Under the Saratoga Moon
Now *this* is the way to cook a whole pig/lamb/ox/water buffalo: on a sturdy grill with a rotisserie that actually turns and an experienced pro standing nearby. (Contrast with the lamb-on-the-beach July entry on this blog.) The resulting roast pork was just one course of a splendid wine harvest dinner I attended Saturday evening in the Saratoga hills.
Before dinner, some of the guests actually picked grapes. Seeing this little cutie pick a few, eat a few, pick a few, eat a few was the best kind of pre-dinner entertainment. As the sun set, we sat at long tables on an outside terrace and dined on the splendid fare of San Francisco caterer Paula LeDuc. (When I know I’m going to be eating a dinner prepared by LeDuc’s crew my mouth starts watering about breakfast time.)
The Tuscan-style dinner began with passed platters of calamari salad, marinated cauliflower and heirloom tomatoes with mozzarella. Next came moist cod, followed by platters of the spit-roasted pork. A trio of chocolate desserts completed the meal — although some of us wandered over to an outdoor fire pit where ingredients for s’mores were laid out — including incredibly delicious home-made marshmallows. An American classic proved the perfect ending for a meal inspired by Italy.
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Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 at 9:19 pmand is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 24th, 2007 at 8:33 am
Now that’s a proper ‘vendange’ dinner! What a cute little picker!
We had one about that age pick with us the first year – and she worked soooo hard!
September 25th, 2007 at 4:22 am
beautiful, all of it. i admit though, your beach lamb is a story i will remember!
how was the cod cooked?