Gourmet Potluck--C'est Possible!

The term potluck conjures up images of a table set with 4 bowls of pasta salad, each with minor tweaks on the concept. So I don't think of "gourmet" and potluck going together, but the union of terms is the best way to describe the great meal we had on a recent weekend night.

Coordinating family dinner with the 3 of us at home is tricky enough, never mind trying to get together a half dozen or so busy professionals. When we finally pinned down a date for a little dinner party, I'd casually tossed around a few ideas for the main course when John chimed in. He was eager to cook Roast Lamb with Ricotta Gnocchi recipe he'd come across. Didn't sound like something to argue with. Then I thought perhaps I'd make a soup, but Doug & Pam were eager to put their extra potatoes to use, and I was left with only appetizers and salad to make.

Well, if I wasn't making the entree or soup, I could least try some new things for apps. So I madeBroccoli Rabe Pesto Bruschetta and it was pretty tasty. It was quite different from traditional pesto, with a bit of bitterness from the rabe. But it worked pretty well with the toasted bread, and we had good wine to go with it (more on that to come). I also dusted the virtual cobwebs off the Goat Cheese-Edamame Dip with Spicy Pepitas recipe, which I'd say was the biggest hit of the preliminary nibbles. The dip is pretty healthy with edamame as the primary ingredient, and it gets a nice kick from chipotle peppers in adobo as well as the spicy pepitas (pumpkin seeds).

Doug made potato leek soup, which he has definitely mastered. Nice and hearty, and he punches it up with black pepper and other spices.

Now, this lamb dish was really something special. John roasted a leg of lamb and prepared a red wine sauce with fall root vegetables that gave great flavor to the meat. For the piece de resistance, he made the ricotta gnocchi that came out beautifully. John has really perfected the gnocchi making process, with a few tips from Barbara Lynch. But to translate that into a gnocchi made with ricotta instead of potato was pretty impressive!

There was certainly plenty of good wine to go with the tasty food. We started with a bottle ofVeuve Clicquot (thanks Liz!). Other places can certainly do bubblies pretty well, but there's nothing like some real Champagne to make things festive! We followed with the best Pedro Ximenez that I've tried...well, OK it's the only one. In case your not familiar, Pedro Ximenez is a white grape varietal orignially from Spain. The crisp white we had with the spicy dip and broccoli rabe pesto crostini was from Chile, the Cucao PX.

There was some debate about which red wine to start with. John, who brought the 2006 Bell Clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon, suggested that this would be good to enjoy on its own, so we opened it next. The Clone 6 had very expansive fruit flavor, and was indeed enjoyable on its own...though we were starting to dig into the lamb as we were finishing off the bottle. Doug, a relentless champion of French wines over California, stimulated lively discussion by disparaging the Clone 6...but I think he even came around to enjoying it a bit!

We did move on to French wines after the Clone 6. First, the tried but true Paralelle 45 Cotes Du Rhone--Doug's favorite. It's definitely a great value at around $10, though it was quite a contrast to have it falling the big fruity Clone 6. We followed with a 2007 Domaine Du Vieux Lazaret Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which I believe is the third and final bottle of this that I'd picked up last year. It really has come along nicely--I recall being a bit disappointed with the first bottle, but it has softened nicely and shows good fruit and balance. A great wine to top off a tasty evening! Well, that was the final wine, and then there was the famous Franson chocolate cake too, not many notes on this other than "Yum"! And I'm starting to see potlucks in a whole new light...