Potlucky

Potluck.  It may sound like an outdated concept, evoking images of 1960s block parties, but I am here to tell you that the idea is awesome and should never be put to rest.  A few co-workers and I decided to organize a quarterly potluck, and last night was our first gathering.  Ira hosted our first event and, therefore, was in charge of the entree and the theme.  He chose the very appropriate Fall theme and the rest of us fell into step nicely.

I was in charge of the appetizer and went with a ricotta, fig, and honey crostini.  I also made one with pears instead of figs, just in case the figs were not as tasty as we hoped.  Note: they were as good as I hoped they would be, but it was nice to have two options.  This was the easiest 5 minute, 4 ingredient appetizer ever.

It was a good thing we were able to get that out of the way quickly because Ira was spazzing a little about his entree.  He made chicken stuffed with goat cheese, onion, and basil, and topped with a mushroom wine sauce.  He needed Elyse's help in the kitchen, but it turned out to be delicious.  It went perfectly with Emily's contribution of her great grandmother's 100 year old stuffing recipe.  The secrets of this recipe were not divulged, but I did gather that it included homemade cornbread and biscuits as a base.  As you can imagine, it's hard to go wrong when you start with those ingredients.  I see why Emily's family has been using the same recipe for so many years.  Dessert was supposed to be provided by our fourth attendee, but she called in sick.  Elyse was a last minute replacement so she didn't have time to make dessert.  Instead, she came with good gossip and we finished the meal with Ben and Jerry's that Ira already had in his freezer.

My advice: dinner parties are fun and much less stressful when you only have to worry about one piece of it, which is why I am now a big potluck advocate.

Ira bought latex gloves so he wouldn't touch raw chicken.  We made fun of him, naturally.