The Godfather Dinner Parts One and Two

Two weeks ago, on April 14th and 15th, The Astoria Book and Supper Club hosted an unprecedented, two night Godfather Dinner.  13 diners, 2 cooks, 16 bottles of wine, 2 pots of Sunday sauce, 1 bottle of limoncello, 15 veal chops and many laughs later, they were two nights to remember.

The Place Setting with menu and discussion questions

The First Course Night Two

The First Course Night One

The Spread on Night Two

Dinner started with a spread of Italian antipasti that filled everyone up.  I could probably have just served this and everyone would have been full and happy.  The spread included:  Arancini, Caponata, Mozzarella and Taleggio, soppresata and prosciutto, stuffed calamari, olive and meat bread and onion and pepper marmalade.  There was also chianti, lots and lots of chianti (especially on night two).

Behold the Arthur Avenue platter:  The two cheeses were from Casa Della Mozzarella, and I kid you not, this is the best mozz EVER.  Nothing comes close to it.  The other cheese is taleggio, a soft cheese that's kind of similar to brie, and it's divine if you haven't tried it.  The soppresata, which is unbelievably good, and the prosciutto di Parma came from Calabria pork store, and they do dried sausage right, let me tell you.   

Next to the Arthur avenue platter was the eggplant caponata, the recipe was given to me by my Sicilian Grandmother, and it has always been a favorite dish of mine, it was nice to finally make it.  You can't really go wrong with eggplant, peppers, mushrooms, capers and olives.

I LOVE stuffed calamari.  These were pretty tasty.  I stuffed them with a ground up mixture of breadcrumbs, tentacles, pignoli nuts, lemon, parsley and olive oil. Bake them in the oven and top them with a little wine, lemon and olive oil.

The arancini I made were pistachio flavored.  First I make a risotto, then I mix in grated parmigiana, and my pistachio pesto, which is basically ground up pistachios, parsley and olive oil.  Let it cool, roll them into balls, dredge them, and fry them.  It's very time consuming, but they are usually a crowd pleaser.

Plating the rigatonis

Next Course was my Sunday Sauce with homemade rigatonis, sausage and meatballs.  I spent my Friday night making my homemade pasta dough and forming the rigatonis.  It was a time consuming task, that I will one day blog about.

 The meatballs and sausage were cooked on Sunday in my Sunday sauce, of course.  I like to use the mixture of pork, beef and veal, then I add breadcrumbs, grated parm, an egg, and basil.  Most importantly, the raw meatball goes directly into the sauce, and cooks in the sauce.  This flavors the sauce, while the sauce flavors the meatball.  I do not believe in or condone frying a meatball before it goes into the sauce, I don't think the sauce is able to fully sink into the meatball when there is an outer wall of fried acting as a barrier.  This is just my belief, and I will stick to it.

At the table 

The third course was the veal chop Milanese.  We deboned, pounded and breadcrumbed the chops, Fried them up, and topped them with an arugula, fennel, lemon and olive salad.  The chops were tender and delicious, and full of flavor, chef Liza knocked this one out of the park.  

This came out so pretty, I had to include it.  This was a gluten-free, bradcrumbless version of the chop.  I wish I had this right now.

Dessert: Grapes, oranges and peaches in chianti, and a cannoli for whoever could fit it

Check out these beauties. I bought the shells on Arthur Ave at Madonia Brothers Bakery.  The filling is nutella and mascarpone.  The mixture is delicious, it kind of tastes like chocolate mousse and icing at the same time.  Highly recommended.

So, that was the dinner, two nights, one big blur (a good blur).

A note about Mario Puzo's The Godfather.  If you haven't already, read it you won't be disappointed.  The next time you need some light reading, find yourself a copy it's candy.