Latest Dinner Party: Salad Course

Saturday night, we had a dinner party with a few good friends. We call it our "Long Distance Supper Club" because two attendees live up in Poughkeepsie, NY (about 2.5 hours from our house) and my sister in-law and her husband usually come-and they live up near Albany, a full four hours away. The family wasn’t represented for this party, but the usual suspects were, including T and M and M’s brother K who was in town from Colorado.

I guess the "Long Distance" took on a whole new geography this time out.

We forgot to take pictures of my first course, which was a duo of small bites: a carrot shooter adapted from a Dan Barber recipe and a mini Asian meatball with Chinese black vinegar reduction.

Luckily, just before I served the salads, Nena and I remembered to take a picture and start to document the evening. There really isn’t a recipe per se, but I can share the ingredient list:

• Petal Mesclun from Sang Lee Farms
• Leeks from Sang Lee Farms that I dredged in flour and fried
• Bacon from Meadow Raised Meats (thanks to Jen for recommending them)
• Fresh Goat Cheese from Catapano Dairy Farm
• A basic sherry vinegar vinaigrette (Here’s FoodTV’s version)

I was very pleased with how this one salad came together and even more glad to use primarily New York ingredients. The mesclun is a staple in our house, as is the goat cheese. It’s one of foods that Nena truly craved during her pregnancy and it’s one of Long Island’s best products, bar none.