Our friend Michael is an excellent cook and a self-described "recipe monkey." He refuses to cook things without recipes, and leans heavily on the great panoply of recipes on Epicurious for his ideas. Unlike me, he bears no ill will towards recipes that are cumbersome, time-consuming, full of steps, or requiring expensive ingredients, so a meal at his house is a spectacular treat! Allow me to make your mouth water by sharing photos and recipes from our dinner last night...


Appetizer: Mascarpone, Bacon, and Asparagus Toasts



This was an AWESOME appetizer that I will so be making soon. The recipe is really for tarts, but Michael improv'ed a little on this one. He used dill in place of tarragon (yay! I hate tarragon) and subbed in crispy bacon pieces for the ham (double yay! bacon rocks.) As well, instead of making tarts he used toasted baguette slices, which I think was probably a better texture than tart crusts would be. Click here for the recipe.



Main Course: Double Lamb Chops and Roasted Cabbage with Cauliflower & Date Purees



The plural of "puree" is what would have prevented me from making this recipe- I'm thinking, I have to make 2 purees for one dish? I've gotta clean the food processor in between? Yada yada yada... but it was really good. I thought the date puree was a little overwhelming, but it was a pretty color and the other guests disagreed with me and liked it with the lamb. The cauliflower puree was like a dollop of creamy heaven, and I'll definitely be using the cabbage method- the cabbage was incredibly easy and tasty. Click here for the recipes.



Dessert: Rhubarb Compote with Walnut Brittle



This was tasty too, but I felt the brittle was unnecessary- the perfectly sweet-tart compote with the honeyed yogurt was enough excitement for me! Click here for the recipe.