Dining With Friends 2011 - Ciao Baby!

It's that time of year again: Dining With Friends. This is the thirteenth year my partner Myron and I have hosted a party for this event. This year we're having our party on Saturday, May 14th. We selected Italian as the theme and Myron combed through over 30 cookbooks and magazines to come up with a master list of over 120 recipes. We eventually whittled that down to 19. Below is what we came up with, with links to the recipes.

Crostini bar:

• Caponata
• Peperonata
• Tuna tapenade
• Sicilian chickpea fritters
• Sicilian eggplant ceviche
• Dry-cured olives with orange and rosemary

Main courses:

• Chicken and lemon casserole
• Fedelini with chickpeas and tuna
• Marinated chicken alla Griglia
• Rigatoni Pugliese
• Roast leg of lamb with potatoes
• Short ribs alla Genovese
• Sweet and sour glazed pork chops

Side dishes:

• Farro salad with mozzarella, tomato and cucumber
• Green beans with shaved onion, fried almonds, and Parmesan
• Orecchiette with cauliflower
• Roman farina dumplings
• Sweet peas with prosciutto
• White bean and tuna salad

Other recipes:

• Basic tomato sauce, used in the rigatoni and eggplant ceviche
• Roasted garlic puree, used in the chicken alla Griglia