Friday, January 03, 2014

NEW YEAR AT IRMA'S

My friend Irma always comes up with original and refined menus for special occasions and presents her dishes very elegantly so I was delighted when she invited me to lunch on New Year's Day.

To begin, there was couscous salad and that is potato that Irma has so cleverly cut into star shapes:



There were also home-cured olives


and these pastries which, sadly, I had to pass on as they contained fish:


There were spiedini, too - and we're still only on the antipasti!


The pasta with ham and mushrooms on a purée of zucchini was a triumph,


as was the main dish of tender pork:


Afterwards there were these little chocolate cakes


and orange peel candied by Irma's sister:


I made the raspberry upside-down cake again and was a little concerned because it sank in the middle a bit this time, but it's amazing what you can do with a few cake decorations!


Then there was a very special panettone


and an equally enormous pandoro:


As you can imagine, we were all very content by mid-afternoon!  Grazie, cara Irma.

7 comments:

Jenny Woolf said...

Fantastic! What an unbelievable meal! Have a wonderful 2014, Pat!

Trubes said...

Wow! that all looks delicious, I hope Simi had a doggie Bag!
Happy New Year
Pat and Simi...xxx

Love from Di and Chloe..xxx

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

And Happy New Year to you, Jenny, Di - and Chloe of course! Yes, Simi got a doggie bag! xxxx woofs!

Lee said...

I thought I'd commented on this post, but my mind has probably melted with the heat we're experiencing...I've been very slothful these past couple of days, and shall remain so until the heat leaves...which hopefully, from all reports, will be on Tuesday.

I've not been doing any cooking...just salads and fresh fruit...and demolishing my Christmas ham...which is almost demolished completely!

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Lee. Hope it cools down for you!I do miss cooking a ham for Xmas - can't get uncooked ham joints here.

Liz Hinds said...

Happy new year, Pat and Simi!

What a feast! Neil, Younger Son, has been practising his pasta making skills over the festive season to much applause even from his Italian in-laws!

It's amazing what you can do with a bit of decoration and icing sugar! And I bet it still tasted delicious.

Whispering Walls said...

HNY WL!

Counters


View My Stats