An Italian Dinner Party

By Palma Hansen –

Host your own Italian dinner party!

1. Invite guests who will enjoy participating in the cooking process. Ask them to wear red or green. When they arrive, give them an apron, some wine, and put them to work!

2. Set a festive table using red, white and green as your theme.

3. Keep the menu simple:

Antipasti can be as easy as a platter of cured meats, salami, cheese, olives and fruit.

Try a salad of sliced oranges, fennel, red onion and fresh arugula with a citrus dressing

Make your own pasta or pizzas on the grill.

I served this easy pasta dish with homemade garganelli pasta, but you can use a box of dried penne.

Sausage Pasta:

• 2 lb. bulk Italian sausage
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 T. butter
• 1/2 c. white wine
• 1/2 c. cream
• parmigiano cheese

Saute the onions in butter until tender. Throw your pasta into boiling water as the sauce will be ready in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Add sausage to the onion mixture and cook 3 minutes, stirring. Add wine, and cook until liquid is almost gone. Add cream and cook until heated through. Drain pasta and toss with sauce. Add a generous amount of freshly grated parmigiano and serve.

Dessert:  

Gelato and espresso or try a “Spaghetti and Meatball Cake”

Bake two round layers of a chocolate cake mix. Frost one with white frosting. Smash up the other layer, and with wet hands, form three “meatballs” from the chocolate cake crumbs.

Place on top of the frosted cake. Add some pureed strawberries for the “sauce”, and grate some white chocolate for the parmesan cheese. Be ready for Oohs and Aahs!

Palma’s passions are Italian travel, cooking, and living an Italian lifestyle in the southern California desert. She is in private practice as a licensed Marriage Family Therapist. Palma and her husband love sharing their knowledge of Italy with others during their small group tours to bella Italia. http://www.palmabellasitaly.com