While sipping wine, we enjoyed Angelica's Italian Salad . I had not had a salad with salami before and I would think it could be heavy or greasy and instead it was PERFECT! Thin slices of the salty sausage were perfectly complimented by the mild Romaine lettuce.
Zucchini lasagna was our main dish. The preparation of the zucchini is a two step process and essential in "drying" it out to make for a noodle substitute. You need a mandolin and grill pan to follow this recipe. I will make this again as I liked the taste of all the components (meat sauce and cheese layer) and I will try drying the zucchini in a low heat oven rather than grilling it. This will be a less hands-on method.
As I have been traveling a lot I made something simple yet essential (in my opinion) with lasagna, Garlic Bread . I frequently make this bread and I love the herbs. Usually I use dried Italian seasoning and this recipe calls for fresh parsley. I do not think the parsley adds much flavor though it gives a nice pop of green color. If using unsalted butter add a bit of salt and if using Parmesan, it is quite salty so do not over salt. Remember, you can always add salt but you cannot take it back.
Mary has been craving sweet potatoes so she prepared her special recipe as another side dish.
Mary's Sweet Potato Special:
Prepare sweet potatoes by rubbing skin with a bit of vegetable oil then wrap single potato in foil. Bake potato until fully cooked.
Once baked, remove foil from potatoes then cube potatoes to a chunky size.
Sprinkle a generous amount of cinnamon to potatoes. Slice some cold butter and place on top of potatoes.
Add brown sugar on top and place potatoes back in the oven to melt the butter and the brown sugar.
Panna cotta by Tonya was the creamy, sweet ending to our evening. I love Panna Cotta. It is tangy and smooth and I could eat it by the trough full. Sweetened strawberries were layered on top and Tonya served it in the cutest little Mason jars.
