Get togethers are always awesome. I bet most of us here got busy reconnecting with friends, family and relatives last holiday season. I am no exception. Almost everyday, for the last 2 weeks of December 2009, I was either out with friends or family. The trips and activities might be tiring but spending time with people I love made it all worth it. I remember telling you all about my Galileo Enoteca and Peninsula Manila night out with friends at the start of December. Good thing our busy schedules gave us a small window for another get together. But this time, my good friend and I hosted a lunch party days before 2010 kicked in.
This is a different lunch party. Why? Well, because we didn't buy ready-made food. We created, experimented and cooked for the guests.
For our starter, we made Kesong Puti Frittata with Tomato Salsa.
You might remember how I became addicted and fell in love with Amorita's version. Because I can't just fly to Bohol to get my frittata fix, I decided to create the dish so I can bring Bohol closer to us. To fully make the taste to my liking, I added some herbs and spices here and there.
On to the 2 main courses. First was the DIY Beef Burger Sandwich.
We made the beef burger patties the night before the lunch party and stuffed them in the fridge to set. It's easier to cook them that way. We were planning to have them on the barbie but we couldn't find our barbeque set. LOL! So we decided to brown them on a non-stick flat burger pan and put them in the oven after. Aside from the beef patties, we placed the onions, tomatoes, lettuce, catsup, mustard, mayonnaise and cheese on the table and gave our friends the liberty to create their own sandwiches. Most of them got a second helping of that huge burger so we think it was a hit!
Second was the 3-Cheese Ravioli.
I have to tell you that this is one of my favorite pasta dishes.
We made the pasta from scratch because we believe that this dish is much better with fresh pasta. For the cheese filling, we had buffalo mozzarella, ricotta and pecorino. I had fun putting in the ingedients and creating pockets to make the ravioli. Once done, we cooked the pasta in boiling water for about a minute or two before dumping them into the sauce pan with the cream, smoked bacon, fresh mushrooms and fresh basil. We served the dish in individual plates. Believe me, our ravioli was love. *smile*
Everyone was so stuffed that we didn't mind the absence of dessert. I was even thinking of creating a dark chocolate mousse but I got lazy. Ha ha!
It was a lovely lunch and I was so happy that our friends enjoyed it. Really hope that we can have more of these parties this year.
What about you? How many get together parties have you had last December?
