinventing the wheel to set a new trend that all our guests shall truly enjoy. Hopefully, they shall their experience at our dinner party every time a new dinner party is mentioned.
Let us look at a few simple, yet totally powerful elements we can add to our dinner menu which everyone will savor.
Constructing the menu
Let us construct the menu starting with the main course first. We are going to step away from the traditional gigantic bird or pig leg. We are selecting the finest, most flavorful, most nutrition-dense grass-fed, chemical free beef available to us. This beef is like nothing your tastebuds have had the pleasure of experiencing EVER! (But it is high time they did!) Now, you do not have to go from market to market to special meat stores to find this healthy, nutrition-dense beef. We make it easy for you. A clicking of your mouse here takes you to it.
Having made a remarkable beef choice, be it personal stakes or roasts, it is cooked to perfection. We shall pair it with an equally remarkable pure fine wine. The combination is a taste explosion like no other! The way the wine enhances the flavor of the beef is phenomenal and unforgettable. Plus, the flavor if the beef enhances the flavor of the fine wine. A harmonious and pleasing tastebud exchange. And, it is so good for your digestion. A hearty fine wine red like a More Than Muse Sauvignon Blac is an excellent paring. Be adventurous! You may want to try a Ricord 2020 Merlot, or a Nile Eddy 2022 Pinot Noir instead of a hearty red wine. (Our Exclusive Member Wine Club Private Labels.)
How about a spectacula side dish
Next, we are going to include farm-to-table vegetables for our side dishes. At farmers’ markets, you get to know the farmer, how he grows his product; organically or with unwanted additives. I would choose the organic farmer’s produce. The produce without GMOs, chemical fertilizers, and other undesirable additives. From that farmer we also can get gords, small pumpkins, and autumn flowers. Especially, big sunflowers, to make an impressive center-table runner decoration
Here is an excellent all-inclusive salad to serve with the beef course. Boil pealed potato chunks to al dente. Drain. Place on a thin kitchen towel to dry. Steam bite-size pieces of Broccoli, carrot sticks, fresh string beans or snow peas, cauliflower to al dente. Drain place on thin kitchen towel to dry. Sauté bite-size pieces of asparaguses spears. Break up the lettuce of your choice, I prefer bib lettuce for this salad, into a work bowl. Lightly toss all the vegetables and dress with a mixture of Rice vinegar with garlic, chopped, fresh dill, salt, fresh ground pepper, and olive oil. Transfer to a decorative serving bowl or platter. Refrigerate till dinner.
On the side for the salad, have dishes of:
Parmigiano Reggiano, Gorgonzola, Pecorino Romano, or a Blue Cheese.(Or more than one.)
Crisp bread sticks make a nice accompaniment with this salad as does breads like Ciabatta, Italian, sour dough, French, or baguettes.
More Than Muse 2020 Chardonay; or More Than Muse Sauvignon Blac
and Cabernet Franc are good choices to serve with the salad.
Our Exclusive Member Wine Club Private Labels.)
Now, for dessert, we are preparing a Chocolate and Fruit Charcuterie Board
Start With Sauces (homemade of course!)
Dipping into the sauces is the best part of the charcuterie board. You will want to include a dark chocolate sauce, a milk chocolate sauce, and a white chocolate sauce. Although it is not a sauce, I like to include a dish white and a dish of chocolate whipped cream. For the fruit on the charcuterie board, you can also add a dish of honey-Greek yogurt. Your favorite farmer probably offers honey, too. For the truly adventurous, mix maple syrup with peanut butter. (So good on Ice Cream, too.)
Now, we add More Chocolate: (Choices)
Remember, this is a chocolate charcuterie board! It is the show-stopping star!
- Chocolates Little Mints
- Chocolate Bark Thins
- Chocolate Orange Slices
- Chocolate covered nuts
- Chocolate caramels
- Reses peanut butter cups
- Dutch chocolate marshmallows
- Chocolate covered walnuts, almonds, and peanuts
- Semisweet Dark Chocolate Nonpareils Candy
- Salted Dutch Chocolate Licorice Coins
- Milk Chocolate dipped pretzel sticks.
- Sea Salt Caramels Chocolate
- White chocolate peppermint kisses
- White Chocolate pretzel twists
- White Vanilla Salt Water Taffy
- The list is only limited to your imagination.
Fruit is Your Friend (Choices)
- Raspberries
- Pomegranate Seeds
- Strawberries plain for dipping
- Orange sections
- Grapes
- Blackberries
- Red and/or Dark Cherries
- Apple slices (just before serving)
- Banana chunks (just before serving)
- Not a fruit but fun: marshmallows.
Add Some Cookies (Choices)
- Pirouline Chocolate Hazelnut Wafers
- Macarons
- Unfrosted Sugar Cookies
- Crunchy Double Chocolate Cookies
- Crunchy Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Blondie Walnut Bars
- Toffee Almond Crunch Bars
- Raspberry Crumb Bars
- Fudge Brownies
- Lemon shortbread cookies
- Macadamia Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Let’s Put it All Together! Serve in 1-2 hours.
- Use the right size board: Chose a board that is not too big for the items you have selected. And definitely not too small. You want your choices to be close together and to full the board without piling too many selections on top of each other. The finished board MUST be attractive. Eye Appeal is paramount!
- Start with the largest items: After selecting the size board you want to use, start with your sauce bowls first. Spread them out around the board. Remember, you eat with your eyes first so make it pretty.
- Add in some fruit: Place the fruit around the board in cluster of each variety largest to smallest. Again, spread them out. Be mindful of color placement. You do not want all the same color fruit together.
- Add the baked goods: From large to small, place the cookies and pretzels in type clusters. You can make more than one cluster of the same type of baked good on the board for balance.
- Now, Comes the Chocolate Candy. In the empty spaces on the board, fill in your candy selections in like item clusters until the board is completely covered.
Take a picture of your board. This is a good way to get a different view of your handy work. If the picture does not look like a magazine illustration, fix the areas that are not pleasing and retake the photo. Plus, you will want to put the photo into your hostess scrap book for future reference.
Now the wine paring for the charcuterie board: This is where you can several different flavors of wine out (and each with its own wine glass).
- Pinot Noir and white chocolate; The sweet fattiness of the chocolate brings out the red cherry, strawberry, and raspberry notes of the wine.
- Dark chocolate and Cabernet Sauvignon; The high cocoa content of dark chocolate pairs well with the deep, robust flavor of Cabernet Sauvignon.
- White chocolate and Riesling; The wine’s natural acidity and fruity notes contrast with the richness of white chocolate
- More Than Muse 2020 Chardonay;
- More Than Muse 2021 Chardonay;
- More Than Muse Sauvignon Blac
- You can add coffee and Conac
Both the Fine Wine and the neutrient-dense beef make great gifts!
The 3 More Than Muse wines are our private label, members only wine club favorites. Join here!