This past week, I hosted an autumn inspired dinner party. Think moody, chic with lots of early fall fruits like Concord grapes, figs and pears! Below, I am linking the recipes used and any notes if you want to recreate any of the dishes you saw on my socials!
Tablescape
The majority of this tablescape consisted of items I already owned, and a lot of it was originally thrifted! I did purchase the napkins and the table runner specifically for this party from Anthropologie – they are still on the crazy sale if you are interested in the runner or napkins!
Drinks
I typically like to have a fun welcome drink when hosting, this time I made this rosemary and Concord grape gin cocktail! It was a huge hit and easy to make as a big batch then simply pour over ice and top with sparkling water to serve. I loosely followed this recipe, but used a bit less gin then they called for and topped with soda water instead of ginger beer!
During the meal, I served red wine and Ghia Le Fizz as a non alcoholic option.
Appetizer:
I was very inspired by Pinterest to serve an array of cheeses and fruits in fancy little coupe glasses! I stopped at a local cheese shop, picked an aged cheddar (you know the ones with yummy salt crystals), a semi-soft sheets milk cheese, and a goat cheese! Cut small slices and added those to the glasses with fig, plum and Concord grapes!
I also made a caramelized onion galette. I followed this recipe for the filling/bake timing (essentially just caramelized onions deglazed with some alcohol and a bit of stock until thick and jammy). And used my favourite all butter pie crust as the base.
Main Course
Pork with Apples and Shallots:
I decided to really go out of my comfort zone on this one. I really wanted to do something with pork and apples because it felt perfect for the theme. I found this crown roast of pork with apples and shallots on Bon Appetite and although I had never done anything like this I thought the stellar reviews made it worth a shot. It turned out FAB, if I can do this, you can do this. The recipe did seem a bit intimidating at first, but just read through it a few times and it really is not too bad. The pork came out perfect and was not dry at all! If I could recommend one thing for this would be to ask your butcher to French the bones for you, because that part took me forever.
Radicchio Salad with Pickled Grapes and Goat Cheese:
A favourite salad of mine with colours that that just so happened to match perfectly with the dinner party theme. It is crisp, citrusy, acidic and perfect with the heavier pork. It also looks so chic and pickled grapes always get an ouuu and an ahh from guests. Recipe again, is from bon appetite, linked here!
Barley with Butter Basted Mushrooms
I LOVE BARLEY! It truly does not get the hype it deserves. This is a perfect dinner party dish to have in your back pocket because you can make it a few hours ahead, cover with foil and serve at room temperature! Roughly followed this recipe
Dessert
Red wine poached pears! Felt like the obvious choice. Made these the night before and stored them in the poaching liquid in the fridge. While we ate dinner I added the poaching liquid back to a saucepan and reduced it over medium-low heat so it would become more like a syrup. Drizzled that over the pears on a few big dollops of whipped cream!
