I’ve been having friends over for Sunday dinner and a movie for a few weeks. Last night’s movie, was Young Frankenstein. It was an excellent choice and went well with pasta and hot fudge sundaes.
When I was traveling in Croatia And Bosnia last year, I wandered through the local grocery stores. The stores had a cornucopia of dried exotic mushrooms at bargain basement prices. As an example, dehydrated morel mushrooms in the US costs about $25 for 2 ounces. In Sarajevo, I purchased a pound of dried morels for effectively $4.
Early in the week, I had dinner out at a local restaurant. The entree, fettuccine with mushrooms was bland. It was my inspiration for Sunday dinner.
There’s a small cafe in Boulder, Il Pastaio, with incredibly inconvenient hours but wonderfully fresh pasta. The flavor and the texture are authentic Italian. You can’t spend time making a delicious sauce without having a sumptuous fettuccine.
Dinner was simple, pasta with two types of sauce, Alfredo and creamy fungi, sautéed summer squash and some white wine poached chicken for the carnivores. The first bottle of white wine, which was used for both poaching the chicken and in the mushroom sauce, was a Hong Sauvignon Blanc. The second bottle a gewurtztraminer from Trimbach, was not as dry, had a lovely aroma and a lush, silky texture.
The mushroom sauce was simple, a blend of mushrooms — morel, shiitake, baby Bella and portobello, sautéed with a bit of garlic, white wine, heavy cream and the secret ingredient, mascarpone.
Dinner was good but dessert was phenomenal, rich and indulgent, imbued with memories of childhood sitting in an Ice Cream Parlor. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the sundae, Hagen Dazs vanilla bean, banana, raspberries, fresh whipped cream and a Colorado treasure, hot fudge.
Whole Foods carries Mile High Hot Fudge. It’s made in Golden at a Mexican cafe. If you’re ever in need of a hot fudge fix, you must try Gourmet Mile High Hot Fudge from the Wondervu Cafe.
The Weather is getting cool, good for the fires and expanding my recipe selection. Hope everyone is well.
Hugs and elbow bumps from afar!
Denise