Dinner for my friends: Italian night

For this girls night in I tried to use as many vegetables as possible.  I think we had a German Riesling and New Zealander Sauvignon Blanc with the dinner.  And of course, no dinner at my place would be complete without castel vetrano olives! 

Bagna Cauda (radicchio, radishes, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Belgian endive and string beans): just cooked the garlic cloves in milk until tender and chopped them up with anchovies and added olive oil.

Minestrone soup (not exactly authentic but made it with vegetable stock: carrots, onion, celery, cannellini beans, zucchini, turnip and basil/Italian parsley paste).  Finish with grated pecorino or parmigiano reggiano.

Linguine vongole (used cockles)

Roasted chicken with garlic, rosemary and yellow/red/purple potatoes (breast meat for the health conscious! Roasted garlic is absolutely delicious!)

 

A creamy vanilla panna cotta with home made cranberry preserve for dessert.  I used Ronnybrook fresh cream only (no milk) so it was super rich.