~ Chefs In the City ~

featuring Chef Erv & Chef Karl

I am sure I am not alone when I say that dinner parties are one of my favourite things to throw and be a part of.

Friday night Tony and I threw a dinner party for a few friends and we had a spectacular evening of wine, food and conversation. Erv & Karl, our Chefs in the City, brought all the food and cooked a grand 5 course dinner.

(Right: Chef Karl prepping avocado)

We had a 5 course dinner that included starting off with an avocado salad, matched with a Peller Estates Private Reserve Sauvignon Blanc. The picture to your left on the top is of Karl getting the avocado ready for course numero uno. The Sauvignon Blanc had a nice light taste that really brought out the avocado and lightly dressed greens.

We then moved onto a scallop and shrimp ceviche which is chilled seafood salad that gets marinated for a few hours in fresh lime and lemon juice - just delicious if you are a seafood fan. With this dish I served Hillebrand Estates Showcase Riesling (a Silver medal winner at he Ontario Wine Awards). The Acidity in the Riesling balanced nicely with the acidity of the lime and lemon juice.
(Above: Chef Erv checking lamb before dinner )

While we finished up our ceviche, Erv, Sous Chef at Centro Restaurant (at Yonge & Egg) perfected our main course, herb crusted rack of lamb, with eggplant, barley, salted green beans and steamed rapini. You can see Irv in the above picture roasting the Lamb. For the lamb I had a great bottle of Trius Cabernet Sauvignon that had medium body which is what you want when matching anything with lamb, because it is a delicate meat choice.

Our fourth Course was dessert, and because we all devoured the delicious Creme Brulee so fast, I didn't have time to take pictures!! Surprisingly, someone ended up bringing a bottle of RosemountShiraz that had the jammyness and fruit tastes that meshed really well with the Creme Brulee.

Our last course were homemade chocolate Hazelnut cookies - that were TO DIE FOR!!

Erv & Karl, did an amazing job putting together an amazing menu for our entire dinner party.To your upper left is the final main course product that was just out of this world!

Lot of people find entertaining difficult and stressful, but it can really be a very rewarding experience. Bringing one of your friends in (or a couple of them) to use their talents,i.e. Cooking, wine pairing, baking etc, can be a big relief for you as a host(ess).

Cheers!
Ange