There is something so relaxing about coming home after church on a Sunday morning and knowing that your afternoon will be devoted to friends and feasting. Especially if you have your food all ready to go, wines waiting, and your table set(click here for the last post). Then you know you have nothing to do but enjoy yourself and the people you’ve invited.
Sunday Lunch
It all starts with the menu. And you want each dish to complement every other thing that you’re serving, for example you wouldn’t want cheese and crackers for an appetizer and macaroni & cheese for dinner. Plus, you want each dish to be something that is ready to bake or serve.
My menu?
Fried Camembert Cheese Wedges
Mixed Olives
Lasagna
Green Salad
Pan d’Epi
Bailey’s Chocolate Cake w/ Caramel Sauce & Whipped Cream
The Lasagna could totally be made 3-4 days in advance. Then before I left for church, I left it on the kitchen counter to come up to room temperature.
Our Salad
Green Salad could be made a day in advance. The vinaigrette I made 3 days prior to Sunday. This was pulled out of the refrigerator Sunday morning to come to room temperature.
The bread was baked on Saturday , cooled down completely, wrapped well and frozen. Then on Sunday, when I pulled out the Lasagna, I took the Pan d’Epi out too and left it to thaw.
The cake was baked 2 days before and so was the caramel sauce. I made the whipped cream and just refrigerated it the day before.
I set my table 2 days before the party.
The Fried Camembert was cut up, dipped in the wash & coating and refrigerated the night before.
Breading the Cheese Wedges
This is the only thing that I had to cook last minute. But, actually, simply frying the wedges and serving them was simple.
When my friends arrived, I served Red Bicyclette French Rosé. A wine that went perfectly with the crispy, cheesy appetizers. It’s a very light but crisp wine that smells of raspberries and strawberries.
Rose with Appetizers
The Lasagna, embarrassingly, took forever to bake. I don’t know why. Maybe I just made one that was too big. Anyway, it felt like to took two hours to cook. Meanwhile, everyone was gracious, acted like they didn’t mind and ate up all the appetizers.
Once cooked and rested for about 10 minutes (not long enough in case you are wondering), the Lasagna was absolutely delicious.
Lasagna
I used the Bolognese Sauce recipe from, “Two Dudes, One Pan” and then just layered the no-boil noodles with béchamel sauce, cheese and the Bolognese Sauce.
With the lunch, we had a Santa Cristina Toscana Sangiovese 2008. Everybody loved this wine with the Lasagna. Tasted with the Bolognaise it was rich, fruity and had soft tannins. A great match.
Sangiovese
And then, with the last glass of wine, we ate the Bailey’s Chocolate Cake with Caramel sauce and Whipped Cream. It was OK and we finished it but I wasn’t blown away with this cake since it was kind of dry and not very chocolaty. With the sauce & cream it was edible, but I ended up dumping the rest of the cake after everyone left. I found the recipe on-line on someone’s baking Blog and it looked wonderful but……
The Sunday Lunch was a delight. Relaxing and full of delicious food (except for the disappointing cake)and great wine. We sat ‘at table’ a long time talking, laughing and enjoying the afternoon.
Bailey's Chocolate Cake w/ Caramel Sauce & Whipped Cream
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