dinner party – spring in rome

It’s pretty easy to grasp the theme of this dinner party: spring vegetables at the height of the season. At this time of year I find myself simply going to the market, grabbing all the goodness, and then barely doing anything to them to bring together a dinner. And for this meal in honor of my editor of my new book, visiting from New York, it seemed perfect.

For this meal I really did just walk across the street to our local market and came away with my little shopping cart ( yes, I have one of those ‘old lady’ carts and it embarrasses Sophie beyond belief) full of artichokes, fave beans, fresh peas, asparagus, spring onions mint, parsley and strawberries. I even managed to find room for some freshly baked almond cookies from the baker there.

The most time consuming part of the entire preparation was shelling the peas and fave. But since I’m currently addicted to Lost in Space on Netflix, I took this as an opportunity to watch an entire episode on my computer perched on the kitchen table. FYI: you can figure about 3 kilos of shelling per episode.

Menu

Aperitivi

Although it was supposed to rain (spring!) it didn’t (spring!) and so we had our drinks up on the terrace (spring!). Negronis for everyone, with big fat green olives and taralli, both from Puglia (and bought at the market on Via Baccina)

Primo

Fave, artichokes and peas went into the Roman spring stew Vignarola

Secondo
Asparagus Bismark: my favorite combo of barely cooked asparagus topped with one perfectly fried egg. The recipe  appears in my new book.

Contorno

Steamed new potatoes with a bit of butter and salt and tons and tons of parsley.

Dolce

Bowls of ripe strawberries dressed with lemon and a bit of sugar, and store bought almond cookies

Setting the Table

Plates: If you’ve been following me on Social media then you may be aware of my new obsession for the plates that  grace the table. I first discovered these dishes, made by Ginori in the 50’s-70’s on Instagram and have fallen hard. They were made in Mondovi’ and while the dishes themselves are factory made, each one is hand painted. I’m not quite sure how many patterns there are, but I’ve become border-line obsessed with collecting them. It’s kind of like baseball cards, I guess. But plates. If that makes any sense. But I can justify it since I do use them, both in my home as well as in our cooking space Monti Kitchen. I’m also planning on taking some of the overflow up to Umbria (yes, there is overflow). Rather than set the entire table with one pattern, as they were meant to be, I’m a fan of mixing and matching them to create a chaotic, flower-filled, table-top garden of plates. Fun fact: The centerpiece tureen actually belonged to my mother-in-law.

Dishes holding olives and taralli are from Solimene in Vietri.

Candle Holders: All votive and other candle holders from Ikea.

Glassware: Water glasses from Ikea and wine glasses Baccarat. The grappa glasses are vintage Venetian from Domenico’s aunt. And those cute little frosted Negroni glasses were a gift from Nonnino years ago.

What to Drink

We started out with Negronis on the terrace, then switched over to a bottle of Pecorino with our Vignarola. I also opened a bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo for the main course. And of course, as always, grappa galore for dessert.